James H. Brown is Teaching Assistant Professor of German at North Carolina State University. He earned his Ph.D. in 2006 from the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• ContentsAcknowledgments ixList of Illustrations xIntroduction: Imagining the Text 1Wigalois and Ekphrasis 1What Was Ekphrasis? 7Wigalois: Summary and Reception 9Chapter Outline 15part 1Imagining the Text1 Ekphrasis as a Structuring Device 21Dividing the Narrative 22Ekphrasis as a Structuring Device 25Setting the Stage: The Magic Belt 25From Boy to Man, Part One: The Stone of Virtue 32From Boy to Man, Part Two: The Golden Wheel 35Through God All Things Are Possible: Japhite’s Tomb 42The Final Stages: Larie’s Tent 47Conclusion 532 Ekphrasis as an Integrative Device 55Ekphrasis and Integration 58Harmonizing Families and Fictional Worlds: The Magic Belt 58Arthurian and Faerie Realms in Wigalois 59Integrating the Arthurian and the Wondrous 63The Stone and the Arthurian Circle 67The Golden Wheel and Religious Elements 71Triuwe and Riuwe: Japhite’s Tomb 78The Tent and the Final Harmonization 85Conclusion 873 Ekphrasis and Courtly Identity 89Courtly Identity and Self-representation 89Courtly Ideals and Romance 95Ekphrasis and Courtly Identity in Wigalois 98Ekphrastic Belts and the Construction of Courtly Femininity 98The Magic Belt and Chivalric Masculinity 104The Stone and Storytelling 106Gwigalois’s Wheel and the Literary Uses of Heraldry 111The Tomb’s Inscription and Courtly Literary Culture 115Larie’s Tent, Courtliness, and Virtual Splendor 124Conclusion 131part 2The Text Imagined4 Ekphrasis and Visualization Strategies in the Illustrated WigaloisManuscripts 135Heraldry and Integration: Manuscript B 138Basic Description of the Manuscript 138Heraldic Visualization 141Integration in Manuscript B 147Didactic hövescheit: Codex Donaueschingen 71 155Basic Description of the Manuscript 155The Role of the Captions 157Deictic and Didactic Visualization 161Conclusion 1665 Re-imagining Narrative in Wigoleis vom Rade 168The Strassburg Wigoleis and Its Layout 172A Reconceived Text for a New Audience 175A Question of Literary Quality? 175Diffferent Audiences 178Reading and Literacy 180Visuality, Structure, and Narrative 183Eyewitnessing and a New Attitude toward Description 183Woodcut and Caption: Guiding and Linking 191Narrative and Illustrative Simplifijication 195Envisioning Courtliness in the Strassburg Woodcuts 199Conclusion 2026 Literature and Legitimization: The Wigalois Frescoes at RunkelsteinCastle 204Material Visualizations of German Vernacular Literature 206The Vintler Brothers and the Murals at Runkelstein 209Ernst Karl von Waldstein and the Wigalois Frescoes 216Description of the Wigalois Images at Runkelstein 218Why Wigalois? Possible Interpretations 222Conclusion: Understanding the Book 226Bibliography 229Index 241Illustrations 245