Tannhauser, TAHN hoy zuhr or TAN hoy zuhr, was a German minnesinger (minstrel) of the 1200's. He led a restless life and even went to the Holy Land on a crusade. A ballad of the 1500's tells the story that one evening, as he was riding by the Horselberg in Thuringia, a beautiful woman appeared before him. He recognized her as the goddess Venus. He followed her to a palace inside the mountain and spent seven years there.