Dietrichsage

Dietrichsage, the forms in which the story of the historic 5th-6th-c. Theodoric the Great remained current in Germanic lands in the Middle Ages. They represent a considerable distortion of history, and have become entwined with the story of the Nibelungen. Theodoric is usually called Dietrich von Bern (i.e. of Verona). Dietrich, in the legend, is an Amelung by descent (hence Amelungensage), his father is Dietmar (historically Theodemir). Dietrich's principal thane is Hildebrand, his opponent Ermenrich (only the Hildebrandslied mentions the true antagonist Odoacer, whom Theodoric put to death). Ermenrich drives Dietrich from his realm, and is successful in defeating him at the battle of Ravenna (Rabenschlacht). Dietrich returns to his country, after thirty years' exile, on the death of Ermenrich. The historical Ermenrich lived in the 4th c., and Attila (Etzel), with whom Dietrich is connected in the legend, was dead before Dietrich was born. The best-known works connected with this legend are the Hildebrandslied and the Nibelungenlied, but there are numerous others: Ortnit, Wolfdietrich, Biterolf und Dietleib, Walther und Hildegund, Rosengarten, Dietrichs Flucht, Die Rabenschlacht, Alpharts Tod, Virginal, Sigenot, the Eckenlied, Goldemar, Laurin, Der Wunderer, Dietrich und Wenezlan, and the Jüngeres Hildebrandslied. The story of Dietrich in its folk form is most fully told in the Norwegian Thidreksaga (c.1250), which is based on German oral tradition, and is also concerned with the story of the Nibelungs.