Der arme Heinrich

Der arme Heinrich (Poor Heinrich or, as we were encouraged to call it "Sir Henry in his Distress") is a Middle High German narrative poem by Hartmann von Aue. It was probably written in the 1190s and was the second to last of Hartmann's four epic works. The poem combines courtly and religious narrative patterns to tell the story of a noble knight who has been stricken by God with leprosy; he can only be cured by the heart's blood of a virgin who willingly sacrifices herself for his salvation.

After a short prologue, in which the narrator names himself and from which we have most of our information about Hartmann von Aue, the story begins: Heinrich, a young Freiherr (baron) of Ouwe in Swabia commanding great material wealth and the highest social esteem. He embodies all knightly virtues and courtly behavior including being skilled in the Minnesang.

Heinrich plummets from this ideal life when God afflicts him with leprosy and those around him turn away from him in fear and disgust. In contrast with the biblical Job, Heinrich is unable to come to terms with this and visits doctors in Montpellier, who are unable to help him. At the famous Schola Medica Salernitana, he learns from a doctor that the cure does exist, though it is not available for Heinrich: only the life blood of a virgin of marriageable age, who freely sacrifices herself can cure him. Despairing and without hope of recovery, he returns home, gives away the greater part of his worldly goods and goes to live in the house of the caretaker of one of his estates.

There the daughter of a farmer becomes the second main character. The girl (in manuscript A she is 8, in manuscript B she is 12) is not afraid of Heinrich and becomes his devoted companion. Soon Heinrich jokingly calls her his bride. When, after three years, she overhears Heinrich telling her father unhopefully what he needs for his cure, she is determined to lay down her life for him. She wants to sacrifice herself for him, because she believes it is the only way to escape this sinful life and as the quickest way to get to everlasting life with God in the hereafter. In a speech whose rhetorical power is ascribed by her parents to divine inspiration, she convinces her parents and Heinrich to accept her sacrifice as God's will.

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