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:
“... aside from the financial aspect, [there] is more: the life of my work. I feel that is all I came into the world for, and have failed dismally if it is not a success.”
—Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)