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 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 is also the first political poet writing in German, with a considerable body of encomium, satire, invective, and moralising.