Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Classen, Albrecht

Titel

Herzog Ernst: A Traveler Explores the Eastern World: Herzog Ernst and His Efforts to Find Himself through Travel. Or: Trails through a Political Jungle and an Exotic World in the East

Ist Teil von

• Tracing the Trails in the Medieval World, 2021, p.80-95

Auflage

1

Ort / Verlag

United Kingdom: Routledge

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Travel always opens the gates toward new worlds, hence new adventures, which, in turn, tend to transform the individual. This is powerfully illuminated in the Middle High German Herzog Ernst where the protagonist experiences the great need to move first throughout Germany to defend himself against the unjust Emperor Otto, then to the mythical East where he encounters the world of monsters. Each move forward takes him closer to his own self, so trailing here constitutes the development of the individual. Travel always opens the gates toward new worlds, hence new adventures, which, in turn, tend to transform the individual. This is powerfully illuminated in the Middle High German Herzog Ernst where the protagonist experiences the great need to move first throughout Germany to defend himself against the unjust Emperor Otto, then to the mythical East where he encounters the world of monsters. The Middle High German anonymous version of Herzog Ernst belongs to one of the most popular secular verse narratives in the history of medieval German literature, as documented by the many manuscripts and even incunabula, then early modern prints of various versions. The poem continued to appeal to audiences well into the nineteenth century (if not even until today). Herzog Ernst proves to be a literary reflection on a mental map, taking the protagonist first throughout Germany, then to the mysterious East, and finally back home again.