ABSTRACT
The lyrical works of Tannhäuser, a thirteenth-century traveling singer and composer, are preserved in the famous Zurich Manesse family and Jena manuscripts of courtly love poetry known as Minnesang. The name is toponymic, but as several villages are called Tannhau-sen, the poet’s place of origin cannot be determined. We know only that he was for a time at court in Vienna under the patronage of Duke Frederick II. The first song (Leich) can be dated to 1245, the sixth to 1264-1266. The language is South German.
