page_title: Wolfger von Erla
section_title: Bishop of Passau
hierarchical_section_title: Wolfger von Erla / Bishop of Passau
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Einzige urkundliche Erwähnung des Walther von der Vogelweide, in den Reiserechnungen des Bischofs von Passau, Wolfger von Erla, 12. November 1203. Text: "Walthero cantori de vogelweide pro pellicio v solidos longos" = Dem Sänger Walther von der Vogelweide für einen Pelzrock 5 Schillinge.English: Only documentary mention of Walther von der Vogelweide in an itinerary account of the bishop of Passau, Wolfger von Erla, 1203-11-12. Text: "Walthero cantori de vogelweide pro pellicio v solidos longos" = To the singer Walther von der Vogelweide 5 solidi for a fur coat.
context_page_description: Wolfger von Erla, known in Italian as Volchero, was the Bishop of Passau from 1191 until 1204 and Patriarch of Aquileia thereafter until his death.
  He was renowned in his own time as a diplomat and peacemaker. He participated in the highest levels of the politics of the Holy Roman Empire, traveling frequently between Germany and Italy, where he served as imperial legate. He took part in the Crusade of 1197 and played a role in founding the Teutonic Knights.
  Wolfger's courts at Passau and Aquileia attracted scholars and writers. His possible patronage of the Nibelungenlied has assured him a central place in the history of German literature.
context_section_description: As bishop, he expanded the holdings of his diocese and was a consistent ally of the Staufers and Babenbergs. In 1195, he was involved in negotiating the release of Richard the Lionheart, then imprisoned in Dürnstein under the care of Hadmar II of Kuenring. He attended the imperial diet held in Bari in April 1195. The Emperor Henry VI selected him to negotiate with Pope Celestine III over the succession to the Kingdom of Sicily.
  At a diet in Worms in December 1195, Wolfger took the cross. He traveled with Duke Frederick I of Austria on the Crusade of 1197. He was part of the group of German princes who elevated the fraternity of the Hospital of Saint Mary of the Germans at Acre into an order of knighthood, the Teutonic Order. On his return, he successfully petitioned Pope Innocent III to grant the order a papal charter in 1199.
  During the German throne dispute that followed Henry VI's death in 1197, Wolfger remained loyal to the Staufer candidate, Philip of Swabia. When the pope took the side of Otto of Brunswick, Wolfger was excommunicated.
  Wolfger's episcopal travel accounts provide the only contemporary reference to the famous Minnesänger Walther von der Vogelweide outside of the Minnesang itself. He may also have been the patron of the author of the Middle High German Nibelungenlied, since a fictional bishop of Passau plays a prominent role in it. The poet Albrecht von Johansdorf was also associated with his court. The jurist Eilbert of Bremen dedicated his Ordo iudiciarius to Wolfger.
  In 1204, Wolfger built the castle of Obernburg because of a feud with the Count of Ortenburg. He urged the creation of another diocese out of the territory of the diocese of Passau, but this never came to fruition before he began vigorously seeking election to the patriarchate of Aquileia.
caption: A line from the 12 November 1203 travel account of Wolfger at Zeiselmauer, recording the payment of "five shillings to Walter, the singer of Vogelweide, for a fur coat" (walthero cantori de vogelweide pro pellicio v solidos longos), a very large sum at the time.
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