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DIETRICH OF BERN

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 222 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIETRICH OF See also:BERN , the name given in See also:German popular See also:poetry to See also:Theodoric tha See also:Great. The legendary See also:history of Dietrich differs so widely from the See also:life of Theodoric that it has been suggested that the two were originally unconnected. See also:Medieval chroniclers, however, repeatedly asserted the identity of Dietrich and Theodoric, although the more See also:critical noted the anachronisms involved in making See also:Ermanaric (d. 376) and See also:Attila (d. 453) See also:con-temporary with Theodoric (b. 455). That the See also:legend is based on vague See also:historical reminiscences is proved by the retention of the names of Theodoric (Thiuda-reiks, Dietrich) and his See also:father Theudemir (Dietmar), by Dietrich's connexion with Bern (See also:Verona) and Raben (See also:Ravenna). Something of the See also:Gothic See also:king's See also:character descended to Dietrich, familiarly called the Berner, the favourite of German medieval See also:saga heroes, although his See also:story did not leave the same See also:mark on later German literature as did that of the Nibelungs. The See also:cycle of songs connected with his name in See also:South See also:Germany is partially preserved in the See also:Heldenbuch (q.v.) in Dietrich's Flucht, the Rabenschlacht and Alpharts See also:Tod; but it was reserved for an Icelandic author, See also:writing in See also:Norway in the 13th See also:century, to compile, with many romantic additions, a consecutive See also:account of Dietrich. In this Norse See also:prose redaction, known as the Vilkina Saga, or more correctly the Thidrekssaga, is incorporated much extraneous See also:matter from the Nibelungen and See also:Wayland legends, in fact practically the whole of south German heroic tradition. There are traces of a See also:form of the Dietrich legend in which he was represented as starting out from See also:Byzantium, in accordance with historical tradition, for his See also:conquest of See also:Italy. But this See also:early disappeared, and was superseded by the existing legend, in which, perhaps by an " epic See also:fusion " with his father Theudemir, he was associated with Attila, and then by an easy transition with Ermanaric.

Dietrich was driven from his See also:

kingdom of Bern by his See also:uncle Ermanaric. After years of See also:exile at the See also:court of Attila he returned with a Hunnish See also:army to Italy, and defeated Ermanaric in the Rabenschlacht, or See also:battle of Ravenna. Attila's two sons; with Dietrich's See also:brother, See also:fell in the fight, and Dietrich returned to Attila's court to See also:answer for the See also:death of the See also:young princes. This very improbable renunciation of the advantages of his victory suggests that in the See also:original version of the story the Rabenschlacht was a defeat. In the poem of Ermenrichs Tod he is represented as slaying Ermanaric, as in fact Theodoric slew See also:Odoacer. " Otacher " replaces Ermanaric as his adversary in the Hildebrandslied, which relates how See also:thirty years after the earlier See also:attempt he reconquered his Lombard kingdom. Dietrich's See also:long See also:residence at Attila's court represents the youth and early See also:man-See also:hood of Theodoric spent at the imperial court and fighting in the See also:Balkan See also:peninsula, and, in accordance with epic See also:custom, the See also:period of exile was adorned with See also:war-like exploits, with fights with dragons and giants, most of which had no essential connexion with the cycle. The romantic poems of See also:Konig Laurin, Sigenot, Eckenlied and See also:Virginal are based largely on See also:local traditions originally See also:independent of Dietrich. The court of Attila (Etzel) was a ready See also:bridge to the Nibelungen legend. In the final See also:catastrophe he was at length compelled, after steadily holding aloof from the combat, to avenge the slaughter of his Amelungs by the Burgundians, and delivered See also:Hagen See also:bound into the hands of See also:Kriemhild. The See also:flame breath which anger induced from him shows the See also:influence of pure myth, but the tales of his demonic origin and of his being carried off by the See also:devil in the shape of a See also:black See also:horse may safely be put down to the clerical hostility to Theodoric's Arianism. Generally speaking, Dietrich of Bern was the See also:wise and. just monarch as opposed to Ermanaric, the typical See also:tyrant of Geranic legend.

He was invariably represented as slow of provocation and a friend of See also:

peace, but once roused to battle not even Siegfried could withstand his onslaught. But probably Dietrich's fight with Siegfried in Kriemhild's See also:rose See also:garden at See also:Worms is a See also:late addition to the Rosengarten myth. The See also:chief heroes of the Dietrich cycle are his See also:tutor and See also:companion in arms, See also:Hildebrand (see HILDEBRAND, See also:LAY ox), with his nephews the Wolfings Alphart and Wolfhart; Wittich, who renounced his See also:allegiance to Dietrich and slew the sons of Attila; Heime and Biterolf. The contents of the poems dealing with the Dietrich cycle are summarized by See also:Uhland in Schriften zur Geschichte der Dichtung and See also:Sage (See also:Stuttgart, 1873). The Thidrekssaga (ed. C. Unger, See also:Christiania, 1853) is translated into German by F. H. v. der Hagen in Altdeutsche and altnordische Heldensagen (vols. i. and ii. 3rd ed., See also:Breslau, 1872). A See also:summary of it forms the concluding See also:chapter of T. See also:Hodgkin's Theodoric the Goth (1891). The See also:variations in the Dietrich legend in the Latin historians, in Old and See also:Middle High German literature, and in the See also:northern saga, can be studied in W.

See also:

Grimm's Deutsche Heldensage (2nd ed., See also:Berlin, 1867). There is a See also:good account in See also:English in F. E. See also:Sandbach's Heroic Saga-cycle of Dietrich of Bern (1906), forming No. 15 of See also:Alfred Nutt's Popular Studies in See also:Mythology, and another in M. See also:Bentinck See also:Smith's See also:translation of Dr O. L. Jirlczek's Deutsche Heldensage (Northern Legends, See also:London, 1902). For See also:modern German authorities and commentators see B. See also:Symons, " Deutsche Heldensage " in H. See also:Paul's Grd. d. german. Phil.

(See also:

Strassburg, new ed., 1905) ; also Goedeke, Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung (i. 241-246).

End of Article: DIETRICH OF BERN

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DIETRICH, CHRISTIAN WILHELM ERNST (1712-1774)

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