The Armour Archive

Well, at least I'm trying to. I can't seem to find any real information about the city itself. Maybe I'm using the wrong spelling? Spellings I can think of are: Straussburg, Strausburg, Straußburg, Strasburg, Strassburg, Straßburg, Straussberg, Strausberg, Straußberg, Strassberg, Strasberg, Straßberg. Is there any one of those that is the 'correct' spelling? Does anyone happen to have information on it?

Thanks,
Dan

If it is the same city, It is actually a border town just inside France. http://www.strasbourg.com/ Lovely city with a lot of history. Hope this helps. Patrick

Well, maybe I should ask this question:

I came across the name 'von Straussburg' while researching 12th century names. I assumed it was from a German town since he was a German poet. In that case, would anyone have info about Gottfried von Straussburg?

Dan

Strasbourg is a decidingly German-French city. Although it is technically in France and its natives speak French and have French pride, it retains its German roots. Strasbourg used to be considered part of the Prussian "Empire" and would have been in a duchy or fiefdom of the Holy Roman Empire in the 12th century. So it is not so odd that someone hailing from Strasbourg in that time period would adhere to a German-style naming system rather than a French or Norman style. I would suggest researching the history of the area and examining its German heritage. Hope this helps!

Owain Cadarn ap Dafydd of Caer Du

------------------
"Veni Creator Spiritus!"

Gottfried von Straußburg (german spelling) was a German poet at the time you specified. There is little known about him. This is from a site that deals with his Tristram:

"We have no factual data on the life of Gottfried von Straßburg. The geographical designation could mean that he was a burgher of the city of Straßburg, but there is no evidence to prove or disprove this The Heidelberg manuscript of lyric poetry (Three poems in this collection are inaccurately ascribed to him) speaks of him as «Meister», which indicates that he was not a nobleman. In all probability he was educated as a cleric—but more in the sense of ‘clerk’— to the level of a ‘Master’ in other words, he had received the best available formal education of his time. His works testify to the degree of his formal education. He had far greater knowledge of the classics and of French than any of his German contemporaries, and his style reflects his great familiarity with the rules of classical rhetoric.

Although he was fully conversant with the chivalric poetry of his time, he clearly stood apart from it and felt none of the need expressed by Wolfram von Eschenbach to justify the life of the knight. On the contrary, he deliberately showed its weaknesses by making his hero a cultured man rather than a knight. "

Hope this helps

Sebastian

Very interesting. I just got my Man-at-Arms German Medieval Armies 1000-1300 book, and just flipping through it looks like it has some pretty decent information. Would anyone happen to know how reliable the illustrations in it would be?

Thanks
Dan

Also, if I'm doing a 12th century German persona, would it be reasonable to be from Strasburg?

Dan

It's definately resonable to do a German speaking personna from Strasburg up until the end of period. The city was part of the holr roman empire, part of burgundy, and part of france at different times in it's history. the whole area between the Rhine river and the Vosges mountains was disputed between France and the Empire for hundreds of years. Just look in an atlas at the place names in Alsace and to a lesser extent Lorraine, France. I live in Kaiserslautern, which is close to the french border, and when you cross the border you will planty of companies with the names Schmidt, Klein, Falkenburg and Mueller, rather than the normal french surnames.
Slainte,
Fearghus

------------------
"How long will we fight? We will fight until hell freezes
over. Then we fight on the ice."
Fearghus's Homepage