Stricker, der

Stricker, der (Middle High German "stricken" = combine, plait), Middle High German itinerant poet from the 1^st half of the 13^th century, from Rheinfranken. His extensive oeuvre includes small pieces of poetry as well as elaborate romances. The Stricker is regarded as having initiated the genre Märe, a specific type of German tale. His 16 Mär tales were probably written before 1250 and are mostly of a farce-like character ("Der begrabene Ehemann" - "The Buried Husband", "Der Gevatterin Rat" - "The Godmother´s Advice", "Das heiße Eisen" - "The Hot Iron"). The Stricker also wrote Bîspel (exemplary) tales, fables, a minne speech and the farcical tale "Pfaffe Amis" ("Parson Amis"). In 1220 he translated the "La Chanson de Roland"; "Daniel von dem blühenden Tal" (Daniel of the Flowering Valley, around 1220) is an Arthurian romance, which deliberately diverges from the view of the world presented in the classic Arthurian romance.

Editions: M. Resler (ed.), Daniel von dem blühenden Tal, 1983; W. Moelleken (ed.), Die Kleindichtung des Strickers, 1973; K. Hofmann (ed.), Frauenehre, 1976; K. Bartsch (ed.), Karl der Große, 1857 (reprint 1965); H. Henne (ed.), Der Pfaffe Amis (Middle High German - New High German), 1991; H. Janota (ed.), D. S. Verserzählungen, 2 vols., ⁴, 1979/1997.

Literature: S. L. Wailes, Studien zur Kleindichtung des Stricker, 1981; H. Ragotzky, Gattungserneuerung und Laienunterweisung in Texten des Strickers, 1981; S. Böhm, Der S., 1995; Deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters (lex.).