Fisherman king

The following important information is missing from this article or section:

• Origin of the motif or possible historical models
• Character concepts and names by different authors (in order)
• Properties (must fish and is wounded)

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Amfortas is a legendary figure from the verse epic Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach , which was created between 1200 and 1210. In the legends of the Holy Grail, he is the keeper of the Grail Castle . For his livelihood he has to fish and is therefore also called the fisherman king (old French roi peschierres ). He is wounded by an enchanted love.

Interpretation of the figure

He was after Robert de Boron a son of Veronica, the sister of Joseph de Berimathie . At Chrétien de Troyes he is Perceval's maternal uncle .

In Perlesvaus he is Josue, a son of Glais and brother Alains, the father of Perlesvaus ( Parzival ). His descendants here are Aminadap, Catheloys, Manaal, Lambor, Pelleams (the lame king ) and Pelles, who becomes the grandfather of Galahad through Lancelot .

From the symbolic Bekehrer- or Fisher King ( roi pescheor ) a sinner King (developed by a linguistic misunderstanding roi pécheur ), which languishes in a sin, but is maintained by the proximity of the Grail before death, and Parzival by the position of a question redeemed.

Modern treatments

In TS Eliot's poem The Waste Land ( The Waste Land ) of 1922, the Fisher King also plays an important role.

In Terry Gilliam's film The Fisher King ( The Fisher King ) from 1991, set in New York, next to the cited in the title story of the Fisher King, numerous other references to the Grail legends find. The homeless former literature professor Parry ( Robin Williams ) tells the cynical radio host Jack Lucas ( Jeff Bridges ) the legend of the suffering fisherman king who is saved by the fool Parzival - a key to the plot of the film.

In the opera Parsifal by the composer Richard Wagner the story of Amfortas, his wounding and redemption is presented.

Robert Jordan takes up the legend in the novel cycle "The Wheel of Time". There, too, one of the main characters, Rand al 'Thor, receives an injury that does not heal. A scholar of his opponents, Moridin, once speaks directly of the fisherman when he speaks of al 'Thor.

literature

• William A. Nitze : Glastonbury and the Holy Grail. In: Modern Philology. Vol. 1, No. 2, 1903, ISSN  0026-8232 , pp. 247-257.
• Louise Gnädinger: Rois Peschiere / Anfortas. The Fisher King in Chrestien and Wolfram's Grail poetry. In: Georges Güntert, Marc-René Jung, Kurt Ringger (eds.): Orbis mediaevalis. Mélanges de langue et de littérature médiévales offerts à Reto Raduolf Bezzola à l'occasion de son 80th anniversaire. Francke, Bern et al. 1978, ISBN 3-7720-1421-6 , pp. 127-148.
• Bernhard Dietrich Haage: Illness and redemption in the 'Parzival' Wolframs von Eschenbach: Anfortas' suffering. In: Michael Fieger, Marcel Weder (ed.): Illness and dying. An interprofessional dialogue. Bern 2012, pp. 167–185.
• Iris Hermann, Meinolf Schumacher : "There I am and that's it". "Strichpunktexicherung" and "Whispering still": Robert Schindel's poem 'Amfortas' (2007). In: Sprachkunst. Vol. 39, No. 1, 2008, ISSN  0038-8483 , pp. 59-75, doi : 10.1553 / spk39_1s59 .

Web links

• The Fisher King in the Camelot Project at the University of Rochester (English)
• The mystery of the Holy Grail , brief summary including statements about Amfortas

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang von Wurzbach: History of the French novel, Vol. 1 . Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1912, p. 27