104ARTHURIANA w.H. jackson, Chivalry in Twelfth-Century Germany: The Works ofHartmann von Aue. Arthurian Studies, XXXIV. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1994. Pp. xiv, 320. isbn: 085991-4313. $71. In the German empire the 'concept of knighthood was acquiring greater social and ideological prominence in the second half of the twelfth century,' W H. Jackson notes at the outset, and the works of Hartmann von Aue 'provided the decisive breakthrough for this concept in vernacular literature' (p. 2). Consequently, this study of chivalry is firmly rooted in social, intellectual, and legal history as Jackson both elucidates Hartmann's oeuvre and by means ofit the society in which itwas produced. In nine chapters the author considers the nature ofArthur's kingship and the rise ofknighthood in the twelfth century; the social status ofknights in the German realm; chivalry as an ideology; and the expression ofchivalry in the works ofHartmann von Aue, including his poetry. The approach is comparative and Jackson moves back and forth between historical documents and fiction; between Chretien's Erec and Yvain and Hattmann's Erec and Iwein; between Hartmann's romances and his lyric poetry; between the strictly aristocratic wotld of Hattmann's Arthurian romances and the broader world portrayed in his 'religious narratives,' as Jackson refers to Gregorius and Der arme Heinrich. The study focusses on the rather large semantic complex associated with chivalry as the author assesses not only Hattmann's own views on knighthood but also the function and position ofknights in the society of which Hartmann was a contemporary. The study is characterized by close attention to and analysis of the lexicon of chivalry. The author discusses, for example, the competition between guoter kneht and ritter to refer to knights and the gradual replacement ofthe former by the latter in the late twelfth and eatly thirteenth centuries (pp. 53-54). Chaptet 2 on 'Knighthood and Social Status in Twelfth-Century Germany and in Hartmann's Erec (pp. 37-83) provides the necessary basis for the following assessment ofboth the social and moral connotations ofchivalry in Hartmann's works. The study focusses on the semantics of chivalry. Since there is considerable variation in the frequency oflexical items associated with knighthood in Hartmann's oeuvre, there is also a disparity in the depth of discussion in the several chapters devoted to the individual works. Erec and Iwein receive most attention—from rhe perspective ofpage count (Erec. pp. 73-146; Iwein: pp. 210-81)—while the discussion of Gregorius (pp. 147-66) and Armer Heinrich (pp. 194-209) is relatively brief, not so much because they are shorter works, but because they lack the rich chivalric lexicon of the Arthurian romances. Although the vocabulary of knighthood is the focal point ofthe study, it is important to point out here that the book consists, felicitously, not at all of listings. Instead, the lexicon of chivalry is discussed as a key to a better understanding ofthe values and mores pervading Hartmann's work and reflecting at the same time the standards of twelfth-century German society. Throughout the study, the author's position is that Hartmann's own social status as an educated knight (p. 288) has left its imprint on his literary production, and this may very well be, butJackson also tends to equate both the narrators and the various characters' attitudes with those ofthe author himself. This is debatable. For example, in discussing the dialogue between the abbot and Gregorius on knighthood, Jackson REVIEWS105 writes that 'the young Gregorius, at the point of his transition from the bookish monastic life to the active life ofknighthood, speaks ofchivalry in the terms used by the narrator Hartmann and the protagonist Erec in Hartmann's first romance, so that Gregorius's utterances seem to convey fantasies and enthusiasms ofthe author himselffrom an inside perspective' (p. 157). I find not onlythis statement problematic, but also the interpretation ofutterances in the first petson as necessarily expressive of Hartmann's own ideas, as the author does, for example, on pp. 196-97, in the discussion ofthe prologues to Iwein, Gregorius, and Der arme Heinrich. Despite the reservations voiced above, the work contributes substantially to a better understanding of both Hartmann's works...