Iwein is a Middle High German verse romance by the poet Hartmann von Aue, written around 1200. An Arthurian tale freely adapted from Chrétien de Troyes' Old French Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, it tells the story of Iwein (Yvain), a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. It was written after Hartmann's Erec, and is generally taken to be his last work.
The poem tells how Iwein embarks on an adventure which culminates in marriage to the lady Laudine. But he is then persuaded to leave her for a year to pursue success in tournaments. After he misses the deadline to return to her, he is rejected by Laudine in front of the Arthurian court. Dishonoured, he descends into madness and goes off into the wilderness. There he is healed by a lady with a magic ointment and has further encounters which allow him to show true heroism. These include helping a lion which is being attacked by a dragon, the lion then becoming his companion. Eventually, his honour restored, he regains Laudine's favour.
Iwein was recognized by contemporaries and later generations alike as a masterpiece and a classic. Its enduring popularity is attested both by the large number of manuscripts from the whole High German area over three centuries and by the depiction of scenes from the poem in a number of frescos.
Dating
Iwein is generally regarded as the last of Hartmann's works.
It must already have been well known to the audience for Wolfram's Parzival, since Wolfram alludes in two passages (253, 10–14 and 436,1–10) to a specific scene in Iwein: he contrasts the faithfulness of Sigûne to her dead suitor Schianatulander with Lûnete's advice to Laudine in Iwein to marry her husband's killer (Iwein, ll.1815ff.). Since Parzival must have been completed after 1203, this is often given as a date for Iwein, though strictly it is a terminus ante quem.
It has been argued that the first 1,000 lines of Iwein show a markedly different poetic character from the subsequent text, and that this indicates two distinct phases in the poem's composition, with Iwein possibly started before Gregorius and Der arme Heinrich.
In any case, it seems safe to conclude that Iwein was completed around the start of the 13th century.