Sängerkrieg

The Sängerkrieg (minstrel contest), also known as the Wartburgkrieg (Wartburg contest), was a contest among minstrels (Minnesänger) at the Wartburg castle in Thuringia in 1207.

Whether the contest was purely legend or had some basis in an actual event has been debated since the Middle Ages. Local Thuringian historians, such as Dietrich von Apolda (1220 or 1230–1302) and Johannes Rothe (c.1360-1434), in the 14th and 15th centuries respectively, suggested the poems referred to an actual historical event. In the 19th century, Johann Rinne argued that the events never occurred.

The poems of the Sängerkrieg form an important collection of Middle High German literature, reflecting a literary flourishing at the court of Count (Landgraf) Hermann I in the early 13th century. Both historical (Wolfram von Eschenbach and Walther von der Vogelweide) and fictional (Klingsor of Hungary and Heinrich von Ofterdingen) minstrels were alleged to have participated in the competition. Reinmar von Zweter, a historical Minnesänger, is anachronistically listed as a participant.

The songs of the Wartburgkrieg have not been discovered in the original, but various versions can be found within the great Liederhandschriften of the late Middle Ages (the Codex Manesse, Jenaer Liederhandschrift, Kolmarer Liederhandschrift). A collection of lyrical poems entitled "Der Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg", written between 1240 and 1260, was translated into modern German by Karl Simrock and published in 1858.

The oldest poetic accounts, dating from the 13th century, describe specific episodes of the contest such as the Fürstenlob and the Rätselspiel.

The Fürstenlob ("princely praise") was a contest among six minstrels: Heinrich von Ofterdingen, Walther von der Vogelweide, Biterolf, Reinmar von Zweter, Wolfram von Eschenbach and Heinrich Schreiber. The six singers were placed before the Count and Countess of Thuringia, in order to determine which best understood how to sing praises of a prince. Heinrich von Ofterdingen was the most eloquent, but earned the envy of the other minstrels, who tricked him into earning a death sentence. Heinrich gained the protection of Countess Sophia and a one-year reprieve, during which he went to Hungary and sought the assistance of the sorcerer Klingsor. Heinrich and Klingsor returned to Thuringia to resume the contest.

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