›er was sô langgewahsen / daz er ze risen wart gezelt‹. The Saxon Duke as a ›giant(-like) figure of injustice‹ in Konrad von Würzburg’s ›Swan Knight‹

Abstract

The study highlights the narrative strategies that Konrad von Würzburg employs to portray the Duke of Saxony as an archetypal representative of injustice in the ›Schwanritter‹. Although initially depicted as human, the Duke ›grows into‹ a giant – albeit still a human one – during the conflict. The analysis shows that this transformation is not coincidental but is carefully prepared narratively. Through his depiction of the duel between the Swan Knight and the Giant Knight, Konrad manages to connect the narrative type ›Fight of David versus Goliath‹ with the specific inheritance and legal issues of the text. This makes his version distinctly different from other iterations of the Swan Knight legend, which are used for contrast, such as ›Chevalier au Cygne‹ and ›Lohengrin‹.