Germanic heroic legend

Germanic heroic legend (

Heroic legends are attested in

The majority of the preserved legendary material seems to have originated with the Goths and Burgundians. The most widely and commonly attested legends are those concerning Dietrich von Bern (Theodoric the Great), the adventures and death of the hero Siegfried/Sigurd, and the Huns' destruction of the Burgundian kingdom under king Gundahar. These were "the backbone of Germanic storytelling."^[1] The common Germanic poetic tradition was alliterative verse, although this is replaced with poetry in rhyming stanzas in high medieval Germany. In early medieval England and Germany, poems were recited by a figure called the scop, whereas in Scandinavia it is less clear who sang heroic songs. In high medieval Germany, heroic poems seem to have been sung by a class of minstrels.

The heroic tradition died out in England after the

Germanic heroic legend is a somewhat amorphous subject, and drawing clear distinctions between it and similar legendary material can be difficult. Victor Millet refers to three criteria to define Germanic heroic legend: 1) it either originates in the Migration Period or it is (vaguely) set in the Migration Period, which plays the role of a "heroic age;" 2) the legends mythologize the heroic age, so that it no longer is concretely fixed in history, allowing persons who in reality never met to interact; 3) the characters of Germanic legend do not or seldom interact with characters from other legendary cycles, such as the Matter of Britain or the history of the settlement of Iceland.^[3] Heroic legends originate and develop as part of an oral tradition, and often involve historical personages.^[4][5]

The heroic legends are traditionally defined according to the geographic location that scholars believe first produced the legend: there is thus continental heroic legend from Germany and the European continent, North Germanic (Scandinavian) heroic legend, and English heroic legend originating in Anglo-Saxon England. The legends are not always attested in their place of origin: thus the Old Norse material about

The use of the term "Germanic" is disputed in current scholarship, due to its implication of a shared cultural identity for which little evidence exists.[8] Shami Ghosh remarks that Germanic heroic legend is unique in that it is not preserved among the peoples who originated it (mainly Burgundians and Goths) but among other peoples; he cautions that we cannot assume that it functioned to create any sort of "Germanic" identity among its audience, and notes that the Burgundians, for instance, became fairly romanized at an early date.^[9] Millet likewise remarks that defining these heroic legends as "Germanic" does not postulate a common Germanic legendary inheritance, but rather that the legends were easily transmitted between peoples speaking related languages.^[10] The close link between Germanic heroic legend and Germanic language and possibly poetic devices is shown by the fact that the Germanic speakers in Frankia who adopted a Romance language do not preserve Germanic legends, but rather developed their own heroic legends around figures such as William of Gellone, Roland, and Charlemagne.^[11]

The hero

Of central importance to heroic legend is the figure of the hero, about whom conflicting definitions exist.^[12] According to Edward Haymes and Susan Samples, the hero is an "extraordinary individual [...] who stands above his contemporaries in physical and moral strength."^[13] The hero is typically a man, sometimes a woman, who is admired for his or her achievements in battle and heroic virtues, capable of performing feats impossible for a normal human, and who often dies tragically.^[14][15] Traditionally, scholars has understood these heroic virtues to include personal glory, honor, and loyalty within the lord's retinue.^[16][17] These traits are then understood to form a heroic ethos that Rolf Bremmer traces to descriptions of Germanic warrior culture in the 1st-century AD Roman historian Tacitus.^[18] Other scholars have emphasized other qualities: Klaus von See rejected the notion of exemplarity and argued that the hero is defined by his egotism and excessive ("exorbitant"), often brutal behavior,^[19] Wolfgang Haubrichs argued that heroes and their ethos primarily display the traditions of ruling families, and Walter Haug argued that the brutality of the heroic ethos derived from the introduction of people to history and their confrontation with seemingly senseless violence.^[20] In some cases the hero may also display negative values, but he is nevertheless always extraordinary and excessive in his behavior.^[21] For Brian O. Murdoch, the way in which he "copes with the blows of fate" is central.^[22] Peter Fisher, expressly distinguishes between the "Germanic hero" and the tragic hero. The death of the former is heroic rather than tragic; it usually brings destruction, not restoration, as in classical tragedy; and the hero's goal is frequently revenge, which would be hamartia (a flaw) in a tragic hero.^[23][24]

In the Germanic sphere, the hero is usually defined by an amazing deed or deeds that show his heroic qualities.^[14] The hero is always a warrior, concerned with reputation and fame, as well as his political responsibilities.^[25] Heroes belonged to an aristocratic class, and legends about them provided an opportunity for the aristocratic public of the legends to reflect on their own behavior and values.^[26] In the High Middle Ages, this means that heroes often also portray the elements of chivalry and courtly behavior expected of their time period.^[27]

Origins and development

The Roman historian Tacitus (c. 56-120) makes two comments that have been taken as attesting early heroic poetry among the Germanic peoples. The first is a remark in Germania:^[30]

In the traditional songs which form their only record of the past the Germans celebrate an earth-born god called Tuisto. His son Mannus is supposed to be the fountain-head of their race and himself to have begotten three sons who gave their names to three groups of tribes. (Germania, chapter 2)^[31]

The other is a remark in the Annals that the Cheruscian leader Arminius was celebrated in song after his death.^[32] This older poetry has not survived, probably because it was heavily connected to Germanic paganism.^[33]

Most of the extant heroic legends have their origins in the

The original historical material at the heart of the legends has been transformed through the long process of oral transmission: the causes of complex historical and political events are reduced to basic human motivations such as greed, hubris, jealousy, and personal revenge; events are assimilated to folkloric narrative schemes;^[a] conflicts are personalized, typically as conflicts among relatives; and persons living in different time periods are portrayed as contemporaries living in the same heroic age.^[39] Stages in the combination of the originally independent figures of heroic legend can be seen in texts from the 8th and 9th centuries.^[40] Additionally, the legends appear to have become increasingly detached from historical reality, though they still may have been understood as conveying historical knowledge.^[41] Conflicts with monsters and otherworldly beings also form an important part of heroic legend.^[42] As an example of the variability of the tradition, Edward Haymes and Susan Samples note that Sigurd/Siegfried is variously said to be killed in the woods or in his bed, but always with the fixed detail that it was by a spear in the back.^[43]

A minority position, championed by Walter Goffart and Roberta Frank, has argued that there is no oral tradition and that heroic legend was in fact developed by learned clerics in the Carolingian period who read about events in the migration period.^[44] This position is, however, "contrary to almost all literary scholarship".^[45]

Relation to myth

Heroic legends can also take on

The exact relationship between myth and legend is unclear, and it is also possible for mythological beings to be euhemerized as heroes.^[27] Thus some scholars argue that the immense strength Brunhild displays in the Nibelungenlied may indicate that she was originally a mythical being.^[51] The historical origins of the figure of Sigurd/Siegfried are uncertain, and his slaying of the dragon represents a victory over chaos and destruction and results in the hero taking on semi-divine abilities.^[52] Germanic heroic legend contains fewer mythological elements than that of many other cultures, for instance, the heroic legend of Ancient Greece.^[53]

Relationship to Christianity

Older scholarship was of the opinion that heroic poetry was "entirely heathen", however more recent scholarship has abandoned this position.

The picture stone Smiss I from Gotland, dated around 700, appears to depict a version of the legend of

The Gotland Image stone Ardre VIII, which has been dated to the 8th c.,^[66] shows two decapitated bodies, a smithy, a woman, and a winged creature which is interpreted as Wayland flying away from his captivity. Another one, Stora Hammars III, shows a man transformed into a bird who meets a woman, but this one may instead refer to Odin stealing the mead of poetry, in Skáldskaparmál. Several small objects of winged people have also been found, but gods, and some giants, are known to be able to transform into birds in Norse mythology, and Viking Age artwork with human-animal transformations is common.^[67]

A number of the runic inscriptions display the deeds accomplished by the young

Parts of the legend of Sigurd are also depicted on several 10th-century stone crosses from the British Isles, including several on the Isle of Man, as well as several from England dating to the time of the Danelaw (1016-1042).^[71][72] Several Norwegian stave churches built around 1200 contain carved depictions of the Sigurd legend, including the Hylestad Stave Church and the Vegusdal Stave Church.^[73]

The

Elements of the legends of Theodoric the Great/Dietrich von Bern appear in some high medieval images. The church portal of

German manuscripts of heroic epics were generally not illuminated until the 15th century,^[83] when a small number of illuminated manuscripts begin to appear. The manuscripts all vary widely in their iconography, showing that there was no tradition of depicting heroic events.^[84] The first illuminated manuscript of the Nibelungenlied is manuscript b, also known as the Hundeshagenscher codex (c. 1436–1442, in Augsburg), which contains a cycle of 14 illuminations on the events of the poem.^[85] A number of manuscripts include an illumination at the beginning of each epic, usually illustrating an important event from the poem such as Siegfried's murder or Ortnit's fight with a dragon. Other manuscripts include cycles of illustrations, such as one of the Rosengarten zu Worms and another of Virginal.^[86] Notable is a manuscript of the Dietrich epic Sigenot which was produced c. 1470 for Margaret of Savoy, containing 20 miniatures of very high quality.^[87] Printed editions of the poems frequently contained woodcuts.^[88]

Written attestations

Detailed attestations of heroic traditions are only found in writing. These written attestations cannot be assumed to be identical to the oral tradition, but represent adaptations of it, undertaken by a particular author at a particular time and place.^[89][6] All of them, but particularly the earlier attestations, were created by and for an audience that already knew the heroic tradition rather than one who was being informed about its contents; they are thus often difficult for modern readers to understand, often contradictory with other attestations, and rarely tell an entire story.^[90] No surviving text of Germanic legend appears to have been "oral," but rather all appear to have been conceived as written texts.^[91] The oral tradition also continued outside and alongside of the written medium.^[92] More recent written compositions can thus contain very old material or legendary variants; conversely, older texts do not necessarily convey an older or more authentic version of the tradition.^[93]

Written versions of heroic legend are not confined to a single genre, but appear in various formats, including the

He also wrote out the barbarous and ancient songs, in which the acts of the kings and their wars were sung, and committed them to memory. (Vita Karoli Magni, chap. 29)[98]

It has traditionally been supposed that this represented a written collection of heroic poetry, and interest in heroic poetry at Charlemagne's court seems likely. However it is also possible that it was royal praise poetry of the type preserved in the

Viking Age Scandinavia is traditionally believed to have produced a number of poems on heroic subjects in this period, but they were not written down until the 13th century.^[101] Although more recent scholarship has challenged the age of most of the surviving written poems, it remains likely that precursors to extant poems existed in the Viking Age.^[104] A single stanza on the 9th-century Rök runestone from Östergötland, Sweden, also mentions Dietrich/Theodoric.^[105]

Anglo-Saxon England, which had a larger written culture than the continent, also produced several texts on heroic subjects, including the only vernacular

Some of the oldest written Scandinavian sources relate to the same heroic matter as found in Beowulf, namely Langfeðgatal (12th c.), the Lejre Chronicle (late 12th c.), Short History of the Kings of Denmark (c. 1188), and the Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1200).^[120] At this time in Iceland, the now lost Skjöldunga saga was written, c. 1200, and like parts of Gesta Danorum and Beowulf it dealt with the legendary Danish Scylding (Skjöldung) dynasty, and it would be the main source for future sagas on the Danish Scylding dynasty's relations with its Swedish Scylfing (Yngling) counterpart.^[121] Sometime c. 1220–1230, Snorri Sturluson finished writing the Heimskringla,^[122] a history of the Norwegian kings, having previously spent two years in Norway and Sweden (1218–20).^[123] In the saga, Snorri fleshes out the skaldic poem Ynglingatal with Scandinavian heroic legends relating to the Norse kings, such as the 6th c. Swedish king Aðils, about whom it includes native legends related to some of those found in Beowulf.^[124][120] Snorri is also the author of the Prose Edda (c. 1220–1241).^[125] It contains a part called Skáldskaparmál that has a list of kennings and heitis for young poets, and he provided it with narratives to provide background for them.^[126]

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse mythological and heroic poems that was probably first compiled in the mid-13th century in Iceland and is known from two major manuscripts today, of which the Codex Regius (c. 1270) is the most important.^[127] The Codex Regius groups mythological poems into a first section and a series of 19 heroic poems into a second;^[128] scholars believe that the two sections of poems likely come from two originally separate written collections.^[129] Although the legends in Poetic Edda are very old, the poems themselves come from different times, and some may have been written in the 13th century: normally the poems Völundarkviða and Atlakviða are believed to be from the Viking Age, while the three lays concerning Gudrun, the Atlamál, and Helreið Brynhildar are thought to be very recent. Some poems, such as Hamðismál, are judged to be old by some scholars and recent by others.^[130] The heroic poems open with 3 concerning Sigurd's half brother Helgi Hundingsbane, continue with a group of lays about Sigurd, followed by a group about the destruction of the Burgundians, and close with lays about Svanhildr and Jörmunrekkr (Ermanaric), all loosely connected via short prose passages and through the figures of Sigurd and Gudrun.^[131]

In the mid-13th century,

High and late medieval German

From the 11th to the 12th centuries, heroic legend on the continent is mentioned only in brief allusions. This includes a tradition of criticizing the legendary life of

Otto von Freising, and the vernacular Kaiserchronik (after 1146).^[147] Allusions to heroic legends are also found in a number of vernacular literary works of courtly romance and poetry from the 12th century, including by Walther von der Vogelweide, Heinrich von Veldeke, and Wolfram von Eschenbach.^[148]

From the 13th to 16th centuries, many heroic traditions enter writing in Germany and enjoy great popularity.[149] Werner Hoffmann defined five subjects of heroic epics in medieval Germany: the Nibelungen (Burgundians and Siegfried), the lovers Walther and Hildegund, the maiden Kudrun, kings Ortnit and Wolfdietrich, and Dietrich von Bern. He found the heroic epics to be closely related to another genre, the so-called Spielmannsdichtung ("minstrel poetry").^[57] The anonymous authorship of the Middle High Germans heroic poems forms an important distinction from other poetic genres, such as romance, but is shared with Spielmannsdichtung.^[150] Although these epics all appear to be written compositions, the amount of differences between manuscripts indicates that their texts were not fixed and that redactors could insert additional material from the oral tradition and otherwise edit the epics.^[151]

Heroic poetry begins to be composed in writing in Germany with the Nibelungenlied (c. 1200), which updated the heroic legends with elements of the popular literary genre of its time, courtly romance.^[152] The epics written after the Nibelungenlied maintain this hybrid nature. For this reason Middle High German heroic poetry is also called "late heroic poetry" (späte Heldendichtung).^[153] The Nibelungenlied narrates the wooing of Kriemhild (Gudrun) by the hero Siegfried, his aid to king Gunther in the latter's wooing of Brünhild (Brunhild), Siegfried's murder at the hands of Gunther's vassal Hagen, and Kriemhild's treacherous revenge on Hagen and her brothers after inviting them to the hall of Kriemhild's new husband, Etzel (Attila). A direct reaction to the heroic nihilism of the Nibelungenlied is found in the Kudrun (1230?), in which material also found in Old English and Old Norse about the heroine Hildr serves as the prologue to the - likely invented - story of her daughter, Kudrun.^[154][155]

From 1230 onward, several heroic epics, of which 14 are known to us, were written concerning the hero Dietrich von Bern, forming a literary cycle comparable to that around

Merovingian origins are also suggested for Wolfdietrich.^[161][162]

Almost all of the texts originate in the

Tirol; a few others seem to have originated in the Alemannic dialect area in modern south-west Germany and Switzerland.^[163] Evidence for the continued existence of heroic legends in what is now Northern Germany and the Low Countries is provided by the Þiðreks saga on the one hand,^[164] and the early modern ballad Ermenrichs Tod (printed 1560 in Lübeck) on the other. The latter tells a garbled version of the killing of Ermenrich (Ermanaric) also found in early medieval Latin sources and the Eddic poem Hamðismál.^[165]

Very few new heroic poems, and no new heroic epics, were written after 1300, although the existing ones remained popular.[166] Beginning in the 14th century, heroic poems come to be collected together in so-called Heldenbücher ("books of heroes"); the Heldenbuch of Diebolt von Hanau (after 1475) contains a text known as the Heldenbuch-Prosa which provides a brief history of the entire heroic world.^[167] Possibly originating in the 14th century but only attested in 1530, the Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid recorded a number of details about the hero Siegfried absent in the Nibelungenlied but attested in Old Norse tradition.^[168] The ballad the Jüngeres Hildebrandslied (c. 1450) concerns the same material as the early medieval Hildebrandslied.^[169] Finally, a number of heroic texts were adopted as carnival plays (Fastnachtsspiele), including by the Nuremberg poet Hans Sachs (1494-1564).^[170]

Heroic poetry

Heroic lay and heroic epic

There is disagreement about the relationship between

heroic epic in current scholarship. According to the influential model developed by Andreas Heusler (1905), Germanic heroic poetry mostly circulated in heroic lays (Heldenlieder): relatively short pieces, of similar length to the Eddic poems, that had fixed wording and were memorized. These poems could then later be expanded into full-sized epics in writing.^[171] "Neo-Heuslerians" continue to follow this model with some adjustments, emphasizing in particular that the common Germanic form was short, as found in the Scandinavian examples.^[172][173] Hermann Reichert argues that only the Hildebrandslied is a genuine example of an early heroic lay, discounting the age of Norse examples that are generally dated early, such as Atlakviða.^[174]

Other scholarship has instead argued that the poems could be of variable length and were improvised with each performance, according to the

oral forumulaic theory of oral poetry,^[175] According to Edward Haymes, common Germanic heroic poetry appears to have been "oral epic poetry", which made heavy use of repetitions and formula within the metrical scheme of alliterative verse.^[172] Some signs of oral epic style in Beowulf are inconsistencies from scene to scene, as details, such the presence of objects or individuals, are mentioned or omitted from performance to performance.^[176] Nevertheless, no "oral" heroic poetry has survived, as all the written attestations appear to be written compositions.^[91]

Eddic poems, including the supposedly oldest, the

skaldic poetry resulted in the loss of oral formulaic improvised poetry in an Old Norse context; Haymes and Samples suggest that this same fixed quality may have driven the change from heroic poetry to prose sagas in Iceland and Scandinavia.^[178]

Poetic form

Originally, the Germanic-speaking peoples shared a metrical and poetic form, alliterative verse, which is attested in very similar forms in Old Saxon, Old High German and Old English, and in a modified form in Old Norse.^[179] The common form consists of lines of four stressed beats, with a caesura dividing the line in half. At least two beats must alliterate across the caesura, forming what in German is called a Langzeile ("long line"). The final beat generally receives no alliteration. Any vowel could alliterate with any other vowel.^[180] Klaus von See gives the following examples from Old English, Old High German, and Old Norse (stressed syllable underlined, alliteration bolded, and || representing the caesura):^[181]

Oft Scyld Scēfing || scēaþena þrēatum (Beowulf v. 4)

forn her ostar giweit || floh her Ōtachres nīd (Hildebrandslied v. 18)

Vilcat ec reiði || rícs þióðkonungs (Grípisspá v. 26)

The poetic forms diverge among the different languages from the 9th century onward. Thus, the Old High German line shows a higher number of unstressed syllables than is typical for Old English or Old Saxon alliterative verse.

Fornyrðislag; it tends to short lines, with only four syllables in each half-line. Lines with more syllables are called málaháttr, following Snorri Sturluson, although it was probably not an independent meter.^[184]

In Middle High German, alliterative verse is replaced by stanzas featuring end-rhyme.^[185] These stanzas existed in a variety of forms and tend to use a form of Langzeile of undetermined origin consisting of three stresses, a caesura, and then three stresses.^[186] The epics use various stanzaic forms, including the Nibelungen-stanza, the Kudrun-stanza, the Hildebrandston, Heunenweise and the Bernerton. These stanzas often feature variant Langzeilen.^[187] The Nibelungen stanza can serve as an example, as its final half-line has an additional stress (|| represents the caesura, an acute accent represents a stressed syllable):^[188]

Ze Wórmez bí dem Ríne || si wónten mít ir kráft.
in díente vón ir lánden || vil stólziu ríterscáft
mit lóbelíchen éren || unz án ir éndes zít.
si stúrben sit jǽmerlíche || von zwéier édelen fróuwen nít. (Nibelungenlied, stanza 6)

Many stanzas of the Nibelungenlied are constructed in a much less regular manner.^[189] The Middle High German rhyming stanzas were meant to be sung,^[190] and melodies survive for the Hildebrandston, Heunenweise, and Bernerton.^[191]

Style

In heroic poetry, the use of poetic epithets, compounds, and formulaic language is frequent.^[192] The openings of poems such as the Hildebrandslied, Beowulf, and the Nibelungenlied all use a similar opening formula referring to the oral nature of the legends.^[193] The shorter poems such as the Hildebrandslied and the Eddic lays have a fast-paced style that heavily mixes dialogue with action.^[194] West Germanic style tends more to have longer lines and sentences with an emphasis on the use of poetic synonyms (copia), whereas Old Norse poetry tends to be narrated tersely.^[195]

Eddic poetry rarely features enjambment across lines. West Germanic heroic poetry tends to use what Andreas Heusler called Bogenstil ("bow style"): sentences are spread across various lines and often begin at the caesura. ^[196] Middle High German heroic poetry follows a similar style, including occasional enjambment across stanzas.^[197]

Singers and authors

J. R. Skelton

c 1910

Written heroic poems are typically anonymous.^[198] There is no information as to whether a class of professional singers were responsible for composing heroic poetry in Germanic times.^[199] Sources are also vague for most of the Early Middle Ages. By the late 9th century, a figure known in Old English as a scop, in Old High German as a skof, and in Latin texts as a vates or psalmista is attested as a type of singer or minstrel resident at the court of a particular lord.^[200] A scop is depicted singing heroic material in Beowulf.^[199] The scop could also function as a þyle, a keeper of past knowledge (þula),^[201] and in Scandinavia this term corresponded to þulr, from Old Norse þula ("lay"), which is translated as "reciter",^[202] "sage" or "wise-man",^[203] or possibly "bard".^[204] It is generally assumed that the poem was recited with musical accompaniment.^[205]

In Scandinavia there was also the figure of the

skaldic poetry was considered a separate genre from heroic poetry, so that the role of skalds in transmitting or composing heroic poetry is unclear.^[199] In any case, knowledge of the heroic tradition was necessary in order to compose and understand skaldic poetry,^[206] and skaldic poetry shows a number of stylistic similarities to Norse heroic poetry.^[207] Saxo Grammaticus refers to a "Saxon singer" (cantor saxonicus) who sings a heroic song in Denmark.^[199]

For the Middle High German period, it seems likely that heroic poems were transmitted by the same class of minstrels as Spruchdichtung.^[160] The Spruchdichter Der Marner [de] refers in one verse to constantly being asked to sing songs on heroic subjects.^[208]

End of the heroic tradition

The heroic tradition in England died out with the Norman Conquest, which replaced the Germanic-speaking aristocracy who had cultivated Germanic heroic legend with a Romance-speaking one.^[209]

In Germany, the heroic tradition largely disappears from writing around 1600; it is likely that the oral tradition had been dying out prior to this.^[210] The primary audience had already changed from the nobility to the urban bourgeoisie.^[211] Some texts continued to be read in the form of Heldenbücher,^[212] while a prose version of the Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, in which the original names and most connections to heroic legend were altered, continued to be printed into the 19th century.^[213] The Jüngeres Hildebrandslied continued to be printed into the 18th century and is found in 19th and 20th century collections of ballads.^[214] Versions of the epic Kudrun were preserved in the Südeli ballads (18th century) and a ballad called Die Meererin, recorded in 1867 from Gottschee,^[215] while elements of the legend of Wolfdietrich were also preserved in some popular ballads.^[216]

The

Ramsund carving, but a Christian cross has been added and the images are combined in a way that completely distorts the internal logic of events.^[218] The insertion of explanatory prose into some poems of the Poetic Edda is argued by Edward Haymes and Susan Samples to represent a similar loss of tradition, showing that audiences no longer understood the poems in their original forms.^[219] Victor Millet writes that the heroic tradition in Scandinavia barely survives its literary blossoming in the 13th century.^[220] However, the heroic poetry survived in a new form in the Pan-Scandinavian medieval ballads, as the heroic ballads. The medieval ballads stayed popular from their origin in the Middle Ages, until the 20th century, and from the rural illiterate to the middle and upper classes that collected and printed them.^[221]

Modern Influence

Early Modern Era

In 1514, the Danish work

Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus.^[222]

During the late 17th c. and the early 18th, there was a series of first publications of

Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna, Hrólfs saga kraka, Norna-Gests þáttr, and Ragnars saga loðbrókar.^[b] The Prose Edda would be published in Latin by Johan Göransson in 1746.^[228]

In Denmark, in 1665, parts of the newly rediscovered Poetic Edda were published by Peder Resen, but these Eddic poems did not cover the heroic matter. The most influential work from this time may have been the Thomas Bartholin's Antiquitatum Danicarum de causis contempta a Danis adhuc gentilibus mortis (1689), with long scenes from sagas where heroes are followed while they smiling meet death and earn well-deserved places with Odin in Valhalla.^[229]

Romantic movement

The period from the late 18th century to the 1830s was characterized by an interest in folklore and folk practice (such as folk ballads), and works that had previously been ignored from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Translations

The manuscript of the

Karl Simrock in 1827. This translation remains influential today. Simrock also translated other heroic poems such as the Kudrun, Alpharts Tod, and the Rosengarten zu Worms, connecting them as Das kleine Heldenbuch.^[233]

In Great Britain in 1768, Thomas Gray published Norse Odes and in 1770, Thomas Percy published Five Pieces of Runic Poetry, which included The Incantation of Hervor and The Dying Ode of Regner Lodbrog. Old Norse heroic matter would from then on be a part of the literary circles of Britain.^[234]

The first attempt to create a modern edition and translation of the poems of the Poetic Edda was undertaken by the Danish Arnamagnæan Institute in 1787, however only a partial volume was ever produced.^[235] The first modern edition was undertaken by Friedrich von der Hagen in 1812; he followed it with a German translation in 1814. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm produced their own edition and translation in 1815.^[236] Translations of some heroic poems into English were undertaken by William Herbert.^[c] Modern study of heroic legend began in 1829 when Wilhelm Grimm published his Deutsche Heldensage, a compilation of various attestations to the heroic tradition that included some reconstructed legends and Grimm's theories on their origins.^[238]

In 1818, Danish scholar Peter Erasmus Müller published a compendium of the legendary sagas, and in 1829–30 Carl Christian Rafn published 31 sagas in Fornaldarsögur Norðrlanda, which became influential in defining the genre.^[239]

The first modern English translation of Beowulf appeared in 1833 (Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin having published the first scholarly edition in 1815). It is intrinsically connected to the evolution of romantic nationalism during the 19th century. It was used by early scholars to recover lost cultural memories, and as confirmation of their national identities.^[240]

Derivational works

dragons.^[d]

In the romantic period, several plays were written in German on the basis of the Nibelungenlied, as well as many ballads, such as Siegfrieds Schwert ("Siegfried's Sword") by

Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué, who in 1808-1810 wrote a popular three-part play, Sigurd: Held des Nordens ("Sigurd: The Hero of the North"), mostly on the basis of the Latin translations of the Völsunga saga and the Prose Edda.^[244][245]

In 1825,

Kaiser Wilhelm II, William Morris and Selma Lagerlöf, and it inspired undergraduate textbooks, statues, paintings, engravings, seafaring anthologies, travel literature, children's books, works of theater, operas and musicals.^[247] Only during the 19th c. it was translated 15 times into English, and into almost every major language in Europe, where it was of immense popularity.^[248] Some of its cultural influence can be found in Longfellow's poetry, bridal quest romance, the Victorian view of Norway, national epics inspired by folklore, and in the history of ice skating.^[249]

1840s to World War 1

From 1843 to 1849, Karl Simrock, who had already translated the Nibelungenlied and various other poems, attempted to create a new German national epic in the same meter as the Nibelungenlied, the Amelungenlied, based on material about

Friedrich Hebbel's three-part tragedy Die Nibelungen (1861), for instance, added mythical elements from the Norse tradition to the plot of the Nibelungenlied.^[251]

William Morris, one of the founders of modern fantasy, became heavily involved with Iceland and its old literature between 1868 and 1876. In collaboration with the Icelander Eiríkur Magnússon (1833-1913), he translated and published Old Norse sagas, some of which had not been published in English before. Some of his sonnets were based on this matter, and addressed to the hero of Grettis saga. In the 1890s he produced translations of at least five Sagas of Icelanders, and the monumental Heimskringla. One of his most famous poems is The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs,^[252] which Matthias Teichert describes as the most important English-language work based in the Nibelungen legend.^[243]

The most famous modern adaptation of Germanic heroic legend is

The Ring of the Nibelung (Der Ring des Nibelungen. It was first performed in 1876, although an earlier version of Wagner's libretto was first published in 1853.^[253][254] The cycle consists of four operas: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung. Wagner's opera mixed elements of the Poetic Edda, the Völsunga saga, and the Nibelungenlied, as mediated by the theories, editions, and translations of the brothers Grimm, von der Hagen, Simrock, and other romantics.^[255] Klaus Böldl writes that Wagner's work has made a much broader circle of people aware of heroic legend and Norse mythology while at the same time suppressing knowledge of the original mythology.^[2] Outside of Germany, most reception of the Nibelungen material has taken place via Wagner.^[256]

The second most important German adaptation of the Germanic legend in late 19th century Germany was an epic poem in

First World War, including an abbreviated edition for use in schools.^[258]

From World War 1 to World War 2

The interwar period saw heroic legend enter the world of cinema in Fritz Lang's two part film Die Nibelungen (1924/1925). The film adapts the plot of the Nibelungenlied as a way to distance itself from Wagner's more heavy reliance on Scandinavian sources.^[259] The opening frames of the film dedicate it as inherent to the German people, implying that the film was intended as a form of national epic.^[260]

Already in the

Second World War, Hermann Göring would explicitly use this aspect of the Nibelungenlied to celebrate the sacrifice of the German army at Stalingrad and compare the Soviets to Etzel's (Attila's) Asiatic Huns.^[262]

Post-World War 2

As a reaction to the use of heroic legends by the Nazis, engagement with the Nibelungenlied and Nordic myth was eliminated from German school curricula and even became somewhat taboo after the fall of the

Third Reich.^[263] Harald Reinl's two part film Die Nibelungen (1966/67) was one of the first commercially successful postwar adaptations, and takes much inspiration from the Nordic versions.^[264]

Perhaps the most influential post-WW2 work inspired by Germanic heroic legends was

J.R.R. Tolkien. It was published in three volumes over the course of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955.^[265] In a 1941 letter to his son Michael, Tolkien had expressed his resentment at "that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler ... Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light."^[266]

Rohirrim, in the form of the Goths, as well as the forest Mirkwood, a matter that also had inspired William Morris. Tolkien was influenced by the connection between the Goths and the Geats of Beowulf and the Völsunga saga, who he considered to be among the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons.^[270] The Hervarar saga and Gestumblindi probably inspired the riddling contest in The Hobbit.^[273]

Adaptations of heroic legend continue to be produced. The trilogy Wodan's Children (1993-1996), by

Vikings (2013 TV series) which is based on the heroic matter about Ragnar Lodbrok

and his sons.

Events

• Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern
• Hjaðningavíg

See also

• Lists of figures in Germanic heroic legend
• List of figures in Germanic heroic legend, A
• List of figures in Germanic heroic legend, B–C
• List of figures in Germanic heroic legend, D–E
• List of figures in Germanic heroic legend, F–G
• List of figures in Germanic heroic legend, H–He
• List of figures in Germanic heroic legend, Hi–Hy
• List of figures in Germanic heroic legend, I–O
• List of figures in Germanic heroic legend, P–S
• List of figures in Germanic heroic legend, T–Y
• List of named animals and plants in Germanic heroic legend
• List of named weapons, armour and treasures in Germanic heroic legend

Notes

1. ^ Examples of narrative schemes in the heroic legends include the "treacherous invitation" (verräterische Einladung), in which one party invites another to visit them with the intention of betraying them; the "bridal quest scheme" (Brautwerbungsschema), in which heroes set out to acquire a bride; the "unhappy victory" (glückloser Sieg), in which a character achieves a Pyrrhic victory over his enemies; the heroic triumphant downfall (heroisch-triumphaler Untergang), a variant of the unhappy victory told from the perspective of the loser; the challenging scheme (Herausforderungsschema), in which a hero challenges another, more famous hero; and the liberation scheme (Befreiungsschema), in which the hero liberates a figure who has been captured by enemies.^[38]
2. ^ The others were Áns saga bogsveigis, Frá Fornjóti ok hans ættmönnum, Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra, Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar, Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka, Helga þáttr Þórissonar, Hrómundar saga Gripssonar, Sörla saga sterka and Þorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns.^[227]
3. ^ He translated Helreið Brynhildar in 1804, Atlakviða and Sigurðarkviða inn skamma in 1839, and Vǫlundarkviða in 1840.^[237]
4. ^ Scandinavian influence is evident in novels such as Ivanhoe, The Pirate and The Antiquary, and it is also evident in poems, such as The Lay of the Last Minstrel, The Lady of the Lake, The Lord of the Isles, Rokeby and Harold the Dauntless.^[241]

Citations

1. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, p. 4.
2. ^ ^{a b} Böldl 2000, p. 268.
3. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 4–7.
4. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 11–13.
5. ^ Tiefenbach, Reichert & Beck 1999, pp. 267–268.
6. ^ ^{a b} Uecker 1972, p. 1.
7. ^ Haubrichs 2004, pp. 513–519.
8. ^ Taranu 2013, p. 47.
9. ^ Ghosh 2007, p. 248.
10. ^ Millet 2008, p. 9.
11. ^ Ghosh 2007, p. 249. Ghosh notes that the figure of Walter of Aquitaine forms an exception.
12. ^ Reichert 2011, p. 1807.
13. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, p. 7.
14. ^ ^{a b} Uecker 1972, p. 4.
15. ^ Tiefenbach, Reichert & Beck 1999, pp. 262–263.
16. ^ Magennis 2010, pp. 88–89.
17. ^ Mecklenburg 2002, p. 16.
18. ^ Bremmer 2005, pp. 76–78.
19. ^ Mecklenburg 2002, pp. 16–18.
20. ^ Reichert 2011, pp. 1808–1809.
21. ^ Tiefenbach, Reichert & Beck 1999, p. 264. Quoting Werner Hoffmann: "Der Held ist immer ein Mensch, der das normale Maß hinter sich läßt und der dann auch maßlos in einem nicht mehr beispielhaft-vorbildlichen Sinn sein kann."
22. ^ Murdoch 2004, p. 123.
23. ^ Fisher 1958.
24. ^ Greenfield 1989, p. 23.
25. ^ Murdoch 1996, pp. 3–4.
26. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 10–11.
27. ^ ^{a b c} Tiefenbach, Reichert & Beck 1999, pp. 263–264.
28. ^ Tolkien 1960, pp. 56.
29. ^ Tolkien 1960, pp. xxiii–xxiv.
30. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, p. 10.
31. ^ Tacitus 1948, p. 102.
32. ^ Tiefenbach, Reichert & Beck 1999, p. 268.
33. ^ Reichert 2011, pp. 1816–1817.
34. ^ Millet 2008, p. 4.
35. ^ Haubrichs 2004, pp. 519.
36. ^ Haubrichs 2004, pp. 519–523.
37. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 7–8.
38. ^ Lienert 2015, pp. 19, 171–173.
39. ^ Lienert 2015, p. 11.
40. ^ Haubrichs 2004, p. 526.
41. ^ Ghosh 2007, pp. 236–239.
42. ^ ^{a b} Lienert 2015, p. 19.
43. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, pp. 12–13.
44. ^ Neidorf 2013, pp. 172–173.
45. ^ Ghosh 2007, p. 240.
46. ^ von See 1971, p. 52.
47. ^ Harris 2012, p. 267.
48. ^ Heinzle 1999, p. 9.
49. ^ Millet 2008, p. 244.
50. ^ Millet 2008, p. 302.
51. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, p. 146.
52. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 165–166.
53. ^ Uecker 1972, p. 10.
54. ^ von See 1971, p. 148. "durch und durch heidnisch"
55. ^ von See 1971, p. 151.
56. ^ von See 1971, pp. 171–172. "Hand in Hand gingen".
57. ^ ^{a b} Reichert 2011, p. 1821.
58. ^ Millet 2008, p. 140.
59. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 96–104.
60. ^ von See 1971, pp. 152–164.
61. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 186–187.
62. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 141–154.
63. ^ Karkov 2017, p. 45.
64. ^ Beck 2016, pp. 29–45.
65. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 342–244.
66. ^ Sørensen 2002, p. 123.
67. ^ Helmbrecht 2012, p. 175f.
68. ^ Düwel 2005, p. 412.
69. ^ Brate & Wessén 1924–1936, pp. 71–73.
70. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 163–165.
71. ^ Millet 2008, p. 160.
72. ^ Düwel 2005, p. 414.
73. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 154–160.
74. ^ Guðmundsdóttir & Cosser 2012, p. 353.
75. ^ Guðmundsdóttir & Cosser 2012, p. 355.
76. ^ Guðmundsdóttir & Cosser 2012, pp. 355–358.
77. ^ Heinzle 1999, p. 8.
78. ^ Heinzle 1999, pp. 8–9.
79. ^ Heinzle 1999, pp. 141–142.
80. ^ Lienert 2015, p. 130.
81. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 459.
82. ^ Heinzle 1999, p. 31.
83. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 443–444.
84. ^ Millet 2008, p. 445.
85. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 434–435.
86. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 445–447.
87. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 447–452.
88. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 452–459.
89. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 13–14.
90. ^ Lienert 2010, p. 25.
91. ^ ^{a b} Haymes 2004, p. 50.
92. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 352–354.
93. ^ Millet 2008, p. 22.
94. ^ Millet 2008, p. 3.
95. ^ Uecker 1972, pp. 1–2.
96. ^ Looijenga 2003, pp. 253–255.
97. ^ Uecker 1972, pp. 129–131.
98. ^ Grant 1905, p. 45.
99. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 102–103.
100. ^ Reichl 2010, pp. 55–56.
101. ^ ^{a b c} Millet 2008, pp. 22–23.
102. ^ Heinzle 1999, pp. 11–13.
103. ^ Ghosh 2007, p. 234.
104. ^ Andersson 2004, p. 177. "Partly because the heroic poems often deal with common Germanic legends, Eddic poetry was once considered very old [...] but there has been a steady trend toward later datings to the point that there is now considerable doubt whether any of the Eddic poetry that we have is older than the twelfth century. On the other hand, Bragi Boddason's shield poem from the ninth century shows knowledge of two stories represented in Codex Regius, one mythological (Hymiskviða) and one heroic (Hamðismál). It therefore seems likely that, even if these poems themselves are not old, there were at least early precursors presumably in verse form. "Eddic" poetry as such is probably not a late invention."
105. ^ Heinzle 1999, p. 15.
106. ^ Neidorf 2012, pp. 553–55.
107. ^ Magennis 2010, p. 94.
108. ^ Neidorf 2013, pp. 165–166.
109. ^ Bremmer 2005, pp. 79–80.
110. ^ Bremmer 2005, pp. 81.
111. ^ Magennis 2010, pp. 92–93.
112. ^ Heinzle 1999, p. 17.
113. ^ Bremmer 2005, pp. 81–82.
114. ^ Bremmer 2005, pp. 82–83.
115. ^ Magennis 2010, p. 96.
116. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 96–103.
117. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 105–106.
118. ^ Uecker 1972, pp. 131–133.
119. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 121–129.
120. ^ ^{a b c} Shippey 2010, pp. 17–32.
121. ^ Clarke 2013, p. 19f.
122. ^ Clarke 2013, p. 18.
123. ^ Larsson 2005, p. 65f.
124. ^ Rausing 1995.
125. ^ Sturluson 2007, pp. xi.
126. ^ Sturluson 2007, pp. xiii.
127. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 276–288.
128. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 288–289, 293.
129. ^ Millet 2008, p. 290.
130. ^ Millet 2008, p. 294.
131. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 301–310.
132. ^ Lienert 2008, p. 266.
133. ^ Millet 2008, p. 258.
134. ^ Guðmundsdóttir 2012, p. 60.
135. ^ Driscoll 2003, p. 257.
136. ^ Lassen 2012, pp. 52–53.
137. ^ Guðmundsdóttir 2012, pp. 59–61.
138. ^ Leslie-Jacobsen 2013, p. 256.
139. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 312–323.
140. ^ Tolkien 1960, p. ixf.
141. ^ Tolkien 1960, p. viii.
142. ^ Tolkien 1960, p. xii.
143. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 272–274.
144. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 359–360.
145. ^ Heinzle 1999, p. 38.
146. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 270–271.
147. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 129–135.
148. ^ Grimm 1867, pp. 36–43.
149. ^ Millet 2008, p. 328.
150. ^ Lienert 2015, pp. 16–17.
151. ^ Millet 2008, p. 334.
152. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 178–179.
153. ^ Lienert 2015, p. 13-14.
154. ^ Lienert 2015, pp. 81.
155. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 242–251.
156. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 328–329.
157. ^ Heinzle 1999, pp. 32–33.
158. ^ Heinzle 1999, pp. 76–77.
159. ^ Heinzle 1999, pp. 33–34.
160. ^ ^{a b} Heinzle 1999, p. 29.
161. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 382–383, 393–394.
162. ^ Lienert 2015, pp. 150, 154.
163. ^ Bumke 2000, p. 262.
164. ^ Millet 2008, p. 272.
165. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 274–276.
166. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 415–417.
167. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 322–330.
168. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 466–471.
169. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 472–474.
170. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 477–493.
171. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, pp. 36–37.
172. ^ ^{a b} Haymes 2004, pp. 50–51.
173. ^ Andersson 2004, p. 178.
174. ^ Reichert 2011, pp. 1819–1821. "Considering all that, the usual dating of the Atlaqviða, which is generally described as very old, and is often placed as early as the 9th century, becomes dubious. The sole manuscript dates from around 1270. It is more than unlikely that the poem should have been transmitted, unaltered, for over 400 years, and the style, which is more ballad-like than 'Old Germanic', suggests that the concept of the poem was completely rethought around 1200. Unfortunately, clues as to how old a poem was when it was written down can only be subjectively assessed" (p. 1820).
175. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, pp. 39–42. (Page 42): "In spite of spirited opposition on the part of Neo-Heuslerians, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion than that the Germanic peoples of Western Europe had a common tradition of oral-formulaic epic poetry during the period from the fifth to the eleventh century using the verse form, language, and motifs we find in the first written texts in Old English, Old High German, and Old Saxon."
176. ^ Reichl 2010, pp. 57–58.
177. ^ Haymes 2004, pp. 52–54.
178. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, pp. 43–44.
179. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, pp. 39–40.
180. ^ Hoffmann 1981, p. 23.
181. ^ von See 1967, p. 2.
182. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 27–28.
183. ^ Reichl 2010, p. 60.
184. ^ von See 1967, pp. 56–59.
185. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, pp. 42–43.
186. ^ Müller 2009, pp. 59–60.
187. ^ Hoffmann 1981, pp. 81–95.
188. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 190–191.
189. ^ Müller 2009, p. 60.
190. ^ Lienert 2015, p. 17.
191. ^ Heinzle 1999, pp. 66–67.
192. ^ Reichl 2010, pp. 65–66.
193. ^ Reichl 2010, pp. 56–57.
194. ^ Reichl 2010, p. 58.
195. ^ Harris 2012, pp. 259–260.
196. ^ Heusler 1923, p. 35.
197. ^ Hoffmann 1981, pp. 84–85.
198. ^ Tiefenbach, Reichert & Beck 1999, pp. 273–274.
199. ^ ^{a b c d} Tiefenbach, Reichert & Beck 1999, pp. 273.
200. ^ Millet 2008, p. 97.
201. ^ Bauschatz 1982, p. 216.
202. ^ Entry DR 230, in Scandinavian Runic-text Database Archived 2021-02-14 at the Wayback Machine - Rundata.
203. ^ Entry Þulr in Zoega (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Norse Archived 2017-07-29 at the Wayback Machine
204. ^ Entry þulr in Claesby & Vigfusson (1874) An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
205. ^ Uecker 1972, p. 20.
206. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, p. 44.
207. ^ Haymes 2004, pp. 54–55.
208. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 1–3.
209. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 90–91.
210. ^ Millet 2008, p. 492.
211. ^ Millet 2008, pp. 483–484.
212. ^ ^{a b} Lienert 2015, p. 189.
213. ^ Lienert 2015, p. 70.
214. ^ Heinzle 1999, pp. 51–52.
215. ^ Lienert 2015, p. 95.
216. ^ Böldl & Preißler 2015.
217. ISBN 87-635-0428-6
218. ^ Lönnroth & Delblanc 1993, p. 49.
219. ^ Haymes & Samples 1996, p. 45. "If the songs were regularly performed and understood by their audiences, there would have been no need for the kind of explanatory prose we find even in the Codex Regius manuscript of the Poetic Edda."
220. ^ Millet 2008, p. 327.
221. ^ Syndergaard 1995, p. 1.
222. ^ Wawn 2000, pp. 17f.
223. ^ Harris 1993, pp. 285.
224. ^ Wawn 2000, pp. 18.
225. ^ Peringskiöld 1719.
226. ^ Jorgensen 2017, pp. 15.
227. ^ Kruse 2009, p. 13.
228. ^ Wawn 2000, pp. 26.
229. ^ Wawn 2000, pp. 18f.
230. ^ Müller 2009, pp. 179–180.
231. ^ Heinzle 1999, p. 197.
232. ^ Müller 2009, p. 181.
233. ^ ^{a b} Heinzle 1999, p. 198.
234. ^ Wawn 2000, p. 24.
235. ^ Bluhm 2004, p. 9.
236. ^ Bluhm 2004, pp. 11–12, 15.
237. ^ Larrington 2007, p. 24.
238. ^ Harris 2012, pp. 263–264.
239. ^ Guðmundsdóttir 2016, p. 6.
240. ^ Frantzen 2006, pp. 174–175.
241. ^ ^{a b} D'Arcy & Wolf 1987, p. 31.
242. ^ D'Arcy & Wolf 1987, p. 30.
243. ^ ^{a b} Teichert 2008, p. 175.
244. ^ Schmidt 2001, pp. 159–166.
245. ^ Teichert 2008, p. 177.
246. ^ Spray 2017, p. 20.
247. ^ Spray 2017, p. 24.
248. ^ Spray 2017, p. 33.
249. ^ Spray 2017, p. 25f.
250. ^ Heinzle 1999, pp. 198–199.
251. ^ Lienert 2015, p. 32.
252. ^ Felce 2018, pp. 1–26.
253. ^ Teichert 2008, p. 223.
254. ^ Hoffmann 1981, p. 29.
255. ^ Böldl 2000, pp. 269–277.
256. ^ Gentry et al. 2011, p. 222.
257. ^ Teichert 2008, pp. 275, 317.
258. ^ Teichert 2008, pp. 351–352.
259. ^ Teichert 2008, p. 352.
260. ^ Schumacher 2017, pp. 42–43.
261. ^ ^{a b c} Müller 2009, p. 183.
262. ^ Müller 2009, pp. 183–184.
263. ^ Teichert 2008, p. 379.
264. ^ Teichert 2008, p. 386.
265. ^ "The Life and Works for JRR Tolkien". BBC. 7 February 2002. Archived from the original on 1 November 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
266. ^ Carpenter & Tolkien 1981, Letters #45.
267. ^ Shippey 2005, p. 389.
268. ^ Carpenter & Tolkien 1981, Letters #1..
269. ^ Tom Shippey: Review of The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, January 2010, Tolkien Studies 7(1):291-324 Archived 2021-03-05 at the Wayback Machine DOI: 10.1353/tks.0.0080
270. ^ ^{a b} Ballif Straubhaar 2007, pp. 254ff.
271. ^ Rateliff 2020, p. 124.
272. ^ Simek 2005, pp. 165, 173.
273. ^ Fox 2020, p. 255.
274. ^ Teichert 2008, pp. 394–395.
275. ^ Teichert 2008, pp. 395–396.

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