Tristan in Munich, BSB, MS Cgm 51. Observations on an Intermodal Romance

The reason why a study on Cgm 51 seemed suitable for a volume entitled Fragmentation and Inclusion in medieval translation is that, in its present state, Cgm 51 is a complex artefact by several agents, resulting from consecutive intermodal shifts. A Middle-High-German poetic book, consisting of adaptations of Old French models, is translated into images, and images are subsequently explained and commented by short texts (by different hands from that of the main scribe of the poetic gatherings). In this paper, focusing on the illustrations and their inscriptions, I will evaluate their position in Gottfried’s Überlieferung, demonstrating how the different semiotic levels interact in re-defining the hero’s portrait and the broad meaning of the work. At the same time, this will provide evidence of the users’ taste, beliefs, and education, and of how, by whom, and for what purposes the manuscript was read, used, and annotated across two centuries.