Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

NIBELUNGENLIED, or DER NIBELUNGE NOT

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 640 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

NIBELUNGENLIED, or DER NIBELUNGE NOT , an heroic epic written in a See also:Middle High See also:German See also:dialect. The See also:story on which the poem is based belongs to the See also:general stock of See also:Teutonic See also:saga and was very widespread under various forms, some of which are preserved. Thus it is touched upon in See also:Beowulf, and fragments of it See also:form the most important See also:part of the See also:northern Eddas, the poets of which evidently assumed that the See also:tale as a whole was well known and that their hearers would be able to put each piece in its proper See also:place. In the See also:prose See also:Edda, or Volsungasaga, which, though largely See also:primitive in spirit, See also:dates froisi the 13th See also:century, it is set forth in full. The substance of this Norse version is as follows: The three Anses—See also:Odin, Loki and Hornir—saw an See also:otter devouring a See also:salmon beside a See also:waterfall. They killed and skinned the otter and, taking the skin with them, sought shelter for the See also:night with Rodmar the See also:giant. But Rodmar recognized the skin as that of his son, and demanded as weregild See also:gold enough to See also:cover it completely. Loki thereupon went back to the stream, where Andvari in the form of a See also:pike was guarding a See also:great treasure, caught him in a See also:net, and forced him to surrender his hoard. But the piled-up gold See also:left one See also:hair exposed ; in See also:order to cover it Loki returned to Andvari and forced him to surrender a magic See also:ring which had the virtue of breeding gold. Thereupon Andvari, enraged, laid upon the hoard and all who should possess it a curse. This curse, the Leitmotif of the whole story, began to operate at once. Rodmar, for the See also:sake of the treasure, was slain by his sons See also:Fafnir and Regin; and Fafnir, seizing the whole, retired to a desolate See also:heath and, in the form of a snake or See also:dragon, brooded over the hoard.

Regin, cheated of his See also:

share, plotted vengeance and the See also:conquest of the treasure. To Regin, a notable See also:smith, was sent See also:Sigurd—son of the slain See also:hero Sigmundr the Volsung and his wife Hiortis, now wife of the Danish See also:king Alf—to be trained in his See also:craft. To him Regin told of Fafnir and' the hoard, and the See also:young hero offered to go out against the dragon if Regin would weld him a See also:sword. But every See also:brand forged by the smith See also:broke under Sigurd's stroke; till at last he fetched the fragments of the sword See also:Gram, Odin's See also:gift to his See also:father, which Hiortis had carefully treasured. These Sigurd forged into a new sword, so hard that with it he could cleave the See also:anvil and so See also:sharp that it would sever a See also:flock of See also:wool floating against it down stream; and, so armed, he sought and slew the dragon. But while roasting Fafnir's See also:heart, whi'-h Regin had cut out, Sigurd burned his See also:finger with the boiling See also:fat and, placing it to his lips, found that he could understand the See also:language of birds, and so learned from the chattering of the See also:wood-peckers that Regin was planning treachery. Thereupon he slew the smith and loading the treasure on the magic steed Grani, given to him by Odin, set out upon his travels. On the See also:summit of a See also:fire-girt See also:hill Sigurd found the Valkyrie See also:Brunhild in an enchanted See also:sleep, and ravished by her beauty awakened her; they plighted their troth to each other and, next See also:morning, Sigurd left her to set out once more on his See also:journey. Coming to the See also:court of Giuki, a king in the See also:Rhine See also:country, Sigurd formed a friendship with his three sons, Gunnar, Hogni and Guthorm; and, in order to retain so valuable an ally, it was determined to arrange a match between him and their See also:sister See also:Gudrun. See also:Queen Grimhild, skilled in magic, therefore gave him an enchanted drink, which caused him to forget Brunhild. Gunnar, on the other See also:hand, wished to make Brunhild his wife, and asked Sigurd to ride with him on this quest, which he consented to do on See also:condition of receiving Gudrun to wife. They set out; but Gunnar was unable to pass the circle of fire See also:round Brunhild's See also:abode, the achievement that was the condition of winning her hand.

So Sigurd, assuming Gunnar's shape, rode through the flames on his magic See also:

horse, and in sign of troth exchanged rings with the Valkyrie, giving her the ring of Andvari. So Gunnar and Brunhild were wedded, and Sigurd, resuming his own form, rode back with them to Giuki's court where the See also:double See also:marriage was celebrated. But Brunhild was See also:moody and suspicious, remembering her troth with Sigurd and believing that he alone could have accomplished the quest. One See also:day the two queens, while bathing in the See also:river, See also:fell to See also:quarrel-See also:ling as to which of their husbands was the greater. Brunhild taunted Gudrun with the fact that Sigurd was Gunnar's See also:vassal, whereupon Gudrun retorted by telling her that it was not Gunnar but Sigurd who rode through the flames, and in See also:proof of this held up Brunhild's ring. which Sigurd had given to her. Then Brunhild " waxed as wan as a dead woman, and spoke no word the day See also:long." Maddened by See also:jealousy and wounded See also:pride, she now incited the three See also:kings to See also:murder Sigurd by exciting their jealousy of his See also:power. The two See also:elder, as See also:bound to him by See also:blood-brotherhood, refused; but the youngest, Guthorm, who had sworn no oaths, consented to do the See also:deed. Twice he crept into Sigurd's chamber, but fled when he found the hero awake and gazing at him with flashing eyes. The thirdhad just strength enough to hurl his sword at the murderer, whom it cut in two. Brunhild, when she heard Gudrun wailing, laughed aloud. But her love for Sigurd was great as ever, and she determined not to survive him; distributing her See also:wealth to her hand-maidens, she mounted Sigurd's funeral pyre, slew herself with his sword, and was burnt with him. In course of See also:time Gudrun married Atli (See also:Attila), king of the See also:Huns, Brunhild's See also:brother.

Atli, See also:

intent on getting hold of the hoard, which• Gudrun's See also:brothers had seized, invited them to come to his court. In spite of their sister's warnings they came, after sinking the treasure in the Rhine. On their refusal to surrender the hoard, or to say where it was concealed, a fierce fight broke out, in which all the followers of Gunnar and Hogni fell. Atli then once more offered to spare Gunnar's See also:life if he would reveal his See also:secret; but Gunnar refused to do so till he should see the heart of Hogni. The heart of a slave was laid before him, but he declared that that could not be Hogni's, since it quaked. Hogni's heart was then cut out, the victim laughing the while; but when Gunnar saw it he ,cried out that now he alone knew where the hoard was and that he would never reveal the secret. His hands were then bound, and he was See also:cast into a den of venomous serpents; but he played so sweetly on the See also:harp with his toes that he charmed the See also:reptiles, except one See also:adder, by which he was stung to See also:death. Gudrun, however, avenged the death of her brothers by slaying the sons she had See also:borne to Atli and causing him unwittingly to drink their blood and eat their See also:hearts. Finally, in the night, she killed Atli himself and burned his See also:hall; then, leaping into the See also:sea, she was carried by the waves to new scenes, where she had adventures not connected with those recorded in the Nibelungenlied. This story, in spite of the See also:late date of the Volsungasaga and of added elements due to the See also:imagination of its author, evidently represents a very primitive version. In the Nibelungen story, on the other hand, though its extant versions are of much earlier date, and though it contains elements equally primitive not found in the other, the spirit and the motives of the earlier story have to a large extent been transmuted by later influences, the setting of the story being—though by no means consistently—See also:medieval rather than primitive. Thus the mysterious hoard is all but lost sight of; no mention is made of the curse attached to it; and it is only as an afterthought that Siegfried (Sifrit) is described as its See also:master.

Everywhere the supernatural elements are eliminated or subordinated, and the story becomes a See also:

drama of human motives, depending for its development on the interplay of human passions and activities. To us in See also:ancient story wonders great are told Of heroes See also:rich in See also:glory and of adventures bold, Of feast and joyous living, of wailing and of woe, Of gallant warriors striving may ye now many marvels know.l That is all he gives by way of See also:preface. The gods have vanished from the See also:scene; there is nothing of Loki and his See also:theft of Andvari's hoard, nothing of Odin and his gifts of the sword Gram and the magic horse Grani; and not till the third Aventiure, when Siegfried comes to See also:Worms, are we given even a hint that such things as the sword and treasure exist. On the other hand, in the very next See also:stanza we are introduced to what is to be the leading See also:motive of the See also:plot: See also:Kriemhild, the Burgundian princess, on whose See also:account " many a See also:noble See also:knight was doomed to perish." For, as in the See also:legend of Sigurd the Volsung, the plot had turned upon the love and vengeance of Brunhild, so in the See also:song of the Nibelungs it is the love and vengeance of Kriemhild, the Gudrun of the northern saga, that forms the backbone of the story and gives it from first to last an See also:artistic unity which the Volsungasaga lacks. Of the story itself it is impossible here to give anything but the barest outline, sufficient to show its contrast with the northern version. We may See also:note at the outset the spirit of See also:pessimism which, like the curse on the hoard, pervades the whole. It appears in the very first Aventiure, when Kriemhild, in See also:answer to her See also:mother's See also:interpretation of her See also:dream, declares that she will never marry, since " it has been proved by the experience of many See also:women that joy is in the end rewarded by sorrow "; it is repeated in the last stanza but one of the long poem: " As ever joy in sorrow ends and must end alway." This tragic contrast is emphasized by the pomp and circumstance that surround the See also:ill-fated hero of the story at the beginning. i Uns ist in See also:alten maeren wunders vil geseit Von heleden lobebaeren von grozer arebeit Von freude unt h8chgeziten von weinen unde klagen Von keener recken strften muget it See also:nun wunder hoeren sagen. The primitive setting of the northern version has vanished utterly. Sigmund is king of the See also:Netherlands; the boy Siegfried is brought up by " See also:wise men that are his tutors " (Avent. ii.); and when, attracted by the fame of Kriemhild's beauty, he rides to Worms to woo her, it is as the typical handsome, accomplished and chivalrous king's son of medieval See also:romance. It is at this point (Avent. iv.) that some of the primitive elements of the story are suddenly and awkwardly introduced. As Siegfried approaches Worms, Kriemhild's brothers, the Burgundian kings See also:Gunther, Giselher and Gernot See also:watch his coming, and to them their faithful See also:retainer, " the grim See also:Hagen," explains who he is.

This, he exclaims, can be no other than the hero who slew the two kings of the Nibelungs, Schilbunc and Nibelunc, and seized their treasure, together with the sword Balmunc and the tarnkappe, or cape of darkness, which has the virtue of making him who wears it invisible. Another See also:

adventure, too, he can tell of him, namely, how he slew a dragon and how by bathing in its blood his skin became horny, so that no weapon could See also:wound him, See also:save in one place, where a See also:linden See also:leaf had fallen upon him as he stooped, so that the blood did not See also:touch this spot.' In spite of Hagen's distrust and misgivings, Siegfried now fights as the ally of the Burgundians against the See also:Saxons (Anent. iv.), and undertakes, on condition of receiving Kriemhild to wife, to help Gunther to woo Queen Brunhild, who can only be won by the See also:man who can overcome her in three trials of strength (Avent. vi.). Siegfried and Gunther accordingly go together to Brunhild's See also:castle of Isenstein in See also:Iceland, and there the hero, invisible in his tarnkappe, stands beside Gunther, hurling the See also:spear and putting the See also:weight for him, and even leaping, with Gunther in his arms, far beyond the utmost limit that Brunhild can reach (Avent. vii.). Brunhild confesses herself beaten and returns with the others to Worms, where the double marriage is celebrated with great pomp (Aven.t. x.). But Brunhild is ill content; though she saw Siegfried do See also:homage to Gunther at Isenstein she is not convinced, and believes that Siegfried should have been her See also:husband; and on the bridal night she vents her ill See also:humour on the hapless Gunther by tying him up in a See also:knot and See also:hanging him on the See also:wall. " I have brought the evil See also:devil to my See also:house!" he complains to Siegfried next morning; and once more the hero has to intervene; invisible in his tarnkappe he wrestles with Brunhild, and, after a desperate struggle, takes from her her See also:girdle and ring before yielding place to Gunther. The girdle and ring he gives to his wife Kriemhild (Avent. x.). One day, while Siegfried and his wife were on a visit to the Burgundian court, the two queens fell to quarrelling on the question of See also:precedence, not in a river but on the steps of the See also:cathedral (Avent. xiv.). Kriemhild was taunted with being the wife of Gunther's vassal; whereupon, in wrath, she showed Brunhild the ring and the See also:golden girdle taken by Siegfried, proof that Siegfried, not Gunther, had won Brunhild. So far the story is essentially the same as that in the Volsungasaga; but now the plot changes. Brunhild drops out, becoming a figure altogether subordinate and shadowy. The death of Siegfried is compassed, not by her, but by the " grim " Hagen, Gunther's faithful henchman, who thinks the glory of his master unduly over-shadowed by that of his vassal.

Hagen easily persuades the weak Gunther that the supposed insult to his See also:

honour can only be wiped out in Siegfried's blood; he worms the secret of the hero's vulnerable spot out of Kriemhild, on pretence of shielding him from harm (Avent. xv.), and then arranges a great See also:hunt in the See also:forest, so that he may slay him when off his guard. The 16th Aventiure, describing this hunt and the murder of Siegfried, is perhaps the most powerful scene in all medieval epic. To heighten the effect of the tragic See also:climax the poet begins with a description of the See also:hunting, and describes the high See also:spirits of Siegfried, who captures a See also:wild See also:boar, rides back with it to See also:camp, and there lets it loose to the great discomfiture of the cooks. When the hunters sat down to feast, it was found that the See also:wine had been forgotten. Hagen thereupon proposed that they should 1 Compare the See also:heel of See also:Achilles. See also:race to a See also:spring of which he knew some way off in the forest. Siegfried readily agreed, and though handicapped by carrying See also:shield, sword and spear, easily reached the See also:goal first, but waited, with his customary See also:courtesy, until the king had arrived and drunk before slaking his own thirst. Then, laying aside his arms, he stooped and drank. Hagen, seizing the spear, thrust it through the spot marked by Kriemhild on Siegfried's surcoat. The hero sprang up and, finding that his sword had been removed, attacked Hagen with his shield. Though to death he was wounded he struck so strong a stroke That from the shattered shield-rim forthwith out there broke Showers of flashing jewels; the shield in fragments See also:lay? Then reproaching them for their cowardice and treachery, Siegfried fell dying " amid the See also:flowers," while the knights gathered round lamenting.

At this point two stanzas may be quoted as well illustrating the poet's power of dramatic characterization: The king of the Burgundians he too bewailed his death: Then spake the dying hero: " See also:

Nay, now you See also:waste your breath! You weep for an ill See also:fortune that you yourself have wrought: That is a shameful sorrow: it were better you said nought!" Then out spake the grim Hagen: " I know not why ye See also:plain: This is for us the ending of sorrow and of See also:pain. Full few are left of foemen that dare withstand us now. Glad am I that the hero was by this hand of mine laid See also:low ! " This account of the death of Siegfried, which embodies the ancient German tradition, is far finer than the northern version, according to which Hogni murders the hero in his See also:bed. The whole spirit of this Aventiure, too, is primitive Teutonic rather than medieval. The same is true, indeed, of the whole of the See also:rest of the poem. Siegfried, to be sure, is buried with all the pomp of medieval See also:Catholic See also:rites; but Kriemhild, while praying for his soul like a See also:good See also:Christian, plots horrible vengeance like her See also:pagan prototype. With this significant difference, however: Gudrun revenged upon her husband the death of her brothers; Kriemhild seeks to revenge upon her brothers the death of her husband. The Catholic See also:bond of marriage has become stronger than the primitive Teutonic bond of kinship. See also:Mistress now of the inexhaustible hoard of the Nibelungs, Kriemhild sought to win a following by lavish largesses; but this Hagen frustrated by seizing the treasure, with the consent of the kings, and sinking it in the Rhine, all taking an See also:oath never to reveal its hiding-place, without the consent of the others, so long as they should live (Avent. xix.). At last, however, after thirteen years, Kriemhild's See also:chance came, with a proposal of marriage from Etzel (Attila) king of the Huns, whom she consented to marry on condition that he would help her to vengeance (Avent. xx.).

Then more years passed; old feuds seemed to be forgotten; and the Burgundian kings, in spite of Hagen's warnings, thought it safe to accept their sister's invitation to visit her court (Avent. See also:

xxiii. See also:xxiv.). The journey of the Burgundians into Hunland is described by the poet at great length (Avent. See also:xxv.-See also:xxvii.). The story is full of picturesque detail and stirring incident, full also of interesting problems in folk-See also:lore and See also:mythology; and throughout it is dominated by the figure of the grim Hagen, who, twitted with cowardice and his See also:advice spurned, is determined that there shall be no turning back and that they shall go through with it to the See also:bitter end. With his own hands he ferries the See also:host over the See also:Danube and then, when the last detachment has crossed, destroys the See also:boat, so that there may be no return. At Attila's court (Avent. See also:xxviii.) it is again Hagen who provokes the See also:catastrophe by taunting Kriemhild when she asks him if. he has brought with him the hoard of the Nibelungs: " The devil's what I bring you ! " Hagen then replied, " What with this heavy See also:harness and my shield beside, I had enough to carry: this See also:helmet See also:bright I brought; My sword is in my right hand, and that, be sure, I bring you not! " The sword was Siegfried's. It is Hagen, too, who after the 2 This last fight with the shield seems to have belonged to the See also:common stock of heroic story. Cf. the account of the death of See also:Hereward " the See also:Wake " given by See also:Geoffrey Gaimar in the Chronicon Anglo-Norm. and adopted by See also:Freeman in his See also:Norman Conquest (1871), iv. 486. first onslaught of the Huns strikes off the See also:head of Ortlieb, the son of Etzel and Kriemhild, and who, amid the See also:smoke and carnage of the burning hall, bids the Burgundians drink blood if they are thirsty. Besides Hagen, during the ride into Hunland and in the final fight, another figure comes to the front, that of Volker the Fiddler, so far only mentioned as a hero of the Saxon See also:war in Avent. ii.

He rides fiddling at the head of the host; he plays to the weary warriors in the intervals of the See also:

battle in the court of Etzel's See also:palace; but he is also See also:expert at performing other See also:music, with " a strong See also:fiddle-See also:bow, mighty and long, like to a sword, exceeding sharp and broad." He is the type of the medieval knightly See also:minstrel of the See also:age of the Minnesang. But for all their prowess, after a prolonged struggle (Avent. See also:xxix.-See also:xxxvii.), the Burgundians were at last overwhelmed. Most of the See also:chief figures of heroic saga had come up against them: Attila, See also:Hildebrand, the Ostrogoth See also:Theodoric (See also:Dietrich von See also:Bern). To the last-named even Hagen armed with Siegfried's sword had to yield (Avent. xxxviii.). Kriemhild came to him as he lay in bonds and demanded the Nibelung treasure. He refused to reveal its hiding-place so long as Gunther, also a prisoner, should live. Gunther was accordingly slain by the queen's orders and his head was brought to Hagen, who cried out when he saw it that all had been accomplished as he had foretold: " Now none knows where the hoard is save See also:God and I alone: That to thee, devil-woman, shall nevermore be known ! " Whereupon Kriemhild slew him with Siegfried's sword. But Kriemhild was not destined, like Gudrun, to set out on further adventures. Hildebrand, horrified at her deed, sprang forward and cut her to pieces with his sword. In sorrow now was ended the king's high See also:holiday, As ever joy in sorrow ends and must end alway. To some See also:MSS. of the Nibelungenlied is added a supplementary poem called the Klage or Lament, a sequel of 216o See also:short-See also:line couplets, describing the lament of the survivors—notably Etzelover the slain, the burying of the dead, and the carrying of the See also:news to the countries of the Burgundians and others.

At the end it is stated that the story was written down, at the command of See also:

Bishop See also:Pilgrim of See also:Passau, by a writer named Konrad (Kuonrat) in Latin, and that it had since been sung (getichtet) often in the German See also:tongue. See also:Sources of the Story.—The origin and nature of the various elements that go to make up the story of the Nibelungenlied have been, and continue to be, the subject of very lively debate. The view at one time most generally accepted was that first propounded by Karl See also:Lachmann in his " Kritik der See also:Sage von den Nibelungen " (Rheinisches Museum See also:fur Philologie, Num. 249, 250, 1829, republished in his Zis den Nibelungen . . . Anmerkungen in 1836), namely, that the story was originally a myth of the northern gods, modified into a heroic saga after the introduction of See also:Christianity, and intermingled with See also:historical elements. This view is maintained by See also:Richard von Muth in his Einleitung in das Nibelungenlied (See also:Paderborn, 1877), who thus sums up the result of his See also:critical researches: " The basis of all is an old myth of a beneficent divine being (Siegfried), who conquers daemonic See also:powers (the Nibelungen), but is slain by them (the Burgundians turned Nibelungen); with this myth was connected the destruction of the Burgundian See also:kingdom, ascribed to Attila, between 437 and 453, and later the legend of Attila's murder by his wife; in this form, after Attila and Theodoric had been associated in it, the legend penetrated, between 555 and 583, to the See also:North, where its second part was See also:developed in detail on the See also:analogy of older sagas, while in See also:Germany a See also:complete See also:change of the old motif took place." To this theory the objection is raised that it is but a theory; that it is unsupported by any convincing See also:evidence; and that the See also:process which it postulates, that, namely, of the transformation of the gods into heroes by the popular imagination, is contrary to all that we know of the See also:fate of dethroned deities, who are See also:apt to live on in See also:fairy stories in very unheroic See also:guise. So See also:early as 1783 Johannes von See also:Muller of See also:Gottingen had called See also:attention to the historical figures appearing in the Nibelungenlied, identifying Etzel as Attila, Dietrich of Bern as Theodoric of See also:Verona, and the Burgundian kings Gunther, Gisel.her and Gernot as the Gundaharius, Gislaharius and Godomar of the Lex Burgundiorum; in 1820 See also:Julius Leichtlen (Neuaufgefundenes Bruchstiick See also:des Nibelungenliedes, See also:Freiburg-See also:im-See also:Breisgau) roundly declared that " the Nibelungenlied rests entirely on a historical See also:foundation, and that any other See also:attempt to explain it must fail." This view was, however, overborne by the great authority of Lachmann, whose theory, in complete See also:harmony with the principles popularized by the brothers See also:Grimm, was accepted and elaborated by a long See also:series of critics. It is only of late years that See also:criticism has tended to revert to the standpoint of Muller and Leichtlen and to recognize in the story of the Nibelungen as a whole a misty and confused tradition of real events and See also:people. Mythical elements it certainly contains; and to those figures which—like Siegfried, Brunhild, Hagen and the " good See also:margrave " Ruedeger of Bechla ren—cannot be traced definitively to historical originals, a mythical origin is still provisionally ascribed. But criticism is still busy attempting to trace these also to historical originals, and Theodor Abeling (Das Nibelungenlied, 1907) makes out a very plausible See also:case for identifying Siegfried with Segeric, son of the Burgundian king Sigimund, Brunhild with the historical Brunichildis, and Hagen with a certain Hagnericus, who, according to the Life of St See also:Columban, guided the See also:saint (the See also:chaplain of the Nibelungenlied), who had incurred the enmity of Brunichildis, safe to the court of her See also:grandson Theuderich, king of the See also:West See also:Franks. Herr Abeling's theory of the sources of the Nibelungen story is one among many; but, as it is one of the latest and not the least ingenious, it deserves mention.

That the Icelandic Eddas contain the See also:

oldest versions of the legend, though divided and incomplete, is universally admitted. It is equally well established, however, that Iceland could not have been its See also:original See also:home. This Herr Abeling locates among the Franks of what is now See also:southern See also:France, whence the stories spread, from the 6th century onwards, on the one hand across the Rhine into See also:Franconia, on the other hand westwards and northwards, by way of See also:Ireland—at that time in See also:close intercourse with See also:continental See also:Europe—and the northern islands, to Iceland. Hence the two traditions, the German and the Icelandic, of which the latter alone is preserved in something of its primitive form,' though primitive elements survive in the Nibelungenlied. The basis of the story is then, according to this view, historical, not mythical: a medley of Franco-Burgundian historical traditions, overlaid with mythical fancies.2 The historical See also:nucleus is the overthrow of the Burgundian kingdom of Gundahar by the Huns in 436; and round this there gathered an See also:accretion of other episodes, equally historical in their origin, however distorted, with a naive disregard of See also:chronological possibility: the murder of Segeric (c. 525), the murder of Sigimund by the sons of Chrothildis, wife of See also:Clovis (identified by Abeling with Kriemhild), the murder of Attila by his See also:Bur b-undian wife Ildico (see KRIEAIHILD). In the Eddas the identity of the original Franco-Burgundian sagas is fairly preserved. In the Nibelungenlied, on the other hand, the See also:influence of other wholly unconnected stories is See also:felt: thus Hildebrand appears during the final fight at Etzel's court, and Theodoric the Great (Dietrich von Bern; see THEODORIC), for no better See also:reason than that the Dietrich legend had sent him into See also:exile there, and that he must have been there when the Burgundians arrived. Origin of the Poem.—The controversy as to the underlying elements of the Nibelung legend extends to the question of the authorship and construction of the poem itself. Was it from the first—whatever additions and interpolations may have ' The Eddas were first written down, as is commonly assumed, by Bishop Saemund Sigfusson (1056-1133). 2 The process of this overlaying is easy to realize if we remember how usual it was to See also:transfer characteristics and episodes See also:drawn from immemorial folk-lore to successive historical personages. A good example is the " See also:Swan-See also:maiden " myth connected with the house of See also:Bouillon (see See also:LOHENGRIN).

See also other interesting cases cited in the See also:

chapter on the " Geste of See also:John de See also:Courci " in Mr J. H. Round's See also:Peerage and See also:Pedigree (See also:London, 191o). See also:NICAEA—NICAEA, See also:COUNCIL OF 1907) gives a full bibliography, embracing 1272 references from 1i56 to '9o5. There are See also:English See also:translations of the poem by A. G. See also:Foster-See also:Barham (1887), See also:Margaret See also:Armour (prose, 1897) and Alice See also:Horton (1898). (W. A.

End of Article: NIBELUNGENLIED, or DER NIBELUNGE NOT

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
NIAS 		[next]
NICAEA, COUNCIL OF

Site © 2006 - Net Industries