RODOLF OF EMS. — German epic poet of Swiss origin, born around 1200, died around 1254 in Italy in the retinue of Conrad IV, the best among the imitators of Gottfried of Strasbourg.
Among his works, which stand out especially for a high degree of moral purity and for singular grace and elegance of form, deserve mention the novella *Der gute Gerhard*, a glorification of Christian humility, the ascetic tale *Barlaam und Josaphat*, the story of the conversion to Christianity of the Indian prince Josaphat by the wise Barlaam, the *Weltchronik*, a history of the world from the creation to the death of Solomon, in which individual events are presented as the incarnation of the divine will in preparation for the advent of Christ, and which was one of the most widely circulated books of that time, indeed, until the Reformation, the principal source of knowledge of the Bible for the laity.