Tannhäuser (Middle High German: Tanhûser; died after 1265) was a German Minnesänger and poet. Historically, his biography is obscure beyond the poetry, which dates between 1245 and 1265. Socially, he presumed familial lineage with the old nobles, the Lords of Thannhausen, residents in their castle at Tannhausen, near Ellwangen and Dinkelsbühl; moreover, the historical Tannhausen castle, is at Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz. Tannhäuser was an active courtier at the court of Frederick II of Austria (1230-1246.), and the Codex Manesse (1340) depicts him clad in the Teutonic Order habit, suggesting he might have fought the Fifth Crusade(1213–21). As literature, Tannhäuser’s poems parody the traditional genre, because he was a proponent of the leich (lai) style of poetry; however, the Bußlied (Poem on Atonement) is unusual, given the eroticism of the remaining Codex Manesse.

In legend

Based on his Bußlied, Tannhäuser became the subject of legend, first attested in 1430, propagated in ballads from 1450. The legendary account makes Tannhäuser a knight and poet who found the Venusberg, the subterranean home of Venus, and spent a year there worshipping the goddess. After leaving the Venusberg, Tannhäuser is filled with remorse, and travels to Rome to ask Pope Urban IV if it is possible to be absolved of his sins. Urban replies that forgiveness is as impossible as it would be for his papal staff to blossom. Three days after Tannhäuser's departure Urban's staff blooms with flowers; messengers are sent to retrieve the knight, but he has already returned to Venusberg, never to be seen again.

The legend has been interpreted as a traditional folk tale which has been subject to Christianization where the familiar story of the seduction of a human being by an elf or fairy leads to the delights of the fairy-realm but later the longing for his earthly home. His desire is granted, but he is not happy, and in the end returns to the fairy-land.

The legend was made famous in modern times through Richard Wagner's three act opera Tannhäuser in 1845. Aubrey Beardsley started to write an erotic treatment of the legend which was never to be finished due to his illness; the first parts of it were published in The Savoy and later published in book form by Leonard Smithers under the title Under the Hill. The novel was never completed, but in 1907 the manuscript was published under the title The Story of Venus and Tannhäuser.

Other references

Several works of science fiction mention a fictional Tannhauser Gate, first mentioned briefly in the film Blade Runner by the character Roy Batty, played by Rutger Hauer. Hauer himself wrote the monologue in which the "Tannhauser Gate" is noted.
Aleister Crowley wrote a play called Tannhauser which follows the character Tannhauser and the infamous Venus.

Author Philip José Farmer references Tannhäuser and Venusberg in the 1967 sci-fi novella Riders of the Purple Wage.

The main character of Tim Willcocks's 2006 novel "The Religion" is called Matthias Tannhauser.

The Swedish hardcore band Refused included a song titled "Tannhauser/Derive" on their 1998 album The Shape Of Punk To Come. The German rock band In Extremo recorded a song called "Tannhuser" for their album Mein rasend Herz.