In his verse romance "Erec", Hartmann von Aue was the first German poet to recount the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The introduction first provides a detailed analysis of the contents, and goes into peculiarities of the portrayal of the characters, the narrative stance and the relationship to the French source. Further chapters deal with the history of the text, the structure and poetics of the romance, the narrative style, the material and sources, and the history of its reception and influence.