Gottfried Von Strassburg: Tristan

Please note the same entry can be found in our Topics Table.

I. The Tristan romance in the Middle Ages

In contrast to the modern world, medieval culture knew fairly little of “national” or “cultural” boundaries; many peoples shared most literary traditions, although the various manifestations of specific literary, artistic, and musical traditions differed more or less from language to language. The Tristan tradition dates back to the early Celtic cultures, but individual elements also might have been borrowed from Hellenic, Persian, and Arabic sources. The main protagonist, Tristan, has long been identified with the Pictish Drust, son of Tallorc, and also with Drystan, son of Tallwch, in the Welsh tradition