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.
Portrait of Walther von der Vogelweide from the Codex Manesse (ms. C, fol. 124r)
Troubadours Singing the Glories of the Crusades, one of the engravings by Gustave Doré for the 1877 illustrated edition of the History of the Crusades by Joseph François Michaud.
Transcription of the melody in the Münster fragment (Jostes 1912).
Walther von der Vogelweide
Walther von der Vogelweide was a Minnesänger who composed and performed love-songs and political songs (Sprüche) in Middle High German. Walther has been described as the greatest German lyrical poet before Goethe; his hundred or so love-songs are widely regarded as the pinnacle of Minnesang, the medieval German love lyric, and his innovations breathed new life into the tradition of courtly love. He was also the first political poet to write in German, with a considerable body of encomium, satire, invective, and moralising.
Portrait of Walther von der Vogelweide from the Codex Manesse (Folio 124r)
Monument for Walther von der Vogelweide in the Marketplace of Weißensee (Thüringen)
Statue of Walther von der Vogelweide by Heinrich Scholz, in Duchcov (Czechia), where a park is named after him.
Grave of Walther von der Vogelweide in the Lusamgärtchen, Würzburg, Germany. This 1930 tombstone replaced an earlier one removed in the 18th century.
