WALTER von RHEINAU (GUALTIERO di RHEINAU). - German religious poet of the thirteenth century (?), born at Bremgarten on the Reuss (in Aargau), of the impoverished branch of a noble family whose name is found near Zurich and Winterthur.
He certainly studied in a convent and wrote to earn his living. His poem, a Life of Mary in 1,500 verses, written in the German of the thirteenth century, must, because of its mystical-passionate tone, be dated no earlier than 1300. He follows his model blindly, the Vita beatae Virginia of Filippo il Certosino, concealing, even more than the latter, beneath sound literary culture, a lack of talent and imagination; in the presentation of spiritual events, however, there is a tendency toward psychological deepening. The influences of courtly poetry and of Konrad von Würzburg are evident.