The Strassburg Alexander and the Munich Oswald: Pre-Courtly Adventure of the German Middle Ages (Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, & Culture)

The “Strassburg Alexander” and the “Munich Oswald,” heretofore never translated into English, were written during the third quarter of the twelfth century, a time when German narrative verse was beginning to escape the dominationof the Church and appeal primarily to the secular interests of the public. The “Alexander” is a version of one of the most popular stories of antiquity and all time. The “Munich Oswald” too is based on the deeds of an important historical figure: the seventeeth-century King Oswald of Northumbria, who was instrumental in the defeat and Christianization of the West Saxons.