The study provides a foundation for cultural anthropologists researching the representation of grief in German medieval literature. It examines how the phenomenon of grief in fictional texts can be defined in terms of the theory of emotions and then operationalised; it combines the theory of emotions with performative categories, i.e., with our modern knowledge of ritual and public life in the Middle Ages. The setting and function of grief are closely examined in Wolfram's 'Willehalm', Hartmann's 'Erec' and Gottfried's 'Tristan'. This is a seminal study, combining cultural studies with textual analysis. It provides a usable methodological foundation for all future work on representations of grief in medieval literature.