Die Haimonskinder

Haimonskinder, Die, a legend of French origin in which the four sons of Count Haimon of Dordogne fight against Charlemagne (see Karl I, der Grosse); they are Adelhart, Ritsart, Witsart, and Rainalt. The story began as a chanson de geste, was translated into Flemish, and, in the 15th c., from Flemish into Middle High German under the title Reinolt (or Reinalt) von Montalban. In the 16th c. the Haimonskinder was translated three times from the Flemish and published as a printed book, first in 1531, then in 1535; in 1604 it appeared as the well-known Volksbuch Von den vier Haimonskindern. The author of this version was Paul van der Aelst. It was included by L. Tieck in Volksmärchen herausgegeben von Peter Leberecht (1797); it was retold in the 19th c. by O. Marbach (1838), K. Simrock (1845), and G. Schwab (1859). The 1535 edition was reprinted in 1989 (ed. W. Wunderlich).