Hagen(e) of Tronege (also der Tronegœre) elder son of Aldrian, kinsman of the Burgundian kings
Hawart (Hâwart) of Denmark, an exiled prince in Etzel’s retinue
Hainburg (Heimburc) unidentified town on the border between Hungary and Austria
Helche wife of King Etzel
Helmnot (Helmnôt) one of Dietrich’s men; he figures in some of the Dietrich epics
Helpfrich (Helpfrîch) one of Dietrich’s men
Herrat (Herrât) niece of Helche, daughter of Näntwin, bride of Dietrich
Hessen on the Burgundians’ route to Saxony
Hildebrant of Bern. In exile at Etzel’s court, in the service of Dietrich
Hiltegunt beloved of Walther of Spain
Hornboge Hunnish warrior in Etzel’s retinue
Hun (Hiune) inhabitant of Hungary
Hungary (Ungern; also der Hiunen lant) land of King Etzel
Hunolt (Hûnolt) chamberlain of the Burgundian kings
Iceland (Îslant) realm of Prünhilt
India (Indîâ) source of precious stones
Inn (In) Bavarian river
Irinc (Îrinc) Margrave of Denmark, vassal of Hawart, in exile at Etzel’s court
Irnfrit Landgrave of Thuringia, in exile at Etzel’s court
Isenstein (Îsenstein) Prünhilt’s Icelandic capital
Kiev (Kiewen) home of warriors in Etzel’s retinue
Kriemhilt daughter of Dancrat and Uote, sister of the Burgundian kings
Liudegast King of Denmark, brother of Liudeger of Saxony
Liudeger (Liudegêr) King of Saxony, brother of Liudegast of Denmark
Lochheim (Lôche) place where the Nibelung treasure is sunk; possibly the hamlet of Lochheim in the Rhineland Palatinate
Lybia (Lybîâ, Lybîân) exotic source of silks
Main (Meune) river on the Burgundians’ route to Hungary
Mautern (Mûtâren) town on the Danube in Lower Austria
Mediterranean (daz mer)
Melk (Medelicke) town on the Danube in Lower Austria
Metz (Metz(e)) home of Ortwin, now a French city
Misenburc possibly Wieselburg in Lower Austria
Möhringen (Mœringen) or Mehring? Or Großmehring? Town on the Danube
Morocco (Marroch) exotic source of silks
Näntwin (Näntwîn) father of Herrat
Netherlands (Niderlant) land of Sigmunt and Sigelint, and their son
Nibelunc King of the Nibelungs, father of the young kings Schilbunc and Nibelunc
Nibelunc son of the above
Nibelungs (Nibelungen) dynastic name of the people of Nibelunc; later a name given to the Burgundians
Nineveh (Ninnivê) Oriental city, source of precious silk
Norway (Norwœge) part of Sivrit’s realms
Nuodunc kinsman of Gotelint (a figure in the Dietrich legends)
Ortliep ill-fated son of Etzel and Kriemhilt
Ortwin (Ortwîn) of Metz, nephew of Hagen, steward of the Burgundian kings
Passau (Pazzouwe) Bavarian city at the intersection of the Inn and the Danube, seat of Bishop Pilgrim
Pechenegs (Petschenœre) warriors of Finno-Ugrian descent in Etzel’s retinue. The Pechenegs lived in the steppes between the sixth and twelfth centuries
Pföring (Vergen) Bavarian town near the Danube
Pilgrim (Pilgerîm, Pilgrîn) Bishop of Passau, brother of Queen Uote
Pöchlarn (Bechelâren) seat of Margrave Rüedeger, on the Danube in Lower Austria
Poles (Pœlân) men in Etzel’s retinue
Prünhilt Queen of Iceland
Ramunc (Râmunc) Duke of Wallachia, in Etzel’s retinue
Rhine(land) (Rîn) the Rhine, the homeland of the Burgundian kings
Rhone (Rote) river Marking a boundary of Etzel’s kingdom
Ritschart one of Dietrich’s men
Rüedeger Margrave of Pöchlarn, vassal of Etzel
Rumolt (Rûmolt) Master of the kitchen in Burgundy
Russia (Rtuzen) Russian warriors are present at Etzel’s court
Saxons (Sachsen) enemies of the Burgundians
Saxony (Sachsen) the land of the Saxons
Sc(h)ilbunc son of Nibelunc
Schrutan (Schrûtân) Hunnish warrior at Etzel’s court
Sig(e)lint wife of Sigmunt, mother of Sivrit
Sigelint a water-sprite
Sig(e)munt King of the Netherlands, father of Sivrit
Sigestap Duke of Bern, nephew of Dietrich. In other Dietrich epics a giant-killer, son of Amelunc and brother of Wolf hart
Sindolt cup-bearer of the Burgundian kings
Sivrit (Sîvrit, Sîfrit) son of Sigmunt and Sigelint of the Netherlands
Spain (Spânje) kingdom of Walther
Speier (Spîre) seat of a bishop
Spessart (Spehtshart) forest in central Germany
Swabia (Swâben) south-west Germany, on the route taken by Wärbel and Swemmel from Burgundy to Hungary
Swalefeld (Swalevelt) Swabian town on the River Swalb, a tributary of the Wörnitz
Swemmelin (also Swemmel, Swämmelîn) minstrel at Etzel’s court
Thuringia (Düringen) land of Irnfrit, in central Germany
Traisen (Treisem) river in Lower Austria, tributary of the Danube
Traismauer (Zeizenmûre) town on the Traisen in Lower Austria, confused by the poet with Zeiselmauer in Upper Austria
Traun (Trûne) tributary of the Danube in Upper Austria
Tronege Hagen’s birthplace, perhaps Burg Tronek in the Hunsrück. Hagen is sometimes called der Tronegœre, ‘the man of Tronek’
Tulln (Tulne) town on the Danube in Lower Austria
Uote queen, wife of Dancrat, mother of the Burgundian kings and Kriemhilt
Vienna (Wiene) Austrian city
Volker (Volkêr) of Alzey, fiddler, vassal of the Burgundian kings
Vosges (Waskenwalt; Waskenstein) forest and mountain in the north-east of France
Wallachians (Walachen) Romance-speaking warriors in Etzel’s retinue, from Walachia, now part of Romania
Walther of Spain hostage at Etzel’s court, hero of the Latin epic Waltharius
Wärbel (also Wärbelin, Werbel) minstrel at Etzel’s court
Waske sword of Irinc of Denmark. In Biterolf it is the sword of Walther, perhaps because of the connection with the Waskenstein
Waskenstein a rock-face in the Vosges, scene of a battle involving Walther and Hagen
Wichart (Wîchart) one of Dietrich’s men, brother of Wolfwin, Wolfprant, and Gerbart in the Dietrich epics
Wieselburg (Misenburc) town on the Lower Danube, now Mosonmagyaróvár (Hungary)
Witege (Wîtege) slayer of Nuodunc, a figure in the Dietrich epics
Wolfhart Hildebrant’s nephew, in the service of Dietrich
Wolfprant one of Dietrich’s men. Elsewhere the brother of Wolfwin and Ritschart
Wolfwin (Wolfwîn) of Bern, of the Amelungs, one of Dietrich’s men, brother of Ritschart and Wolfprant in the epic Biterolf
Worms (Wormez, Wormz) on the Rhine, capital of the Burgundian kings
Xanten (Santen) Sivrit’s birthplace in the Netherlands, now in North Rhine–Westphalia
Zazamanc oriental source of silk, a city in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival
A map of the Nibelungenlied
1 See Appendix I: History and Legend.
2 Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival and Titurel, trans. Cyril Edwards, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 177–8.
3 See Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival with Titurel and the Love Lyrics, trans. Cyril Edwards, Arthurian Studies (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2004), pp. xiii–xvi.
4 On the historical background see Appendix I: History and Legend.
5 In some Old Icelandic sources Prünhilt has a child by Sivrit, called Aslaug. See Appendix II: The Nordic Sources and the Problem of Genesis.
6 Hartmann von Aue, Iwein or The Knight with the Lion, ed. and trans. Cyril Edwards, Arthurian Archives, German Roma
nce, 3 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2007), ll. 62–73.
7 See Jim Bradbury, The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare (London: Routledge, 2004), 244–5.
8 Albert B. Lord, The Singer of Tales, Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature, 24 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1960), 65.
9 Karl H. Bertau and Rudolf Stephan, ‘Zum sanglichen Vortrag mhd. strophischer Epen’, Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum, 87 (1956/7), 253–70.
10 Winder McConnell, The Nibelungenlied, Twayne’s World Author Series (Boston: Twayne, 1984), p. xi.
11 The account that follows owes much to Ursula Schulze, Das Nibelungenlied, Literaturstudium (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1997), 278–98, and Neil Thomas, ‘The Nibelungenlied and the Third Reich’, in id. (ed.), Celtic and Germanic Themes in European Literature (Lampeter: Edwin Mellen, 1994), 121–31.
12 Under the title Chriemhilden Rache und die Klage. Zwei Heldengedichte aus dem Schwaebischen Zeitpuncte. It was common, when medieval German literature was first rediscovered, to locate it in Swabia, no doubt because the Swabian dialect retained, and still retains, many of the vowel sounds of MHG.
13 McConnell, Nibelungenlied, p. xii.
14 Ludwing Reiners, Frederick the Great. An Informal Biography, translated and adapted from the German by Lawrence P. Wilson (London: Oswald Wolff, 1960), 277.
15 Reiners, 137.
16 W. Walker Chambers & John R. Wilkie, A Short History of the German Language (London: Methuen, 1970), 47.
17 Reiners, 277.
18 McConnell, Nibelungenlied, p. xiii.
19 Schulze, Das Nibelungenlied, 281–2.
20 Thomas, ‘The Nibelungenlied and the Third Reich’, 123–4.
21 See Joachim Petzold, Die Dolchstoßlegende. Eine Geschichtsfälschung im Dienst des deutschen Imperialismus und Militärismus. Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Schriften des Instituts für Geschichte. Reihe I: Allgemeine und deutsche Geschichte, 18 (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1963), 41.
22 See Cyril Edwards, ‘Censoring Siegfried’s Love-Life: The Nibelungenlied in the Third Reich’, in Mythos-Sage-Erzählung. Gedenkschrift für Alfred Ebenbauer, ed. Johannes Keller and Florian Kragl (Vienna: University Press, 2009).
23 Christabel Bielenberg, The Past is Myself (1968: rpt Reading: Pan, 1988), 44.
24 Ian Kershaw, Making Friends with Hitler: Lord Londonderry and Britain’s Road to War (London: Penguin, 2005), 145.
25 Joachim Fest, Das Gesicht des Dritten Reiches. Profile einer totalitären Gesellschaft (Munich, 1963; 8th edn.; Munich: R. Piper, 1980), 259.
26 This account is based largely on an essay kindly submitted by Stewart Spencer (London).
27 See The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, trans. Jesse L. Byock (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), 27.
28 On the Icelandic analogues, see Appendix II: The Nordic Sources and the Problem of Genesis.
29 Frank Lamport (Worcester College, Oxford) kindly volunteered these details.
30 Lotte Eisner, Fritz Lang (London: Secker & Warburg, 1976; repr. 1986), 76.
31 Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel, The German Cinema (London: J. M. Dent, 1971), 24.
1 On the problems of rank and terminology see W. H. Jackson, Chivalry in Twelfth-Century Germany. The Works of Hartmann von Aue, Arthurian Studies, 34 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1994), esp. 37–43.
1 Leges Burgundionum, ed. Ludwig Rudolf von Salis, MGH LL, Sectio I, vol. 2,1 (Hanover, 1892).
2 George Gillespie, A Catalogue of Persons Named in German Heroic Literature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), 31.
3 Richard Burgess, ‘The Gallic Chronicle of 452: A New Critical Edition with a Brief Introduction’, in Ralph W. Mathisen and Danuta Schanzer (eds.), Society and Culture in Late Antique Gaul (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001), 52–84 (p. 79).
4 A. C. Murray (ed. and trans.), From Roman to Merovingian Gaul: A Reader (Ontario, 2003), 69.
5 Richard Burgess (ed. and trans.), The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana: Two Contemporary Accounts of the Final Years of the Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 92.
6 See Gillespie, Catalogue, 42.
7 See ibid. 13.
8 Thorpe (trans.), The History of the Franks (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), 221.
9 Gillespie, Catalogue, 21.
10 The Chronicle of Fredegar, 35. Ian Wood attempts to draw a continuous narrative from the disparate sources in The Merovingian Kingdoms 450–751 (Singapore: Longman, 1994), 126–36.
1 This list is indebted to Theodore M. Andersson, The Legend of Brynhild, Islandica, 43 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1980), 20–2 and Carolyne Larrington, The Poetic Edda, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), xviii–xxi.
2 See Larrington, Poetic Edda, 210.
3 Andreas Heusler, Nibelungensage und Nibelungenlied. Die Stoffgeschichte des deutschen Heldenepos (Dortmund, 1920; 6th edn. 1965). See Neil Thomas, ‘The Testimony of Saxo Grammaticus and the Interpretation of the Nibelungenlied’, Oxford German Studies, 20/21 (1991–2), 7–17.
4 Karl Lachmann, ‘Über die ursprüngliche Gestalt des Gedichts von der Nibelungen Noth’ (Berlin, 1816); repr. in Kleinere Schriften (Berlin, 1876), 1–64.
5 Heusler, Nibelungensage und Nibelungenlied, 49.
6 Andersson, The Legend of Brynhild, 24. Andersson offers detailed summaries of the poems. Complete translations can be found in Larrington, Poetic Edda.
7 Margaret Schlauch, The Saga of the Volsungs; The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok together with the Lay of Kraka, Scandinavian Classics, 35 (New York, 1930; repr. New York: AMS Press), 185.
8 Ibid. 213–14.
1 Burton Raffel, Das Nibelungenlied—Song of the Nibelungs (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2006).
2 Ibid. 333.
3 Helmut de Boor, Das Nibelungenlied. Zweisprachig. Herausgegeben u. übertragen. Sammlung Dieterich, vol. 250 (Leipzig: Dieterich’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1959).
4 F. J. Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 5 vols. (1882–98; repr. New York: Dover, 1965).
5 See Cecil J. Sharp, English Folk Song: Some Conclusions, 4th edn. rev. by Maud Karpeles (repr. 1965; Wakefield: EP Publishing, 1972), 29–30. Listen to: Scottish Tradition 5: The Muckle Sangs. Classic Scots Ballads (Edinburgh: School of Scottish Studies, 1975), band 3.
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