Reinmar von Hagenau

He was regarded by his contemporaries as the greatest Minnesänger before Walther von der Vogelweide, a view widely shared by modern scholars.

[3] The title Her ("sir") indicates a man of knightly status, but the nature and scope of the surviving œvre indicate a professional singer reliant on patronage.

This is taken to refer to Leopold V, Duke of Austria, who died in the winter of 1194, dating this song's composition and the presence of Reinmar at the Babenberg court in Vienna to the summer of 1195.

), Gottfried von Strassburg laments the death of the "nightingale of Hagenau" as the foremost Minnesanger, and suggests this position now belongs to Walther.

[4] Hagenau has been identified as the Alsatian city, modern Haguenau, which was the location of an imperial court of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in the twelfth century and which lies some 20 miles from Strassburg.

When, however, Reinmar breaks through the bounds of convention and allows his heart to speak, as in the lament for the death of the duke, which is put into the mouth of the duchess herself, he shows lyric gifts of a high order.