Siegfried the Dragonslayer, Brunhild and Attila, Gudrun and the Nibelungs, Dietrich of Bern-the heroes and heroines of the North continue to fascinate, although today they are best known through the operas of Wagner. This handy survey traces the origins of these tales in the Dark Ages and follows their spread throughout medieval literature. The study first surveys the medieval literary versions; the hero, heroic poetry, and the Heroic Age; the Germanic peoples and their languages; the heroic legends and their transmission from eyewitness reports of historical events, through oral epic poetry, and into the great medieval verse and prose works; the historical background and the major historical sources; and the issue of oral transmission.
The second part, on literary works, treats every major medieval text that deals with heroic legend. Included are the Old English "Beowulf "and shorter poems; the poems of the Norse "Eddas, "the" Nibelungenlied, " and a host of lesser-known but fascinating works. There's a chronological chart, table of motifs, glossary of names, and a full index.Glossary.
The second part, on literary works, treats every major medieval text that deals with heroic legend. Included are the Old English "Beowulf "and shorter poems; the poems of the Norse "Eddas, "the" Nibelungenlied, " and a host of lesser-known but fascinating works. There's a chronological chart, table of motifs, glossary of names, and a full index.Glossary.
