Thomas Bein earned a PhD with a study on Frauenlob´s Minneleich, for his postdoctoral lecture qualification he worked on historical and philological problems of authenticity of lyrical texts. Since 1999 he is a professor of Medieval German at RWTH Aachen University. As chair of the ,Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Germanistische Edition‘ he organised two international conferences in Aachen. His research projects have focused on medieval poetry (Walther von der Vogelweide), edition philology, and history of German studies. He is the author of numerous introductions on medieval poetry, medieval studies, and edition philology as well as editor for the series ‚Walther-Studien‘ and ‚Kultur, Wissenschaft, Literatur