Several indications concur as to establish that the Archpoet came from a place north of the Alps, although no solid claim can be made as to which country, even though Germany has repeatedly and traditionally being taken as his birthplace. He refers to himself as "", of knightly birth, and, coming from such a high class, was most certainly well-educated in the liberal arts, theology and the classics. In poem IV, he states that he chose the pursuit of poetry (as symbolized by the Roman poet Virgil) over a career in the military (as symbolized by the Trojan warrior Paris) as his birth permitted and disposed him to. It has been deduced from the same poem that he first traveled to Salerno in order to pursue medical studies but that due to ill health, he had to abandon this project.