them. Such an interchange of allusions and even strophes
gave rise to the notion that he feuded with Walther von
der Vogelweide, with the latter objecting to Reinmar’s
ideology of love. Actually, their views on love are quite
similar (and similarly diverse, depending on which genre
they echo); nevertheless, both singers vie over which of
the two is the superior artist. The Wartburgkrieg, a fi c-
tional account of a contest between singers at the Wart-
burg in Thuringia, probably refl ects their competition (at
considerable remove; Reinmar der Alte may have been
confl ated with Reinmar von Zweter). The coupling of the
two singers in the Würzburg Song Codex may be another
refl ex of their strife. Gottfried von Straßburg pairs both
“nightingales” as masters of minnesong. Walther, in his
eulogies to Reinmar, praises his art but declares an an-
tipathy toward his person; perhaps the latter is intended
to lend veracity to the former, but it is also possible the
two simply did not like each other very much. Reinmar
arguably caused one of the most egregious instances of
multiple ascription by copying a collection of Heinrich
von Rugge’s songs, or acquiring such a collection, to
serve as models. A series of songs by Rugge, to which
he may have added songs and strophes of his own, sub-
sequently was copied into codex C twice, once under
Rugge’s name and once under Reinmar’s. The affi nities
between the two singers are not restricted, however, to
one block of songs, so the parallel transmission cannot
be explained away as a mere scribal blunder, as scholars
have tended to assume. Allusions to or strophes shared
with Hartmann von Aue and Heinrich von Morungen
probably also refl ect Reinmar’s willingness to appropri-
ate; he in turn serves as a major model for such singers
as Walther von Metze and Rubin.
See also Hartmann von Aue;
Heinrich von Merungen; Neidhart
Further Reading
Heinen, Hubert, ed. Mutabilität im Minnesang: mehrfach überlief-
erte Lieder des 12. und frühen 13. Jahrhunderts. Göppingen:
Kümmerle, 1989.
Jackson, William E. Reinmar’s Women: A Study of the Woman’s
Song (“Frauenlied” and “Frauenstrophe”) of Reinmar der
Alte. Amsterdam: John Benjamin, 1981.
Obermaier, Sabine. Von Nachtigallen und Handwerkern: ‘Dich-
tung tiber Dichtung’ in Minnesang und Sangspruchdichtung.
Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1995.
Schweikle, Günther. Minnesang in neuer Sicht. Stuttgart: Met-
zler, 1994.
Stange, Manfred. Reinmars Lyrik: Forschungskritik und Über-
legungen zu einem neuen Verstädnis Reinmars des Alten.
Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1977.
Tervooren, Helmut. Reinmar Studien: Ein Kommentar zu den
“unechten” Liedern Reinmars des Alten. Stuttgart: Hirzel,
1991.
Willms, Eva. Liebesleid und Sangeslust: Untersuchungen zur
deutschen Liebeslyrik des späten 12. und frühen 13. Jahr-
hunderts. Munich: Artemis, 1992.
Ziegler, Vickie L. The Leitword in Minnesang: Stylistic Analysis
and Textual Criticism. University Park: Penn State University
Press, 1975.
Hubert HeinenREINMAR VON ZWETTER
(ca. 1200–ca. 1250)
We know this prolifi c singer of Sangspruchdichtung
(political and religious thought) only from his songs.
They suggest he was born in the Rhineland, grew up in
Austria, and was employed as a courtly singer by King
Wenzel I of Bohemia in the 1230s. Other internal evi-
dence indicates he sang at the court of the archbishop of
Mainz in the 1240s. Reinmar’s last datable piece stems
from the years 1246 to 1248. He left some 230 single
twelve-line, one-stanza songs, all sung to the same
tune (called Frauenehrenton in manuscript “D”) and a
Leich (lay) without melody. There is also a handful of
songs, probably spurious, in other stanzaic forms with
which his name is associated. Only a few of his one-
stanza songs can be thematically linked together. Most
of Reinmar’s work is contained in two sources, 219
stanzas in manuscript “C,” the famous Manesse Song
Manuscript (Heidelberg, no. Cod. Pal. Germ. 848), and
193 stanzas in manuscript “D” (Heidelberg, no. Cod.
Pal. Germ. 350). Other stanzas are scattered over some
twenty additional manuscripts. The illustration in “C”
depicts him as a blind singer dictating his songs, though
there is no evidence in the body of his work that he was
sight-impaired.
The Frauenehrenton, Reinmar’s only known melody,
is a utilitarian d-based construction, a solid structure for
the delivery of all his content-laden stanzas. It is pos-
sible that it is not an original composition, since one of
Reinmar’s confreres in courtly singing accuses him of
being a tune thief (doenediep).
Reinmar’s singing encompasses many of the popular
subgenres of Spruchdichtung, e.g., political songs, re-
ligious songs, cautionary songs, songs of praise, songs
about the nature of love, and songs extolling knightly
virtue. In this he is a disciple of Walther von der Vogel-
weide, though his poetry lacks the nuance and lyricism
of Walther. Many of his songs have an elegiac quality,
lamenting the passing of the heyday of love, honor, and
courtly values. In these Reinmar provides a canon for
knightly behavior in the fi rst half of the thirteenth century.
His rhetorical style is direct and convincing, under-
scoring his belief in the old-fashioned values of knight-
hood (especially Minne—courtly love—and honor)
and refl ecting a natural piety in which he pleads for
righteousness, though never in a self-righteous way.
His stanzas, especially the political ones, also afford
glimpses of his life as a courtly singer. Like Walther be-
fore him, Reinmar had to generate political propagandaREINMAR DER ALTE