Erec is a Middle High German poem written in rhyming couplets by Hartmann von Aue. It is thought to be the earliest of Hartmann's narrative works and dates from around 1185. An adaptation of Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide, it is the first Arthurian Romance in German.
The Ambraser Heldenbuch, folio 30r with the start of Erec
King Arthur hunting the White Stag. From a 13th century MS of Chrétien's Erec et Enide.
The Wolfenbüttel Manuscript of Hartmann von Aue's Erec. Fragment IV recto.
Middle High German is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High German is defined as those varieties of German which were affected by the Second Sound Shift; the Middle Low German and Middle Dutch languages spoken to the North and North West, which did not participate in this sound change, are not part of MHG.
German territorial expansion before 1400 from F. W. Putzger
Middle High German dialect boundaries
Manuscript B of Hartmann von Aue's Iwein (Gießen, UB, Hs. 97), folio 1r
Manuscript C of the Nibelungenlied, fol. 1r