Nibelungenlied

A Middle High German heroic epic composed around 1200, recounting Siegfried’s death and the destruction of the Burgundian kingdom.

Siegfried: A legendary hero who wins a treasure, becomes nearly invulnerable, and is killed through Hagen’s treachery. His death at the hunt sets the epic’s central revenge in motion.
Etzel’s court: The Hunnish royal court ruled by Etzel, the setting for the Nibelungenlied’s final catastrophe. Kriemhild’s invitation draws the Burgundians into the arena where revenge becomes irreversible.
Middle High German: The form of German spoken and written chiefly in the central and southern regions from about 1050 to 1350. The poem’s language places its composition within the medieval German literary world.
Völsunga saga: An Old Norse prose saga recounting the Volsung family, including Sigurd’s dragon-slaying and death. It preserves related legend in a different narrative tradition, with notable differences in plot and emphasis.
Nibelung legend: The body of medieval and modern stories about Siegfried, the Nibelungs, and the Burgundians. The poem became a major source for later retellings of this broader legendary tradition.
Kriemhild: A Burgundian princess who becomes Siegfried’s wife and later seeks vengeance for his murder. Her transformation from queen to avenger drives the second half of the poem.
Blood feud: A cycle of retaliatory violence between families or groups, often triggered by a killing or serious injury. The poem’s second half follows revenge across kinship ties and political alliances.
Nibelungenlied manuscripts: The medieval handwritten witnesses preserving different versions of the Nibelungenlied. Their variations show that the epic circulated in multiple textual forms.
Þiðreks saga: A medieval Old Norse prose compilation of legends about the hero Þiðrekr and other Germanic figures. Its versions of shared heroic material provide a contrasting witness to the Nibelungenlied’s traditions.
German nationalism: Political movements and ideas that promote a shared German national identity and political community. Nineteenth-century readers made the epic a symbol of a unified German past.

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