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185-503: The poem is split into two parts. In the first part, the prince Siegfried comes to Worms to acquire the hand of the Burgundian princess Kriemhild from her brother King Gunther . Gunther agrees to let Siegfried marry Kriemhild if Siegfried helps Gunther acquire the warrior-queen Brünhild as his wife. Siegfried does this and marries Kriemhild; however, Brünhild and Kriemhild become rivals, leading eventually to Siegfried's murder by

370-532: A caesura into hemistichs , each hemistich being three metrical feet long (having three stresses). Thus it is similar to the Nibelungenstrophe  [ de ] only simplified, since the scheme used by the Nibelungenlied adds an extra stress on the final (8th) hemistich. The long lines rhyme in couplets ( rhyme scheme AABB), with occasional rhymes occurring in the hemistiches (XX). In

555-525: A "great tragedy" (" große Tragödie ") in a series of lectures from 1802/3. Many early supporters sought to distance German literature from French Classicism and belonged to artistic movements such as Sturm und Drang . As a consequence of the comparison of the Nibelungenlied to the Iliad , the Nibelungenlied came to be seen as the German national epic in the earlier nineteenth century, particularly in

740-546: A change from Sîfrît's son Günther in the Nibelungenlied . Hürnen Seyfrid features numerous details that are known from the Nordic traditions about Sigurd but are absent in the Nibelungenlied . Among these are that Hagen is one of the sons of Gybich, as he is in the Nordic poems Atlakviða and the Thidrekssaga , that Gybich is the name of the king of Worms rather than Dancrat as in the Nibelungenlied , that Siegfried

925-520: A courtly education in Xanten . More elaborate stories about Siegfried's youth are found in the Thidrekssaga and in the later heroic ballad Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid , both of which appear to preserve German oral traditions about the hero that the Nibelungenlied -poet decided to suppress for their poem. The portrayal of Kriemhild, particularly in the first half of the romance, as a courtly lady

1110-466: A deeply Christian background in which Siegfried represents good and the giants and dragons represent evil. Despite these modern complaints, the poem was very popular and the longest-lasting representative of the heroic tradition in Germany. Víctor Millet notes that this poem was the first chance many Early Modern Period readers had ever gotten to read about the adventures of the famous hero Siegfried, as

1295-436: A detrimental effect on its early reception: when presented with a full edition of the medieval poem by Christoph Heinrich Myller, King Frederick II famously called the Nibelungenlied "not worth a shot of powder" (" nicht einen Schuß Pulver werth "). Goethe was similarly unimpressed, and Hegel compared the epic unfavorably to Homer. The epic nevertheless had its supporters, such as August Wilhelm Schlegel , who called it

1480-672: A dragon and possession of the hoard of the Nibelungen is also common to both traditions. In other respects, however, the two traditions appear to diverge. The most important works to feature Sigurd are the Nibelungenlied , the Völsunga saga , and the Poetic Edda . He also appears in numerous other works from both Germany and Scandinavia, including a series of medieval and early modern Scandinavian ballads . Sigurd's story

1665-498: A dragon appears, seizes the girl and flies away with her (to its lair, in the "rock" or mountain). The dragon does not mistreat Kriemhild, however, laying his head in her lap. On the Easter after four years of captivity, the dragons transforms into a man's shape for a day, and describes her lot. He will never grant permission for her to see her family again, and he will keep her by his side in dragon-form for another five years, after which

1850-663: A dragon, bathed in its blood, and thereby received skin as hard as horn that makes him invulnerable. Of the features of young Siegfried's adventures, only those that are directly relevant to the rest of the story are mentioned. In order to win the hand of Kriemhild, Siegfried becomes a friend of the Burgundian kings Gunther , Gernot, and Giselher. When Gunther decides to woo the warlike queen of Iceland , Brünhild , he offers to let Siegfried marry Kriemhild in exchange for Siegfried's help in his wooing of Brünhild. As part of Siegfried's help, they lie to Brünhild and claim that Siegfried

2035-409: A dragon. Regin wants Sigurd to kill the dragon. He makes the sword Gram for Sigurd, but Sigurd chooses to kill Lyngvi and the other sons of Hunding before he kills the dragon. On his way he is accompanied by Odin. After killing the brothers in battle and carving a blood eagle on Lyngvi, Regin praises Sigurd's ferocity in battle. In Fáfnismál , Sigurd accompanies Regin to Gnita-Heath, where he digs

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2220-497: A falcon that is killed by two eagles. Her mother explains that this means she will love a man who will be killed; Kriemhild thus swears to remain unmarried. At the same time, the young Siegfried is receiving his courtly education in the Netherlands; he is dubbed a knight and decides that he will go to Worms to ask for Kriemhild as his wife. The story of how Siegfried slew a dragon, winning a large hoard of gold, and then bathed in

2405-429: A façade, under which the older heroic ethos of the poem remains. Additionally, the poet seems to have known Latin literature. The role given to Kriemhild in the second (originally first) stanza is suggestive of Helen of Troy , and the poem appears to have taken a number of elements from Vergil 's Aeneid . There is some debate as to whether the poet was acquainted with Old French chanson de geste . The language of

2590-482: A fight between Siegfried and the hero Heime , in which Siegfried knocks Heime's famous sword Nagelring out of his hand, after which both armies fight for control over the sword. The text also relates that Dietrich once brought Siegfried to Etzel's court as a hostage, something which is also alluded to in the Nibelungenlied . The so-called "Heldenbuch-Prosa" , first found in the 1480 Heldenbuch of Diebolt von Hanowe and afterwards contained in printings until 1590,

2775-405: A fourth foot to their final line, as these supposedly older stanzas are characterized by a more archaic vocabulary as well. German medievalist Jan-Dirk Müller notes that while it would be typical of a medieval poet to incorporate lines from other works in their own, no stanza of the Nibelungenlied can be proven to have come from an older poem. The nature of the stanza creates a structure whereby

2960-619: A good deal seems to have been transformed by the context of the Christianization of Iceland and Scandinavia: the frequent appearance of the heathen gods gives the heroic stories the character of an epoch that is irrevocably over. Although the earliest attestations for the Scandinavian tradition are pictorial depictions, because these images can only be understood with a knowledge of the stories they depict, they are listed last here. The so-called Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson

3145-464: A higher rank. Brynhild claims that Sigurd is not of noble birth, after which Grimhild announces that Sigurd and not Gunnar deflowered Brynhild. Brynhild convinces Gunnar and Högni (Hagen) to murder Sigurd, which Högni does while Sigurd is drinking from a spring on a hunt. The brothers then place his corpse in Grimhild's bed, and she mourns. The author of the saga has made a number of changes to create

3330-604: A historical figure. The most popular theory is that Sigurd has his origins in one or several figures of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks : the Merovingians had several kings whose name began with the element *sigi- . In particular, the murder of Sigebert I (d. 575), who was married to Brunhilda of Austrasia , is often cited as a likely inspiration for the figure, a theory that was first proposed in 1613. Sigibert

3515-509: A hook. The next night, Gunther asks Siegfried to wrestle Brünhild into submission using his Tarnkappe ; Siegfried takes Brünhilds belt and ring as a trophy and then lets Gunther take her virginity, causing her to lose her strength. After the wedding, Siegfried and Kriemhild return to the Netherlands. Before they do, Kriemhild wants to ask for her part of the inheritance from her brothers, but Siegfried advises her not to. Kriemhild wishes to take Hagen with her, but he refuses. Many years pass. In

3700-423: A hook. The next night, Siegfried uses his cloak of invisibility to overpower Brünhild, allowing Gunther to sleep with her. Although he does not sleep with Brünhild, Siegfried takes her belt and ring, later giving them to Kriemhild. Siegfried and Kriemhild have a son, whom they name Gunther. Later, Brünhild and Kriemhild begin to fight over which of them should have precedence, with Brünhild believing that Kriemhild

3885-447: A knowledge of German Minnesang and chivalric romance . The poem's concentration on love ( minne ) and its depiction of Siegfried as engaging in love service for Kriemhild is in line with courtly romances of the time, with Heinrich von Veldeke 's Eneasroman perhaps providing concrete models. Other possible influences are Hartmann von Aue 's Iwein and Erec . These courtly elements are described by Jan-Dirk Müller as something of

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4070-433: A lone linden tree under the pretense that the boy will meet a charcoal burner there. In reality, the smith has sent Seyfrid to the linden tree because a dragon lives next to it, and the smith hopes that the dragon will kill the boy. Seyfrid, however, kills the dragon easily and then, looking for the charcoal burner, wanders into a forest where he encounters many dragons in a clearing. Seyfrid rips up trees and throws them at

4255-483: A more mythological origin. The story of the destruction of the Burgundians and Siegfried appear to have been originally unconnected. The Old Norse Atlakviða , a poem likely originally from the ninth century that has been reworked as part of the Poetic Edda , tells the story of the death of the Burgundians without any mention of Sigurd (Siegfried) and can be taken as an attestation for an older tradition. In fact,

4440-707: A more or less coherent story out of the many oral and possibly written sources that he used to create the saga. The author mentions alternative Scandinavian versions of many of these same tales, and appears to have changed some details to match the stories known by his Scandinavian audience. This is true in particular for the story of Sigurd's youth, which combines elements from the Norse and continental traditions attested later in Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid , but also contains an otherwise unattested story of Siegfried's parents. The Thidrekssaga makes no mention of how Sigurd won

4625-409: A more original version of the Nibelungen saga, newer scholarship has called this into question and notes that the connections made to Norse mythology and Germanic paganism , such as the semi-divine origin of the Nibelungen hoard, are likely more recent developments that are therefore unique to the Scandinavian tradition. Some elements of the Norse tradition, however, are assuredly older. The death of

4810-536: A new life as the German national epic . The poem was appropriated for nationalist purposes and was heavily used in anti-democratic, reactionary, and Nazi propaganda before and during the Second World War . Its legacy today is most visible in Richard Wagner 's operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , which, however, is mostly based on Old Norse sources. In 2009, the three main manuscripts of

4995-406: A pit. He stabs Fafnir through the heart from underneath when the dragon passes over the pit. Fafnir, before he dies, tells Sigurd some wisdom and warns him of the curse that lays on the hoard. Once the dragon is dead, Regin tears out Fafnir's heart and tells Sigurd to cook it. Sigurd checks whether the heart is done with his finger and burns it. When he puts his finger into his mouth, he can understand

5180-407: A place called "Thjod." Sigurd is raised at the court of king Hjálprek, receives the sword Gram from the smith Regin, and slays the dragon Fafnir on Gnita-Heath by lying in a pit and stabbing it in the heart from underneath. Sigurd tastes the dragon's blood and understands the birds when they say that Regin will kill him in order to acquire the dragon's gold. He then kills Regin and takes the hoard of

5365-487: A potion that will make him forget his promise and marry Gudrun. He will then acquire Brynhild as a wife for Gunnar and sleep with Brynhild without having sex with her. Brynhild will recognize the deception, however, and claim that Sigurd did sleep with her, and this will cause Gunnar to have him killed. The poem is likely fairly young and seems to have been written to connect the previous poems about Helgi Hundingsbane with those about Sigurd. The following three poems form

5550-440: A prophecy about his life. Grípir tells Sigurd that he will kill Hunding's sons, the dragon Fafnir , and the smith Regin , acquiring the hoard of the Nibelungen. Then he will wake a valkyrie and learn runes from her. Grípir does not want to tell Sigurd any more, but Sigurd forces him to continue. He says that Sigurd will go to the home of Heimer and betroth himself to Brynhild, but then at the court of King Gjuki he will receive

5735-511: A purely mythological figure without a historical origin. Nineteenth-century scholars frequently derived the Sigurd story from myths about Germanic deities including Odin , Baldr , and Freyr ; such derivations are no longer generally accepted. Catalin Taranu argues that Sigurd's slaying of the dragon ultimately has Indo-European origins, and that this story later became attached to the story of

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5920-707: A purely mythological origin. Richard Wagner used the legends about Sigurd/Siegfried in his operas Siegfried and Götterdämmerung . Wagner relied heavily on the Norse tradition in creating his version of Siegfried. His depiction of the hero has influenced many subsequent depictions. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Siegfried became heavily associated with German nationalism. The Thidrekssaga finishes its tale of Sigurd by saying: [E]veryone said that no man now living or ever after would be born who would be equal to him in strength, courage, and in all sorts of courtesy, as well as in boldness and generosity that he had above all men, and that his name would never perish in

6105-487: A single unit in the manuscript of the Poetic Edda , but are split into three by modern scholars. They likely contain old material, but the poems themselves appear to be relatively recent versions. The poems also mix two conceptions of Sigurd: on the one hand, he is presented as an intelligent royal prince, on the other, he is raised by the smith Regin and is presented as stupid. It is most likely that Sigurd's youth with

6290-561: A single version *AB, while a version *C is attested by manuscript C and most of the earliest fragments, including the oldest attestation of the Nibelungenlied . Using the final words of the epic, *AB is also called the Not -version, and *C the Lied- version; the *C version is clearly a reworking of an earlier version, but it is not clear if this version was *AB; *AB may also be an expanded version of an earlier text. Most scholars assume that manuscript B

6475-406: A son, Ortlieb, and after thirteen years, she convinces Etzel to invite her brothers and Hagen to a feast. In Worms, Hagen advises against traveling to Etzel's castle, but Gunther and his brothers believe that Kriemhild has reconciled with them and decide to go. Nevertheless, they take Hagen's advice to travel with an army. The departure of the Burgundians, who are now increasingly called Nibelungs ,

6660-482: A story of Siegfried's youth that more closely resembles that found in the Old Norse Þiðreks saga and early modern German Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid , while k shortens the text and modernizes the language. The famous opening of the Nibelungenlied is actually thought to be an addition by the adaptor of the "*C" version of the Nibelungenlied , as it does not appear in the manuscript of B, which probably represents

6845-508: A sword and Hagen a shield. When the Burgundians arrive at Etzelnburg, they are warned by Dietrich von Bern that Kriemhild hates them. Kriemhild greets only Gisleher with a kiss and asks Hagen if he has brought with him what he took from her; later, she approaches him wearing her crown and in the company of many armed men. Hagen refuses to stand up for Kriemhild and places Siegfried's sword across her legs; recognizing it, Kriemhild's accompanying Huns still refuse to attack Hagen. Etzel, meanwhile,

7030-457: A traditional motif known from the Norse versions, she could mean the stolen hoard, but she could also mean her murdered husband. Hagen, similarly, in demanding that Gunther first be killed before he reveals the hoard's location, even though the hoard is at the bottom of the Rhine and cannot be retrieved, reveals Kriemhild's mercilessness while also showing his own duplicity. It is unclear which figure

7215-565: A wall of flames to wed her; Sigurd rides through the flames and weds Brynhild, but does not sleep with her, placing his sword between them in the marriage bed. Sigurd and Gunnar then return to their own shapes. Sigurd and Gudrun have two children, Svanhild and young Sigmund. Later, Brynhild and Gudrun quarrel and Gudrun reveals that Sigurd was the one who rode through the fire, and shows a ring that Sigurd took from Brynhild as proof. Brynhild then arranges to have Sigurd killed by Gunnar's brother Guthorm . Guthorm stabs Sigurd in his sleep, but Sigurd

7400-575: A way that the original historical context has been lost. The epic, and presumably the oral traditions that provided its material, have transformed historical events into relatively simple narrative schemas that can be compared with other, similar (originally) oral narratives from other cultures. What had originally been political motivations have been "personalized", so that political events are explained through personal preferences, likes, dislikes, and feuds rather than purely by realpolitik . Various historical personages, moreover, appear to be contemporaries in

7585-549: Is ] , the name of the place where Sigurd kills the dragon in the Scandinavian tradition, represents the battlefield for the Teutoburg Forest, modern scholarship generally dismisses a connection between Sigurd and Arminius as tenuous speculation. The idea that Sigurd derives from Arminius nevertheless continues to be promoted outside of the academic sphere, including in popular magazines such as Der Spiegel . It has also been suggested by others that Sigurd may be

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7770-421: Is Gunther's vassal. Any wooer of Brünhild's must accomplish various physical tasks, and she will kill any man who fails. Siegfried, using his cloak of invisibility, aids Gunther in each task. Upon their return to Worms, Siegfried marries Kriemhild following Gunther's marriage to Brünhild. On Gunther's wedding night, however, Brünhild prevents him from sleeping with her, tying him up with her belt and hanging him from

7955-483: Is a late medieval/early modern heroic ballad that gives an account of Siegfried's adventures in his youth. It agrees in many details with the Thidrekssaga and other Old Norse accounts over the Nibelungenlied , suggesting that these details existed in an oral tradition about Siegfried in Germany. According to the Hürnen Seyfrid , Siegfried had to leave his father Siegmund's court for his uncouth behavior and

8140-408: Is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend , who killed a dragon—known in some Old Norse sources as Fáfnir —and who was later murdered. In both the Norse and continental Germanic tradition, Sigurd is portrayed as dying as the result of a quarrel between his wife ( Gudrun /Kriemhild) and another woman, Brunhild , whom he has tricked into marrying the Burgundian king Gunnar/Gunther . His slaying of

8325-481: Is a new war brewing against the Saxons; he would like to know where Siegfried is vulnerable so that he can protect him. Kriemhild agrees to mark the spot between Siegfried's shoulder blades where a leaf had prevented his skin from becoming invulnerable. Rather than a war, however, Gunther invites Siegfried to go hunting. When Siegfried is bent over a spring to drink water, Hagen spears him in the back, killing him. The body

8510-607: Is a relatively recent one, only being attested from the seventh century onward, meaning that the original name may have been equivalent to the Old Norse Sigurd . Scholars such as Otto Höfler have speculated that Siegfried and his slaying of the dragon may be a mythologized reflection of Arminius and his defeat of the Roman legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. Jan-Dirk Müller suggests that Siegfried likely has

8695-474: Is able to slice Guthorm in half by throwing his sword before dying. Guthorm has also killed Sigurd's three-year-old son Sigmund. Brynhild then kills herself and is burned on the same pyre as Sigurd. The Poetic Edda appears to have been compiled around 1270 in Iceland, and assembles mythological and heroic songs of various ages. The story of Sigurd forms the core of the heroic poems collected here. However,

8880-511: Is accompanied by various ill omens, but these are all dismissed by Hagen. When the Burgundians are about to cross the Danube in Bavaria, Hagen encounters three nixies , who prophecy to him that only the king's chaplain will return from Etzel's hall. To try to prove the prophecy false, Hagen throws the chaplain overboard from the ferry, but he swims to shore and returns to Worms. Hagen then destroys

9065-524: Is also mentioned that he was buried in a marble sarcophagus—this may be connected to actual marble sarcophagi that were displayed in the abbey, having been dug up following a fire in 1090. In the Rosengarten zu Worms (c. 1250), Siegfried is betrothed to Kriemhild and is one of the twelve heroes who defends her rose garden in Worms. Kriemhild decides that she would like to test Siegfried's mettle against

9250-488: Is also possible that there were several poets involved, perhaps under the direction of a single "leader" who could be considered the " Nibelungenlied- poet". The Nibelungenlied is conventionally dated to around the year 1200. Wolfram von Eschenbach references the cook Rumolt, usually taken to be an invention of the Nibelungenlied- poet, in his romance Parzival (c. 1204/5), thereby providing an upper bound on

9435-573: Is an anonymous Early New High German heroic ballad . The poem concerns the adventures of young Siegfried , hero of the Nibelungenlied and an important figure in Germanic heroic legend . It preserves traditions about Siegfried that are otherwise only known from Old Norse sources and thus attest their existence in oral traditions about Siegfried that circulated outside of the Nibelungenlied in Germany. Hürnen Seyfrid tells how Siegfried

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9620-599: Is buried in Worms. The redaction of the text known as the Nibelungenlied C makes several small changes to localizations in the text: Siegfried is not killed in the Vosges, but in the Odenwald , with the narrator claiming that one can still visit the spring where he was killed near the village of Odenheim (today part of Östringen ). The redactor states the Siegfried was buried at the abbey of Lorsch rather than Worms. It

9805-467: Is clueless about these events and welcomes his guests warmly. Hagen advises the Burgundians to remain armed. Fighting almost breaks out at a tournament when the Burgundian Volker von Alzey kills a Hun in a joust, but Etzel is able to prevent it. Kriemhild then seeks to convince Dietrich von Bern and Hildebrand to attack the Burgundians; they refuse, but Etzel's brother Bloedelin agrees. At

9990-464: Is common practice to judge or praise the poems of others, no other poet refers to the author of the Nibelungenlied . Attempts to identify the Nibelungenlied- poet with known authors, such as Bligger von Steinach , to whom a lost epic is attributed by Gottfried von Strassburg , have not found wide acceptance. The poem is nevertheless believed to have had a single author, possibly working in a "Nibelungen workshop" (" Nibelungenwerkstatt ") together with

10175-404: Is considered one of the most important attestations of a continued oral tradition outside of the Nibelungenlied , with many details agreeing with the Thidrekssaga . The Heldenbuch-Prosa has very little to say about Siegfried: it notes that he was the son of King Siegmund, came from "Niederland", and was married to Kriemhild. Unattested in any other source, however, is that Kriemhild orchestrated

10360-633: Is convincing. As the Merovingian parallels are not exact, other scholars also fail to accept the proposed model. But the Sigurd/Siegfried figure, rather than being based on the Merovingian alone, may be a composite of additional historical personages, e.g., the "Caroliginian Sigifridus" alias Godfrid, Duke of Frisia (d. 855) according to Edward Fichtner (2015). Franz-Joseph Mone  [ de ] (1830) had also believed Siegfried to be an amalgamation of several historical figures, and

10545-564: Is first attested on a series of carvings, including runestones from Sweden and stone crosses from the British Isles , dating from the 11th century. It is possible that he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovingian dynasty , with Sigebert I being the most popular contender. Older scholarship sometimes connected him with Arminius , victor of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest . He may also have

10730-463: Is if she first kills Gunther, but afterwards tells her that now she will never learn. Kriemhild kills Hagen with Siegfried's sword. That this great hero has been killed by a woman sickens Etzel, Dietrich, and Hildebrand. Hagen's death so enrages Hildebrand that he kills Kriemhild. The Nibelungenlied , like other Middle High German heroic epics, is anonymous. This anonymity extends to discussions of literature in other Middle High German works: although it

10915-515: Is impossible. The Poetic Edda identifies Sigurd as a king of the Franks . Frá dauða Sinfjötla is a short prose text between the songs. Sigurd is born at the end of the poem; he is the posthumous son of Sigmund, who dies fighting the sons of Hunding, and Hjordis. Hjordis is married to the son of Hjálprek and allowed to raise Sigurd in Hjálprek's home. In Grípisspá , Sigurd goes to Grípir, his uncle on his mother's side, in order to hear

11100-490: Is in the right and which in the wrong. With 36 extant manuscripts, the Nibelungenlied appears to have been one of the most popular works of the German Middle Ages and seems to have found a very broad audience. The poem is quoted by Wolfram von Eschenbach in his Parzival and Willehalm and likely inspired his use of stanzas in his unfinished Titurel . The manuscript witnesses and medieval references to

11285-514: Is likely an invention of the Nibelungenlied -poet. Earlier (and many later) attestations of Kriemhild outside of the Nibelungenlied portray her as obsessed with power and highlight her treachery to her brothers rather than her love for her husband as her motivation for betraying them. The poet still uses images from this traditional picture, but given the new motivation of the poem's Kriemhild, their meaning has changed. For instance, when Kriemhild demands that Hagen give back what he has taken from her,

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11470-540: Is likely that his presence there inspired these new poems. Many of the following heroic epics appear to respond to aspects of the Nibelungenlied : the Kudrun (c. 1250), for instance, has been described as a reply to the Nibelungenlied that reverses the heroic tragedy of the previous poem. Kudrun herself is sometimes seen as a direct reversal of Kriemhild, as she makes peace among warring factions rather than driving them to their deaths. No Middle High German heroic epic after

11655-471: Is only the wife of a vassal. Finally, in front of the door of the cathedral in Worms, the two queens argue who should enter first. Brünhild openly accuses Kriemhild of being married to a vassal, and Kriemhild claims that Siegfried took Brünhild's virginity, producing the belt and ring as proof. Although Siegfried denies this publicly, Hagen and Brünhild decide to murder Siegfried, and Gunther acquiesces. Hagen tricks Kriemhild into telling him where Siegfried's skin

11840-404: Is out hunting one day comes upon the "dragon's rock". He follows it, but when he finally sees the dragon he is afraid and wants to run away. But Eugel, king of the dwarfs, now appears and addresses Seyfrid with his own name. Seyfrid, realizing that Eugel knows something about him, asks Eugel for the name of his parents, whom he has forgotten. The dwarf causes him to remember and also tells him about

12025-473: Is placed in front of Kriemhild's door. Kriemhild immediately suspects Gunther and Hagen and her suspicions are confirmed when Siegfried's corpse bleeds in Hagen's presence. Siegfried is buried and Kriemhild chooses to stay in Worms, eventually officially reconciling with Hagen and her brothers though she stays in mourning. Hagen has Siegfried's hoard taken from her. Kriemhild remains unmarried for 13 years. After

12210-451: Is raised by a smith who tries to have him killed by a dragon, and the presence of a dragon who has transformed from being a man. This is generally taken to mean that the poet had access to an oral tradition outside of the Nibelungenlied which featured these elements. The poet of the Nibelungenlied , on the other hand, seems to have deliberately suppressed many elements that appear in Hürnen Seyfrid , with reports on Siegfried's killing of

12395-472: Is so unruly that Mimir sends him to his brother Regin, who has transformed into a dragon, in the hopes that he will kill the boy. Sigurd, however, slays the dragon and tastes its flesh, whereby he learns the language of the birds and of Mimir's treachery. He smears himself with dragon's blood, making his skin invulnerable, and returns to Mimir. Mimir gives him weapons to placate him, but Sigurd kills him anyway. He then encounters Brynhild (Brünhild), who gives him

12580-509: Is stored a mighty sword, the only one which is capable of defeating the dragon. Kuperan then attacks Seyfrid disloyally for the third time after crying mercy, but now that Seyfrid has found the hostage, he feels no need to spare the giant and pushes the giant off the mountain rock, shattering it to a hundred pieces. In this passage, Seyfrid defeats the dragon and saves Kriemhild; he also discovers Nyblung's treasure hoard and claims it, thinking it to be rightful spoils of victory confiscated from

12765-452: Is the closest to the original *AB version. By 1300, the Nibelungenlied was circulating in at least five versions: Most fragments from after 1300 belong to the two mixed versions ( Mischenfassungen ), which appear to be based on copies of both the Not and Lied versions. Three later manuscripts provide variant versions: one, m (after 1450), is lost while two are still extant: n (c. 1470/80) and k (c.1480/90). Manuscripts m and n contain

12950-525: Is the earliest non-pictorial attestation of the Scandinavian version of Sigurd's life, dating to around 1220. Snorri retells the story of Sigurd in several chapters of the section of the poem called Skáldskaparmál . His presentation of the story is very similar to that found in the Völsunga saga (see below), but is considerably shorter. This version does not mention Sigurd's vengeance for the death of his father. The text identifies Sigurd as being raised in

13135-624: Is the version that was found in later printings. Many of the editions feature woodcuts . Additionally, other printings are known to have existed but are now lost. The poem was rewritten as the prose Gehörnte Siegfried (exact full title uncertain) with a lost edition of 1657 known to have been printed in Hamburg. The earliest edition of this prose ( Volksbuch ) edition is the Eine wunderschöne Historie Von dem gehörnten Siegfried ( Braunschweig and Leipzig . 1726). The prose version changes

13320-405: Is thus able to penetrate Siegfried's skin with his sword, and Siegfried becomes so afraid that he flees to Kriemhild's lap. Only the reappearance of Hildebrand prevents Dietrich from killing Siegfried. Siegfried's role as Kriemhild's fiancé does not accord with the Nibelungenlied , where the two are never formally betrothed. The detail that Kriemhild's father is named Gibich rather than Dancrat,

13505-557: Is vulnerable, and Gunther invites Siegfried to take part in a hunt in the Waskenwald (the Vosges ). When Siegfried is slaking his thirst at a spring, Hagen stabs him on the vulnerable part of his back with a spear. Siegfried is mortally wounded but still attacks Hagen, before cursing the Burgundians and dying. Hagen arranges to have Siegfried's corpse thrown outside the door to Kriemhild's bedroom. Kriemhild mourns Siegfried greatly and he

13690-842: The Nibelungenlied were inscribed in UNESCO 's Memory of the World Register in recognition of their historical significance. It has been called "one of the most impressive, and certainly the most powerful, of the German epics of the Middle Ages". There are 37 known manuscripts and manuscript fragments of the Nibelungenlied and its variant versions. Eleven of these manuscripts are essentially complete. Twenty-four manuscripts are in various fragmentary states of completion, including one version in Dutch (manuscript "T"). The text of

13875-491: The Rosengarten zu Worms and of Ortnit . A single manuscript fragment of Hürnen Seyfrid is known: discovered in 1996 in the National Archives of Sweden , it likely dates to around 1550. Twelve printed editions of Hürnen Seyfrid are known from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The earliest is from 1530, but it is possible that it was not the first. In 1561 the text was reworked stylistically, and this

14060-602: The Middle Dutch Zegevrijt . In Early Modern German , the name develops to Seyfrid or Seufrid (spelled Sewfrid ). The modern form Siegfried is not attested frequently until the 17th century, after which it becomes more common. In modern scholarship, the form Sigfrid is sometimes used. The Old Norse name Sigurðr is contracted from an original *Sigvǫrðr , which in turn derives from an older *Sigi-warðuR . The Danish form Sivard also derives from this form originally. Hermann Reichert notes that

14245-582: The Nibelungenlied by Karl Simrock into modern German in 1827 was especially influential in popularizing the epic and remains influential today. Also notable from this period is the three-part dramatic tragedy Die Nibelungen by Friedrich Hebbel . Following the founding of the German Empire , recipients began to focus more on the heroic aspects of the poem, with the figure of Siegfried in particular becoming an identifying figure for German nationalism. Especially important for this new understanding of

14430-425: The Nibelungenlied conform more closely to these principles in his own reworkings of the poem, leaving off the first part in his edition, titled Chriemhilden Rache , in order to imitate the in medias res technique of Homer . He later rewrote the second part in dactylic hexameter under the title Die Rache der Schwester (1767). Bodmer's placement of the Nibelungenlied in the tradition of classical epic had

14615-492: The Nibelungenlied is characterized by its formulaic nature, a feature of oral poetry , meaning that similar or identical words, epithets, phrases, and even lines can be found in various positions throughout the poem. These elements can be used flexibly for different purposes in the poem. As the Nibelungenlied is generally thought to have been conceived as a written work, these elements are typically taken as signs of "fictive orality" (" fingierte Mündlichkeit ") that underscore

14800-471: The Nibelungenlied itself never got printed during this ( incunabula to post-incunabula) period. Effectively, the more exciting and less intellectually complicated Hürnen Seyfrid seems to have replaced the Nibelungenlied . Werner Hoffmann  [ de ] suggests that Hürnen Seyfrid's popularity in the Early Modern Period may owe some to its quality as exciting escapist fiction at

14985-600: The Nibelungenlied maintains the tragic heroic atmosphere that characterized earlier Germanic heroic poetry, and the later poems are often further hybridized with elements of chivalric romance . Reception of the Nibelungenlied ceases after the fifteenth century: the work is last copied in manuscript as part of the Ambraser Heldenbuch around 1508, and its last mention is by the Viennese historian Wolfgang Lazius in two works from 1554 and 1557 respectively. It

15170-417: The Nibelungenlied manuscript C was rediscovered by Jacob Hermann Obereit in 1755. That same year, Johann Jacob Bodmer publicized the discovery, publishing excerpts and his own reworkings of the poem. Bodmer dubbed the Nibelungenlied the "German Iliad " (" deutsche Ilias "), a comparison that skewed the reception of the poem by comparing it to the poetics of a classical epic. Bodmer attempted to make

15355-479: The Nibelungenlied show that medieval recipients were most interested in the Nibelungenlied as the story of the destruction of the Burgundians; the first half of the poem was often shortened or otherwise summarized. The Ambraser Heldenbuch titles its copy of the Nibelungenlied with "Ditz Puech heysset Chrimhilt" (this book is named "Kriemhild"), showing that she was seen as the most important character. The areas of medieval interest seem in particular to have been

15540-464: The Nibelungenlied was heavily employed in anti-democratic propaganda following the defeat of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The epic supposedly showed that the German people were more well suited to a heroic, aristocratic form of life than democracy. The betrayal and murder of Siegfried was explicitly compared to the "stab in the back" that the German army had supposedly received. At the same time, Hagen and his willingness to sacrifice himself and fight to

15725-508: The r in *Sigi-ward could have taken place in Anglo-Saxon England, where variation between -frith and -ferth is well documented. Reichert, on the other hand, notes that Scandinavian figures who are attested in pre-12th-century German, English, and Irish sources as having names equivalent to Siegfried are systematically changed to forms equivalent to Sigurd in later Scandinavian sources. Forms equivalent to Sigurd , on

15910-442: The "dragon's rock". Seyfrid obtains the dragon's sword off the rock (probably the sword Balmunc mentioned in other works ), whose location Kuperan had disclosed, and emerges from the hole, but his shield is torn by the blow of the dragon. The poem's attention turns to the treasure of the dwarfs (the so-called Nibelung hoard). The monster's attack frightens the two sons of Nybling [=Nibelung] (anotther son being Eugel) to transport

16095-411: The 7th century and become frequent in Anglo-Saxon England in the 9th century. Jan-Dirk Müller argues that this late date of attestation means that it is possible that Sigurd more accurately represents the original name. Wolfgang Haubrichs suggests that the form Siegfried arose in the bilingual Frankish kingdom as a result of romance-language influence on an original name *Sigi-ward . According to

16280-472: The Burgundian vassal Hagen with Gunther's involvement. In the second part, the widow Kriemhild is married to Etzel , king of the Huns . She later invites her brother and his court to visit Etzel's kingdom intending to kill Hagen. Her revenge results in the death of all the Burgundians who came to Etzel's court as well as the destruction of Etzel's kingdom and the death of Kriemhild herself. The Nibelungenlied

16465-430: The Burgundians finds its origins in the destruction of the historical Burgundian kingdom on the Rhine. This kingdom, under the rule of king Gundaharius , was destroyed by the Roman general Flavius Aetius in 436/437, with survivors resettled in eastern Gaul in a region centered around modern-day Geneva and Lyon (at the time known as Lugdunum ). The Lex Burgundionum , codified by the Burgundian king Gundobad at

16650-444: The Burgundians, Siegfried cannot be firmly identified with a historical figure. He may have his origins in the Merovingian dynasty, where names beginning with the element Sigi- were common and where there was also a famous and violent queen Brunhilda (543–613). The feud between this historical Brunhilda and the rival queen Fredegund may have provided the origin of the feud between Brünhild and Kriemhild. The name Siegfried itself

16835-512: The Burgundians. He fights Gernot and the two kill each other. Rüdiger's death causes Dietrich von Bern's heroes to intervene, although Dietrich has told them not to. The conflict leads to the death of all the Burgundians except Hagen and Gunther, and all of Dietrich's heroes except for his mentor Hildebrand. Dietrich himself now fights and takes Hagen and Gunther prisoner. Kriemhild demands that Hagen give her back what he has taken from her. He convinces her that he will tell her where Siegfried's hoard

17020-586: The German tongue, and the same was true with the Norsemen. The names Sigurd and Siegfried do not share the same etymology. Both have the same first element, Proto-Germanic *sigi- , meaning victory. The second elements of the two names are different, however: in Siegfried , it is Proto-Germanic *-frið , meaning peace; in Sigurd , it is Proto-Germanic *-ward , meaning protection. Although they do not share

17205-609: The Icelandic queen Brünhild as his wife. However, Brünhild is supernaturally strong and challenges those seeking her hand in marriage in various martial and physical contests, killing the losers. Therefore, Gunther wants Siegfried's help; Siegfried tells Gunther he shouldn't marry Brünhild, but is convinced to help by Gunther's promise that he will let him marry Kriemhild in exchange. Arriving in Iceland, Siegfried claims to be Gunther's vassal and uses his magical cloak of invisibility ( Tarnkappe ) to secretly help Gunther win in all of

17390-430: The Netherlands, Siegfried and Kriemhild are crowned; both couples have a son. Brünhild is unhappy that Siegfried, whom she still believes to be Gunther's vassal, never comes to pay tribute. She convinces Gunther to invite Siegfried and Kriemhild to Worms for a feast. However, she and Kriemhild soon begin arguing about which of their husband's has the higher rank. The conflict peaks when both Kriemhild and Brünhild arrive at

17575-405: The Nibelungen for himself. He rides away with the hoard and then awakens the valkyrie Brynhild by cutting the armor from her, before coming to king Gjuki 's kingdom. There he marries Gjuki's daughter, Gudrun, and helps her brother, Gunnar, to acquire Brynhild's hand from her brother Atli. Sigurd deceives Brynhild by taking Gunnar's shape when Gunnar cannot fulfill the condition that he ride through

17760-550: The Rhine is thus historically attested, the saga locates its destruction at the court of Attila (Etzel), king of the Huns . The destruction of Attila's kingdom itself is likely inspired by Attila's sudden death following his wedding in 453, which was popularly blamed on his wife, a Germanic woman named Hildico . Her name, containing the element hild , may have inspired that of Kriemhild. Kriemhild most likely originally killed Etzel and avenged her relatives rather than her husband, but this change had already taken place some time before

17945-412: The Siegfried only has eight years to live. Realizing he will not be able to use the treasure, Siegfried dumps the treasure into the Rhine on his way to Worms. He marries Kriemhild and rules there together with her brothers Gunther, Hagen, and Giselher, but they resent him and have him killed after eight years. The Icelandic Abbot Nicholaus of Thvera records that while travelling through Westphalia , he

18130-414: The area around Worms but describes it as a separate kingdom from King Gibich's land (i.e. the Burgundian kingdom). The Nibelungenlied gives two contradictory descriptions of Siegfried's youth. On the level of the main story, Siegfried is given a courtly upbringing in Xanten by his father king Siegmund and mother Sieglind. When he is seen coming to Worms , capital of the Burgundian kingdom to woo

18315-473: The author of the Nibelungenklage . The latter work identifies a "meister Konrad" as the author of an original Latin version of the Nibelungenlied , but this is generally taken for a fiction. Although a single Nibelungenlied- poet is often posited, the degree of variance in the text and its background in an amorphous oral tradition mean that ideas of authorial intention must be applied with caution. It

18500-409: The caesura. The fourth line adds an additional foot following the caesura, making it longer than the other three and marking the end of the stanza. The final word before the caesura is typically female (a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable), whereas the final word of a line is typical male (a stressed syllable). The lines rhyme in pairs, and occasionally there are internal rhymes between

18685-432: The cathedral at the same time; the higher ranking one should enter first. Brünhild repeats her assertion that Siegfried is a vassal, after which Kriemhild claims that Siegfried, not Gunther, took Brünhild's virginity, producing the ring and belt as proof. Siegfried and Gunther afterwards deny this, but Brünhild remains offended. Hagen advises Gunther to have Siegfried murdered. Hagen goes to Kriemhild and tells her that there

18870-449: The city of Worms record that when Emperor Frederick III visited the city in 1488, he learned that the townspeople said that the "giant Siegfried" ( gigas [...] Sifridus des Hörnen ) was buried in the cemetery of St. Meinhard and St. Cecilia. Frederick ordered the graveyard dug up—according to one Latin source, he found nothing, but a German chronicle reports that he found a skull and some bones that were larger than normal. In contrast to

19055-403: The commentary of the narrator, who frequently reminds the poem's audience of the coming catastrophe, while the manner in which the epic is told serves to delay the inevitable disaster. The action becomes more and more intense as the epic nears its end. Behind Nibelungenlied stands a large oral tradition, the so-called Nibelungen saga . This oral tradition, moreover, continued to exist following

19240-464: The composition of the Hürnen Seyfrid is impossible given the evidence. The current form of the poem likely came into being around 1500, possibly in Nuremberg . It is possible that the poem already existed around 1400, however, as version m of the Nibelungenlied appears to incorporate details from Hürnen Seyfrid . The Nibelungenlied n also references details from the poem, as do a version of

19425-405: The composition of the Nibelungenlied , as proven by the Rosengarten zu Worms and Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid , both of which were written later than the Nibelungenlied but contain elements of the saga that are absent in it. These oral traditions have, at least in some cases, a historical core. However, various historical events and figures have been melded together into a single plot in such

19610-440: The connection of the poem to its traditionally oral subject matter. The Nibelungenlied is written in four-line stanzas. Although no melody has survived for the text, melodies for similar stanzas in other German heroic poems have, so that it is certain that the text was meant to be sung. The stanza consists of three Langzeilen ("long lines"), which consist of three metrical feet , a caesura , and three metrical feet following

19795-400: The content of their speeches are all relatively stable between versions extant before the 1400s. Generally, scholars have proposed that all versions of the Nibelungenlied derive from an original version (the "archetype") via alterations and reworking; Jan-Dirk Müller instead proposes that the Nibelungenlied has always existed in variant forms, connecting this variance to the transmission of

19980-419: The contests and Brünhilt agrees to return to Worms and marry Gunther. Once they have returned, Siegfried ask Kriemhild to marry him; this displeases Brünhild, as she believes Siegfried to be a vassal while Kriemhild is the daughter of a king. When Gunther does not explain why he is letting a vassal marry his sister, Brünhild refuses to sleep with him on their wedding night, instead tying him up and hanging him from

20165-583: The context of the Napoleonic Wars . The Nibelungenlied was supposed to embody German bourgeois virtues that the French were seen as lacking. This interpretation of the epic continued during the Biedermeier period, during which the heroic elements of the poem were mostly ignored in favor of those that could more easily be integrated into a bourgeois understanding of German virtue. The translation of

20350-466: The creation of the Nibelungenlied . Jan-Dirk Müller doubts that we can be certain which version is more original given that in both cases Kriemhild brings about the destruction of the Hunnish kingdom. The differences may be because the continental saga is more favorable to Attila than the Norse, and so Attila could not be held directly responsible for the treacherous invitation of the Burgundians. Unlike

20535-502: The curse on him will break and he will regain the form of a handsome youth. After this he shall deflower her and make her his bride, taking her away with him to hell. In this passage, Seyfrid reaches the dragon's rock ("Mt. Trachenstein", or the "Drachenstein" ), and learns of Kriemhild being held hostage, and seeks to rescue her with the aid of the dwarf Eugel and the unwilling and traitorous giant Kuperan. Gybich, meanwhile, has sent messengers out to search for his daughter. Seyfrid

20720-459: The date the epic must have been composed. Additionally, the poem's rhyming technique most closely resembles that used between 1190 and 1205. Attempts to show that the poem alludes to various historical events have generally not been convincing. The current theory of the creation of the poem emphasizes the poet's concentration on the region of Passau : for example, the poem highlights the relatively unimportant figure of Bishop Pilgrim of Passau , and

20905-515: The death made him into a central figure in the reception of the poem. During the Second World War , Hermann Göring would explicitly use this aspect of the Nibelungenlied to celebrate the sacrifice of the German army at Stalingrad and compare the Soviets to Etzel's Asiatic Huns. Postwar reception and adaptation of the poem, reacting to its misuse by the Nazis, is often parodic. At the same time,

21090-550: The death of his first wife, Helche, Etzel, the king of the Huns, chooses to ask Kriemhild to marry him. All of the Burgundians except for Hagen are in favor of the match. Kriemhild only agrees after Etzel's messenger, Margrave Rüdiger von Bechelaren , swears loyalty to her personally and she realizes she can use the Huns to gain revenge on Siegfried's murderers. Before her departure, she demands Siegfried's treasure but Hagen refuses her. After seven years as Etzel's wife, Kriemhild bears him

21275-479: The depths. Seyfrid tenderizes the dragon's horny skin with sword blows, perhaps further soften by the heat of the dragon's breath, the horny layer melts off, and Seyfrid cleaves the dragon in two, knocking one half tumbling to the depths so it shatters into smithereens. The other half the hero shoves away. Seyfrid falls unconscious, and when he awakens, he finds that Kriemhild too has passed out. Eugel revives her with an herb. The dwarf then thanks Seyfrid for freeing

21460-526: The details of Sigurd's life and death in the various poems contradict each other, so that "the story of Sigurd does not emerge clearly from the Eddic verse". Generally, none of the poems are thought to have been composed before 900 and some appear to have been written in the 13th century. It is also possible that apparently old poems have been written in an archaicizing style and that apparently recent poems are reworkings of older material, so that reliable dating

21645-467: The different manuscripts of the Nibelungenlied varies considerably from one another, though there is less variance than found in many other Middle High German heroic epics, such as the Dietrich epics . Although the different versions vary in their exact wording and include or exclude stanzas found in other versions, the general order of events, the order of the appearance of characters, their actions, and

21830-466: The disaster at Etzel's court in order to avenge Siegfried being killed by Dietrich von Bern. According to the Heldenbuch-Prosa, Dietrich killed Siegfried fighting in the rose garden at Worms (see the Rosengarten zu Worms section above). This may have been another version of Siegfried's death that was in oral circulation. Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid (the song of horn-skinned Siegfried)

22015-600: The dragon and Kriemhild. Seyfrid then decides to fight; Eugel tries to dissuade him, but Seyfrid forces the dwarf to help him. Eugel tells him that the giant Kuperan lives nearby, who has the key to the mountain. Kuperan and Seyfrid fight, but Seyfrid wounds the giant, whom he spares in exchange for help freeing Kriemhild. Yet while they are riding through the forest, Kuperan attacks Seyfrid, knocking him unconscious. Eugel covers Seyfrid with his cloak of invisibility to save him until Seyfrid regains consciousness. Seyfrid then attacks Kuperan and wants to kill him, but spares him so that

22200-670: The dragon and his invincibility mentioned only very briefly and in retrospect. The folk etymology of lindworm as " linden tree dragon" is present in both the Seyfrid lay and the Nibelungenlied ; in the latter, Siegfried's vulnerable spot is caused by a linden leaf fallen between his shoulders. Hürnen Seyfrid is written in the so-called "Hildebrandston", named after its use in the Jüngeres Hildebrandslied that had an accompanying melody. The four line stanza consists of four "Langzeilen" or "long lines", each divided bya

22385-405: The dragon's blood to receive an impenetrable skin is then recounted by Hagen , one of Gunther's vassals, when the Burgundians see Siegfried approaching. Siegfried lives in Worms for a year without seeing Kriemhild before Siegfried helps Gunther fight against attack by the Saxons and Danes. Because of his valor in combat, he is finally allowed to see Kriemhild. Gunther decides that he wishes to take

22570-403: The dragon; after learning his short-lived fate, he dumps the treasure into the Rhine. Seyfrid has eaten nothing for four days, and Eugel (who must have tagged along "in between" ) summons his dwarfs to bring sumptuous food. Just now the dragon returns. It is revealed the man had turned into a dragon because of a woman's curse in a lovers' quarrel, and he was being possessed by the devil. And after

22755-425: The dragons, trapping them. He finally finds the charcoal burner, and with his help he lights the trees over the dragons, killing them. Their horned (that is, impenetrable) skin melts from the heat and flows as a small stream. Seyfrid sticks his finger into it and realizes that it causes his own skin to harden, so he smears the molten horned-skin over himself, covering everywhere except between his shoulder blades. Later,

22940-410: The dwarfs from Kuperan and brings him to his kingdom. Seyfrid asks Eugel to tell him his future: the dwarf responds that Seyfrid will be murdered in eight years, but Kriemhild will avenge him. On his way out of the mountain Seyfrid takes the treasure as rightfully conquered from the dragon (though he was mistaken and the treasure belonged to the dwarfs). As Seyfrid approaches Worms he thinks how little use

23125-520: The earlier version. It may have been inspired by the prologue of the Nibelungenklage . Manuscript B instead begins with the introduction of Kriemhild , the protagonist of the work. Kriemhild grows up as a beautiful woman in Worms , the capital of the Burgundian kingdom , under the protection of her brothers Gunther , Gernot, and Giselher. There she has a dream portending doom, in which she raises

23310-439: The earliest attested work to connect Siegfried explicitly with the destruction of the Burgundians is the Nibelungenlied itself, though Old Norse parallels make it clear that this tradition must have existed orally for some time. When composing the Nibelungenlied , its poet was faced with setting an oral tradition down into a definitive version although that tradition was by its very nature amorphous. In choosing which elements of

23495-416: The eighteenth century, and a prose version continued to be re-printed into the nineteenth century. Seyfrid (or Sewfrid), son of king Sigmund, is sent away from his father's court due to his bad behavior. He comes across a smith in a village who takes him as his apprentice, but Seyfrid destroys the anvil with his sword and abuses the other apprentices and the smith himself. The smith therefore sends Seyfrid to

23680-467: The end of the sixth century, contains many names that can be connected with the Nibelungen saga, including, besides Gundaharius, Gislaharius (Giselher), Gundomaris (possibly the historical figure behind the Old Norse Gothorm, who is replaced by Gernot in the German tradition), and Gibica (attested in Germany as Gibich but not found in the Nibelungenlied ). Although the Burgundian kingdom on

23865-619: The epic's material from orality to literacy. Using the versions provided by the three oldest complete manuscripts, the Hohenems-Munich manuscript A (c. 1275-1300), the Sankt Gall manuscript B (c. 1233-1266), and the Hohenems-Donaueschingen manuscript C (c. 1225-1250), scholars have traditionally differentiated two versions that existed near the time of the poem's composition; A and B are counted as belonging to

24050-415: The exact period of composition is unknown as the poem only survives in printings and a single manuscript fragment from after 1500. The poem, together with another heroic ballad, the Jüngeres Hildebrandslied , is the piece of German heroic tradition that remained popular the longest and the only part of the tradition surrounding the Nibelungenlied to enter early print culture . The poem was re-printed into

24235-596: The ferry once they have landed to show that there can be no return. When the Bavarians attack the Burgundians in order to avenge their ferryman, whom Hagen had killed, Hagen takes control of the defense and defeats them. The Burgundians then arrive in Etzel's kingdom and are welcomed to the city of Bechelaren by the Margrave Rüdiger; on Hagen's suggestion, Rüdiger betroths his daughter to Gisleher and gives Gernot

24420-401: The first Middle High German heroic poem to be written, the Nibelungenlied can be said to have founded an entire genre of Middle High German literature. As a result, other Middle High German heroic poems are sometimes described as "post-Nibelungian" ("nachnibelungisch"). The majority of these epics revolve around the hero Dietrich von Bern , who plays a secondary role in the Nibelungenlied : it

24605-414: The five years the curse would expire (the alternative interpretation is that sequestering a virgin for five years is the required recipe for breaking the curse ) and the dragon should regain human form. The dragon is enraged to see Seyfrid trying to liberate the princess it had been grooming for so long, and spits fire all around. However Seyfrid and princess take refuge in the hole that runs deep down inside

24790-491: The following feast, Kriemhild has her and Etzel's son Ortlieb brought into the hall. Bloedelin then attacks and kills the Burgundian squires outside the feast hall, but is killed by Hagen's brother, Dankwart. When Dankwart, the sole survivor, enters the hall and reports the attack, Hagen beheads Ortlieb, and fighting breaks out within the feast hall itself. The Huns are unarmed and slaughtered, but Dietrich and Hildebrand arrange for Etzel, Kriemhild, Rüdiger, and their own men to exit

24975-476: The form of the root -vǫrðr instead of -varðr is only found in the name Sigurd , with other personal names instead using the form -varðr ; he suggests that the form -vǫrðr may have had religious significance, whereas -varðr was purely non-religious in meaning. There are competing theories as to which name is original. Names equivalent to Siegfried are first attested in Anglo-Saxon Kent in

25160-414: The giant can guide the way to enter the mountain, that is, the two of them go inside the mountain wall, through the locked door which was hidden 8 klafters below ground. Seyfrid finds Kriemhild and converses with her, but he would have to defeat the dragon to complete the rescues, and she is not sure he is equal to the task. But by a stroke of luck, the treacherous giant Kuperan tells him that nearby there

25345-431: The hall. The Burgundians barricade themselves in the hall, which is besieged by Etzel's warriors. Various Hunnish attempts to attack are repulsed, but a truce cannot be agreed because Kriemhild demands that Hagen be handed over to her. Kriemhild orders the hall set on fire, but the Burgundians survive. The next day, Etzel and Kriemhild force Rüdiger to enter the battle, although he is bound by guest-friendship and kinship to

25530-489: The hero Dietrich von Bern , and so she invites him and twelve of his warriors to fight her twelve champions. When the fight is finally meant to begin, Dietrich initially refuses to fight Siegfried on the grounds that the dragon's blood has made Siegfried's skin invulnerable. Dietrich is convinced to fight Siegfried by the false news that his mentor Hildebrand is dead and becomes so enraged that he begins to breathe fire, melting Siegfried's protective layer of horn on his skin. He

25715-524: The hoard of the Nibelungen. The second half of the heroic poem Biterolf und Dietleib (between 1250 and 1300) features a war between the Burgundian heroes of the Nibelungenlied and the heroes of the cycle around Dietrich von Bern, something likely inspired by the Rosengarten zu Worms . In this context, it also features a fight between Siegfried and Dietrich in which Dietrich defeats Siegfried after initially appearing cowardly. The text also features

25900-512: The horse Grane, and goes to King Isung of Bertangenland. One day Thidrek ( Dietrich von Bern ) comes to Bertangenland; he fights against Sigurd for three days. Thidrek is unable to wound Sigurd because of his invulnerable skin, but on the third day, Thidrek receives the sword Mimung, which can cut through Sigurd's skin, and defeats him. Thidrek and Sigurd then ride to King Gunnar (Gunther), where Sigurd marries Gunnar's sister Grimhild (Kriemhild). Sigurd recommends to Gunnar that he marry Brynhild, and

26085-401: The inescapability of the slaughter at the end of the poem and Kriemhild and Hagen's culpability or innocence. The earliest attested reception of the Nibelungenlied , the Nibelungenklage , which was likely written only shortly afterwards, shows an attempt both to make sense of the horror of the destruction and to absolve Kriemhild of blame. The C version of the Nibelungenlied , redacted around

26270-536: The land of the Carolingians ) and queen Sisibe of Spain. When Sigmund returns from a campaign one day, he discovers his wife is pregnant, and believing her to be unfaithful to him, he exiles her to the "Swabian Forest" (the Black Forest ?), where she gives birth to Sigurd. She dies after some time, and Sigurd is suckled by a hind before being found by the smith Mimir. Mimir tries to raise the boy, but Sigurd

26455-503: The language of the birds, who warn him of Regin's plan to kill him. He kills the smith and is told by the birds to go to a palace surrounded by flames where the valkyrie Sigdrifa is asleep. Sigurd heads there, loading the hoard on his horse. Lied vom H%C3%BCrnen Seyfrid Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid (" The Song of Horn-skinned Siegfried "; " Lay of Seyfrid with the Horny Skin " ), or Hürnen Seyfrid for short,

26640-410: The latter being his name in the Nibelungenlied , shows that the Rosengarten does include some old traditions absent in that poem, although it is still highly dependent on the Nibelungenlied . Some of the details agree with the Thidrekssaga . Rosengarten A mentions that Siegfried was raised by a smith named Eckerich. Although the Þiðrekssaga (c. 1250) is written in Old Norse, the majority of

26825-467: The loyalty to death between Hagen and the Burgundians. While militaristic, the use of imagery from the Nibelungenlied remained optimistic in this period rather than focusing on the doom at the end of the epic. The interwar period saw the Nibelungenlied enter the world of cinema in Fritz Lang 's two part film Die Nibelungen (1924/1925), which tells the entire story of the poem. At the same time,

27010-464: The majority of popular adaptations of the material today in film, computer games, comic books, etc., are not based on the medieval epic directly. Outside of Germany, most reception of the Nibelungen material has taken place via Wagner, although the epic has been translated into English numerous times. (in chronological order) Sigurd Sigurd ( Old Norse : Sigurðr [ˈsiɣˌurðr] ) or Siegfried ( Middle High German : Sîvrit )

27195-423: The material is translated from German (particularly Low German ) oral tales, as well as possibly some from German written sources such as the Nibelungenlied . Therefore, it is included here. The Thidrekssaga refers to Siegfried both as Sigurd ( Sigurðr ) and an Old Norse approximation of the name Siegfried , Sigfrœð . He is the son of king Sigmund of Tarlungaland (probably a corruption of Karlungaland , i.e.

27380-475: The melted dragon skin everywhere except for one spot. Later, he stumbles upon the trail of another dragon that has kidnapped princess Kriemhild of Worms. With the help of the dwarf Eugel, Siegfried fights the giant Kuperan, who has the key to the mountain Kriemhild has been taken to. He rescues the princess and slays the dragon, finding the treasure of the Nibelungen inside the mountain. Eugel prophesies, however,

27565-537: The murder of the Merovingian Sigebert I. Continental Germanic traditions about Siegfried enter writing with the Nibelungenlied around 1200. The German tradition strongly associates Siegfried with a kingdom called "Niederland" (Middle High German Niderlant ), which, despite its name, is not the same as the modern Netherlands , but describes Siegfried's kingdom around the city of Xanten . The late medieval Heldenbuch-Prosa identifies "Niederland" with

27750-446: The narrative progresses in blocks: the first three lines carry the story forward, while the fourth introduces foreshadowing of the disaster at the end or comments on events. The fourth line is thus often the most formulaic of the stanza. Stanzas often seem to have been placed after each other without necessarily being causally or narratively connected; for instance, two consecutive stanzas might portray two different reactions to an event by

27935-522: The nineteenth century. The end of the prose text alludes to the story of Seyfrid's son Löwhardus (or Löwhard ) by Florigunda, and a single copy of Ritter Louhardus from the printer Martha Hertz in Erfurt survives, tentatively dated to 1665, though others give a range around the early 1660s or earlier while the range 1661–1667 is given by others. The name changes in prose Siegfried are more or less reflected in this sequel, and Löwhardus represents

28120-473: The normal phonetic principles, the Germanic name would have become Romance-language *Sigevert , a form which could also represent a Romance-language form of Germanic Sigefred . He further notes that *Sigevert would be a plausible Romance-language form of the name Sigebert (see Origins ) from which both names could have arisen. As a second possibility, Haubrichs considers the option that metathesis of

28305-477: The other hand, do not appear in pre-11th-century non-Scandinavian sources, and older Scandinavian sources sometimes call persons Sigfroðr Sigfreðr or Sigfrǫðr who are later called Sigurðr . He argues from this evidence that a form equivalent to Siegfried is the older form of Sigurd's name in Scandinavia as well. Unlike many figures of Germanic heroic tradition, Sigurd cannot be easily identified with

28490-492: The other hand, is shared with the Danubian minnesinger known as Der von Kürenberg who flourished in the 1150s and 1160s. The Nibelungenlied- poet may have been inspired by this lyrical stanza. Their use of the stanza would thus cite an oral story-telling tradition while at the same time creating some distance to it. Philologist Andreas Heusler supposed that the poet had taken some earlier orally transmitted stanzas and added

28675-414: The poem are constructed in a much less regular manner. It is likely that the Nibelungenlied cites an oral story-telling tradition in using singable stanzas; however, the longer final line is generally thought to belong to a more refined artistic milieu, as later heroic epics typically use a stanza without this longer final line (the so-called "Hildebrandston" ). The stanzaic form of the Nibelungenlied , on

28860-471: The poem continues to play a role in regional culture and history, particularly in Worms and other places mentioned in the Nibelungenlied . Much discussion has centered on whether and how the epic ought to be taught in schools. The material of the Nibelungen saga has continued to inspire new adaptations. These include Die Nibelungen , a German remake of Fritz Lang's film from 1966/67, and the television film Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King from 2004. However,

29045-450: The poem despite not having lived at the same time historically. The Nibelungen saga also seems to have had an early reception in Scandinavia, so that parallel stories are found among the heroic lays of the Poetic Edda (written down in 1270 but containing at least some much older material) and in the Völsunga saga (written down in the second half of the thirteenth century). While the Norse texts were once usually considered to contain

29230-446: The poem in its written form is entirely new, although he admits the possibility that an orally transmitted epic with relatively consistent contents could have preceded it. German philologist Elisabeth Lienert, on the other hand, posits an earlier version of the text from around 1150 due to the Nibelungenlied's use of a stanzaic form current around that time (see Form and style ). Whoever the poet may have been, they appear to have had

29415-487: The poem tells us, Seyfrid will go to the court of King Gybich in Worms , to marry Gybich's daughter Kriemhild. He will also find the treasure that Nibelung, king of the dwarfs , had hidden away in a mountain for his sons. Because of this treasure there was a great slaughter among the Huns, which only Dietrich von Bern and Hildebrand survived. In Worms, meanwhile, king Gybich rules with his three sons Gunther, Gyrnot, and Hagen, along with his daughter Kriemhild. One day

29600-714: The poem was Richard Wagner 's operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , which, however, was based almost entirely on the Old Norse versions of the Nibelung saga. Wagner's preference for the Old Norse versions followed a popular judgment of the time period: the Nordic versions were seen as being more "original" than the courtly story portrayed in the German poem. In the First World War , the alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary came to be described as possessing Nibelungen-Treue (Nibelungen loyalty), referring to

29785-429: The poet's geographical knowledge appears much more firm in this region than elsewhere. These facts, combined with the dating, have led scholars to believe that Wolfger von Erla , Bishop of Passau (reigned 1191–1204) was the patron of the poem. Wolfger is known to have patronized other literary figures, such as Walther von der Vogelweide and Thomasin von Zirclaere . The attention paid to Bishop Pilgrim, who represents

29970-428: The princess Kriemhild, however, the Burgundian vassal Hagen von Tronje narrates a different story of Siegfried's youth: according to Hagen, Siegfried was a wandering warrior (Middle High German recke ) who won the hoard of the Nibelungen as well as the sword Balmung and a cloak of invisibility ( Tarnkappe ) that increases the wearer's strength twelve times. He also tells an unrelated tale about how Siegfried killed

30155-456: The printed versions of Hürnen Seyfrid , the hemistichs are printed as individual lines, producing an eight-line stanza. An example is the first stanza of the 1642 edition: Scholars frequently decry Hürnen Seyfrid's artistic deficiencies: the plot has many inconsistencies and the verse is of low quality. The poem appears to have been haphazardly put together from various parts. The poem does not problematize any of Siegfried's actions and has

30340-403: The queen's name from Kriemhild, Florigunda, altering all the names except Siegrfried's. In a major departure from the lay, the printed version concludes with the widow Florigunda (=Kriemhild) and Seyfrid's surviving son taking refuge with Sieghardus (=Sigmund). Sieghardus is then responsible for taking revenge on Seyfrid's murderers. This prose Seyfried version continued to be re-printed into

30525-418: The real historical figure Bishop Pilgrim of Passau, would thus be an indirect homage to Wolfger. Wolfger was, moreover, attempting to establish the sainthood of Pilgrim at the time of the poem's composition, giving an additional reason for his prominence. Some debate exists as to whether the poem is an entirely new creation or whether there was a previous version. German medievalist Jan-Dirk Müller claims that

30710-399: The saga to include in his version, the poet therefore often incorporated two versions of an event that were likely not combined in the oral tradition. An example is the beginning of the fighting in Etzel's hall, which is motivated both by an attack on the Burgundians' supplies and Hagen's killing of prince Ortlieb . The Old Norse Thidrekssaga , which is based on German sources, contains only

30895-402: The saga. Most significantly, the poet has suppressed the mythological or fantastical elements of Siegfried's story. When these elements are introduced, it is in a retrospective tale narrated by Hagen that reduces the slaying of the dragon to a single stanza. Hagen's story, moreover, does not accord with Siegfried's youth as the narrator of the Nibelungenlied has portrayed it, in which he receives

31080-442: The same figure. Often, the same reaction is given to multiple figures in different stanzas, so that the impression of collective rather than individual reactions is created. Enjambment between stanzas is very rare. The epic frequently creates multiple motivations for events, some of which may contradict each other. This style of narration also causes the events within the poem to come to a frequent halt, which can last for years within

31265-496: The same second element, it is clear that surviving Scandinavian written sources held Siegfried to be the continental version of the name they called Sigurd . The normal form of Siegfried in Middle High German is Sîvrit or Sîfrit , with the *sigi- element contracted. This form of the name had been common even outside of heroic poetry since the 9th century, though the form Sigevrit is also attested, along with

31450-593: The same time as the Klage , shows a similar strategy. The presence of the Nibelungenklage in all manuscripts of the Nibelungenlied shows that the ending of the Nibelungenlied itself was evidently unsatisfying to its primary audience without some attempt to explain these two "scandalous" elements. The Rosengarten zu Worms , on the other hand, demonizes Kriemhild thoroughly, while the late-medieval Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid takes her side even more strongly. As

31635-465: The second element, meaning that the two motivations were likely variants that were hardly ever combined in practice. Victor Millet concludes that the poet deliberately doubles the motivations or occurrences of various events, including Siegfried's wooing of Kriemhild, the deception of Brünhild, Hagen's humiliation of Kriemhild, and Kriemhild's demand for the return of Nibelungen treasure. The poet also appears to have significantly altered various aspects of

31820-409: The smith, his stupidity, and his success through supernatural aid rather than his own cunning is the more original of these conceptions. In Reginsmál , the smith Regin, who is staying at the court of Hjálprek, tells Sigurd of a hoard that the gods had had to assemble in order to compensate the family of Ótr , whom they had killed. Fafnir , Ótr's brother, guards the treasure now and has turned into

32005-430: The surviving continental traditions, Scandinavian stories about Sigurd have a strong connection to Germanic mythology . While older scholarship took this to represent the original form of the Sigurd story, newer scholarship is more inclined to see it as a development of the tradition that is unique to Scandinavia. While some elements of the Scandinavian tradition may indeed be older than the surviving continental witnesses,

32190-408: The time portrayed in the poem. The division of the epic into Âventiuren ( lit.   ' adventures ' ) underlines the disconnect between the various episodes. The connection between the first half of the epic (Siegfried's murder) and the second half (Kriemhild's marriage to Etzel) is especially loose. The epic nevertheless maintains the causal and narrative connection between episodes through

32375-542: The treasure and hide it in the wall of the cave-hole, and as already foreshadowed, Seyfrid will find and obtain the treasure. The poem intertwines here Seyfrid's combat with the dragon. Seyfrid had to flee from the "blue and red" flames spit by the elder dragon, and hide until the heat cooled off. and in the side-hole of his refuge finds the treasure. Though the dragon was accompanied by sixty pup dragons, all venomous, they fell off and flew back whence they came. The dragon attempts to snag with its tail and hurl its foe to

32560-468: The treasure will be to him as he will soon die, and dumps it into the Rhine . Seyfrid is well received in Worms and marries Kriemhild, ruling together with Gybich's children, but soon Kriemhild's brothers begin to hate him and later on they kill him at a spring. The ballad ends by stating that anyone who wishes to learn more should read "Seyfrid's Wedding ( Seyfrides hochzeit )". An exact dating of

32745-464: The two ride to woo for her. Brynhild now claims that Sigurd had earlier said he would marry her (unmentioned before in the text), but eventually she agrees to marry Gunnar. She will not, however, allow Gunnar to consummate the marriage, and so with Gunnar's agreement, Sigurd takes Gunnar's shape and deflowers Brynhild, taking away her strength. The heroes then return with Brynhild to Gunnar's court. Sometime later, Grimhild and Brynhild fight over who has

32930-533: The words at the end of the caesura, as in the first stanza (see Synopsis ). Medieval German literature scholar Victor Millet uses the poem's sixth stanza as an example of this metrical form. An acute accent indicates the stressed beat of a metrical foot, and || indicates the caesura: Ze Wórmez bí dem Ríne || si wónten mít ir kráft. in díente vón ir lánden || vil stólziu ríterscáft mit lóbelíchen éren || unz án ir éndes zít. si stúrben sit jǽmerlíche || von zwéier édelen fróuwen nít. Many stanzas of

33115-436: Was murdered by his brother Chilperic I at the instigation of Chilperic's wife queen Fredegunda . If this theory is correct, then in the legend, Fredegunda and Brunhilda appear to have switched roles, while Chilperic has been replaced with Gunther. Jens Haustein  [ de ] (2005) argues that, while the story of Sigurd appears to have Merovingian resonances, no connection to any concrete historical figure or event

33300-406: Was not printed and appears to have been forgotten. The Nibelungen saga, however, was not forgotten completely; the Rosengarten zu Worms was printed as part of the printed Heldenbuch until 1590 and inspired several plays in the early seventeenth century, while Hürnen Seyfrid continued to be printed into the nineteenth century in a prose version. After having been forgotten for two hundred years,

33485-428: Was raised by a smith in the forest. He was so unruly, however, that the smith arranged for him to be killed by a dragon. Siegfried was able to kill the dragon, however, and eventually kills many more by trapping them under logs and setting them on fire. The dragon's skin, described as hard as horn, melts, and Siegfried sticks his finger into it, discovering that his finger is now hard as horn as well. He smears himself with

33670-571: Was raised by a smith, killed a dragon, and made his skin invincible (got his skin as hard as horn ( hürnen )). Afterwards it tells how he rescued Kriemhild, daughter of the Burgundian king Gybich, with the help of the dwarf Eugel from a cursed man who has transformed into a dragon. In doing so, Siegfried fights the giant Kuperan. In defeating the dragon, Siegfried acquires the treasure of the Nibelungen and marries Kriemhild. External evidence indicates that Seyfrid likely dates to around 1400, but

33855-475: Was shown the place where Sigurd slew the dragon (called Gnita-Heath in the Norse tradition) between two villages south of Paderborn . In a song of the mid-13th-century wandering lyric poet Der Marner, "the death of Siegfried" ( Sigfrides [...] tôt ) is mentioned as a popular story that the German courtly public enjoys hearing, along with "the hoard of the Nibelungs" ( der Nibelunge hort ). The chronicles of

34040-481: Was the first heroic epic put into writing in Germany, helping to found a larger genre of written heroic poetry there. The poem's tragedy appears to have bothered its medieval audience, and very early on a sequel was written, the Nibelungenklage , which made the tragedy less final. The poem was forgotten after around 1500 but was rediscovered in 1755. Dubbed the "German Iliad ", the Nibelungenlied began

34225-487: Was the first to suggest possible connection with the Germanic hero Arminius from the Roman period, famed for defeating Publius Quinctilius Varus 's three legions at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. Later Adolf Giesebrecht  [ de ] (1837) asserted outright that Sigurd/Siegfried was a mythologized version of Arminius. Although this position was taken more recently by Otto Höfler (beginning in 1959), who also suggested that Gnita-Heath  [

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