The Nibelungenlied

The Nibelungenlied
by Unknown
** spoiler alert **
Siegfried is murdered.
Oops, did I spoil the whole story for you? Well, too bad, because the poet himself spoils it within the first three
pages.
I'm all for classics, what with being a major in English literature and all. I mean, what else am I going to do with my
degree than work a job totally unrelated to my field of study whilst crying myself to sleep every night using my
now-defunct Norton Anthology as a pillow? Granted, this "epic" poem is German, but it's certainly part of what
one would consider a literary education.
At the risk of sounding unenlightened, I say skip this and just read a good summary (unless, of course, you can
read it in German). Not only is my copy translated into English, it's written in prose form, which is particularly
irksome. Furthermore, 285 pages of content could have been reduced to 28 pages of actual action. I've rarely read
anything so boring, which is weird considering the wee bits of action are actually quite interesting.
If you waste your time reading this poem, all you're going to get is redundant descriptions of people coming and
going and sending emissaries to this or that place and accepting invitations to go to this or that festival, all while
dressed impeccably wearing jewels that would bankrupt the world.
The poet has a particularly annoying habit of interrupting himself to describe what people are wearing. The back
of my copy reads that it is an epic tale of murder and revenge. Right. More like an epic fashion show.
Oh, and no one has that much money. Kings and queens are constantly handing out gold and jewels like their
wealth grows on trees, and yet they never grow poor. On the contrary, as the poem goes on, each king later
Oh, and no one has that much money. Kings and queens are constantly handing out gold and jewels like their
wealth grows on trees, and yet they never grow poor. On the contrary, as the poem goes on, each king later
introduced outdoes all kings before mentioned in wealth. Shields full of gems? Dumped on mere messengers?
Every time? Bullcrap.
I also take issue with the use of the word "knight" in this poem. These men aren't knights- they're mercenaries.
The only reason anyone does anything is for the promise of reward, which is usually merely alluded to--you know,
good manners and all. Can't seem too greedy! But by the end of the poem, Kriemhild is begging anyone to go out
and revenge for her, promising anyone shieldsful of red gold (which,I guess, is the best kind), having it brought
right to front lines to administer to all and sundry. Even then, many "knights" won't take it because they're pissing
themselves in fear of Hagen, Volker, and the other Burgundians. Bollocks to that--effing cowards! I thought you
blokes were supposed to be "knights". Guess not. Lame.
The scenes where Siegfried puts on his cloak of invisibility and cheats to help Gunther best Brunhild in feats of
strength are great. Even the scene where Siegfried invisibly wrestles Brunhild into sexual submission--though
despicable by today's standards--at least doesn't have any unnecessary oohing and aahing at their new clothes!
Seigfried's murder, Hagen destroying the ferry after hearing the nixies' prophecy--all these scenes are compelling,
but you can get this just from the Cliff's Notes. Again, I don't read German, so the way it's written in translation
isn't important to me. Just the story. And there simply isn't enough story to justify wasting your time slogging
through this.
Having said that, if you get some kind of bullet-point summary of what's going on, then the last five chapters or
so might be worth reading. Everyone slaughters everyone, and the scene where Rudiger gives Hagen his shield is
quite touching. The final paragraph of the book is utterly retarded, though. Kriemhild just wants revenge for her
murdered husband, and when she finally achieves it by chopping off the murderer's head, her own ally turns on
her and hacks her to bits because it's dishonorable to be killed by a woman. ffs.|As with Shakespeare's Pericles, I
have a great deal of affection for the Nibelungenlied on account of the conflict in its structure. The poet (lost now)
has had to wrangle together two conflicting folk traditions into a single story. His or her achievement here is
subtle and remarkable.
Northrop Frye says that a central trait of epic is a change of mode and subject halfway through the poem. The
Odyssey, the Aeneid and Paradise Lost all switch tack in the middle: Odysseus' and Aeneas' romantic wanderings
turn to more comedic structures – that is, to the establishment of a new social order in a single location – and
Paradise Lost makes a less pronounced move from the divine and demonic to the human. But I've never seen it
done quite like this.
The poem's first half has some of the strongest and most interesting characterization of any epic I've read.
Kriemhild is sympathetic, but not weak. We feel for her- we do not feel the need to protect her. There is a kind of
burning drive in her, a determination that will become frightening in the second half. Hagen, on the other hand,
starts out frightening: a scheming Iago, free of Iago's pathological obsession with Othello. Hagen is worried by
Siegfried because he is a legitimate threat to Hagen's goals- he does not hate him exactly. Iago could not live
without Othello (and is content to secede from life when Othello is dead), but, as will be shown in the second half,
Hagen doesn't need Siegfried to define himself.
Siegfried is less of a triumph, though still interesting. It’s fairly clear that he rapes Brunhild when he takes her ring
and girdle – I don’t know what else that could suggest, and a lot of the poem doesn’t make sense if we don't
assume it – which would make him something more human than the hero he seems to be. But his role is
structural, and it is primarily heroic. He exists to trick us into thinking the poem is going to be about him. I wish I
had come to the Nibelungenlied without knowing he dies halfway through- the shock must be enormous.
Because, of course, the second half turns the whole book on its head. We move to Etzel’s castle, and suddenly
Hagen and Volker are our heroes, not because of anything they have done, nor through revelation of new
information, but simply because of the situation they are now in. Kriemhild bears down upon them, a wrathful
dragon, and we fear her – again, not because she has fallen from rage into madness (though she has certainly
come close) but because we have been pulled away from her perspective and put into Hagen's. We feel his terror,
dragon, and we fear her – again, not because she has fallen from rage into madness (though she has certainly
come close) but because we have been pulled away from her perspective and put into Hagen's. We feel his terror,
and even though we know that Kriemhild is justified in whatever she does to him, we can’t help but experience his
horror.
Hagen and Volker are in the wrong, and they must die for it. We know this as an audience. The poet of the
Nibelungenlied asks us to accept it, and, having done so, turn to watch Hagen and Volker die with as much dignity
as possible: traditional epic dignity, meaning a death after extreme distinction in battle. Gunther is never
redeemed. Gernot and Giselher become less and less attractive as the story progresses. But Hagen, surely the
worst of the lot, forces his way into the heroic role left open by the death of Siegfried. There is no redemption in
the plot, only in the narrative. Kriemhild descends from a romantic heroine to an almost novelistic human being.
Hagen transcends his corruption and meanness to become an epic hero. The frame of one story contains and
creates the other, and this new story in turn alters the first.
So there it is: a tale told from two perspectives, both convincing, both interesting, and somehow both reconcilable
through their equal humanity. It's a pity this isn't more widely-read: it has strangeness, force and beauty to equal
Milton and Homer, and characters that fall only a little short of the great figures in those authors. The
Nibelungenlied remains one of my favourite experiences in literature.|Si tuviera que decir, con la menor cantidad
de palabras posible, cual es el tema del libro, diría que se trata de La Lealtad. La lealtad en todas sus formas y en
todas sus motivaciones. Siegfried es leal a Gunther para poder casarse con Kriemhild- la soberbia ilimitada de
Hagen se deriva de su lealtad a Brunhild, su Señora. Al principio, Rüdiger se niega a combatir a los Burgundios,
quienes son sus huéspedes, y se siente obligado a respetarlos, pero termina atacándolos por lealtad a Etzel (Atila).
Para rescatar su cadáver, Dietrich e Hildebrand sacrifican todo un ejército, como un último tributo a su memoria.
No es la intención de la obra, creo yo, hacer recuento de hechos históricos, aunque aparecen personajes como
Atila (Etzel), Bleda (Blödel) hermano de Atila, y Teodorico El Grande . (Dietrich). Existen también similitudes entre lo
sucedido con Honoria y Atila, y la manera en que se acordó el matrimonio de la viuda Kriemhild y Etzel. Por cierto,
Atila, a diferencia del personaje sanguinario y casi invencible que nos pinta la historia, es retratado como un
conciliador, incluso algo débil, que reacciona hasta que su hijo, Ortlieb, es insultado y Asesinado por los
Burgundios.
Pudiera esperarse que abundara la barbarie, que no falta, o que fuera una historia en exceso simple. Al contrario,
es de gran riqueza, llena de imágenes vívidas y escenas dignas de recordarse, como veremos más delante. Hay
más exageración que temas fantásticos: el combate de Siegfried con Fafnir no sirve más que para justificar la
invulnerabilidad del héroe y no merece más que dos o tres versos. La traducción es un esfuerzo por poner la obra
en su “formato” original, de dísticos, y llega a ser repetitiva, lo que es entendible, tratándose de un poema épico.
Por poner un ejemplo, cada vez que se menciona la Ciudad de Worms, se aclara que se halla a las orillas del Rhin.
La versión que leí, es una traducción de la Germanista Marianne Oeste de Bopp, de la Universidad Nacional, a un
texto desarrollado por el filólogo Karl Lachmann basado en una versión el siglo XIII.
Como sucede con los clásicos, existe una vasta iconografía ilustrando esta obra. He aquí una pequeña colección:
Gunther y sus hermanos Gernot y Geiselher
Noche de bodas de Brunhild y Gunther.
Hagen asesina a Siegfried por la espalda, mientras Gunther se hace de la vista gorda
Monumento que señala la fuente donde Siegfried fue asesinado, en Odenheim. Pensé que no existía un hito
señalando el hecho, sin embargo, lo hay.
Hagen arroja a las aguas del Rhin el Tesoro de los Nibelungos. Kriemhild reclama el tesoro, del que es heredera a
la muerte de Siegfried, aunque nunca se le entrega. El tesoro debe permanecer en ese lugar hasta ahora.
Abadía de Lorsch. Construida a la memoria de Siegfried. Sus restos debían trasladarse a este lugar, aunque el
autor olvida mencionar si eso finalmente se hizo.
El Obispo Pilgerin recibe a Kriemhild, su sobrina, que viaja a desposar a Etzel.
Combate entre Hunos y Burgundios
Etzel consternado ante la mutua destrucción de Hunos y Burgundios
Kriemhild muestra la cabeza cercenada de Gunther, su Hermano, a Hagen de Tronje
|The Middle High German Nibelungenlied is thought to date from around 1180 to 1210 and is preserved in 35
known manuscripts. The poem probably originates from the Austrian Danube region. The poet, after much
scholarly work, still remains a mystery, with theories on the poet's identity ranging from a Meister Konrad to the
famous Walther von der Vogelweide.
scholarly work, still remains a mystery, with theories on the poet's identity ranging from a Meister Konrad to the
famous Walther von der Vogelweide.
The poem seems to have been popular during the Middle Ages with the vast amount of manuscripts in existence
and the story seems to have remained popular and to have inspired the later Das Lied vom Hurnen Seyfred and
Hans Sachs version. Although the story was never forgotten the poem itself seems to have disappeared for awhile,
only to be rediscovered in the 18th century and then to inspire Wagner's operatic cycle on the legend.
The incidents related in the poem stretch way back into the 5th-6th century Migration Period and the destruction
of the Burgundians at the hands of the Huns in 436ad. These incidents are related in numerous Latin chronicles
from the period, by far the fullest account is given in Prosper's Epitoma Chronicon. Prosper states that "at the
same time Aetius crushed Gundichar, who was king of the Burgundians and living in Gaul. In response to his
entreaty, Aetius gave him peace, which the king did not enjoy for long. For the Huns destroyed him and his people
root and branch." Alongside the Burgundians, other characters with an historical background are found in the
poem such as Theodoric the Great, Attila the Hun and Brunhild the Visigothic princess.
The Blütezeit period in which the Nibelungenlied was written witnessed an explosion of German adaptions from
French Arthurian Romance and courtly love poetry. While the Nibelungen poet has one foot in the courtly
tradition, the other foot is firmly planted in the old German heroic ethic and blends both traditions to create a
superb work of art.
The blend and variation of French courtly romance and Germanic heroic ethic causes tension throughout the
poem, with characters such as Siegfried, Hagen, Brunhild and Hildebrand representing the older heroic ethic and
characters such as Gunther, Dietrich, Etzel and Ruedegar representing a new courtly ethic. Two of the most
interesting features of the poem are Kriemhild's transformation from courtly princess to a devil like villain and
Hagen's transformation from treacherous villain to valiant hero. Variation is also noticeable in scenic descriptions
of courtly jousts, courtship, feasts and clothing descriptions and then contrasted with scenes from an older heroic
world such as Siegfried's dragon slaying episode, Hagen's slaying of the water sprites, the traditional Germanic
bridal quest and the catastrophic last battle.
The language also constantly alternates between courtly words like Ritter (knight) and older more heroic words
like degan, recke (warrior) helt (hero) and the archaic word, wigant (warrior). The variation techniques constantly
remind me of the Beowulf poet's use of pagan and Christian imagery and the Nibelungelied's use of arrival and
departure scenes also remind me of Beowulf. Also reminiscent of Beowulf are certain digressive episodes and
patterned/formulaic like phrases such as "Dô sprach der helt von Tronege" and "Dô sprach der künec Gunther."
The driving force behind the whole poem are two ethical concepts, triuwe (loyalty) and vriunt (friend, relative, ally,
lord-vassal relationship). These two ethical ideas are what the character adhere to, with characters on both sides
having these relationships toward one another. The poet uses these conflicting loyalties that are governed by
these two concepts to drive the poem to its apocalyptic climax.
The poet is thought to have composed the poem in two sections but working in reverse order and using lost older
poems in the task of composing the Nibelungenlied. The second part is thought to be based on an old poem
called by German scholars the Altere Not, traces of this poem are thought to be preserved in the Niflunga saga
section of the Thidrekssaga af Bern. For the first section of the poem the poet it thought to have used a number of
old poems on Siegfried and Brunhild, again, traces of these lost poems are thought by some scholars such as
Andreas Heusler and most recently by Theodore Andersson to be preserved in works such as the Thidrekssaga,
Hurnen Seyfred, Rosengarten zu Worms, Eddic poetry and Volsunga saga.
This revision of Karl Bartsch's Middle High German text was undertaken by Helmut de Boor and is based on
manuscript b of the Nibelungenlied with variants given in the footnotes. The book comes with an introduction,
character and place name list, plus a foldout map of the Nibelungenstraße. My only gripe about this edition is that
they should have included the Klage in an appendix.|Seigfried is my favorite mythical hero. He's kinda like a
German Achilles without the 20+ chapters of pouting. He is a fierce warrior but also childlike and innocent in
many ways. I just wanted the guy to win, and that's what he does for half the book. Then some cat-fight between
his wife and his brother-in-law's wife escalates into his murder.
many ways. I just wanted the guy to win, and that's what he does for half the book. Then some cat-fight between
his wife and his brother-in-law's wife escalates into his murder.
Then for the second half of the book, his widow plots revenge by marrying Attila the Hun and inviting her whole
family to their last celebration. I was like "yeah! Kill those bastards!" Then when the massacre was well underway
suddenly it became clear what that meant and I wanted to yell "Wait! Don't kill THAT guy. He's good! And you!
You don't even like the guy you're fighting for. Stop fighting those 30 huns alone before they...DAMN! Okay!
Everybody! Please! Put your swords down and lets talk about this for a minute!" But talk they do not, and it is a
bloodbath.
If you're used to Hollywood storytelling, then you are expecting the people who happen to be good but fighting
on the wrong side to either a. see the light and find an appropriate way out of their obligations or b. stay with the
losing side but somehow end up miraculously spared. If you like that kind of tripe, then stay far away from this
book. It doesn't happen here.
Many warriors die in this book. Most of them noble and not at all connected to the crime that brings about their
end. They leave for Atilla's kingdom knowing they are on a journey to their deaths, and they go anyway. It is honor
that kills these heroes. First Siegfried because even though he did nothing wrong, it's the only way to compensate
for his wife's shaming of Brunhild. Then it is so many knights who insist on fulfilling their knightly duties
wholeheartedly.
I found the book fascinating. It starts out as a lighthearted heroic epic, then halfway through takes a very dark turn
and condemns anyone with a sense of chivalry to death. It's like a manual for how a hero should live, immediately
followed by countless examples of how a hero should die. Great story!
[Note about the alleged rape: The book (or at least my translation of it) does not say that Siegfried raped Brunhild.
Kreimhild (whose vindictive nature becomes crystal clear in the second part) implies it by showing off her ring and
girdle. You're left with two choices to make about how things went down. Either he didn't or he did, because the
book doesn't explicitly say either way. Right or wrong, I concluded that he didn't because he swears on his honor
to Gunther that he didn't. Keep in mind that mythical heros are supposed to be better than your average mortal,
and this was supposed to be the greatest hero for this culture. A contemporary listener to Siegfried's adventures
probably would have accepted his oath as gospel, so I believe this actually is the story's way of saying it didn't
happen. Admittedly, the accusation and denial are both awkward, but it wasn't like the author put this together
with the Court TV generation in mind. My point is, I took it as he was innocent. When I stated above that he did
nothing wrong, I was NOT saying "rape is cool," so kindly holster your hatemail.]