In the closing line of Helmbrecht (circa 1265-1280) the narrator and implied poet identifies himself as Wernher der Gartenaere (the Gardener). This name has been accepted by scholars, even though the last twelve lines of the poem appear only in manuscript A (1514) and were probably added by a copyist preceding Hans Ried, who produced that manuscript. Wernher's life is otherwise undocumented in contemporary records and the testimony of fellow writers, and no other works have been attributed to him. Yet this relatively short piece of 1,934 lines in rhymed couplets has been a major focus of scholarly attention and has inspired many attempts to seek out the author's vanished tracks. Speculation was particularly rampant in the nineteenth century, when the author of Helmbrecht was identified with various individuals named either Wernher or Gärtner, with ecclesiastics or wandering minstrels, with gardeners, with ministeriales (lower-ranking knights without land of...