!!!Nibelungenlied

Nibelungenlied, written around 1200 in the Austro-Bavarian Danube 
area, developed from a long and complex tradition of legends that 
basically dealt with one concept, handed down in 35 manuscripts and 
fragments (newest finds in the library of Melk abbey in 1998). The 
Nibelungenlied is the most famous Middle High German epic and 
describes in the first part in 39 "Aventiuren" and about 2,400 stanzas 
Siegfried´s wooing of Kriemhild, the Princess of Worms, and her 
quarrel with Bruenhild, the wife of her brother Gunther, which in the 
end leads to the murder of Siegfried by Hagen. The second part gives 
an account of Etzel´s (Attila's) wooing of the widow and the 
journey of the Burgundians along the Danube via Passau, Eferding, 
Enns, Poechlarn, Traismauer, Tulln and Vienna down to Hungary to 
Etzel´s court, where they are all killed; Kriemhild revenges 
herself upon Hagen and is herself killed by Hildebrand. The plot of 
the second part reflects the history of the Burgundians during the 
migration of the Germanic peoples, whereas the story around Siegfried 
cannot be traced to any historical origins and has largely 
mythological and fairy tale characteristics. It is not clear when, why 
and how the two strands of the saga were strung together, and it is 
hardly possible to say what the original text was like. The three 
oldest preserved manuscripts (A, B, C) contain three differently 
accentuated versions; the lively wording of the text is as typical for 
this particular literary genre  Epics as the anonymity of the poet or 
singer. The early and widespread impact of the Nibelungenlied, which 
began with the "lament" closely linked with version C (a sort of 
summary of the plot), was also caused by the fact that the epic was 
written in contemporary courtly style. However, the heroism in the 
Nibelungenlied has to be understood as a trait of the particular 
literary genre and there was little justification for using it for 
nationalist purposes.

\\
Editions: H. de Boor, %%sup 22/%1988; H. Brackert, 1970-1971 (with 
translation).

!Literature
Deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters (lex.); J. Heinzle, 
Das Nibelungenlied, 1987.


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