Bligger von Steinach was the name of a series of feudal lords of Steinach, today

Neckarsteinach The four-castle town of Neckarsteinach lies on the Neckar in the Bergstraße district in the southernmost part of Hesse, Germany, 15 km east of Heidelberg. Geography Location Both by way of transport and culture, Neckarsteinach's location ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. Collectively the noble family was known as the ''Edelfreien von Steinach''. The family was influential, having close connections to the Holy Roman Emperor and to the

Bishopric of Worms The Prince-Bishopric of Worms, was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Located on both banks of the Rhine around Worms just north of the union of that river with the Neckar, it was largely surrounded by the Electorate of th ...

. The family held Steinach in fief to Worms. The name Bligger is of Germanic origin, meaning ''lightning spear''. Bligger I was first mentioned in a document from 1142 as ''bliggerus de steinahe''. In 1150, Bligger's brother, was named Konrad I bishop of Worms. In 1171, Bligger was sent to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt ...

to seek a bride for Frederick's son, Henry VI. There are indications that Bligger's son, Bligger II, and his brother Konrad accompanied him. Bligger II (1152–1210) was a poet of the

Minnesang (; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who w ...

and fief lord of Steinach. He was also a companion to two

Staufer The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...

and contemporary of the Minnesinger

Gottfried von Strassburg Gottfried von Strassburg (died c. 1210) is the author of the Middle High German courtly romance ', an adaptation of the 12th-century ''Tristan and Iseult'' legend. Gottfried's work is regarded, alongside the ''Nibelungenlied'' and Wolfram von Es ...

. Bligger's poems mention Damascus and Saladin and Bligger's homesickness, which some scholars take as an indication that Bligger either accompanied his father and uncle to Constantinople in 1171 or Bligger went on a crusade with Frederick I. Bligger was certainly a trustworthy companion to Henry IV and not just an entertainer. Bligger's signature appears on four imperial documents from 1193 to 1196 as ''Blikerus de Steinaha''. A report of a Pentecostal festival from 1194 in Milano, in which the emperor Henry VI,

Conrad II, Duke of Swabia Conrad II (February/March 1172 – 15 August 1196), was Duke of Rothenburg (1188–1191) and Swabia from 1191 until his death. He was the fifth son of Frederick I Barbarossa and Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy. Life After the third-born son o ...

Philip of Swabia Philip of Swabia (February/March 1177 – 21 June 1208) was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and King of Germany from 1198 until his assassination. The death of his older brother Emperor Henry VI in 1197 meant that the Hohenstaufen rule ( ...

Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine Henry V, the Elder of Brunswick (german: Heinrich der Ältere von Braunschweig; – 28 April 1227), a member of the House of Welf, was Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1195 until 1212. Life Henry was the eldest son of Henry the Lion, Duke of ...

, and Bligger von Steinach. Bligger was also present when Henry VI was crowned king of Sicily in Palermo 1194. Two further imperial documents refer to the name ''Blikerus'' from the Toscana in 1194, but historians dispute whether this refers to Bligger II or his son Bligger III. Bligger appears from 1152 to 1208 in numerous documents of

Schönau Abbey Schönau Abbey (''Kloster Schönau'') in Schönau in the Odenwald, in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis in Baden-Württemberg, was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1142 from Eberbach Abbey. The present settlement of Schönau grew up round the monastery. ...

, Lorch Abbey,

Eberbach Abbey Eberbach Abbey (German: Kloster Eberbach) is a former Cistercian monastery in Eltville in the Rheingau, Germany. On account of its Romanesque architecture, Romanesque and Gothic (architecture), early Gothic buildings it is considered one of the mo ...

, and in imperial documents. As a poet, Bligger II was mentioned by

in his work '' Tristan und Isolt''. There he praised his "sweet words and clever sensibilities musically entwined". Gottfried also praised Bligger's work ''der umbehanc'' (''The Tapestry''), which remains lost to this day. Some scholars argue that this work refers to the

Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of German ...

, but this remains in dispute. Bligger's work appears in the

Codex Manesse The Codex Manesse (also Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift or Pariser Handschrift) is a ''Liederhandschrift'' (manuscript containing songs), the single most comprehensive source of Middle High German ''Minnesang'' poetry, written and illustrat ...

. The codex also displays the coat-of-arms that he created. It is a harp, which is used today by the city of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bligger von Steinach Middle High German literature Minnesingers 12th-century German nobility 13th-century German nobility 12th-century German poets 13th-century German poets