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Walther von der Vogelweide
 Some 7 kilometres away from Allentsteig the remnants of the Medieval villages of Walthers can be found, close to the border of the military trainings base installed by Nazi-Germany in 1938/42 and still existing.
Recently scientific investigations have furnished convincing arguments that the minnesinger Walther von der Vogelweide, who is rated as the greatest poet of the German language before Goethe, comes from Waldviertel - probably from a former village near Allentsteig.
At the village called Walthers, sited beneath Bernschlag near Allentsteig and first mentioned in a document from 1275, an area named "Vogelweide" is shown in old maps (hunting with birds (falcons) in the Middle Ages was a popular "sport", besides Hans Hager of Allentsteig in 1587 was the hawker of the emperor). The name of the village is derived from the founder of the village named Walther, who appears as witness in a document of the owner of the dominion of Allentsteig. This Walther definitely was not the famous poet, whose youth is dated between 1170 and 1190. Possibly, however, he was his father, who - as it was a common practice - gave his Christian name also to one of his sons.
The proximity of Zwettl monastery (as all cloisters in the Middle Ages an important centre of education), the relationship between the owner of the dominion of Allentsteig to the Kuenring family, the role of Walther´s patron, bishop Wolfger from Passau (Waldviertel then belonged to his diocese), and their being in touch with the Babenberg courts in Vienna and Klosterneuburg and even to the Babenberg sideline of the `dukes´ of Mödling, who were known as supporters of the minstrel poetry, could explain the career of the poet Walther von der Vogelweide.
In 1992 a memorial stone was erected at the former village of Walthers. The inscription quoting some lines by the poet runs: "At this spot once the medieval village `Walthers´ existed with a large hawking-area. `In Austria I learned singing and saying" (=to make verses and to speak my mother´s tongue)´. Walther from the Vogelweide." Since 1992 a walking-tour named after the poet takes place in late summer. In 1994 the Medieval well of the village was excarved, reconstructed according to patterns of that time and solemnly consecrated. |
