[gothic-l] Re: Danparstadir - Reidgotaland

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

>
> I am not all that familiar with the Hildebrandslied.
> Was that the song about "Hadubrand u. Hildibrand"?
> Isn't that only a fragment? How do you know it is distorted?
>

Hi Keths,

yes, the Hildebrandlied is the oldest Germanic heroic poetry that
survived. It is only a fragment in that the end is missing in the
earliest manuscript. But it survived completely in other later
manuscripts that were written in the following centuries so that we
know the outcome (although some version report a completely different
outcome!).

It reports about a warrior who fought with Theoderic against Odoacer.
Interestinly the Hildebrandlied tells that Odoacer was victorious and
that Theoderic had to flee to the East and spend many (30?) years
there. The Hildebrandlied also brings in the Huns and reports that
Hildebrand had once received a golden bracelet from the king of the
Huns. If this was supposed to be Attila or one of his sons we have
another impossibility, because that would have made Hildebrand far too
old.

The Hildebrandlied starts with "Ik gihorta dat seggen ...", i.e. "I
heard them say...", which makes it clear that the story was passed on
(and distorted) from mouht to mouth.

The same is true for the Nibelungenlied. It also start by reporting
that "Uns ist in alten maeren wunders vil geseit ....", i.e. "
wonderous things have been told in old tales...".

Especially the Nibelungenlied incorporates historical characters of
 several centuries, e.g. Gunther/Gundahar (Burgundian king at Worms in
the 5th century), Brunhilde (Visigothic/Frankish princess in the 6th
century), Gero (Saxon Markgraf in the 9th century or so), Eckehard
(Saxon Markgraf in the 10th century or so) and Siegfried is even
thought to incorporate some memory of Arminius of the 1st century
(although this is rather doubtful).


cheers,

Dirk




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