History Literature / Parzival

''Parzival'' is a narrative romance in Middle High German by Wolfram von Eschenbach detailing the exploits of Parzival (Percival), knight of the Round Table, in his search for [[Myth/KingArthurAndTheHolyGrail the Holy Grail]]. Divided into sixteen 'books' written in long verses of rhyming couplets, the first two portray the ([[ChekhovsGun bigamous]]) exploits of Parzival's father, then the next three show Parzival's career as a young and inexperienced knight, culminating in his stay at the mysterious castle of the Grail, with its tormented king. On failing to ask the question which would end the king's suffering, Parzival finds himself cast out in shame, and spends the remainder of the poem attempting to find the castle again in order to ask the right question.

''Parzival'' was the equivalent of a best-seller in its age: no other 13th-century literary work was copied or quoted as often. Although some of the more educated authors of the time, e. g. Gottfried von Straßburg, the writer of the Middle High German ''Literature/{{Tristan|AndIseult}}'', looked down on the "wild tale" (''wilde maere''), it was one of the main reasons why in the middle ages it was said of Wolfram: "''layen mund nye pas gesprach''" (the mouth of no lay person ever spoke better). ''Parzival'' proved very influential in the presentation of the Grail Legend, as well as being the touchstone for the German understanding of Myth/ArthurianLegend. Music/RichardWagner's last opera, ''Parsifal'', was based on this, while his earlier opera ''Theatre/{{Lohengrin}}'' was written around a "sequel" to the poem [[note]]Lohengrin is Parzival's son[[/note]].

* AnachronismStew: Mediaeval writers generally had a very loose sense of historical accuracy, and Wolfram was no different, including both the worship of Roman gods and the courtly standards of his own time in a story set roughly halfway between both time periods. The illuminations to the various manuscripts continue this, with the characters depicted in [[MiddleAges contemporary dress]].

* AuthorAppeal: The appeal of [[LuxuryTropes the]] [[BlingOfWar ubiquitous]] [[CostumePorn wealth]] [[BigFancyCastle porn]] is easy to understand when you take note of the parts where Wolfram laments his own poverty. The author appeal nature of it becomes especially clear in the chapter on Gahmuret and Herzeleide's wedding, where it's mentioned that even poor minnesingers were given precious gifts.

* BookDumb: From the ''author'', who [[UnreliableNarrator claims]] not to know "a letter of the alphabet".

%%* CharacterDevelopment: What made Parzival stand out in contrast to many other heroes of medieval literature and made him fascinating to many modern readers and writers. In expanding Chrétien de Troyes' much shorter story, Wolfram created a lot of meat for psychological interpretations. %% How does Parzival develop?

* ConvertingForLove: Discussed in Belakane's case, later done by her son Feirefiz. This is the only reason we see anyone converting in ''Parzival''.

* CorruptChurch: Just about the only time clerics appear is when they tell Parzival's father-to-be Gahmuret that it is okay for him to marry Queen Herzeloyde even though he is still married to the pagan Queen Belacane. A marriage to a heathen does not really count, they say. Otherwise clerics are strangely absent, leading to Parzival to receive his deeper religious instruction from Trevrizent, a laic hermit.
%%* CourtlyLove: The ''point'' of most of what happens.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: All the main heroes of the Matter of Britain. Parzival, Gawan, Artus, Lanzelot...

--> -- Book V

''Parzival'' is a narrative romance in Middle High German by Wolfram von Eschenbach detailing the exploits of Parzival (Percival), knight of the Round Table, in his search for [[Myth/KingArthurAndTheHolyGrail the Holy Grail]]. Divided into sixteen 'books' written in long verses of rhyming couplets, the first two portray the ([[ChekhovsGun bigamous]]) exploits of Parzival's father, then the next three show Parzival's career as a young and inexperienced knight, culminating in his stay at the mysterious castle of the Grail, with its tormented king. On failing to ask the question which would end the king's suffering, Parzival finds himself cast out in shame, and spends the remainder of the poem attempting to find the castle again in order to ask the right question. The latter half of the poem is interspersed with episodes following Gawan (Gawain) in his efforts to disprove an accusation of murder, and then get married, with the last books uniting the two plots. The story is considerably embellished by the idiosyncratic style of Wolfram himself, prone to digressions, comments on his society (and his love life), as well as sarcastic attacks on his readers and other authors.

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'' by Creator/ChretienDeTroyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of Myth/KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Literature/HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien.

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Li contes del Graal ou Le roman de Perceval'' by Creator/ChretienDeTroyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of Myth/KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Literature/HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien.

* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: This is how Parzival's parents got together. His mother Herzeleide arranged a tourney, where the winner would be rewarded with her hand. On the eve of the tourney, the participants had a warm-up battle, where Gahmuret - who wasn't even going to participate in the actual tourney - dominated so completely that Herzeleide decided to skip the tourney and just marry Gahmuret. He objected, because he was already married and wouldn't have wanted to stay with Herzeleide anyway, but she got judges to rule that he had to.
** Parzival in turn rescues Kondwiramur from this fate.

''Parzival'' is a narrative romance in Middle High German by Wolfram von Eschenbach detailing the exploits of Parzival (Percival), knight of the Round Table, in his search for the HolyGrail, based off the Myth/KingArthurAndTheHolyGrail stories. Divided into sixteen 'books' written in long verses of rhyming couplets, the first two portray the ([[ChekhovsGun bigamous]]) exploits of Parzival's father, then the next three show Parzival's career as a young and inexperienced knight, culminating in his stay at the mysterious castle of the Grail, with its tormented king. On failing to ask the question which would end the king's suffering, Parzival finds himself cast out in shame, and spends the remainder of the poem attempting to find the castle again in order to ask the right question. The latter half of the poem is interspersed with episodes following Gawan (Gawain) in his efforts to disprove an accusation of murder, and then get married, with the last books uniting the two plots. The story is considerably embellished by the idiosyncratic style of Wolfram himself, prone to digressions, comments on his society (and his love life), as well as sarcastic attacks on his readers and other authors.

''Parzival'' was the equivalent of a best-seller in its age: no other 13th-century literary work was copied or quoted as often. Although some of the more educated authors of the time, e. g. Gottfried von Straßburg, the writer of the Middle High German ''[[Literature/TristanAndIseult Tristan]]'', looked down on the "wild tale" (''wilde maere''), it was one of the main reasons why in the middle ages it was said of Wolfram: "''layen mund nye pas gesprach''" (the mouth of no lay person ever spoke better). ''Parzival'' proved very influential in the presentation of the Grail Legend, as well as being the touchstone for the German understanding of the stories of King Arthur. Music/RichardWagner's last opera, ''Parsifal'', was based on this, while his earlier opera ''Theatre/{{Lohengrin}}'' was written around a "sequel" to the poem [[note]]Lohengrin is Parzival's son[[/note]].

* TropeCodifier: Both for the Grail Legend and, particularly in the German-speaking world, the stories of Myth/KingArthur.