HvAGr-1: Prologue: God’s infinite mercy: any sin can be forgiven if one has complete confidence in God’s mercy. This story will be the story of a “good sinner”.

Motif References:

V 315.1 Power of repentance

HvAGr-177: The wife of the lord of Aquitania (Equitânjâ) dies giving birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Ten years later the father dies. Before his death he summons his relatives and vassals to a council and tells them to take care of his children. (243) Then he gives advice to his son telling him to be faithful and just, constant, munificent, modest, valiant and pious, and he should seek wise company. He tells him to take care of his sister.

Motif References:

P 16 End of king’s reign
P 233 Father and son
P 253 Sister and brother
T 685 Twins

HvAGr-273: Brother and sister love each other as they should. The devil however makes the boy fall in carnal love with his sister, who is very beautiful. (353) One night he makes her his mistress. She cannot defend herself against him and becomes pregnant. Her brother sends for a wise man, (566) who advises him to leave with his men on a pilgrimage for the Holy Grave to do penance; his sister should be the regent of the country in the meantime. Being the oldest and richest of his vassals he will take care of the lady so that she can give birth to her child in secrecy. She should do penance for her sin by serving the country.

Motif References:

P 14.15.1 (Old, wise) Counsellors of court [King’s council]
P 253 Sister and brother
G 303.9.4 The devil as a tempter
T 415 Brother-sister incest
P 500 Government
Q 526 Pilgrimage as penance
V 531 Pilgrimage to Holy Land
N 825.2 Old man helper

HvAGr-627: Before he leaves his sister, they divide their goods in half. The brother never returns. The counselor’s wife takes care of the lady and (670) she gives birth to a son, who will be the good sinner. The child is abandoned to the sea in a barrel which is well equipped with precious clothes and money; an engraving on a little board of ivory richly decorated with gold and jewels tells the child’s story: the boy is a noble Christian, whose parents are his aunt and uncle. He who finds the child should have him baptized; the money should be used for his education; as soon as he has grown up he should be given the engraving and do penance for his parents. But he must never know his true identity or his home country. The child is enclosed in the barrel and exposed on the sea at night. Christ sends good winds.

Motif References:

S 141 Exposure in boat
Z 255 Hero born out of wedlock
S 312.1 Child of incest exposed
S 331 Exposure of child in boat (floating chest)
S 334 Tokens of royalty (nobility) left with exposed child
T 640 Illegitimate children
N 817.0.1 God as helper
F 883 Extraordinary writings (book, letter)

HvAGr-805: The lady is suffering from grief because of her sin, her son’s fate and about the death of her brother and lover who died of love on his pilgrimage. She disapproves of the argument that women’s love is deeper than the love of men: although she is suffering fourfold grief she does not die. She buries her brother and paramour. Because of her beauty, virtue, youth and wealth she has many suitors. (871) But she will not marry and loves only God. She keeps doing penance by prayer, vigils, alms and fasting. (899) The sovereign of a neighboring country having been rejected as suitor wages war and devastates the country. She is besieged in her capital town.

Motif References:

T 75.2.1 Rejected suitors’ revenge
T 81 Death from love
T 104.1 Rejected suitor wages war
T 311 Woman averse to marriage
Q 520.3 Life-long penance for brother-sister marriage
V 531 Pilgrimage to Holy Land

HvAGr-923: In the meantime God has taken care of the child: Like Jonah after three days and nights in the fish’s belly, the child is driven in two nights and one day to an island where some fishermen in the service of the local monastery find the boat and take the barrel with them. The abbot asks them about it. They want to deceive him but he is alarmed by the crying child. The engraving tells him the story of the child and he makes the fishermen promise to keep silent.

Motif References:

Z 71.1.1 Formula: three days and three nights
M 100 Vows and oaths
L 111.2.1 Future hero found in boat (basket, bushes)
R 131.4 Fisher rescues abandoned child
P 411 Peasant
N 817.0.1 God as helper
F 911.4 Jonah. Fish (or water monster) swallows a man

HvAGr-1063: The fishermen are two brothers, one of them is rich and has a married daughter, and the other one is poor, lives near the monastery and has many children. The abbot gives the child to the poor fisherman who should pass him off as the son of his brother’s daughter. The abbot takes the riches and the money; he gives two marks to the poor and one to the rich as hush money. (1107) The poor has the child baptized by the abbot, because he thinks the child will thus obtain salvation. The monks ridicule his simplicity. The boy is named Gregorius.

Motif References:

P 251.5.4 Two brothers as contrasts
P 271.2 Fisherman as foster father

HvAGr-1137: The abbot is the child’s spiritual father and cares for his education. When he is six years old, he goes to live in the monastery for his further education. He surpasses the children of his age by his wisdom and eagerness for knowledge. At the age of twelve he already has an excellent knowledge of grammar, three years later he knows all about theology, and then he learns everything about law.

Motif References:

J 146.2 (Li) The educated youth
T 600 Care (education) of children
T 615.3 Precocious wisdom [virtue]
N 846.2 Priest as helper

HvAGr-1201: The fisherman’s wife, curious about the money her husband receives, makes him tell about Gregorius. Gregorius is very virtuous and well-bred. One day however he hurts one of his foster-brothers unintentionally. His mother gets angry that a foundling hurt her child and says so. Gregorius overhears the secret of his origin. (1385) He asks the abbot about it, and decides to seek the land of his parents because he is afraid that the woman will further spread his shameful secret. The abbot wants to make him his successor but Gregorius wants to become a knight. The abbot warns him not to give up a holy life for chivalry so easily. (1625) Finally he has to give in and equips him as knight from the riches sent with the barrel. Withholding the engraving and the gold he hopes to make him stay but Gregorius will leave nevertheless. So finally he gives him everything but (1803) advises him to do penance. Gregorius wants to stay a knight errant until he gets to know his identity.

Motif References:

P 53 (Bm) Obtaining knighthood
T 258.2 Wife insists upon knowing husband’s secret
N 450 Secrets overheard
T 621 Orphan [foundling] inquires about parents

HvAGr-1825: Gregorius leaves the island. He asks God to guide him and leaves the ship’s course to the winds. A storm brings him into his mother’s country now devastated by her enemy. (1867) He is welcomed in town and offers his help. The townspeople tell him of their young and beautiful sovereign who is averse to marriage. The steward has him see her as she is praying in church. (1932) They meet and his clothes remind her of her sorrow. He falls in love with her. Gregorius becomes a knight and is trained in fighting. He is the most excellent knight.

Motif References:

T 10 Falling in love
P 53 (Bm) Obtaining knighthood
N 118.1 Ship’s course left to the winds that it might be carried where fate wills it
H 195 (Bm) Failure to recognize
T 311 Woman averse to marriage
N 735 Accidental meeting of mother and son
N 839 (Bm) Noble [vassal, knight] as helper

HvAGr-1999: Her enemy is a very strong Roman duke who challenges the besieged townspeople to single combat before the gates. He already has made many captives so that the townspeople have no fighter left. Gregorius will fight him (2091) and goes outside the gates. The ladies and the knights watch their combat from the walls. Gregorius overcomes the enemy and takes him as captive into town. Thus he has relieved his mother’s country from the enemy who now has to make reparations. (2178) The duke has to give security.

Motif References:

P 556.0.1 (Bm) Challenge to single combat [feud]
P 559 (Li) Peace: making and conditions of peace (ransom, reparations, submission)

HvAGr-2185: To guarantee the land’s safety the counselors want their lady to marry. She is given free choice (2225) and decides to marry Gregorius, who thus becomes his mother’s husband. Gregorius is a good ruler; he is just and keeps peace.

Motif References:

P 12 Character of kings
P 28 Marriage of queen
T 55 Girl as wooer. Forthputting woman
T 64 King seeks bride only because counsellors insist
N 365.1 Boy unwittingly commits incest with his mother

HvAGr-2277: Gregorius has the habit of reading the engravings every day in secret and begs God for mercy but does not perceive his sin. (2295) One day a maidservant wondering that he enters his room quite happily and leaves in a sad mood detects his secret. She tells her lady about his grief (she has seen him falling onto his knees, beating his breast and crying). The lady wants to help her husband and (2471) secretly reads the engraving which she recognizes.

Motif References:

N 450 Secrets overheard
F 883 Extraordinary writings (book, letter)
F 1041.21.6 Tearing hair and clothes from excessive grief

HvAGr-2486: The lady beats herself and tears her hair from grief about her sin. She asks her husband about it and they realize their fault. They grieve as much as Judas and David, when he learnt the death of his sons Saul, Jonathan and Absalon, who was a very beautiful man. (2695) Gregorius in poor clothes leaves his wife whom he advises to do penance in poverty and by giving alms to the poor and founding monasteries.

Motif References:

V 315.1 Power of repentance
Q 520 Penances
F 1041.21.6 Tearing hair and clothes from excessive grief

HvAGr-2751: Gregorius does penance: he wanders through the wilderness without shoes and prays. (2771) A small path leads him to the hut of a fisherman. He asks for shelter but is rudely rejected. (2835) The fisherman’s wife intervenes and Gregorius obtains a lodging. The fisherman asks his identity wondering about the poor outfit of a well-fed man. (2955) Gregorius says he wants to live in a hermitage. The fisherman tells him of a stone in the sea: he will bring him there and fetter him to the stone. In the morning Gregorius leaves for the stone but leaves his engravings behind. The fisherman takes him to the stone, fetters him to the stone and throws the keys into the sea: He says that if they are found one day Gregorius will be a saint without any sin. (3101) Gregorius lives on the stone for seventeen years: his clothes are in rags; he receives his food from Christ and finds water in a little hole.

Motif References:

Z 61 Never: various ways of expressing this idea
Z 71.16.12 Formulistic number- seventeen
W 151 Greed
P 320 Hospitality
P 411 Peasant
Q 520 Penances
Q 541.3 Penance: Gregory on the stone. Standing on a stone (pillar) as penance for incest
N 817.0.1 God as helper
F 851 Extraordinary food

HvAGr-3137: Finally God forgives Gregorius: After the Pope’s death the Romans quarrel about his successor and (3155) finally leave the choice to God. (3171) In their prayer two Romans hear God’s voice that tells them of Gregorius on his stone. They leave in quest of him. After a prayer for God’s help they accidentally come upon the hut of the fisherman who welcomes them as his guests because they are wealthy.

Motif References:

W 151 Greed
V 294 The Pope
V 315.1 Power of repentance
P 320 Hospitality
P 411 Peasant
V 550 (Bm) Voice from heaven
P 623.0.1.1 Clerics fast against God for revelation
N 817.0.1 God as helper

HvAGr-3275: They eat a fish and find the keys inside. The fisherman tears his hair and beats himself and tells them of Gregorius’s whereabouts. (3371) They leave for the stone. Gregorius’s appearance shocks them: He is black and pale and has no clothes, is covered by hair, his eyes are red, his brows long, the chains have cut him to the bone. The Holy Spirit however has not let him lose his mind. They ask his name.

Motif References:

N 211.1.2 Key (to fetters) found in fish
V 222 Miraculous manifestation acclaims saint
Q 541.3 Penance: Gregory on the stone. Standing on a stone (pillar) as penance for incest
F 1041.21.6 Tearing hair and clothes from excessive grief

HvAGr-3490: The Romans explain what they have come for. Gregorius only believes their story and joins them once they show the keys. He asks for his engravings which are found under the ruins of the fisherman’s hut. They leave for Rome, God protects them on their journey and they have an inexhaustible barrel of food.

Motif References:

Q 36 Reward for repentance
H 192 Recognition by supernatural manifestation
N 817.0.1 God as helper
F 883 Extraordinary writings (book, letter)
D 1652.1 Inexhaustible food

HvAGr-3753: Gregorius’s arrival in Rome is announced by a miracle three days in advance: all bells are ringing. He cures people from illness and grief. Humility is a characteristic of the pope Gregorius.

Motif References:

Z 71.1 Formulistic number: three
V 221 Miraculous healing by saints
V 222.6 Bell sounds at approach of saint
V 294 The Pope

HvAGr-3831: Gregorius’s mother learns about the new Pope and sets out for Rome. He fails to recognize her, for she has become pale and weak. But by her confession he recognizes her. They do not separate until their death.

Motif References:

H 151.3 Recognition when parents come to son (priest, pope) to be confessed
T 412.1 Mother guilty of incest with son forgiven by Pope (Virgin Mary)

Miscellaneous Romances

Hartmann von Aue, Gregorius (1190/1200) Kippenberg, E., Kuhn, H. (ed.): Hartmann von Aue, Gregorius. Nach der Ausgabe von F. Neumann. Stuttgart 1988.

Hartmann von Aue, Gregorius (1190/1200)
Kippenberg, E., Kuhn, H. (ed.): Hartmann von Aue, Gregorius. Nach der Ausgabe von F. Neumann. Stuttgart 1988.