Biography
Peter Suchenwirt (c. 1320-1395) was an Austrian poet and herald. (Suchenwirt was the Medieval name for heralds of the Austrian dukes.)
He called himself "Knappe von den Wappen" which is a lower position as to the herald, with the duty to blazon and explain the arms of the nobles.
Suchenwirt was the most outstanding representative of the so called arms poetry (de: Heroldsdichtung). Since 1372 he lived in the Vienna court of the Austrian dukes. In 1377, he joined the campaign of duke Albrecht III to Prussia. His poems are full of heraldic blazon, documenting his proficiency in heraldic terminology.
Suchenwirt collected the material for his poems from the primary sources. For this reason he travelled a lot to the eminent personalities of his age. He was an outstanding observer, so his historical and cultural data proved to be authentic. He went to the location to give a laudation if he learnt about the death of an important person, or appeared there at the first anniversary of his death. He praised the tournament results, the virtues and field deeds of kings and nobles. As a rule, the speech ended with the description of the deceased person's arms.
He used gemstones to designate the tinctures, and to describe (c. 1355) the coat of arms of the Louis the Great (1342-1382), King of Hungary.
Writing
A writer of historical, biographical, allegorical, and didactic poems. He is a richer and more lively poet than Teichner. His verse was not confined to rhyming couplets, but he may be reckoned nevertheless among the " Reimsprecher." He attacks gambling, and lets us know how general dice-playing was in his day ; one of his poems celebrates the battle of Sempach, but among the variety of his productions those that come under the heading of " Heroldsdichtung " procured him the greatest notoriety. These poems commemorated the deaths of princes and nobles, and joined with the lament was a description of their coats-of-arms beside that of their deeds. These " Ehrenrede " were probably recited at assemblies of the nobles. Ed., Primisser, 1827; G. E. Friess, 1878. See F. Kratochwil, "P. Suchenwirt, Sein Leben u. seine Werke," "Scriptores rer. Pruss.," ii. 155, for poems referring to German order. Also a few in Clara Hatzlerin's "Lieder- buch." MSS., Suchensinn.A wandering singer like Suchenwirt and Teichner, who flourished end 14th and early 15th centuries. He does not hold so prominent a place among the Meister- singers as Suchenwirt ; "he was unable to separate the didactic from the lyric." ..
