TANNHAUSER or TANHUSER, German Minnesinger of the 13th century, who lived for a time at the court of Frederick II., duke of Austria. After Duke Frederick's death he was received at the court of Otto II., duke of Bavaria; but he spent much time in wandering about Germany. He also went as a Crusader to the Holy Land. His poems belong to the decadence of the Minnesang, and combine a didactic display of learning with descriptions of peasant-life. His adventurous life led him to be identified, in the popular imagination, with the knight Tannhauser who, after many wanderings, comes to the Venusberg, or Horselberg, near Eisenach.
He enters the cave where the Lady Venus—the Frau Hulda of German folk-lore—holds her court, and abandons himself to a life of sensual pleasure. By and by he is overcome by remorse, and, invoking the aid of the Virgin Mary, he obtains permission to return for a while to the outer world. He then goes as a pilgrim to Rome, and entreats Pope Urban to secure for him the for giveness of his sins. The pope declares it is as impossible for
him to be pardoned as for the staff he has in his hand to blossom. Tannhauser departs in despair, and returns to the Venusberg. In three days the staff begins to put forth green leaves, and the pope sends messengers in all directions in search of the penitent, but he is never seen again. The legend has been reproduced by several modern German poets, and by Richard Wagner in the famous music drama.