Wolfram von Eschenbach

Wolfram Von Eschenbach was born around 1170. He led a life as a Bavarian knight, serving lords in Abensburg, Wildenburg, and Wertheim. By 1203 he was in the court of Landgrave Hermann von Thuringen. He was also a poet. His surviving writings include eight lyric poems. The most important of these is Parzival, a poem of 25,000 lines in 16 books that introduced the theme of chivalry and the search for the Holy Grail into German literature. The work had an influence on later poets and it was the basis for Richard Wagner's final opera, Parsifal. His other works include Tagelieder, Willehalm, and Titurel. He died around 1220.