Wolfram von Eschenbach completes Parzival

1207

A Bavarian knight of modest station completed his Middle High German romance retelling the Grail legend. His Parzival is the strangest and most sophisticated knightly narrative of the age, full of Arabic science, interfaith sympathy, and the moral perils of asking the right question. Wagner would later mine the poem for his final opera, though he stripped it of its generous ecumenism.