This course is an introduction to medieval German literature, using the greatest love romance of medieval Germany as an example: Tristan and Isolde by Gottfried von Strassburg. Part of a new wave of chivalric literature in early 13th-century Germany, this text is a key document for the establishment of a new, refined aristocratic culture following French models. It tells a story of adventure and adulterous love, but also of coming-of-age, self-realization, and the legitimacy of art in an aristocratic world. The course focuses on one of the integral texts of the medieval German literary canon. Ample room is reserved for the comparison of the German versions to related accounts in other languages (including French and Old Norse). Through short introductory modules on Middle High German, the course also enables students without previous exposure to medieval German to read and interpret the texts in their original language. The course fulfills the departmental requirement in Middle High German.