3 - The Stricker’s Karl der Große: Adaptation and Innovation of the Myth of Charlemagne in the Thirteenth Century

Summary

Biographical Background: The Stricker

IF WE needed any confirmation that Charlemagne enjoyed increasing popularity in the high and late Middle Ages, we only would have to consider the great romance by The Stricker, Karl der Große. The Striker adopted Priest Konrad's Rolandslied and adapted it for his own purposes, so this text represents one of the most important points in the history of the myth of the Frankish emperor and its long-term reception. There are forty-two manuscripts containing The Stricker's epic poem, copied from the thirteenth through the late fifteenth century. In fact, this text contributed more than any other to the dissemination of the myth of Char-lemagne far into the late German Middle Ages.

The Stricker might not be well known among non-Germanophone medievalists, but he created a large and diverse oeuvre which considerably appealed to his audience and deserves to be studied carefully. He was successful both as a romance author and as the composer of didactic verse narratives. We do not know much about him, for he hides his identity behind a metonymic name, the Strickære – that is, the knitter, rope maker or weaver. This might be an allusion to his profession as a textile worker, or he might have understood the term as an expression of his artistic activities as a poet, weaving words and sentences together to create text. Contemporary or later poets also mention him, such as Rudolf von Ems in his Alexander (after 1230, vv. 3257–8) and Willehalm von Orlens (after 1240, vv. 2230–3). Based on linguistic features, he might have originated from the southern area of Rhine Franconia, or from eastern Franconia, but he was mostly active in Austria, as the many references to local towns and events there indicate.

The Stricker flourished between c. 1220 and c. 1250, and he seems to have been a professional poet of modest social status who enjoyed a tremendous success with his works, which are complex and diverse. We assume that he knew some French, based on his familiarity with the Chanson de Roland, and some Latin, based on his numerous references to the learned literature of his time. He also seems to have been familiar with Wolfram von Eschenbach's Willehalm (c. 1218), with the Aegidius legend and with the pilgrimage guide to Compostela.