Walter von der Vogelweide

Walther von der Vogelweide lived from 1170 to 1230. Belonging to the lower ranks of the nobility known as the ministerialis (etymological source of the word "minstrel"), he owned neither land nor title and traveled across the German lands, performing his songs for a living. In the middle of a civil war when Germany was torn into antagonistic states and factions, Walther dreamed of a united German realm under one Emperor, and many of his songs convey his vision of political harmony and idealism.