Oswald von Wolkenstein is one of the few late medieval poets whose life and work can be traced through numerous written records. The author aims to categorize the 276 textual witnesses to Oswald's life that have been edited so far into different text types and subject them to a communication analysis. For this purpose, the results of current text type research will be linked with methods from traditional speech act theory, allowing for a multi-level examination of the texts. In this context, the life testimonies of Oswald von Wolkenstein represent a unique collection of texts, as individual correspondences can be tracked over years, sometimes revealing the success or failure of late medieval communication processes.