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King Rother, a twelfth-century bridal-quest epic, occupies an important place in the history of German literature. The earliest surviving and structurally most sophisticated of the so-called minstrel epics, verse narratives once assumed to have been recited by itinerant minstrels before a courtly audience, it has its roots in German folklore and documents the transition from orality to the culture of the book. The text belongs to the subgenre of the perilous bridal quest, in which the disguised wooer deceives the bride's father and abducts her with her consent. This simple quest structure is doubled, if the wooer must win his bride a second time from her father, who has rescued her. The bride is almost always a passive figure in these events, the main conflict being the disparity in status between the wooer and his prospective father-in-law. King Rother is structurally complex, as the present study is the first to recognize: the quest structure is doubled not only in the wooer's second quest, but also in the bride's own actions -- including her use of deception in a parallel quest for her wooer. This underscores her equality in status, which is her essential qualification to be his wife. The study includes an important English-language summary of scholarship on King Rother, on the minstrel epics, and on the bridal quest. Thomas Kerth is Associate Professor of German at Stony Brook University.
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King Rother and His Bride Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture King Rother and His Bride Quest and Counter-Quests Thomas Kerth Rochester, New York Copyright © 2010 Thomas Kerth All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. First published 2010 by Camden House Camden House is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA www.camden-house.com and of Boydell & Brewer Limited PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK www.boydellandbrewer.com ISBN-13: 978-1-57113-436-3 ISBN-10: 1-57113-436-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kerth, Thomas. King Rother and his bride : quest and counter-quests / Thomas Kerth. p. cm. — (Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-57113-436-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-57113-436-0 (hardcover) 1. König Rother. 2. Courtship in literature. 3. Kings and rulers in literature. 4. Epic poetry, German — History and criticism. I. Title. PT1551.K63K47 2010 831.'21—dc22 2009048039 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. This publication is printed on acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America. For George C. Schoolfield Im Zeitstrome bleiben oben Die Werke, die den Meister loben. Wers umkehrt, ist Gesell; sein Werkchen trinkt Des Stroms und sinkt. —Klopstock Contents Foreword ix List of Abbreviations xi 1: Minstrels and Bridal Quests 1 2: Sources and History 21 3: Rother 45 4: Constantin and his Queen 63 5: Rother’s Quest 87 6: The Active Bride 107 7: Merging Quests 120 8: Counter-Quest 158 9: Doubled Quest 168 10: Reconciliation and Consent 182 11: Eternal Quest 192 12: Conclusion 210 Bibliography 223 Index 245 Foreword T in its various forms is one of the major themes of international folklore and world