The story of Peter von Staufenberg, written by Egenolf von Staufenberg in the 14th century belongs to the sub-genre of the "Fürstenspiegel," the Mirror for Princes, in which social and moral issues are described in an exemplary manner for the edification of a class of men whose behavior was expected to follow certain set patterns. Its thematic origins, pre-dating the German Middle Ages, e.g., the forbidden marriage, the encroachment of the supernatural upon the life and beliefs of men in the natural world, link it to Celtic mythology and the literary developments of the Old French and Middle High German narrative traditions.