Moriz, Tristan, and Ulrich as Master Disguise Artists:
Deconstruction and Reenactment of Courtliness in Moriz von Craûn,
Tristan als Mönch, and Ulrich von Liechtenstein's Frauendienst

Albrecht Classen, University of Arizona

In Moriz von Craûn (ca. 1220), the wooden ship that Moriz (Mauricius) von Craûn commissioned for his highly dramatic appearance at the castle of his beloved lady, the Countess of Beamunt, turns our attention to one of the most powerful but little-explored postclassical metaphors of courtly culture: the disguise, or the mask behind which the woeful and yet successful lover hides. This is no real ship, especially as it traverses dry land: it only serves Moriz as a hiding place from which to make a triumphant appearance at the height of the tournament that he had organized on behalf of his lady. Trumpets sound, colorful cloth and a large number of precious jewels dazzle the spectators, and great happiness and excitement fill the audience because of the extraordinary theatrical performance organized by Moriz (vv. 859–72), who is credited with the overall design and blueprint for the shipÁs construction (v. 636). Once the tournament is in full swing, Moriz, fully decked out as a splendid knight, with great pomp rides out of the fake ship and presents himself to the courtly society as its most spectacular representative. Undoubtedly, the histrionics would not be complete without a glorious winner of the tournament, and as expected, Moriz quickly dominates all jousts, and rages, as the narrator comments, on the battle field like an eagle among little birds (vv. 983–84). Even if Moriz had been a heathen, we are told, everybody would have paid him respect, giving him the highest honor for his chivalrous accomplishments (vv. 1021–24). This might be an oblique reference to Feirefiz in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival (ca. 1205), but there is also an interesting parallel to Hartmann von Aue's Klage (ca. 1180), which could signify a noteworthy element of intertextual playfulness and theatricality in Moriz von Craûn involving courtly culture at large.