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Dietrich von Bern is the name of a character in Germanic heroic legend who originated as a legendary version of the
Ostrogoth The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...
ic king
Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal ( got, , *Þiudareiks; Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy ...
. The name "Dietrich", meaning "Ruler of the People", is a form of the Germanic name "Theodoric". In the legends, Dietrich is a king ruling from
Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
(Bern) who was forced into exile with the
Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
under Etzel by his evil uncle Ermenrich. The differences between the known life of Theodoric and the picture of Dietrich in the surviving legends are usually attributed to a long-standing
oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and Culture, cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Traditio ...
that continued into the sixteenth century. Most notably, Theodoric was an invader rather than the rightful king of Italy and was born shortly after the death of Attila and a hundred years after the death of the historical Gothic king Ermanaric. Differences between Dietrich and Theodoric were already noted in the Early Middle Ages and led to a long-standing criticism of the oral tradition as false. Legends about Theodoric may have existed already shortly after his death in 526. The oldest surviving literature of various Germanic-speaking peoples mentioning Dietrich von Bern, includes the
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
poems ''
Widsith "Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the '' Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th ...
'', '' Deor'', and '' Waldere'', the
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...
poem '' Hildebrandslied'', and possibly the Rök runestone. The bulk of the legendary material about Dietrich/Theodoric comes from high and late medieval
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
and is composed in
Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...
or
Early New High German Early New High German (ENHG) is a term for the period in the history of the German language generally defined, following Wilhelm Scherer, as the period 1350 to 1650. The term is the standard translation of the German (Fnhd., Frnhd.), introduc ...
. Another important source for legends about Dietrich is the
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
'' Thidrekssaga'', which was written using German sources. In addition to the legends detailing events that may reflect the historical Theodoric's life in some fashion, many of the legends tell of Dietrich's battles against dwarfs,
dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...
s, giants, and other mythical beings, as well as other
hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...
es such as Siegfried. Additionally, Dietrich develops mythological attributes such as an ability to breathe fire. Dietrich also appears as a supporting character in other heroic poems such as the ''
Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germani ...
'', and medieval German literature frequently refers and alludes to him. Poems about Dietrich were extremely popular among the medieval German nobility and, later, the late medieval and early modern patrician classes, but were frequently targets of criticism by persons writing on behalf of the church. Though some continued to be printed in the seventeenth century, most of the legends were slowly forgotten after 1600. They became objects of academic study by the end of the sixteenth century, and were revived somewhat in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, resulting in some stories about Dietrich being popular in
South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...
, the setting for many of the legends. In particular, the legend of
Laurin Laurin is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Anna-Lena Laurin (born 1962), Swedish composer * Camille Laurin (1922–1999), psychiatrist and politician in Quebec, Canada * Dan Laurin (born 1960), Swed ...
has continued to be important there, with the
Rosengarten group The Rosengarten group ( it, Catinaccio , Ladin: ''Ciadenac'', ''Ciadenáze'') is a massif in the Dolomites of northern Italy. It is located between the Tierser Tal and Eggental in South Tyrol and the Fassa Valley in Trentino. One peculiarity ...
of mountains associated with the legend.


Development in the oral tradition


Differences between Dietrich and Theodoric

Dietrich von Bern and Theoderic the great were usually treated as the same figure throughout the Middle Ages. However, the lives of Dietrich von Bern and Theodoric the Great have several important differences. Whereas Theodoric the Great conquered Italy as an invader, Dietrich von Bern is portrayed as exiled from his rightful kingdom in Italy. Also, Dietrich is portrayed as a contemporary of Etzel (
Attila the Hun Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. He was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Bulgars, among others, in Central and E ...
, died 453) and his uncle is the semi-legendary Gothic king Ermenrich (
Ermanaric Ermanaric; la, Ermanaricus or ''Hermanaricus''; ang, Eormanrīc ; on, Jǫrmunrekkr , gmh, Ermenrîch (died 376) was a Greuthungian Gothic king who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of Oium, the part of Scythi ...
, died 370s). Dietrich is associated with
Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
(the ''Bern'' of his name) rather than the capital of the historical Theodoric,
Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...
. Dietrich has a number of mythological features: In the early eleventh-century ''Waldere'' he is an enemy of giants, and in later Middle High German texts he also fights against dwarfs and
wild men The wild man, wild man of the woods, or woodwose/wodewose is a mythical figure that appears in the art and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to '' Silvanus'', the Roman god of the wood ...
. Even more notable is the fact that multiple texts record Dietrich breathing fire.


Theories

The change of Dietrich from invader to exiled ruler trying to reclaim his land is usually explained as following well-known motifs of
oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and Culture, cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Traditio ...
. In effect, Theodoric's conquest has been transformed according to a literary scheme consisting of exile, then return, a story which has a relatively consistent set of recurring motifs throughout world literature. The story told in the heroic tradition is nevertheless meant to convey a particular understanding of the historical event, namely: that Dietrich/Theodoric was in the right when he conquered Italy. Dietrich's exile and repeated failed attempts to reconquer his rightful kingdom, as reported in the later historical poems, may also be a reflection of the destruction of the Theodoric's Gothic kingdom by the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
under
Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...
. This is particularly true for the figure of
Witege Witege, Witige or Wittich ( ang, Wudga, Widia; Gotho- lat, Vidigoia) or Vidrik "Vidga" Verlandsson ( + ''Viðga'' or ''Videke'' + ''Verlandsson'', ''Vallandsson'', or ''Villandsson'') is a character in several Germanic heroic legends, poems abo ...
and his betrayal at Ravenna, as told in '' Die Rabenschlacht''. Millet notes, furthermore, that Dietrich is portrayed as without any heirs and that his closest relatives and supporters die in every attempt to reclaim Italy: this too could be a way to explain the short duration of Ostrogothic rule in Italy. Dietrich's coexisting with Attila and Ermanaric is usually explained by another process active in oral storytelling, synchronization. Dietrich is already associated with an exile among the Huns in the
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...
''Hildebrandslied'' (before 900), and possibly with Etzel/Attila, depending on how one interprets the mentioned ''huneo druhtin'' (Hunnish lord),. The ''Hildebrandslied'' nevertheless still retains Theodoric's historical opponent
Odoacer Odoacer ( ; – 15 March 493 AD), also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a soldier and statesman of barbarian background, who deposed the child emperor Romulus Augustulus and became Rex/Dux (476–493). Odoacer's overthrow of Romulus August ...
, seemingly showing that Odoacer was the original opponent. It is also possible that the author of the ''Hildebrandslied'' altered the report in the oral saga by replacing the unhistorical Emenrich with the historical Odoacer. It is possible that Ermenrich/Ermanaric was drawn into the story due to his historical enmity with the Huns, who destroyed his kingdom. He was famous for killing his relatives, moreover, and so his attempts to kill his kinsman Dietrich make sense in the logic of the oral tradition. It is possible that Dietrich's association with Verona suggests Longobardic influence on the oral tradition, as Verona was the Longobardic capital for a time, while Ravenna was under the control of the Byzantines. The figure of Dietrich's tutor and mentor
Hildebrand Hildebrand is a character from Germanic heroic legend. ''Hildebrand'' is the modern German form of the name: in Old High German it is ''Hiltibrant'' and in Old Norse ''Hildibrandr''. The word ''hild'' means "battle" and ''brand'' means "sword". ...
is also often thought to derive from Longobardic influence. Heinzle suggests that the exile-saga may have been first told among the Longobards, giving the end of the sixth century as the latest date at which the story may have formed, with the Longobardic conquest of Italy. Dietrich has been identified as "Dietrich ''von Bern''" (Middle High German for Verona) or ''Theodericus Veronensis'' since at least the composition of the ''Annals of Quedlinburg''. Lastly, Dietrich's various mythological and demonic attributes may derive from ecclesiastical criticism of the
Arian Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...
Theodoric, whose soul,
Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...
reports, was dropped into
Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( it, Etna or ; scn, Muncibbeḍḍu or ; la, Aetna; grc, Αἴτνα and ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina ...
as punishment for his persecution of orthodox Christians. Another notable tradition, first reported in the world chronicle of
Otto of Freising Otto of Freising ( la, Otto Frisingensis; c. 1114 – 22 September 1158) was a German churchman of the Cistercian order and chronicled at least two texts which carries valuable information on the political history of his own time. He was Otto I ...
(1143-1146), is that Theodoric rode to hell on an infernal horse while still alive. Other traditions record that Theodoric was the son of the
Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
. It is unclear whether these negative traditions are the invention of the Church or whether they are a demonization of an earlier
apotheosis Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term ha ...
of the heretical Theodoric. None of the surviving heroic material demonizes Dietrich in this way, however, and presents a generally positive view of the hero. In the 1980s, Heinz Ritter-Schaumburg proposed that Dietrich von Bern and Theodoric the Great were in fact two distinct historical figures: he argued that Dietrich was an unattested Frankish petty king based at
Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
. However, Ritter-Schaumburg was not a specialist in the field, and his theory has been rejected by mainstream scholarship.


Appearance in early Germanic literature


In Scandinavia

One of the earliest (quasi-)literary sources about the legend of Theodoric is the Rök Stone, carved in Sweden in the 9th century. There he is mentioned in a stanza in the Eddic '' fornyrðislag'' meter: The mention of Theodoric (among other heroes and gods of Norse mythology) may have been inspired by a no longer extant statue of an unknown emperor assumed to be Theodoric sitting on his horse in
Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...
, which was moved in 801 A.D. to
Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...
by
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...
. This statue was very famous and portrayed Theodoric with his shield hanging across his left shoulder, and his lance extended in his right hand: the German clerical poet Walahfrid wrote a poem (De imagine Tetrici) lampooning the statue, as Theodoric was not favorably regarded by the church. Alternatively, Otto Höfler has proposed that Theodoric on the horse may be connected in some way to traditions of Theodoric as the
Wild Hunt The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif (Motif E501 in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature) that occurs in the folklore of various northern European cultures. Wild Hunts typically involve a chase led by a mythological figure escorted by ...
sman (see the
Wunderer ''Der Wunderer'' (the monster), or ''Etzels Hofhaltung'' (Etzel's holding of court) is an anonymous Early New High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Ge ...
below); rejects this interpretation.


In Germany

Dietrich's earliest mention in Germany is the Hildebrandslied, recorded around 820. In this, Hadubrand recounts the story of his father Hildebrand's flight eastwards in the company of Dietrich, to escape the enmity of
Odoacer Odoacer ( ; – 15 March 493 AD), also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a soldier and statesman of barbarian background, who deposed the child emperor Romulus Augustulus and became Rex/Dux (476–493). Odoacer's overthrow of Romulus August ...
(this character would later become his uncle Ermanaric). Hildebrand reveals that he has lived in exile for 30 years. Hildebrand has an arm ring given to him by the (unnamed) King of the
Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
, and is taken to be an "old Hun" by Hadubrand. The obliqueness of the references to the Dietrich legend, which is just the background to Hildebrand's story, indicates an audience thoroughly familiar with the material. In this work Dietrich's enemy is the historically correct Odoacer (though in fact Theodoric the Great was never exiled by Odoacer), indicating that the figure of Ermanaric belongs to a later development of the legend.


In Anglo-Saxon England

Dietrich furthermore is mentioned in the Old English poems '' Waldere'', '' Deor'' and ''
Widsith "Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the '' Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th ...
''. ''Deor'' marks the first mention to Dietrich's "thirty years" (probably his exile) and refers to him, like the Rök stone, as a Mæring. The ''Waldere'' makes mention of Dietrich's liberation from the captivity of giants by Witige (Widia), for which Dietrich rewarded Witige with a sword. This liberation forms the plot of the later fantastical poem ''Virginal'' and is mentioned in the historical poem ''Alpharts Tod''. ''Widsith'' mentions him among a number of other Gothic heroes, including Witige, Heime, the Harlungen and Ermanaric, and in connection with a battle with Attila's Huns. However, the exact relationship between the figures is not explained.


Middle High German Dietrich poems

Dietrich von Bern first appears in Middle High German heroic poetry in the
Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germani ...
. There he appears in the exile situation at Etzel's court that forms the basis for the historical Dietrich poems (see below). Dietrich also appears in the '' Nibelungenklage'', a work closely related to the ''Nibelungenlied'' that describes the aftermath of that poem. In the ''Klage'', Dietrich returns from exile to his kingdom of Italy; the poem also alludes to the events described in the later Rabenschlacht. Poems with Dietrich as the main character begin to enter writing afterwards, with the earliest attested being the fantastical poem the
Eckenlied ''Das Eckenlied'' or ''Ecken Ausfahrt'' (The Song of Ecke or Ecke's Quest) is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in G ...
(c. 1230). The oral tradition continued alongside this written tradition, with influences from the oral tradition visible in the written texts, and with the oral tradition itself most likely altered in response to the written poems. The Middle High German Dietrich poems are usually divided into two categories: historical poems and fantastical poems. The former concern the story of Dietrich's fights against Ermenrich and exile at Etzel's court, whereas in the latter he battles against various mythological creatures. This latter group is often called "aventiurehaft" in German, referring to its similarity to
courtly romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric ...
. Despite connections made between different Dietrich poems and to other heroic cycles such as the
Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germani ...
,
Wolfdietrich Wolfdietrich is the eponymous protagonist of the Middle High German heroic epic ''Wolfdietrich''. First written down in strophic form in around 1230 by an anonymous author, it survives in four main versions, widely differing in scope and conte ...
, and
Ortnit Ortnit is the eponymous protagonist of the Middle High German heroic epic ''Ortnit''. First written down in strophic form in around 1230 by an anonymous author, it circulated in a number of distinct versions. In the earliest version, King Ortnit ...
, the Dietrich poems never form a closed poetic cycle, with the relationships between the different poems being rather loose: there is no attempt to establish a concrete biography of Dietrich. Almost all the poems about Dietrich are written in stanzas. Melodies for some of the stanzaic forms have survived, and they were probably meant to be sung. Several poems are written in
rhyming couplets A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the t ...
, however, a form more common for courtly romance or chronicles. These poems are ''
Dietrichs Flucht ''Dietrichs Flucht'' (Dietrich's Flight) or ''Das Buch von Bern'' (The Book of Verona) is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the legendary counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Th ...
'', ''
Dietrich und Wenezlan ''Dietrich und Wenezlan'' (Dietrich and Wenezlan) is a fragmentary Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend. It usually cons ...
'', most versions of ''
Laurin Laurin is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Anna-Lena Laurin (born 1962), Swedish composer * Camille Laurin (1922–1999), psychiatrist and politician in Quebec, Canada * Dan Laurin (born 1960), Swed ...
'', and some versions of the ''
Wunderer ''Der Wunderer'' (the monster), or ''Etzels Hofhaltung'' (Etzel's holding of court) is an anonymous Early New High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Ge ...
''.


Historical Dietrich poems

The historical Dietrich poems in Middle High German consist of
Dietrichs Flucht ''Dietrichs Flucht'' (Dietrich's Flight) or ''Das Buch von Bern'' (The Book of Verona) is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the legendary counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Th ...
, Die Rabenschlacht, and ''
Alpharts Tod ''Alpharts Tod'' (The Death of Alphart) is an anonymous late medieval Middle High German poem in the poetic cycle of the hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend. It ...
'', with the fragmentary poem
Dietrich und Wenezlan ''Dietrich und Wenezlan'' (Dietrich and Wenezlan) is a fragmentary Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend. It usually cons ...
as a possible fourth. These poems center around Dietrich's enmity with his wicked uncle Ermenrich, who wishes to dispose Dietrich of his father's kingdom. All involve Dietrich's flight from Ermenrich and exile at Etzel's court except ''Alpharts Tod'', which takes place before Dietrich's expulsion, and all involve his battles against Ermenrich, except for ''Dietrich und Wenezlan'', in which he fights against Wenezlan of Poland. All four postdate Dietrich's appearance in the
Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germani ...
. They are called historical because they concern war rather than adventure, and are seen as containing a warped version of Theodoric's life. Given the combination of elements also found in these texts with historical events in some chronicles, and the vehement denunciation of the saga by learned chroniclers, it is possible that these texts-or the oral tradition behind them-were themselves considered historical.


Fantastical poems

The majority of preserved narratives about Dietrich are fantastical in nature, involving battles against mythical beings and other heroes. The fantastical poems consist of the ''
Eckenlied ''Das Eckenlied'' or ''Ecken Ausfahrt'' (The Song of Ecke or Ecke's Quest) is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in G ...
'', ''
Goldemar ''Goldemar'' is a fragmentary thirteenth-century Middle High German poem by Albrecht von Kemenaten about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend. It i ...
'', ''
Laurin Laurin is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Anna-Lena Laurin (born 1962), Swedish composer * Camille Laurin (1922–1999), psychiatrist and politician in Quebec, Canada * Dan Laurin (born 1960), Swed ...
'', ''
Sigenot ''Sigenot'' is an anonymous Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend. It is one of the so-called fantastical (''aventiure ...
'', ''
Virginal The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...
'', the ''
Rosengarten zu Worms Dietrich and Siegfried from a 15th-century manuscript of the ''Rosengarten zu Worms'' ''Der Rosengarten zu Worms'' (the rose garden at Worms), sometimes called ''Der große Rosengarten'' (the big rose garden) to differentiate it from ''Der klein ...
'', and the ''
Wunderer ''Der Wunderer'' (the monster), or ''Etzels Hofhaltung'' (Etzel's holding of court) is an anonymous Early New High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Ge ...
''. These poems are generally regarded as containing newer material than the historical poems, though, as the Old English Waldere's references show, Dietrich was already associated with monsters at an early date. Many of the poems show a close connect to the
Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
, and connections between them and Tyrolean folklore are often speculated upon, even in cases where the text itself clearly originated in a different German speaking area. Most of the poems seem to take place prior to Dietrich's exile, with the later traitors Witige and Heime still members of Dietrich's entourage, though not all: the ''Eckenlied'' prominently features references to the events of ''Die Rabenschlacht'' as already having taken place. Different exemplars of the fantastical poems often show a huge degree of variation from each other (Germ. ''Fassungsdivergenz''), a trait not found in the historical poems. Most fantastical poems have at least two versions containing substantial differences in the narrative, including inserting or removing entire episodes or altering the motivation of characters, etc. The scholar Harald Haferland has proposed that the differences may come from a practice of reciting entire poems from memory, using set formula to fill in lines and occasionally adding or deleting episodes. Haferland nevertheless believes that the poems were likely composed as written texts, and thus periodically new versions were written down. The majority of the fantastical poems can be said to follow two basic narrative schemes, in some cases combining them: the liberation of a woman from a threatening legendary being, and the challenging of Dietrich to combat by some antagonist. The combinations of these schemes can at times lead to narrative breaks and inconsistencies in character motivation.


Related works


Ortnit and Wolfdietrich

The two heroic epics ''Ortnit'' and ''Wolfdietrich'', preserved in several widely varying versions, do not feature Dietrich von Bern directly but are strongly associated with the Dietrich cycle, and most versions share the strophic form of the Hildebrandston. These two poems, along with ''Laurin'' and ''Rosengarten'', form the core of the Strassburg Heldenbuch and the later printed Heldenbücher, and are the first of the ten Dietrich poems in the Dresden Heldenbuch. In the
Ambraser Heldenbuch The Ambraser Heldenbuch ("The Ambras Castle Book of Heroes") is a 16th-century manuscript written in Early New High German, now held in the Austrian National Library ( signature Cod. ser. nova 2663). It contains a collection of 25 Middle High Ger ...
they close the collection of heroic epics, which starts with ''
Dietrichs Flucht ''Dietrichs Flucht'' (Dietrich's Flight) or ''Das Buch von Bern'' (The Book of Verona) is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern, the legendary counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Th ...
'' and the '' Rabenschlacht''. The basis for the association is the identification of Wolfdietrich as the grandfather of Dietrich. This connection is attested as early as 1230 in the closing strophe of ''Ortnit A'', is perpetuated by the inclusion of truncated versions of ''Ortnit'' and ''Wolfdietrich'' in ''Dietrichs Flucht'' among the stories of Dietrich's ancestors, and is repeated in the Heldenbuch-Prose of the 15th and 16th centuries, where Ortnit and Wolfdietrich are placed at the beginning of the Dietrich cycle. Scholars have sometimes supposed that ''Wolfdietrich'' tells the story of legends about Dietrich that somehow became disassociated from him. In the Old Norse ''Thidreksaga'', Thidrek (Dietrich) plays Wolfdietrich's role as the avenger of Hertnid (Ortnit), which may suggest that the two heroes were once identical. A further link is Dietrich's golden suit of impenetrable armour. This was originally received by Ortnit from his natural father, the dwarf Alberich. Ortnit is killed by a dragon who, being unable to kill him through his armour, sucks him out of it. When Wolfdietrich later avenges Ortnit by killing the dragon, he takes possession of the abandoned armour, and after his death it remains in the monastery to which he retired. In the ''Eckenlied'' we are told that the monastery later sold it to Queen Seburg for 50,000 marks, and she in turn gives it to Ecke. When Dietrich later defeats the giant, the armour finally passes into Dietrich's possession.


Biterolf und Dietleib

''Biterolf and Dietleib'' is a heroic epic transmitted in the
Ambraser Heldenbuch The Ambraser Heldenbuch ("The Ambras Castle Book of Heroes") is a 16th-century manuscript written in Early New High German, now held in the Austrian National Library ( signature Cod. ser. nova 2663). It contains a collection of 25 Middle High Ger ...
. It is closely related to the ''Rosengarten zu Worms''. It tells the story of the heroes King Biterolf of Toledo and his son Dietleib, relatives of
Walter of Aquitaine Walter or Walther of Aquitaine is a king of the Visigoths in Germanic heroic legend. Epic poetry Walter figures in several epic poems and narratives dealing with Germanic heroic legend in medieval languages: * ''Waldere'', a fragment of an ...
. The two heroes live at Etzel's court and receive
Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered ...
as a reward for their successful defense of Etzel's kingdom. In the second half of the work, there is a battle against the Burdundian heroes Gunther, Gernot, and Hagen at Worms, in which Dietleib avenges an earlier attempt by Hagen to prevent him from crossing the Rhine. Like the ''Rosengarten'', Dietrich is featured fighting Siegfried, but he plays no larger role in the epic.


Jüngeres Hildebrandslied

The ''Jüngeres Hildebrandslied'' ("Younger Lay of Hildebrand") is a fifteenth-century heroic
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
, much like ''Ermenrichs Tod''. Dietrich plays only a small role in this poem; it is an independent version of the same story found in the Old High German ''Hildebrandslied'', but with a happy ending.


Ermenrichs Tod

''Ermenrichs Tod'' ("The Death of Ermenrich") is a garbled
Middle Low German Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
heroic ballad that relates a version of the death of Ermenrich that is similar in some ways to that portrayed in the story of
Jonakr's sons Hamdir (Old Norse: ), Sörli (O.N.: ), and Erpr (O.N.: ) were three brothers in Germanic heroic legend who have a historic basis in the history of the Goths. Legend According to the Edda and ''Völsunga saga'', Hamdir and Sörli were the sons of ...
and
Svanhild Svanhild is the beautiful daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun in Germanic heroic legend, whose grisly death at the hands of her jealous royal husband Ermanaric was told in many northern European stories, including the Old Norse ''Poetic Edda'' (''Hamði ...
, but at the hands of Dietrich and his men.


Heldenbücher

The Heldenbücher ("Books of Heroes", singular ''Heldenbuch'') are collections of mainly heroic poems, in which those of the Dietrich cycle form a major constituent. In particular, the printed Heldenbücher, dating from the late 15th to the late 16th centuries, demonstrate the continuing appeal of the Dietrich tales, particularly the fantastical poems. Generally, the printed Heldenbücher show a tendency to reduce the texts of the poems they collect in length: none of the longest Dietrich poems (''Dietrichs Flucht'', ''Rabenschlacht'', ''Virginal'' V10) made the transition into print. Other longer Dietrich poems, such as the ''Sigenot'' and the ''Eckenlied'', were printed independently, and remained popular even longer than the ''Heldenbuch''—the last printing of ''Sigenot'' was in 1661! Although not a ''Heldenbuch'' in the sense described above—the term originally included any collection of older literature—the Emperor Maximilian I was responsible for the creation of one of the most expensive and historically important manuscripts containing heroic poetry, the
Ambraser Heldenbuch The Ambraser Heldenbuch ("The Ambras Castle Book of Heroes") is a 16th-century manuscript written in Early New High German, now held in the Austrian National Library ( signature Cod. ser. nova 2663). It contains a collection of 25 Middle High Ger ...
.


Heldenbuch-Prosa

According to the Heldenbuch-Prosa, a prose preface to the manuscript Heldenbuch of Diebolt von Hanowe from 1480 and found in most printed versions, Dietrich is the grandson of
Wolfdietrich Wolfdietrich is the eponymous protagonist of the Middle High German heroic epic ''Wolfdietrich''. First written down in strophic form in around 1230 by an anonymous author, it survives in four main versions, widely differing in scope and conte ...
and son of Dietmar. During her pregnancy, Dietrich's mother was visited by the
demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in Media (communication), media such as comics, video ...
Machmet (i.e.
Mohammed Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...
imagined as a
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
god), who prophecies that Dietrich will be the strongest spirit who ever lived and will breathe fire when angry. The devil (Machmet?) then builds Verona/Bern in three days. Ermenrich, here imagined as Dietrich's brother, rapes his
marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
Sibiche's wife, whereupon Sibiche decides to advise Ermenrich to his own destruction. Thus he advises Ermenrich to hang his own nephews. Their ward, Eckehart of
Breisach Breisach (formerly Altbreisach; Low Alemannic: ''Alt-Brisach'') is a town with approximately 16,500 inhabitants, situated along the Rhine in the Rhine Valley, in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about halfway ...
, informs Dietrich, and Dietrich declares war on Ermenrich. Ermenrich, however, captures Dietrich's best men, and to ransom them, Dietrich goes into exile. He ends up at Etzel's court, who gives Dietrich a large army that reconquers Verona. However, once Dietrich had fought at the rose garden against Siegfried, slaying him. This causes
Kriemhild Gudrun ( ; non, Guðrún) or Kriemhild ( ; gmh, Kriemhilt) is the wife of Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two qu ...
, who after Etzel's wife Herche's death, marries the Hun, to invite all the heroes of the world to a feast where she causes them to kill each other. Dietrich kills Kriemhild in revenge. Later there is a massive battle at Verona, in which all the remaining heroes except Dietrich are killed. At this a dwarf appears to Dietrich and, telling him that "his kingdom is no longer of this world," causes him to disappear. And no one knows what has happened to him.Heinzle, ''Einführung'', 48 The attempts to connect the heroic age with divine order and to remove Dietrich's demonic qualities are probably meant to deflect ecclesiastical criticism of heroic poetry. For instance, the author clearly attempts to hide negative characteristics of Dietrich, as with the Machmet-prophesy, which probably rests on the idea of Dietrich as the son of the Devil (as claimed by some in the church) and changing Dietrich's ride to hell into a positive event – the dwarf quotes John 18,36 when he takes Dietrich away.


Scandinavian works


The Poetic Edda

Dietrich, as Thiodrek (Þjódrekr), appears as an exile at the court of Atli (the Norse equivalent of Etzel) in two songs recorded in the so-called
Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...
. The most notable of these is Guðrúnarkviða III, in which
Gudrun Gudrun ( ; non, Guðrún) or Kriemhild ( ; gmh, Kriemhilt) is the wife of Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two qu ...
—the
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
equivalent of the German Krimehilt—is accused of adultery with Thiodrek by one of Atli's concubines, Herkja. Gudrun must perform an ordeal of hot water, in which she clears her name. After this, Herkja is killed. In
Guðrúnarkviða II ''Guðrúnarkviða II'', ''The Second Lay of Gudrún'', or ''Guðrúnarkviða hin forna'', ''The Old Lay of Gudrún'' is probably the oldest poem of the Sigurd cycle, according to Henry Adams Bellows. The poem was composed before the year 1000 a ...
, Thiodrek and Gudrun recount the misfortunes that have befallen them. Thiodrek's presence in both songs is usually interpreted as coming from the influence of German traditions about Dietrich. Herkja's name is an exact linguistic equivalent of the name of Etzel's first wife in the German Dietrich and Nibelungen cycle, Helche. The poems also include the figure of Gudrun's mother, Grimhild, whose name is the linguistic equivalent of the German Kriemhilt and who takes on the latter's more villainous role. Most likely these two poems only date to the thirteenth century.


Thidrekssaga

The Scandinavian ''Þiðreks saga'' (also ''Þiðrekssaga'', ''Thidreksaga'', ''Thidrekssaga'', ''Niflunga saga'' or ''Vilkina saga'') is a thirteenth-century
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
chivalric saga The ''riddarasögur'' (literally 'sagas of knights', also known in English as 'chivalric sagas', 'romance-sagas', 'knights' sagas', 'sagas of chivalry') are Norse prose sagas of the romance genre. Starting in the thirteenth century with Norse tr ...
about Dietrich von Bern.The article ''Didrik av Bern'' in ''
Nationalencyklopedin ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia, initiated by a favourable loan from the Government of Sweden of 17 million Swedish kronor in 1 ...
'' (1990).
The earliest manuscript dates from the late 13th century. It contains many narratives found in the known poems about Dietrich, but also supplements them with other narratives and provides many additional details. The text is either a translation of a lost
Middle Low German Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
prose narrative of Dietrich's life, or a compilation by a Norwegian author of German material. It is not clear how much of the source material might have been orally transmitted and how much the author may have had access to written poems. The preface of the text itself says that it was written according to "tales of German men" and "old German
poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...
", possibly transmitted by Hanseatic merchants in
Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...
. It is known that the author of the "Heldenbuch-Prosa" did not have access to the ''Þiðreks saga''. At the center of the Thidrekssaga is a complete life of Dietrich. In addition to the life of Dietrich, various other heroes' lives are recounted as well in various parts of the story, including
Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. He was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Bulgars, among others, in Central and E ...
,
Wayland the Smith In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith ( ang, Wēland; , ; Old Frisian: Wela(n)du; german: Wieland der Schmied; goh, Wiolant; ''Galans'' (''Galant'') in Old French; gem-x-proto, Wēlandaz, italic=no from ', lit. "crafting one") is a master ...
,
Sigurd Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovin ...
, the
Nibelungen The term Nibelung (German) or Niflungr ( Old Norse) is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend. It has an unclear etymology, but is often connected to the root ''nebel'', meaning mist. The t ...
, and
Walter of Aquitaine Walter or Walther of Aquitaine is a king of the Visigoths in Germanic heroic legend. Epic poetry Walter figures in several epic poems and narratives dealing with Germanic heroic legend in medieval languages: * ''Waldere'', a fragment of an ...
. The section recounting Dietrich's avenging of Hertnit seems to have resulted from a confusion between Dietrich and the similarly named
Wolfdietrich Wolfdietrich is the eponymous protagonist of the Middle High German heroic epic ''Wolfdietrich''. First written down in strophic form in around 1230 by an anonymous author, it survives in four main versions, widely differing in scope and conte ...
. Most of the action of the saga has been relocated to
Northern Germany Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...
, with Attila's capital at Susat ( Soest in
Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...
) and the battle described in the ''Rabenschlacht'' taking place at the (nonexistent) mouth of the
Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...
to the sea.


Ballads

Numerous ballads about Dietrich are attested in
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...
, primarily in
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...
, but also in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
and the
Faroes The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway betw ...
.Svend Grundtvig, Danmarks Gamle Folkeviser, vol. 1, 1853 These texts seem to derive primarily from the Thidrekssaga, but there are signs of the use of German texts, such as the Laurin, which was translated into Danish, probably in the 1400s. One of the most notable of the Danish ballads is ''Kong Diderik og hans Kæmper'' (King Dietrich and his Warriors, DgF 7) which is attested from the 16th century onwards, and is one of the most common ballads to be recorded in Danish songbooks. This is actually most often found in both Danish and Swedish sources as two separate ballads with different refrains; the two ballads tell stories that closely, but not exactly, mirror episodes in the Didrik Saga where Didrik and his warriors travel to Bertanea / Birtingsland to fight against a King Ysung / Isingen.A. I. Arwidsson, ''
Svenska Fornsånger Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
'', 1834-1842
The first ballad, known in Swedish as ''Widrik Werlandssons Kamp med Högben Rese'' (Widrik Werlandsson's Fight with the Long-legged Troll, SMB 211, TSB E 119), tells of the journey to Birtingsland, and a fight with a troll in a forest on the way. The second, known in Swedish as ''Tolv Starka Kämpar'' (Twelve Strong Warriors, SMB 198, TSB E 10) tells of a series of duels between the youngest of Didrik's warriors and the formidable Sivard (Sigurd). The Danish ballad ''Kong Diderik og Løven'' (King Didrik and the Lion, DgF 9, TSB E 158) for most of its narrative closely follows an episode from near the end of the Didrik Saga, telling how Didrik intervenes in a fight between a lion and a dragon. This was also one of the most common ballads to be recorded in Danish songbooks; it is not preserved in Swedish sources. Another Danish ballad, ''Kong Diderik i Birtingsland'' (King Dietrich in Birtingsland, DgF 8, TSB E 7), is related to ''Kong Diderik og hans Kæmper'', but it follows the Didrik Saga less closely.


Reception


Medieval and early modern reception

The popularity of stories about Dietrich in Germany is already attested in the ''
Annals of Quedlinburg The ''Annals of Quedlinburg'' ( lat, Annales Quedlinburgenses; german: Quedlinburger Annalen) were written between 1008 and 1030 in the convent of Quedlinburg Abbey. In recent years a consensus has emerged that it is likely that the annalist was ...
''. The quality of the surviving late medieval manuscripts and the choice to decorate castle rooms with scenes from the poems all point to a noble audience, even though there are also reports of the poems being read or sung at town fairs and in taverns. As one example, the Emperor Maximilian I's interest in heroic poetry about Dietrich is well documented. Not only was he responsible for the Ambraser Heldenbuch, he also decorated his planned grave monument with a large statue of Dietrich/Theodoric, next to other figures such as King Arthur. Although the nobility maintained its interest in heroic poetry into the sixteenth century, it is also clear that the urban bourgeoisie of the late Middle Ages formed a growing part of the audience for the Dietrich poems, likely in imitation of the nobility. Heroic ballads such as ''Ermenrichs Tod'', meanwhile, lost much of their noble associations and were popular in all societal classes. Beginning in the fourteenth century, many of the Dietrich poems were also used as sources for carnival plays with an obviously bourgeois audience. In the sixteenth century, the public for the poems seems to have become primarily bourgeois, and printed ''Heldenbücher'' rather than the oral tradition become the primary point of reference for the poems. The poems that had not been printed were no longer read and were forgotten. The ''Sigenot'' continued to be printed in the seventeenth century, the ''Jüngeres Hildebrandslied'' into the eighteenth, however, most of the printings of materials about Dietrich had ceased by 1600. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century folklorists were unable to find any living oral songs about Dietrich or other heroes in Germany as they could in some other countries, meaning that the oral tradition must have died before this point. Despite, or because of, its popularity among many sectors of society, including members of the church, the Dietrich poems were frequent targets of criticism. Beginning with the universal chronicle of Frutolf of Michelsberg (eleventh century), writers of chronicles began to notice and object to the chronology of Dietrich/Theodoric being a contemporary of Ermanaric and Attila. Frutolf of Michelsberg, who developed a critical view of history and awareness of
anachronism An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common ty ...
, pointed out that "some songs as 'vulgar fables' made
Theoderic the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal ( got, , *Þiudareiks; Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Ita ...
,
Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. He was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Bulgars, among others, in Central and E ...
and
Ermanaric Ermanaric; la, Ermanaricus or ''Hermanaricus''; ang, Eormanrīc ; on, Jǫrmunrekkr , gmh, Ermenrîch (died 376) was a Greuthungian Gothic king who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of Oium, the part of Scythi ...
into contemporaries, when any reader of
Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') an ...
knew that this was not the case". He suggests, that "either Jordanes or the Saga is wrong or the Saga is about another Ermanarich or another Dietrich". The anonymous author of the German '' Kaiserchronik'' (c.1150) vehemently attacks this chronological impossibility as a lie. His insistence is perhaps a reflection of the strong believe of the historical truth of these stories among his target audience.
Hugo von Trimberg Hugo von Trimberg (born circa 1230/1235 in Wern(a), now either Ober- or Niederwerrn near Schweinfurt – died after 1313 in Bamberg-Theuerstadt) was a German didactic author of the Middle Ages. Around 1260 he came to the religious foundation ...
, meanwhile, in his didactic poem ''Der Renner'' (c. 1300) accuses some women of crying more for Dietrich and Ecke than for Christ's wounds, while a fifteenth-century work complains that the laypeople think more about Dietrich von Bern than their own salvation. In the sixteenth century, despite continued criticism, there is evidence that preachers, including
Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...
, frequently used stories about Dietrich von Bern as a way to catch their audience's interest, a not uncontroversial practice. Writers from
Heinrich Wittenwiler Heinrich Wittenwiler (c. 1370–1420) was a late medieval Alemannic poet. He is the author of a satirical poem entitled ''The Ring'' (ca. 1410). He may be identical to an advocate to the bishop of Konstanz, mentioned in 1395. He may be of the ...
to the German translator of Friedrich Dedekind's ''Grobianus'' associated the poems with uncouth peasants, whether or not they actually formed part of the poems' audiences.


Modern reception

Scholarly reception of the Dietrich poems, in the form of the ''Heldenbuch'' began as early as the sixteenth century. The
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
poets and scholars
Martin Opitz Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (23 December 1597 – 20 August 1639) was a German poet, regarded as the greatest of that nation during his lifetime. Biography Opitz was born in Bunzlau (Bolesławiec) in Lower Silesia, in the Principality of ...
and Melchior Goldast made use of the ''Heldenbuch'' as a convenient source of Middle High German expressions and vocabulary in their editions of medieval texts. Another notable example is the Lutheran theologian and historian Cyriacus von Spangenberg. In his ''Mansfeldische Chronik'' (1572), he explained that songs had about Dietrich/Theodoric had been composed for real historical occasions, so that they might not be forgotten, but clothed in allegory. He based this opinion on the report of
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
in ''Germania'' that the ancient Germans only recorded their history in songs. In Spangenberg's interpretation, dwarf king Laurin's
cloak of invisibility A cloak of invisibility is an item that prevents the wearer from being seen. In folklore, mythology and fairy tales, a cloak of invisibility appears either as a magical item used by duplicitous characters or an item worn by a hero to fulfill a qu ...
, for instance, becomes a symbol for Laurin's secrecy and sneakiness. In his ''Adels Spiegel'' (printed 1591-1594), Cyriacus interprets the stories about Dietrich as examples for ideal noble behavior, and continues his allegorical interpretations, stating that the dragons and giants represent tyrants, robbers, etc., while the dwarfs represent the peasantry and bourgeoisie, etc. This tradition of interpretation would continue into the eighteenth century, when
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (, ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the develop ...
interprets the poems of the ''Heldenbuch'' in a very similar fashion, and as late as 1795, Johann Friedrich Schütze argued that the poems were allegories for medieval historical events. The medieval poems about Dietrich never attained the same status as the ''Nibelungenlied'' among nineteenth-century enthusiasts for the German past, despite repeated attempts to reanimate the material through reworkings and retellings. The most ambitious of these was by
Karl Simrock Karl Joseph Simrock (28 August 1802 – 18 July 1876) was a German poet and writer. He is primarily known for his translation of ''Das Nibelungenlied'' into modern German. Life He was born in Bonn, where his father was a music publisher. He s ...
, the translator of the ''Nibelungenlied'', who sought to write a new German epic, composed in the "Nibelungenstanza", based on the ''Thidrekssaga'' and select poems of the Dietrich cyclce. He called his project the ''Amelungenlied'' (song of the Amelungs). Despite a warm reception among connoisseurs, the poem was never popular. The poem remains unpopular and unknown today, at least partially due to its strong nationalistic tone. Of all the Dietrich poems, the ''Laurin'' was most frequently rewritten and reimagined during the nineteenth-century, and it is the poem with the greatest currency today. The reworkings, which included longer poems and pieces for the theater, frequently connected ''Laurin'' to elements of other Dietrich poems, especially the ''Virginal''. This led to the ''Laurin'', together with the reimagined ''Virginal'', attaining something of the status of folktales in Tyrol and South Tyrol. Much of the credit for the continued interest in Dietrich and Laurin in Tyrol can be given to the journalist and saga-researcher
Karl Felix Wolff Karl Felix Wolff (Italian: Carlo Felice Wolff; 21 May 1879 – 25 November 1966) was a journalist, poet, author and self-taught folklorist of the South Tyrol who collected and published Ladinian legends. Life Karl Felix Wolff' was born in Karlst ...
. In 1907, the city of
Bozen Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...
(Bolzano) in South Tyrol erected a Laurin fountain, depicting Dietrich wrestling Laurin to the ground.


Notes


Translations

English * * (translations of the Swedish Didrik Saga and the Danish Laurin) German * *


Modern retellings

English * * * German * * *


References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Legends About Theoderic The Great Dietrich von Bern cycle German heroic legends Middle High German literature German literature of the Late Middle Ages Medieval literature Sources of Norse mythology Nibelung tradition Amali dynasty Theoderic the Great Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities