Waz touc mir doch min Altez leben?: Irmenschart como mater mediatrix em Willehalm de Wolfram von Eschenbach

Abstract

In medieval literature, female characters can affect the course of events by speaking before an audience. These women are often maternal characters. In this article, I will analyze a reconfiguration of this paradigm by considering the example of the matriarch Irmenschart, depicted in Willehalm (c. 1210-20) by the Middle High German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach. An astute speech characterizes the intervention of the maternal character in the narrative in the imperial court for the benefit of her son, through whom she intercedes and whose conflict she mediates. This will rehabilitate the manly virtue of the members of the künne, restore her family’s identity and, finally, ensure material assistance to Willehalm’s cause. The mediator and intercessor nature that commands Irmenschart’s role in the plot will also be perceived in the light of a possible connection to the Christian and Marian model of the mater mediatrix.