Der Stricker's Daniel is the first freely invented German Arthurian romance, bringing the genre to a new level of originality. Beginning with Hartmann von Aue's Erec (c.1185) and up until Daniel (c.1210-25), German poets had drawn their tales of King Arthur's knights exclusively from the world of the French romance, most commonly from the oeuvre of the great romancier Chretien de Troyes; but in relating his eponymous hero's adventures against giants, dwarves and fellow knights, der Stricker made a clean break with this tradition, claims that he received his story from the French poet Alberich...

Erec by Hartmann von Aue is a translation, by Michael Resler, of the earliest example of the German Arthurian legend and the beginning of the golden era-1170 to 1240-of Middle High German literature. An extensive introduction to this translation establishes Erec within its historical and cultural setting, and detailed notes to the text refer to the pertinent philological, literary, and historical scholarship that has, during the past century and more, dealt with this important romance.

A lesser-known but important Arthurian romance (ca. 1210-25) is here translated complete for the first time into English. The original Middle High German poem - in all likelihood the first German Arthurian romance not based on a French model - relates, in 8,482 lines, the adventures of the hero in his contests against dwarfs and giants. Resler's introduction examines the life and works of the poet, his sources and influences, the question of originality, and points of departure from the "classical" Arthurian romances. Full textual notes, bibliography, and index are provided.

Diese kritische Ausgabe des Daniel, der zu den fruhesten der sogenannten nachklassischen Artusromanen zahlt, bietet den normalisierten mittelhochdeutschen Text samt Einleitung, Auswahlbibliographie, Verzeichnis der Eigennamen und diplomatischem Abdruck der Anfangsverse der Leithandschrift. In der dritten Auflage tritt neben den textkritischen Apparat ein zweiter Apparat mit sprachlichen Erlauterungen, der den Zugang zum Text erleichtern soll.