HARTMANN von der Aue. - German poet, born c. 1170, died between 1210 and 1220. Through him much of what French spirit had elaborated, enriched with chivalric life and the mythical and fabulous Celtic world, flowed into Germany.
Four epic poems remain: *Erek* (c. 1190) and *Iwein* (shortly after 1200) from the Arthurian cycle; *Gregorius auf dem Stein* (from the intervening decade) and the masterpiece *Der arme Heinrich*. Thanks to these, the development of art marks, for the taste of the time and from a formal standpoint, a further step toward perfection. As a Minnesänger, H. was instead a weak lyricist; he nevertheless distinguished himself by turning, when courtly Minne was most honored, to the love of Christ (even traveling as a crusader to the Holy Land), as well as to *Minne forese*, thus becoming a forerunner of the future *niedere Minne*, i.e., love for humble and simple creatures.