With reference to the reception accorded to Freidank, this study investigates the transformation of an historical author into a figure inscribed into cultural memory with a clearly delineated set of features and competencies. Initially no more than a reference in a corpus of edifying Spruuuml;che, Freidank's name gradually turned into a symbol of veracity and God-fearing living in the course of a long receptive process extending from the 14th to the 17th century. Freidank thus attained the status of an authority. Similar processes of semiotization and ascriptions of significance are...