Walther von Klingen (died 1 March 1284) was a nobleman from the Thurgau area who donated to and founded monasteries, and later became a close associate and supporter of King of Germany Rudolf von Habsburg. Some of his poetry, which belongs to the Middle High German Minnesang tradition, has been preserved in the Codex Manesse manuscript.
Walther came from an old Thurgau family. [1] He was the son of Ulrich II von Altenklingen, the founder of Klingnau. [2] His mother was Ita von Tägerfelden. [3] The first document mentioning Walther (together with his parents and older brother) is from 1240. [4] In 1249, he married Sophia von Frohburg. [2] They had eight children, but all of their three sons died early. [5] After his father's death c. 1250, the family estate was split between Walther and his brother, which was finalised in a 1253 contract. Walther also gained ownership of some of his mother's inheritance. [2] [6] He donated generously and founded the Klingenthal monastery in Basel in 1257 as well as the Sion monastery in Klingnau in 1269. [7] [8] He appears in several documents as arbitrator of disputes or witness of important contracts. [2] [9] Walther was a close associate and supporter of King Rudolf von Habsburg. [2] [5] He owned houses and lived in Strassburg and in Basel. [10] He died on 1 March 1284 in Basel. [1] [2] [11]
Eight of Walther's songs were preserved in the Codex Manesse manuscript. [7] [2] In the corresponding miniature, Walther is shown as the victor of a joust, bearing the Altenklingen coat of arms. [12] His poetry has been described as "not worthy of special praise" [1] and he is considered only a "minor" poet. [7] The known poems are conventional songs with themes of lamentations, courtship or praise, [13] and show influences of Gottfried von Neifen and Konrad von Würzburg. [1] [14] All of them date from Walther's time in Klingnau, before 1271. [15]
The Codex Manesse is a Liederhandschrift, the single most comprehensive source of Middle High German Minnesang poetry, written and illustrated between c. 1304 when the main part was completed, and c. 1340 with the addenda.
Minnesang was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who wrote and performed Minnesang were known as Minnesänger, and a single song was called a Minnelied.
Heinrich von Morungen was a Minnesinger, whose 35 surviving Middle High German songs are dated on both literary and biographical grounds to around the period 1190–1200. Alongside Walter von der Vogelweide and Reinmar he is regarded as one of the most important Minnesänger: he was "the most colourful, passionate, tender and musical of the Minnesänger" and his work "marks a new and brilliantly effective stage in the development of the German lyric."
Der von Kürenberg or Der Kürenberger was a Middle High German poet and one of the earliest Minnesänger. Fifteen strophes of his songs are preserved in the Codex Manesse and the Budapest Fragment.
Dietmar von Aist was a Minnesinger from a baronial family in the Duchy of Austria, whose work is representative of the lyric poetry in the Danube region.
The Palästinalied is a crusade song written in the early 13th century by Walther von der Vogelweide, the most celebrated lyric poet of Middle High German literature. It is one of the few songs by Walther for which a melody has survived.
Reinmar von Hagenau was a German Minnesänger of the late twelfth century who composed and performed love-songs in Middle High German. He was regarded by his contemporaries as the greatest Minnesänger before Walther von der Vogelweide, a view widely shared by modern scholars. Although there are uncertainties as to which songs can be reliably attributed to him, a substantial body of his work — over 60 songs — survives. His presentation of courtly love as the unrequited love of a knight for a lady is "the essence of classical Minesang".
Klingnau is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.
Oriental MS 1001, Bohairic, uncial manuscript of the New Testament, on paper. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century. Several leaves of the codex were lost. Horner designated the manuscript by siglum E2.
Wernher von Homberg was a knight in the service Emperor Henry VII, and later of Frederick the Fair. His Minnesang poems are recorded in the Codex Manesse.
Meinloh von Sevelingen was a 12th-century Minnesänger from Swabia and one of the earliest poets in the tradition.
The Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschift is a collection of Middle High German Minnesang texts. In Minnesang scholarship it is referred to as MS. A. It is held by the Heidelberg University Library with the signature Cod.Pal.germ. 357.
The Burggraf von Rietenburg was a Middle High German lyric poet in the Minnesang tradition. He was probably the younger brother of the Burggraf von Regensburg. All seven of his surviving stanzas are concerned with courtly love.
The Burggraf von Regensburg was a Middle High German lyric poet who wrote Minnelieder. In his four surviving stanzas, love is not yet courtly love. In one, strongly contrary to later courtly convention, the woman serves the man. All his stanzas are preserved in two manuscripts, the 13th-century Kleine Heidelberger Liederhandschrift and the 14th-century Codex Manesse.
Konrad von Altstetten was a German petty nobleman and Middle High German lyric poet in the Minnesang tradition. He belonged to a family of vassals of the Abbey of Saint Gall, based in Altstätten. His poetry, light in style, was influenced by Gottfried von Neifen. Three of his songs are preserved in the Codex Manesse.
Gottfried von Neifen was a German Minnesänger.
Herr Goeli was a Middle High German minnesinger. Four of his poems survive. They are found under his name only in the Codex Manesse. In three other manuscripts—the Weingarten Manuscript and the Berlin and Frankfurt Neidhart manuscripts—they are mistakenly attributed to Neidhart von Reuental. In fact, they are deliberate imitations of the village songs (Dörperlieder) of Neidhart. They are of inferior quality. Their incipits are:
Kristan von Hamle was a Middle High German poet from Thuringia who flourished in the mid-thirteenth century. Nothing is known about his life or his family, as he has not been identified in any documentary record.
Walther von Mezze was German lyric poet in the Minnesang tradition, probably active in the first half of the 13th century.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
