Dietmar von Aist

Dietmar von Aist (c. 1115 – c. 1171) was a Minnesinger from a baronial family in the Duchy of Austria, whose work is representative of the lyric poetry in the Danube region.

One Dietmar von Aist is mentioned by name from about 1139 onwards in contemporary records from Salzburg, Regensburg and Vienna.

The Upper Austrian Aistersheim water castle was first mentioned in 1159 together with Freiherr (Baron) Dietmar von Aist, a ministerialis of the Babenberg ruler Henry II of Austria.

A certain Ditmarus de Agasta mentioned in further records, who died childless about 1171, is possibly the same as Dietmar von Aist.

The themes of his songs are mostly to do with the relationship of men to women (love, parting, partnership), in which connection some of his poems are written from the female perspective and others from the male.

Dietmar von Aist pictured as a peddler in the Codex Manesse , f. 64r
Dietmar von Aste: Alternative names used in the early literature for Dietmar von Aist are Dietmar von Aste or von Ast, as depicted above in the "Konstanz-Weingartner Liederhandschrift" (written around 1310-1320 in the monastery St. Martin at Weingarten near Ravensburg). The unicorn served as heraldic animal for Dietmar.