Sängerkrieg

Local Thuringian historians, such as Dietrich von Apolda and Johannes Rothe, in the 14th and 15th centuries respectively, suggested the poems referred to an actual historical event.

The poems of the Sängerkrieg form an important collection of Middle High German literature, reflecting a literary flourishing at the court of Count Hermann I in the early 13th century.

Heinrich gained the protection of Countess Sophia and a one-year reprieve, during which he went to Hungary and sought the assistance of the sorcerer Klingsor.

The Rätselspiel ("mystery game") was the subsequent poetic duel between Wolfram von Eschenbach and the Hungarian sorcerer Klingsor.

Wolfram proved himself capable and eloquent, and when Klingsor grew weary he summoned a demon to continue the duel.

The mythical sorcerer Klingsor,[a] as an adversary of Christian conviction, is the figure which made possible the blending of these stories, because he could also embody the same demonic forces which had trapped Tannhäuser under the spell of the Lady Venus.