The study takes German and French texts to examine the development of the Philomela myth in the vernacular from the 12th to the 16th centuries. For this, it also considers Ovid's Philomela and its after-life in its medieval adaptations. Working from the individual literary studies, content nodes of the myth are analysed and their variance presented comparatively. Particular weight is attached here to the motif of weaving, as this is accorded central significance within the Philomela myth.