Career
Collectively the noble family was known as the Edelfreien von Steinach. The family was influential, having close connections to the Holy Roman Emperor and to the Bishopric of Worms. The family held Steinach in fief to Worms.
The name Bligger is of Germanic origin, meaning lightning spear.
Bligger I was first mentioned in a document from 1142 as bliggerus de steinahe. In 1150, Bligger"s brother, was named Konrad I bishop of Worms.
In 1171, Bligger was sent to Constantinople by Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor to seek a bride for Frederick"s son, Henry VI. Bligger II (1152–1210) was a poet of the Minnesang and fief lord of Steinach. Bligger"s signature appears on four imperial documents from 1193 to 1196 as Blikerus de Steinaha.
Bligger was also present when Henry VI was crowned king of Sicily in Palermo 1194.
Bligger appears from 1152 to 1208 in numerous documents of Schönau Abbey, Lorch Abbey, Eberbach Abbey, and in imperial documents. As a poet, Bligger II was mentioned by Gottfried von Strassburg in his work Tristan und Isolt. There he praised his "sweet words and clever sensibilities musically entwined".
Gottfried also praised Bligger"s work der umbehanc (The Tapestry), which remains lost to this day.
Some scholars argue that this work refers to the Nibelungenlied, but this remains in dispute. Bligger"s work appears in the Codex Manesse.
The codex also displays the coat-of-arms that he created. lieutenant is a harp, which is used today by the city of Neckarsteinach.