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| '''Oswald von Wolkenstein''' (1376 or 1377, |
'''Oswald von Wolkenstein''' (1376 or 1377, ] in ] – ] ] in ]) was a ], composer and ]. In the latter capacity, he traveled, through all of ], even to ], and was inducted into the ]. He lived for a time in ]. | ||
| Oswalds father was ''Friedrich von ]'' and his mother ''Katharina von ]''. When he was ten years old, Oswald left his family and became ] of a ]. Oswald described the travels undertaken by him in the following 14 years in his autobiographical song "Es fügt sich..." mentioning travels to ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], ] and ] and being ship wrecked in the ]. | |||
| After the death of his father in 1399 Oswald returned to Tyrol and began a drawn out quarrel with his older brother Michael about their inheritance. 1401-1402 Oswald participated in the failed Italian expedition of King ]. In 1407 he and his brother finally agree on how to split the inheritance: Oswald receives a third of Castle Hauenstein and the accompanying estates in ]. The other two thirds of the castle belong to a knight named ], but Oswald did not respect the property situation and occupied the entire castle and appropriated Jägers share of the ]. In 1408 in preparation of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land Oswald payed for a memorial stone on the wall of the cathedral in ], which shows him as a ] with a long pilgrimage beard. Around the same time he writes songs about his love for Anna Hausmann, the wife of the Brixner burgher Hans Hausmann. Soon afterwards he leaves on the pilgrimage. After his return 1410 he acquires the right to take up residence in the Augustiner-Chorherren cloister ''Neustift'' near Brixen. | |||
| In 1414 Oswald is a member of the entourage of ] Duke of Austria and Count of Tyrol at the ] (1414-1418); a portrait of Oswald can be found in the councils chronic by ]. Oswald entered as diplomat in the service of ] King of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Hungary. Hi first diplomatic voyage brought him to ], ] and ], where he participate in the conquest of the ] city of ] (''see'' ]). In 1416 he joined King Sigismund in France and they traveled together back to ]. | |||
| In 1417 Oswald married Margarete von ], with whom he had seven children. Later that year he returned to Tyrol, where he joined the ''Elefantenbund'' a alliance of noblemen against ], who had been ] by King Sigismund for aiding the flight of ] from the Council of Constance. With the help of the local population, especially the peasants, Friedrich was able to resist the King and the nobles and from 1418 onwards Friedrich pursued his enemies within Tyrol vigorously. In September 1421 Oswald was lured by his lover Anna Hausmann into a trap and apprehend by Martin Jäger, who brought Oswald to ] and handed him over to Count Friedrich. In March 1422 Friedrich, in exchange of a ] of 6,000 ] and an oath to abjure all vengeance, released Oswald for the duration of five months, so that Oswald may settle his debts with Martin Jäger and other nobles. Oswald could not reach an agreement with his enemies and did not show up in ] on August 24th, 1422, but instead choose to ride ], where he met King Sigismund. Together they plotted a war against Friedrich. The war was started by Oswalds brother Michael who wrote to Friedrich on September 5th, 1422: "Therefore I want to be your enemy and be in an alliance with your enemies."<ref>''Ich Wolkenstein'', Dieter Kühn; Insel Verlag Frankfurt am Main 1977, page: 359</ref> | |||
| In 1423 open hostilities culminated in the siege of Castle Greifenstein and Oswald with both his brothers was part of the castles garrison. The siege was lifted in November 1423 through a successful ]. But because the burghers and peasants of Tyrol and the ] supported Count Friedrich most of the nobles, including both brothers of Oswald, surrendered on December 17th, 1423. Few nobles choose to continue to fight- the most prominent were: Hans von Villanders, the brothers Ulrich and Wilhelm von Starkenberg, who successfully defended castle Greifenstein for years to come, and Oswald, who in the end would be become the last to surrender. | |||
| In 1424 things calmed down and Oswald commissioned the cloister Neustift to create a parchment of his songs. The calmness of the year was due to the new ''Binger Kurverein'' (Alliance of ]) by the Empires ] against Sigmund, who couldn't afford to fight three wars at once: the planned one against Friedrich, the brewing one against the Kurverein and the ongoing against the ]. On February 17th, 1425 in the presence of Oswald King and Count made peace on ]. Oswald returned to Tyrol and was totally broke. Count Friedrich insisted that on the payment of the 6,000 ducat ]. Oswald tried in vain to get hold of the money and therefore left Tyrol. In 1425 he resided in ] near ], which at this point was not yet part of the County of Tyrol, but part of the ]. Friedrich immediately used the peace with King Sigismund to renew the siege of Castle Greifenstein. | |||
| After Wilhelm von Starkenbergs capitulation on November 26, 1426, Oswald was the last noblemen feuding with Count Friedrich and was summoned by to the ] in ]. Oswald fled Tyrol, but his flight was discovered, he was pursued, he was apprehended near ] on ] and brought back to Tyrol and imprisoned in ] (later castle Sonnenburg) in Innsbruck. Oswald was now forced make peace with Count Friedrich, who forced him to pay Martin Jäger a compensation in exchange for the stolen tithes and in the process allowed Oswald to acquire full ownership of Castle Hauenstein and its estates. Also Oswald had to swear to refrain from any contact with nobles from outside Tyrol unless sanctioned by by Count Friedrich. | |||
| Already in 1428 Oswald broke his oath and traveled to Heidelberg to meet ], Archbishop of Cologne Count ] and Duke ], with the aim to garner the help of the ] in a dispute with his cousin Hans von Villanders, who owed Oswald 2,200 ducats. While at it Oswald entered into a fray between the ] of Brixen and the new Prince-Bishop of Brixen Ulrich Putsch, who was a friend of Martin Jäger, a confidante of Count Friedrich and before becoming bishop chancellor of the County of Tyrol. The clash culminated in a coup on October 30th, 1929 supported by Friedrich and led by Oswald against the bishop, who while being a prisoner of Oswald was beaten publicly by him. Initially King Sigismund backed Oswald, but when informed by the other side in the dispute, both Sigismund and Friedrich switched side and reinstated bishop Ulrich. | |||
| In 1430 King Sigismund summoned the nobles of the Holy Roman Empire to a ] in the city ] and Oswald with his brother Michael immediately left Tyrol to meet the King, who instead of going directly to Nürnberg undertook a two month detour to the South German cities of | |||
| ] and ] to celebrate Christmas. During this period Oswald wrote many songs of erotic nature- the most famous being the "Graserin" (KL 76) about a bathing maid, whose "frizzy hair" between her legs leads him to rape her on the spot. In Nürnberg Oswald became a member of the first rank of the ] - a rank King Sigismund awarded only to two dozen nobles. Along with the honor came the obligation to participate in Sigismunds disastrous expedition against the Hussites in ] in 1431 (see also ]). Oswald experienced firsthand the mass flight of the 130,000 men strong Imperial army on August 14th, 1431 when the ] after sighting the 50,000 men strong approaching and singing Hussite army. | |||
| Sigismund sent Oswald to Tyrol to prepare the county for an expected Hussite Invasion of the Empire and invited the Hussites to the ] to negotiate. Sigismund himself fled to ] and later to ] under the pretext that he had to go now to Rome to be crowned emperor. during this time Oswald commissioned the cloister Neustift to create a second parchment collection of his songs. Sigismund called him to join him in Piacenza and Oswald obliged. In May of the same year Oswald was sent by Sigismund to Basel. After over a year of negotiations Sigismund was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on May 31st 1433 by pope ], with Oswald probably in attendance. | |||
| For the next years Oswald calmed down, almost no reports of fights, brawls or trials are preserved. This changed with the death of Count Friedrich on June 24th, 1439. As the heir ] was only 12 years old at the time, a guardian had to be found until Sigismund came of age. The ] of Tyrol choose Sigismunds uncle ]. The contracts of the guardianship were given in Oswalds care, who now looked for the assistance of Friedrich V. in his 18 year long legal wrangling with Hans von Villanders about bonds Oswald had given ins his cousins care. | |||
| When the guardianship of Sigismund ended on July 25th, 1443 and Friedrich, now King Friedrich III. of the Holy Roman Empire, decided to prolong it for another six years, the Landstände of Tyrol organized an open revolt. Oswald became one of 5 military commanders and was tasked with the defense of the most important of all positions the '']'' (]er forttress), which blocked the most likely invasion route from Styria, where King Friedrich had taken up residence. the cities of ] and ] provided funds and troops to reinforce the fortress and all other passes and entrances into Tyrol were blocked by troops. As the city of ] backed the King a 3,000 men strong army was sent south to besiege the city. On December 10th a Tyrolean delegation arrived in ] demanded the release of Sigismund and the return of the countys treasures taken by Friedrich in 1440. | |||
| Friedrich refused, threatened war and the Tyroleans responded by sacking Trento and electing on January 4th 1440 Johann Röttel as new bishop, whose first declaration was to fully support the Landestände against the King. Oswald was one of the electors and the main instigator of this election. | |||
| The next session by the Landesstände began in ] on May 16th, 1445, and as it was now clear that King Friedrich would not attack Tyrol options were discussed on how to bring Sigismund to Tyrol. Oswald died in the presence of his wife on August 2nd, 1445 in Meran; succumbing to a unusual fiery heatwave. His offices were taken over by Ulrich von Matsch. His body was brought to ] and buried near the font in the cloisters church, where his grave was rediscovered in 1973. | |||
| He is one of the most important composers of the early German Renaissance, and his melodies are of high quality. There are three main topics of his work: travel, ] and ]s. | He is one of the most important composers of the early German Renaissance, and his melodies are of high quality. There are three main topics of his work: travel, ] and ]s. | ||
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| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| <references/> | |||
| * Meinolf Schumacher: "Ein Kranz für den Tanz und ein Strich durch die Rechnung. Zu Oswald von Wolkenstein ''Ich spür ain tier'' (Kl 6)." ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur'' 123 (2001): 253-273. | * Meinolf Schumacher: "Ein Kranz für den Tanz und ein Strich durch die Rechnung. Zu Oswald von Wolkenstein ''Ich spür ain tier'' (Kl 6)." ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur'' 123 (2001): 253-273. | ||
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Revision as of 01:22, 1 February 2009
Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376 or 1377, Castle Schöneck in Kiens – August 2 1445 in Meran) was a poet, composer and diplomat. In the latter capacity, he traveled, through all of Europe, even to Georgia, and was inducted into the Order of the Dragon. He lived for a time in Seis am Schlern.
Oswalds father was Friedrich von Wolkenstein and his mother Katharina von Villanders. When he was ten years old, Oswald left his family and became squire of a knight errant. Oswald described the travels undertaken by him in the following 14 years in his autobiographical song "Es fügt sich..." mentioning travels to Crete, Prussia, Lithuania, Crimea, Turkey, the Holy Land, France, Lombardy and Spain and being ship wrecked in the Black Sea.
After the death of his father in 1399 Oswald returned to Tyrol and began a drawn out quarrel with his older brother Michael about their inheritance. 1401-1402 Oswald participated in the failed Italian expedition of King Rupert of Germany. In 1407 he and his brother finally agree on how to split the inheritance: Oswald receives a third of Castle Hauenstein and the accompanying estates in Seis am Schlern. The other two thirds of the castle belong to a knight named Martin Jäger, but Oswald did not respect the property situation and occupied the entire castle and appropriated Jägers share of the tithe. In 1408 in preparation of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land Oswald payed for a memorial stone on the wall of the cathedral in Brixen, which shows him as a Crusader with a long pilgrimage beard. Around the same time he writes songs about his love for Anna Hausmann, the wife of the Brixner burgher Hans Hausmann. Soon afterwards he leaves on the pilgrimage. After his return 1410 he acquires the right to take up residence in the Augustiner-Chorherren cloister Neustift near Brixen.
In 1414 Oswald is a member of the entourage of Friedrich IV Duke of Austria and Count of Tyrol at the Council of Constance (1414-1418); a portrait of Oswald can be found in the councils chronic by Ulrich von Richental. Oswald entered as diplomat in the service of Sigismund King of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Hungary. Hi first diplomatic voyage brought him to England, Scotland and Portugal, where he participate in the conquest of the Moorish city of Ceuta (see Battle of Ceuta). In 1416 he joined King Sigismund in France and they traveled together back to Constance.
In 1417 Oswald married Margarete von Schwangau, with whom he had seven children. Later that year he returned to Tyrol, where he joined the Elefantenbund a alliance of noblemen against Friedrich IV, who had been banned by King Sigismund for aiding the flight of Antipope John XXIII from the Council of Constance. With the help of the local population, especially the peasants, Friedrich was able to resist the King and the nobles and from 1418 onwards Friedrich pursued his enemies within Tyrol vigorously. In September 1421 Oswald was lured by his lover Anna Hausmann into a trap and apprehend by Martin Jäger, who brought Oswald to Innsbruck and handed him over to Count Friedrich. In March 1422 Friedrich, in exchange of a surety of 6,000 ducats and an oath to abjure all vengeance, released Oswald for the duration of five months, so that Oswald may settle his debts with Martin Jäger and other nobles. Oswald could not reach an agreement with his enemies and did not show up in Castle Tyrol on August 24th, 1422, but instead choose to ride Hungary, where he met King Sigismund. Together they plotted a war against Friedrich. The war was started by Oswalds brother Michael who wrote to Friedrich on September 5th, 1422: "Therefore I want to be your enemy and be in an alliance with your enemies."
In 1423 open hostilities culminated in the siege of Castle Greifenstein and Oswald with both his brothers was part of the castles garrison. The siege was lifted in November 1423 through a successful sally. But because the burghers and peasants of Tyrol and the bishop of Brixen supported Count Friedrich most of the nobles, including both brothers of Oswald, surrendered on December 17th, 1423. Few nobles choose to continue to fight- the most prominent were: Hans von Villanders, the brothers Ulrich and Wilhelm von Starkenberg, who successfully defended castle Greifenstein for years to come, and Oswald, who in the end would be become the last to surrender.
In 1424 things calmed down and Oswald commissioned the cloister Neustift to create a parchment of his songs. The calmness of the year was due to the new Binger Kurverein (Alliance of Bingen) by the Empires Kurfürsten against Sigmund, who couldn't afford to fight three wars at once: the planned one against Friedrich, the brewing one against the Kurverein and the ongoing against the Hussites. On February 17th, 1425 in the presence of Oswald King and Count made peace on Castle Hornstein. Oswald returned to Tyrol and was totally broke. Count Friedrich insisted that on the payment of the 6,000 ducat surety. Oswald tried in vain to get hold of the money and therefore left Tyrol. In 1425 he resided in Castle Neuhaus near Gais, which at this point was not yet part of the County of Tyrol, but part of the County of Görz. Friedrich immediately used the peace with King Sigismund to renew the siege of Castle Greifenstein.
After Wilhelm von Starkenbergs capitulation on November 26, 1426, Oswald was the last noblemen feuding with Count Friedrich and was summoned by to the Landtag in Bozen. Oswald fled Tyrol, but his flight was discovered, he was pursued, he was apprehended near Wasserburg on Lake Constance and brought back to Tyrol and imprisoned in Castle Vellenberg (later castle Sonnenburg) in Innsbruck. Oswald was now forced make peace with Count Friedrich, who forced him to pay Martin Jäger a compensation in exchange for the stolen tithes and in the process allowed Oswald to acquire full ownership of Castle Hauenstein and its estates. Also Oswald had to swear to refrain from any contact with nobles from outside Tyrol unless sanctioned by by Count Friedrich.
Already in 1428 Oswald broke his oath and traveled to Heidelberg to meet Kurfürst Ludwig von der Pfalz, Archbishop of Cologne Count Dietrich II. von Moers and Duke Adolf VII. von Jülich, with the aim to garner the help of the League of the Holy Court in a dispute with his cousin Hans von Villanders, who owed Oswald 2,200 ducats. While at it Oswald entered into a fray between the Domkapitel of Brixen and the new Prince-Bishop of Brixen Ulrich Putsch, who was a friend of Martin Jäger, a confidante of Count Friedrich and before becoming bishop chancellor of the County of Tyrol. The clash culminated in a coup on October 30th, 1929 supported by Friedrich and led by Oswald against the bishop, who while being a prisoner of Oswald was beaten publicly by him. Initially King Sigismund backed Oswald, but when informed by the other side in the dispute, both Sigismund and Friedrich switched side and reinstated bishop Ulrich.
In 1430 King Sigismund summoned the nobles of the Holy Roman Empire to a Reichstag in the city Nürnberg and Oswald with his brother Michael immediately left Tyrol to meet the King, who instead of going directly to Nürnberg undertook a two month detour to the South German cities of Überlingen and Constance to celebrate Christmas. During this period Oswald wrote many songs of erotic nature- the most famous being the "Graserin" (KL 76) about a bathing maid, whose "frizzy hair" between her legs leads him to rape her on the spot. In Nürnberg Oswald became a member of the first rank of the Order of the Dragon - a rank King Sigismund awarded only to two dozen nobles. Along with the honor came the obligation to participate in Sigismunds disastrous expedition against the Hussites in Bohemia in 1431 (see also Hussite Wars). Oswald experienced firsthand the mass flight of the 130,000 men strong Imperial army on August 14th, 1431 when the entire Imperial army panicked after sighting the 50,000 men strong approaching and singing Hussite army.
Sigismund sent Oswald to Tyrol to prepare the county for an expected Hussite Invasion of the Empire and invited the Hussites to the Council of Basel to negotiate. Sigismund himself fled to Milan and later to Piacenza under the pretext that he had to go now to Rome to be crowned emperor. during this time Oswald commissioned the cloister Neustift to create a second parchment collection of his songs. Sigismund called him to join him in Piacenza and Oswald obliged. In May of the same year Oswald was sent by Sigismund to Basel. After over a year of negotiations Sigismund was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on May 31st 1433 by pope Eugenius IV, with Oswald probably in attendance.
For the next years Oswald calmed down, almost no reports of fights, brawls or trials are preserved. This changed with the death of Count Friedrich on June 24th, 1439. As the heir Sigismund was only 12 years old at the time, a guardian had to be found until Sigismund came of age. The Landstände of Tyrol choose Sigismunds uncle Friedrich V, Duke of Austria. The contracts of the guardianship were given in Oswalds care, who now looked for the assistance of Friedrich V. in his 18 year long legal wrangling with Hans von Villanders about bonds Oswald had given ins his cousins care.
When the guardianship of Sigismund ended on July 25th, 1443 and Friedrich, now King Friedrich III. of the Holy Roman Empire, decided to prolong it for another six years, the Landstände of Tyrol organized an open revolt. Oswald became one of 5 military commanders and was tasked with the defense of the most important of all positions the Mühlbacher Klause (Mühlbacher forttress), which blocked the most likely invasion route from Styria, where King Friedrich had taken up residence. the cities of Meran and Bozen provided funds and troops to reinforce the fortress and all other passes and entrances into Tyrol were blocked by troops. As the city of Trento backed the King a 3,000 men strong army was sent south to besiege the city. On December 10th a Tyrolean delegation arrived in Graz demanded the release of Sigismund and the return of the countys treasures taken by Friedrich in 1440. Friedrich refused, threatened war and the Tyroleans responded by sacking Trento and electing on January 4th 1440 Johann Röttel as new bishop, whose first declaration was to fully support the Landestände against the King. Oswald was one of the electors and the main instigator of this election.
The next session by the Landesstände began in Meran on May 16th, 1445, and as it was now clear that King Friedrich would not attack Tyrol options were discussed on how to bring Sigismund to Tyrol. Oswald died in the presence of his wife on August 2nd, 1445 in Meran; succumbing to a unusual fiery heatwave. His offices were taken over by Ulrich von Matsch. His body was brought to Neustift and buried near the font in the cloisters church, where his grave was rediscovered in 1973.
He is one of the most important composers of the early German Renaissance, and his melodies are of high quality. There are three main topics of his work: travel, God and brothels.
Oswald's poems are preserved in three manuscripts:
- MS A (Vienna), 42 songs completed 1425, addition of another 66 poems 1427-1436.
- MS B (Innsbruck): 1432
- MS C (Innsbruck-Trostburg): 1450, copy of B.
Mss A and B were completed under the supervision of Oswald himself, and both contain a depiction of the author, qualifying as the earliest authentic depictions of a German author.
Editions
- Oswald von Wolkenstein. Die Gedichte, ed. J. Schatz. 2nd ed. Göttingen 1904.
- Die Lieder Oswalds von Wolkenstein, ed. K. K. Klein. 3rd ed. H. Moser, N. R. Wolf, N. Wolf, Tübingen 1987.
- Die Gedichte Oswalds von Wolkenstein. Mit Einleitung, Wortbuch und Varianten, ed. B. Weber, Innsbruck 1847.
References
- Ich Wolkenstein, Dieter Kühn; Insel Verlag Frankfurt am Main 1977, page: 359
- Meinolf Schumacher: "Ein Kranz für den Tanz und ein Strich durch die Rechnung. Zu Oswald von Wolkenstein Ich spür ain tier (Kl 6)." Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 123 (2001): 253-273.
External links
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