Erhard Wameshafft (or Waneshafft, as he is sometimes spelled) is again, possibly, an aptronym, an ‘Erhard‘ who is hoping against hope in matters of love. We find the name in the text, the ‘I‘ is adressed by one of the allegorical (?) ladies surrounding Lady Love. But this Wameshafft has more to tell about the production of his text:
Here now end the words which I, the dumb Wameshafft, did produce from meager mastery, at Königstein. I was four weeks so ill that I could not roam the lands. While I was ill, I made this new poem and I gave it as a gift to my graceful young lady, that God might remember the Lord and guide his noble son, because they did many good deeds and gave away food and drink willingly; God will reward the virtuous.
(View the original MHG text).
Here now end the words which I, the dumb Wameshafft, did produce from meager mastery, at Königstein. I was four weeks so ill that I could not roam the lands. While I was ill, I made this new poem and I gave it as a gift to my graceful young lady, that God might remember the Lord and guide his noble son, because they did many good deeds and gave away food and drink willingly; God will reward the virtuous.
(View the original MHG text).
The unnamed lady could have been Anna, daughter of Count Eberhard III. of Eppstein-Königstein. We have only one other attested work by Wameshafft, which was commissioned by the counts of Katzenellnbogen, also from the same middle-rhenisch region.
At the end of the text by Erhard Wameshafft, we find a short riddle. Interested in some medieval mental exercise?
Learn more about the other author, Hermann von Sachsenheim.
Or go directly to the conclusions one can draw from the names in this manuscript.