Germanic Romance as a Getaway from Medieval Society
Erec and Enide, Parzival, and Tristran were all very popular Medieval Authurian Romances which have captivated many readers through the years. I too have found reading them to be very enjoyable experience. I particular liked the aspect of reading stories that were written centuries ago, which has given me some insight into the culture of medieval northern Europe. I have been able to realize the importance that medieval people placed on the ideas of being a knight, courtly love, and King Authur’s court. I believe I know why these works were so popular, it was because works like this allowed individuals of medieval societies to be taken away to a fantasy land where everyone was beautiful and those who acted in the right manner were rewarded for such actions. This fantastic other world was a major contradiction to what life in medieval times was actually like. I have read many articles describing medieval life as being hard, rough, unrelenting, a constant struggle for survival, routinely fighting off invading armies, and those who did live glorious lives were a select few. But when one would read one of these three stories they could visualize King Aurthur’s court which was full of brave knights who had beautiful wives, and one could only hope that somehow he would find himself in this wonderful place and everything would be just fine. This is why these stories were so popular because they could transport the reader from there most likely their miserable life to a place that was far from miserable.
Let’s first look at what fighting was going on during the time the time period these Romance poems were written. Urban Figure Holmes in his biography “Chretien de Troyes” estimates that Chretien wrote Erec and Enide sometime around 1170 A.D. During this time period there was a lot of fighting taking place in Europe. I know this is the case from a handout that we were given in class. In our handout we were given details of who was fighting who during the year 1173 A.D which was only a couple years after the estimated time of the finishing of Erec and Enide. During this time the King Henry was leading an English invasion of Ireland which definitely was a gruesome affair that many English men were fighting in. Also during this time the Second Crusade was taking place. Now if we look at what was happening during the beginning of the 13th century when Wolfram von Eschenbach was writing his Parzival, and Strassburg was writing his “Tristan” we can see there was a lot going on. First, we see that the third crusade had just ended and the fourth crusade was about to start. Also, we see that the Philip of France had embarked on a fight against King Richard of England to take back French fiefs that Philip thought Richard had too many of. Knowing that all of this fighting was taken place it is logical to think that life during these times were very hard on the men of these countries because they were the ones who had to fight for their Kings who were power hungry.
These men did not have any choice in the matter they had to fight and fighting back in those days was gruesome. The book “Medieval Warfare” talks about the brutality of the war that these medieval men experienced. One passage from this book that resonated with me is when the author describes a battle at Agincout on St. Crispin’s day where it is estimated that 10,000 men were killed. Imagine that, in one day 10,000was soldiers lost their lives. The field of battle was littered with dying and dead men and it had to be a sight that none forgotten once they saw it. That kind of image must have been haunting for all the men who saw it and I believe that our three Romances might have helped ease the mind of those lucky enough to be able to read them. These Romances could of made the fortunate survivors feel like heroic knight who defeated the odds and survived. Imagine seeing 10,000 men slayed in one day, if I saw that and I was alive after the end of it I would think I was destined to survive and that I was a very skilled fighter. If I also red tales of Erec, Parzival, and Tristan I would probable believe that I was like them. Because those three men defeated great knights and dragons and I was able to survive a battle that 10,000 other men were not able to survive. These surviving men could relate to Erec, Parzival, and Tristan because they too had gone to a foreign land, defied the odds and defeated a powerful enemy.
Now, let us say that the male reader of one of these Arthurian Romances was from a country that was not currently in a war, what would this reader’s daily life be like? In the book “A Day in a Medieval City” there is a painting that alludes to what a medieval male’s life was like during this period of time. In this painting there are four men of different ages doing a variety of different work. The first man, the youngest who looks like a child, is harvesting grapes off of a vine. The next figure is a young man who is reaping stalks of grain. This young man is followed by an adult man who is mowing the fields of hay with a scythe. And the last figure and elderly man is scattering seeds of wheat in a row of furrows. This one painting tells the story of what a male did during his time on earth. Males when not fighting were tending to the land by planting and harvesting crops so they could survive, provide for their family, and so their King could prosper. The painting also points out what men did during the whole year, that during the winter men sow, spring men mow, summer men reap, and during fall men harvest. These unfortunate and many men did not live prosperous lives; they started to work when they were old enough and did not stop until their dying days. That had to be a miserable existence, being in the field all the time from sunrise to sunset, winter to fall, youth to old age.
These peasant men needed something pleasant to think about during their time in the field, and that is where Erec and Enide, Parzival, and Tristan come into play. These Romances gave these men something to think about during the long laboring hours in the fields. They could think about Enide and how beautiful she is, how Parzival found the Holy Grail and asked the one question, and how Tristan was a master of many talents. They could put themselves in the story and imagine a totally different life for themselves. A life that was not devoted to working in a field and tending to crops, but a life were they were knights. A life were they slayed dragons and were the most noble and heroic man in the land, and lastly a life where they had the most beautiful maiden in the land as their wife. These daydreams these peasant men might have had, I believe kept these men going and were necessary for them to survive because it gave them something to hope for even if that desire was unattainable.
Another reason I believe these Romances were meant to take the medieval people minds off of their rough lives is because the lack of class system in any of these stories. While reading Erec and Enide, Parzival, and Tristan we rarely encounter a person who lacks nobility. Even when Erec meets enide we first think that this family has nobility we find out that Enide is the niece of the Count in the land. So even a character that we are introduced to who wears clothes that one can see through has nobility in her blood. These three Romances do not depict all of the different type of people that lived during these times. In this article there is a quote that reads “Here, some pray, some fight, others work.” This quote comes from the writings of the cousins Aldebero, the bishop of Laon, and Gerard, the bishop Cambrai. The quote is describing how the people in medieval society were broken up. That there were mainly only three types of people clergy members, soldiers, and peasants. Bun in our Romances we get know mention of these groupings of society, we only hear about Kings, Queens, Dukes, Counts, knights, and maidens. We see no one who is impoverished and fighting for their existence on a daily struggle. We only hear about knights who venture to strange lands who stray dragons, and obtain great magical items. The lack of poor peasants seems to suggest to me that the writers knew that the people who would be hearing their stories would not want to hear about the poor. That these readers do not want to hear about the daily struggle it was to live during this time. These readers wanted to hear about faraway places, magaical items, brave knights and fair maidens because when they hear about these thing they could find some sort of happiness because the stories were so great that it elevated the spirits of those who heard them.
It was not only the men who were suffering but the women as well were having a rough time because with the men gone off conquering lands or defending their own, the women had to stay at home, take care of their children, and tend to whatever land their husband might own. As you can see if you were a man you were fighting and if you were a woman you were struggling to survive. Needless to say these men and women led rough lives during this period, Chretien, Eschenbach, and Strassburg all knew this and were living it, that is why they wrote these Romances that lacked these aforementioned hardships. These three writers knew that people during these times did including the nobles did not want to hear about wars and famines but they needed to read something else instead. That is why these stories deal with Authur’s court, brave knights, and beautiful maidens. That is why the hero of our tale always ends up in their place of destiny. Medieval readers read these works and for a however brief of a moment were able to forget about their lives and responsibilities and they were able to day dream about what it would be like if they were Erec, Parzival, or Tristan.
These stories are called Romances because that is what they are. These pieces romanticize the medieval time period in Europe. As I have already said the medieval times were hard on most and many did not survive. But in Erec and Enide, Parzival, and Tristan we get no mention of these hardships. First we hear about a beautiful brave knight who wins the love of the most beautiful maiden in all the land and in the end of his tale he defeats a curse that no one him before him could. Then Erec and Enide live happily ever after. Next in Parzival we are introduces to a young boy from a high ranking noble family, he becomes a knight and in the end he asks the one question that will save the keeper of the Holy Grail. Lastly, in Tristan, we meet a knight who is talented in many crafts, wins the heart of the Quenn, then dies because he believes his love, Isolde the fair, is not coming to be with him. Again in none of these stories we do not hear of any hardships. We only hear of triumphs of great men. Even in Tristan where the main character dies in the end, we do not feel bad for him because he at least got to be with the woman he loved for a good amount of time and was extremely happy while doing so. If you were a peasant hearing these Romances you would want to be any of these main characters because they lead adventurous lives that outshined these peasants’ mundane lives.

These three pieces deal with the ideas deal with popular ideas of the medieval time which were Authur’s court, courtly love, and of course knightly endeavors. We have read about larger valiant knights that had to overcome great odds to win love and status. Our main characters rarely fail and if they do fail, they are still able to end up at their rightful place, which I believe is a predetermined destiny. We encounter this ability to regain status and end up in a predetermined place when we see Erec is able to regain his honor after most of society viewed him as being recreant, then when Parzival finally asked the question of the Grail after failing to do so the first time, and when Tristan like his mother dies because he believes his lover, Isolde the Fair, is no longer coming to be with him. Throughout the reading of all of these Romances, I found it very predictable to see what was going to end up happening in the end. I believe this because early on in each of these three Romances we are given insight into what will happen at the end of the story.
I believe we are given this insight because the writers did not want to confuse and make the reader guess what was going to happen. I believe Chretien, Eshenbach, and Stassburg were mearly trying to entertain their audience. They did not care if they gave away clues of what was going to happen in the end of the story, they just wanted to take their audience away from their weary lives and transport them to a place that could not be explained as weary. I know that if I was a peasant during the medieval times hearing about Erec, Parzival, and Tristan I would be able to forget about all of the work that I had to do in the field. That however short of time I was granted this freedom of mine, I would enjoy it very much so, and it would help me get through the day, weeks, and years. These writers would have been giving me a great gift because they could uplift my spirits through the Romances they wrote. I believe this is what happened for many of the people that heard these three Romances during the time. That they were used as a means for people to forget about their the lives they lives and for a brief moment they could picture themselves as great knights what the whole world respected and loved. And at the end of the day everything would be ok.