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.
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.
Walther von der Vogelweide (Codex Manesse, ca. 1300)
Melody and text of Neidhart von Reuental, "Der schwarze dorn" (MS c)
Otto von Botenlauben Fountain