Oswald von Wolkenstein was a poet, composer and diplomat. In the latter capacity, he traveled through much of Europe, even as far as Georgia (as recounted in "Durch Barbarei, Arabia"), and was inducted into the Order of the Dragon. He lived for a time in Seis am Schlern. Oswald's father was Friedrich von Wolkenstein and his mother Katharina von Villanders. When he was ten years old, Oswald left his family and became squire of a knight errant. Oswald described the journeys undertaken by him in the following 14 years in his autobiographical song "Es fügt sich...", mentioning travels to Crete, Prussia, Lithuania, Crimea, Turkey, the Holy Land, France, Lombardy and Spain, as well as being shipwrecked in the Black Sea.