Life History
For all his fame, Walther's name is not found in contemporary records, with the exception of a solitary mention in the travelling accounts of Bishop Wolfger of Erla of the Passau diocese: "Walthero cantori de Vogelweide pro pellicio v solidos longos"--"To Walther the singer of the Vogelweide five shillings for a fur coat." The main sources of information about him are his own poems and occasional references by contemporary Minnesingers. He was a knight, but probably not a wealthy or landed one. His whole name (in English "Sir Walter of the Bird-Field") suggests that he didn't have a grant of land, since "bird-field" is a general geographic surname like "forest", "hill" or "rivers", not the name of a specific place. He probably was knighted for military bravery and, like a Knight Bachelor of England or samurai in Japan, was initially a retainer in a wealthy, noble household and had rooms in that castle before beginning his travels.
Read more about this topic: Walther Von Der Vogelweide
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or history:
“No country is so peaceful as the one that leads into death. Life arches above one’s head like a bridgespan, and below it flows the water, carries the boat, takes it further.”
—Alfred Döblin (1878–1957)
“There is nothing truer than myth: history, in its attempt to “realize” myth, distorts it, stops halfway; when history claims to have “succeeded” this is nothing but humbug and mystification. Everything we dream is “realizable.” Reality does not have to be: it is simply what it is.”
—Eugène Ionesco (b. 1912)