Written by an unknown author in the twelfth century, this powerful tale of murder and revenge reaches back to the earliest epochs of German antiquity, transforming centuries-old legend into a masterpiece of chivalric drama. Siegfried, a great prince of the Netherlands, wins the hand of the beautiful princess Kriemhild of Burgundy, by aiding her brother Gunther in his struggle to seduce a powerful Icelandic Queen. But the two women quarrel, and Siegfried is ultimately destroyed by those he trusts the most. Comparable in scope to the Iliad, this skilfully crafted work combines the fragments of half-forgotten myths to create one of the greatest epic poems - the principal version of the heroic legends used by Richard Wagner, in The Ring.

The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge. The Nibelungenlied is based on pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs (the "Nibelungensaga"), which include oral traditions and reports based on historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries. Old Norse parallels of the legend survive in the Völsunga saga, the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda, the Legend of Norna-Gest, and the þiðrekssaga. In 2009, the three main manuscripts of the Nibelungenlied were inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in recognition of their historical significance.

It portrays the existential struggles and downfall of an entire people, the Burgundians, in a military conflict with the Huns and their king."--Jacket.

Written by an unknown author in the twelfth century, this powerful tale of murder and revenge reaches back to the earliest epochs of German antiquity, transforming centuries-old legend into a masterpiece of chivalric drama. Siegfried, a great prince of the Netherlands, wins the hand of the beautiful princess Kriemhild of Burgundy, by aiding her brother Gunther in his struggle to seduce a powerful Icelandic Queen. But the two women quarrel, and Siegfried is ultimately destroyed by those he trusts the most. Comparable in scope to the Iliad, this skilfully crafted work combines the fragments of half-forgotten myths to create one of the greatest epic poems - the principal version of the heroic legends used by Richard Wagner, in The Ring.

The Nibelungenlied ("The Song of the Nibelungs") is an epic poem originally written in in Middle High German around the year 1180. It tells the story of the dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge. Along with the Völsunga saga, the Nibelungenlied served as source material for Richard Wagner's famous four music dramas Der Ring des Nibelungen ("The Ring of the Nibelung"), although the storyline in the Nibelungenlied is far more extensive than in Wagner's work. Based on pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs which include ancient oral traditions (including the Norse sagas), the Nibelungenlied first appeared from the area of the Danube between Passau and Vienna, from where the oldest manuscripts originate. The epic is divided into two parts, the first dealing with the story of Siegfried and Kriemhild, the wooing of Brünhild and the death of Siegfried at the hands of Hagen, and Hagen's hiding of the Nibelung treasure in the Rhine (Chapters 1-19). The second part deals with Kriemhild's marriage to Etzel (Atilla the Hun), her plans for revenge, the journey of the Burgundians to the court of Etzel, and their last stand in Etzel's hall (Chapters 20-39). The original was written as a poem in 2,400 stanzas, divided up into 39 Aventiuren ("adventures"). This edition has been translated into prose format, but still accurately follows the storyline of all the Adventures. It includes a complete background introductory essay by the translator, in which the history of the surviving manuscripts and their storylines are fully explored.

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 first translation into English of this monumental epic in over forty years. Written around the year 1200 by an unknown Middle High German poet, probably an Austrian knight-cleric, The Song of the Nibelungs is composed of thirty-nine adventures and is divided into two major parts. Two great complexes of epic action are joined together: the life and death of Sigfrid, his glory, fault, and betrayal, and the massive destruction of those who betrayed him, engineered by Kriemhild, Sigfrid's wife. The translator has reproduced the principal characteristics of style and language, in a verse form approximating that of the original. This modern translation, with its naturalness of language, will appeal to the general reader and scholar alike.