Gottfried von Strassburg

Gottfried von Strassburg (1170?-1215), German poet. The only work that can be attributed to him with certainty is the Middle High German epic Tristan und Isolt (1210), which places him among the great German poets of the Middle Ages. The legend of Tristram had been used by French trouvères of the early 12th century. Gottfried's Tristan und Isolt, which was based on the version of the French trouvère Thomas of Brittany, gave the story the form in which it was used many times by later poets and by Richard Wagner in his opera Tristan und Isolde (1859). Gottfried's poem is particularly notable for fluency and artistry of style and for psychological insight into the characters. The poem was unfinished at Gottfried's death, and two minor poets made attempts to finish it during the 13th century.