This book aims to make available the necessary background for an informed reading of the Nibelungenlied, the twelfth-century epic perhaps best known to non-Germans from Wagner's music dramas. Two traditions of scholarly thought exist about the Nibelungenlied. The first sees the poem as a development out of German heroic legend; the second focuses on the work's location in the contemporary literary context at the end of the twelfth century. The first and older school deals with the evolution of the story over time and the question of how short heroic poems attained epic compass in the later Nibelungenlied. The second seeks to interpret the poem in terms of the new emergence of Arthurian romance around 1200. The author attempts to bridge the gap between the two contending schools, suggesting that neither approach precludes the other. Although the Nibelungenlied poet drew the story itself from earlier heroic poems, the author makes clear that the poet absorbed impulses from other types of literature as well. The book is in three parts. Part I discusses literary antecedents, tracing the development of German heroic poetry from the Migration Age on, then describing narrative practice in the twelfth century, in historical and legendary epic on the one hand and romance on the other. Part II analyzes the Nibelungenlied in its immediate literary context, addressing possible sources and narrative innovations. The author relates the story of the poem to the immediate antecedent versions of the legend that are now preserved only in the Norse Thidrek's Saga, surveys recent general interpretations, and suggests a literary-historical analysis that can plot the Nibelungenlied more accurately on the literary map of the twelfth century. Part III comprises previously untranslated texts and summaries of source materials bearing on the Nibelungenlied.

This Companion to the Nibelungenlied draws on the expertise of scholars from Germany, Britain, and the United States to offer the reader fresh perspectives on a wide variety of topics regarding the epic: the latest theories regarding manuscript tradition, authorship, conflict, combat, and politics, the Otherworld and its inhabitants, eroticism (in both the Nibelungenlied and Wagner's Ring), the twentieth-century reception both of the Nibelungenlied and of its most intriguing protagonist, Kriemhild, key concepts used by the poet, the heroic, feudal, and courtly elements in the work, and an analysis of archetypal elements from the perspective of Jungian psychology.

Filled with portrayals of deception, love, murder, and revenge—yet defying traditional medieval epic conventions for representing character—the Nibelungenlied is the greatest and most unique epic in Middle High German. The Klage, its consistent companion text in the manuscript tradition, continues the story, detailing the devastating aftermath of the Burgundians' bloody slaughter. William Whobrey's new volume offers both—together for the first time in English—in a prose version informed by recent scholarship that brilliantly conveys to modern readers not only the sense but also the tenor of the originals.

The Nibelungenlied was Germany’s first heroic epic put into writing. Thomas Carlyle considered it “a precious national possession, recovered after six centuries of neglect, [which] takes undisputed place among the sacred books of German literature.” Due to a lack of interest in copying the manuscripts, the work was forgotten, only faintly remembered as an influence in other German writing. Today, a total of 36 manuscripts have been unearthed. Many of these are only poem fragments, but three manuscripts have been viewed as the most complete and authentic versions to exist: these manuscripts are referred to as “A,” “B,” and “C.” “A” follows most of the original written forms, but is the shortest manuscript of the three. “C” is the most altered edition, as it was changed to suit later cultural tastes. Manuscript “B” is considered the gold standard since it shows signs of minimal alterations and is of intermediate length. Alice Horton has used manuscript “B” as the foundation of her English edition, creating a work that is accurate in translation and with its lyrical quality preserved. It portrays an epic adventure that grabs and holds the reader’s attention. Siegfried, the knighted prince of Netherland, has plans to marry the beautiful Princess Kriemhilda of Burgundy. He visits Worms to bargain with the three kings and Kriemhilda’s brothers: Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher. Famed for his impenetrable skin and inhuman strength after bathing in dragon’s blood, Siegfried may be the perfect man to help them. To marry their sister and receive her wealth, Siegfried must convince the ruler beyond the sea and the mighty maiden warrior to be Gunther’s wife. This queen has sworn only to marry a man who can beat her three challenges, at the risk of beheading if he should fail. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

In the first comprehensive English-language portrait of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm as political thinkers and actors, Jakob Norberg reveals how history's two most famous folklorists envisioned the role of literary and linguistic scholars in defining national identity. Convinced of the political relevance of their folk tale collections and grammatical studies, the Brothers Grimm argued that they could help disentangle language groups from one another, redraw the boundaries of states in Europe, and counsel kings and princes on the proper extent and character of their rule. They sought not only to recover and revive a neglected native culture for a contemporary audience, but also to facilitate a more harmonious and enduring relationship between the traditional political elite and an emerging national collective. Through close historical analysis, Norberg reconstructs how the Grimms wished to mediate between sovereigns and peoples, politics and culture. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Placing heroes from a wide range of medieval traditions shoulder to shoulder, this title provides the opportunity to examine what is common across medieval mythic, legendary, and folkloric traditions, as well as what seems unique. Myths of gods, legends of battles, and folktales of magic abound in the heroic narratives of the Middle Ages. Mythology in the Middle Ages: Heroic Tales of Monsters, Magic, and Might describes how Medieval heroes were developed from a variety of source materials: Early pagan gods become euhemerized through a Christian lens, and an older epic heroic sensibility was exchanged for a Christian typological and figural representation of saints. Most startlingly, the faces of Christian martyrs were refracted through a heroic lens in the battles between Christian standard-bearers and their opponents, who were at times explicitly described in demonic terms. The book treats readers to a fantastic adventure as author Christopher R. Fee guides them on the trail of some of the greatest heroes of medieval literature. Discussing the meanings of medieval mythology, legend, and folklore through a wide variety of fantastic episodes, themes, and motifs, the journey takes readers across centuries and through the mythic, legendary, and folkloric imaginations of different peoples. Coverage ranges from the Atlantic and Baltic coasts of Europe, south into the Holy Roman Empire, west through the Iberian peninsula, and into North Africa. From there, it is east to Byzantium, Russia, and even the far reaches of Persia.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

While Gender Studies has made its mark on literary studies, much scholarship on the German Middle Ages is largely inaccessible to the Anglo-American audience. With gender at its core as a category of analysis, "Gender Bonds, Gender Binds"uniquely opens up medieval German material to English speakers. Recognizing the impact of Ann Marie Rasmussen’s Mothers and Daughters in Medieval German Literature, this transatlantic volume expands on questions introduced in her 1997 book and subsequent work. More than a mere tribute, the collection moves the debates forward in new directions: it examines how gender bonds together people, practices, texts, and interpretive traditions, while constraining and delimiting these things socially, ideologically, culturally, or historically. As the contributions demonstrate, a close, materially focused analysis produces complex results, not easily reduced to a platitude. The essays steer a firm course through the terrain of gender bonds and binds, many of which remain challenging in the present. Herein lies the broader reach of this volume, for understanding the longevity of patriarchy and its effects on human relations demonstrates how crucial the study of the past can be for us as a society today.

This groundbreaking interpretation offers a new approach to the reading of medieval literature and revolutionizes the study of the Nibelungenlied itself--providing a richer understanding of the work's significance both in its era and for our own.

New essays on the first flowering of German literature, in the High Middle Ages and especially during the period 1180-1230.