Arthur and Tristan On the Intersection of Legends in German Medieval Literature

This is an examination of the coherent relation between the Arthur and Tristan tales in the dense embroidery of the Arthurian metastory, and in particular in medieval German letters. The Arthurian world occupies an important position in the Tristan stories: a general pattern is attested even if one has difficulty in deciding the full literary implications of the integration of the two cultures. Since the Tristan poems in the German cultural area are best appreciated when placed alongside French versions, this study refers to the latter where appropriate. This is an attempt to appreciate by close reading how the milieus of Arthur and Tristan relate to one another in German medieval poetry.