name and tied the romance's Grail and Swan Knight elements into the history of the Holy Roman Empire. The story follows Wolfram closely but adds certain details – notably, Princess Elsa's questioning of her husband occurs only after prodding by an antagonist who spreads rumors that Lohengrin is not of noble blood – that extends the material into a full romance. In expanding the material, the author drew on several other medieval German literary works, including the Sächsische Weltchronik, the Jüngerer Titurel, and the Wartburgkrieg. In the 15th century, the story was taken up again for the anonymous Lorengel. This version does not include the taboo against asking the protagonist about his mysterious origin and Lorengel and his princess can live happily ever after. In 1848, Richard Wagner, drawing on the contemporary work of Ludwig Lucas, adapted the tale into his popular opera Lohengrin, arguably the work through which Lohengrin's story is best known today. While King Henry the Fowler tries to assemble forces in Brabant to combat the Hungarian invasions, Lohengrin appears on the Scheldt River to defend Princess Elsa from the false accusation of killing her younger brother Gottfried (who turns out to be alive and returns at the end of the opera). According to Wagner, the Grail imbues the Knight of the Swan with mystical powers that can only be maintained if their nature is kept secret; hence the danger of Elsa's question. The most famous piece from Lohengrin is the "Bridal Chorus" ("Here Comes the Bride"), still played at many Western weddings. Wagner's Lohengrin was parodied in Victor Herbert's 1906 burlesque The Magic Knight, and was reworked into Salvatore Sciarrino's 1982 opera Lohengrin, which reduces the narrative to a manic hallucination. References Sources Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1991). The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. . Wolfram von Eschenbach; Hatto, A. T. (translator) (1980). Parzival. New York: Penguin. Further reading Matthews, Alastair. The Medieval German Lohengrin: Narrative Poetics in the Story of the Swan Knight. NED - New edition ed., Boydell & Brewer, 2016. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt1k3s90m. Accessed 29 Apr. 2020. External links Arthurian characters Arthurian literature in German Holy Grail Legendary German people Parzival