(fl 1200–20). German poet. With Hartmann von Aue and Wolfram von Eschenbach he was one of the most important representatives of the Middle High German epic. His life’s work was Tristan (ed. F. Ranke, Berlin, 1930, rev. R. Krohn, 1980; Eng. trans., A.T. Hatto, 1960). It is an unfinished courtly epic of 20,000 lines, based on a poem by Thomas of Brittany and completed by later hands. The work is especially noteworthy for Gotfrid’s informative remarks on music and its courtly practice. Three further poems with manuscript ascriptions to Gotfrid are probably not by him.
H.-H. Steinhoff: Bibliographie zu Gottfried von Strassburg (Berlin, 1971–86)
A. Wolf, ed.: Gottfried von Strassburg (Darmstadt, 1973)
H. Kuhn: ‘Gottfried von Strassburg’, Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters: Verfasserlexikon, ed. K. Ruh and others (Berlin, 2/1977–)
For further bibliography see Minnesang.
BURKHARD KIPPENBERG/LORENZ WELKER