The virtual identity of lines 397-402 of Vom Priesterleben (Of the Life of Priests, after 1160), with lines 181-186 of Von des todes gehugde (On the Remembrance of Death, after 1160) as well as the closely related subject matters of the two poems, suggest that they were written by the same individual. Nonetheless, the question of common authorship continues to be the subject of lively speculation. How many years lie between the composition of Vom Priesterleben and Von des todes gehugde, and which has chronological precedence, cannot be determined. What is indisputable is that among the more than ninety works that comprise Early Middle High German literature, no other piece approaches either one in keenness of observation of the moral failings of the time, in satiric embellishment, in liveliness of presentation, or in the absolutely uncompromising censure of all members of contemporary society who do not measure up to the...