Literary history constantly undergoes changes since we often (re)discover poets and their texts in light of new approaches, theories, and methodologies. Or we discover new manuscripts or printed books that force us to change our perspective and to widen the horizon of our understanding of past periods. The South Tyrolean poet Oswald von Wolkenstein today represents the most influential figure in fifteenth-century German and European literature, but this was not the case at all until the late 1950s. Since then much has happened in the field of Oswald research, and the library shelves are now filled with numerous monographs, volumes of edited articles, new editions, and translations. The first complete translation of Oswald's works into English (Albrecht Classen, The Poems of Oswald von Wolkenstein: An English Translation) appeared in 2008, and only recently, Burghart Wachinger presented the fourth, thoroughly revised edition of Oswald's songs (Berlin, 2015).

Many scholars could be mentioned who contributed significantly to the modern research on this poet, but no one deserves more praise than Anton Schwob, along with his wife, the historian Ute Monika Schwob. While his biography, Oswald von Wolkenstein. Eine Biographie (Bozen, 1977), and his monograph on Oswald's imprisonment songs, Historische Realität und literarische Umsetzung: Beobachtungen zur Stilisierung d. Gefangenschaft in den Liedern Oswalds v. Wolkenstein (Innsbruck, 1979), belong to the hallmarks of modern investigations dedicated to Oswald, the scholarly couple has also edited all the extant historical documents pertaining to Oswald, Die Lebenszeugnisse Oswalds von Wolkenstein (Vienna, 2003–13) in a set of five volumes. Both have, moreover, published numerous articles exploring Oswald's songs and the historical-cultural context, which amount, counted together, to more than fifty and which have appeared in a wide range of scholarly fora.

To honor both Schwobs and to serve future Oswald scholarship, the present volume, edited by Max Siller and the other members of the editorial board of the book series “Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft, Germanistische Reihe,” contains a selection of twenty-four of their most seminal articles. Anton Schwob published his first article (not included here) in a volume that had appeared in this series, so the present book in a way looks back forty years and proves to be a worthy dedication to the great contributions made by the two authors. The articles are arranged chronologically rather than thematically. It would have been useful if the book had included a complete bibliography of both authors. The topics are of a diverse nature and address various of Oswald's famous songs, concrete events in his life, song manuscripts, the spatial background of some of his poems, political and legal aspects, and editorial issues.

All these articles had already been vetted, evaluated, and reviewed before they were initially published, so here we only need to acknowledge with great respect that so many them have now been put together and republished, thus making available a solid body of some of the best contributions to Oswald's life and work from 1980/81 to 2007. The volume concludes with an index of all place names and one of personal names. The book cover shows an excerpt from ms. B (ca. 1432), the first lines of Oswald's song Kl. 85, a most impressive war poem.