In contrast to the situation with most other medieval poets, we are very well informed about the South-Tyrolean poet Oswald von Wolkenstein through more than one thousand historical documents, his own strongly autobiographical poetry, and through several depictions of the poet in frontispieces in his manuscripts A and B, one pencil drawing showing him standing next to a copy of a Petrarch letter (Wolfenbüttel), one book illustration in Ulrich von Richenthal's chronicle of the Council of Constance (1417), and even a memorial stone sculpture created in 1408. Oswald was a remarkable poet for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that we know so much about him. Not surprisingly, in his song “Und swig ich nu” (Kl 117; for the acronym, see below) he explicitly voiced his…

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Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Oswald von Wolkenstein". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 June 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5559, accessed 28 March 2024.]

5559 Oswald von Wolkenstein 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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