Masculinity in Late Medieval German Literature: Toxicity or Virtue? The Case of Konrad von Würzburg’s Heinrich von Kempten and Partonopier und Meliur

Recent theoretical studies on masculinity have sensitized us to deeply layered problems hidden in many literary texts, both in the modern world and in the Middle Ages. We do not always simply face ‘toxic masculinity,’ but many conflicts addressed by the various poets can now be analyzed more closely by means of the theoretical model developed by Masculinity Studies. Numerous times, masculine identity emerges as surprisingly weak, troubled, or uncertain, and when the various male protagonists endeavor to compensate for their shortcomings, new challenges emerge affecting all society. Masculinity is displayed in many different manners, reflecting on a variety of social, psychological, and physical features. In male-dominated medieval society, the ideal of masculinity was probably much more pronounced than in later centuries because feudalism, intimately tied in with patriarchy, clearly favored men and promoted a specific model, the knight. Nevertheless, medieval poets often indicated considerable concerns with this aspect and revealed noteworthy cracks in the idealistic image of the glorified male, if they did not even present the collapse of that concept. To explore this issue further, this study takes a stab at one of the most popular short verse narratives by the Middle High German poet Konrad von Würzburg, Heinrich von Kempten (ca. 1261) and examines the various roles assumed by the male protagonists.