Abstract
Eight hundred years ago, in 1198, Walther von der Vogel weide composed what was to become the best-known of his political lyrics, 'Ich saz Of eime steine' (L. 8,4).1 It takes pride of place in the most comprehensive medieval anthology of Walther's lyrics, the Manesse codex (C), and inspired the two miniatures which still colour our view of Walther as the wandering minstrel destined to become the most influential German commentator on the politics of empire in the early thirteenth century. 'Ich saz Of eime steine' is, by common consent, the first lyric in. which Walther addressed himself to the problems of Germany in a wider sense, the concerns of all Germanspeaking people, tiusche zunge (L. 9,8). Jeff Ashcroft has challenged the conventional chronology, but argues that the central focus of Walther's political lyrics prior to 1198 was the Babenberg duchy of Austria? Perversely perhaps, in this centenary year, this essay
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