Towards the end of the 12th century, Heinrich von Veldeke adapted Virgil's Aeneid, thereby creating his own novel about Aeneas. It narrates the fall of Troy and Aeneas’s escape from the city, his stay with the Carthaginian queen Dido, his journey to the underworld, the battles he fought, and his marriage to the king's daughter Lavinia. Veldeke's work marks the beginning of the German courtly romance.
The manuscript MS germ. fol. 282, produced around 1220-1230 in Bavaria, stands as the oldest nearly complete manuscript of this text, featuring the first cycle of illustrations of Aeneas created by an unknown artist. The text and images are artfully juxtaposed; of the manuscript's 148 pages, 75 are embellished with double miniatures. These illustrations reveal an artist who breaks away from traditional iconographic schemes, skillfully blending ancient themes with the courtly world and sacred imagery.
We have 1 facsimile edition of the manuscript "Aeneas Romance": Eneas-Roman facsimile edition, published by Reichert Verlag, 1992
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