Oswald von Wolkenstein

Oswald von Wolkenstein (1376 or 1377 in Pfalzen – August 2, 1445, in Meran) was a poet, composer and diplomat. In his diplomatic capacity, he traveled through much of Europe to as far as Georgia (as recounted in “Durch Barbarei, Arabia”). He was dubbed a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre and was also inducted into the Order of the Jar and the Order of the Dragon. He lived for a time in Seis am Schlern. Life Oswald’s father was Friedrich von Wolkenstein and his mother was Katharina von Villanders. When he was ten years old, Oswald left his family and became a squire of a knight errant. Oswald described the journeys undertaken by him in the following 14 years in his autobiographical song “Es fügt sich…”. He mentioned his travels to Crete, Prussia, Lithuania, Crimea, Turkey, the Holy Land, France, Lombardy (i.e. what is known today as Northern Italy) and Spain, as well as being shipwrecked in the Black Sea. After the death of his father in 1399, Oswald returned to the County of Tyrol and began a quarrel with his older brother Michael about their inheritance. From 1401 to 1402, Oswald participated in the failed Italian expedition of King Rupert of Germany. In 1407 he and his brother agree