The Nibelungenlied the Lay of the Nibelungs
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oxford world’s classics THE NIBELUNGENLIED Written down by an anonymous poet c.1200, the Nibelungenlied (Lay of the Nibelungs) is the greatest medieval German heroic poem, a revenge saga on an epic scale, which has justly been compared with Homer and with the Old Icelandic Saga of Burnt Njal. Its origins reach back into the fifth century; it underwent a long genesis in the form of oral poetry before taking on written form. It proved hugely popular in the Middle Ages, with some forty manuscripts and fragments surviving. In the sixteenth century it disappeared from sight for 200 years. The poem grew to become central to the nationalist thinking of the Romantics, and in the twentieth century was appropriated by Nazi propagandists. The Nibelungenlied was a central inspiration for Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle and Fritz Lang’s two-part silent film, Siegfried’s Death and Kriemhild’s Revenge. Cyril Edwards is a Senior Research Fellow of Oxford University’s Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, and an Honorary Research Fellow of University College London. He is the author of The Beginnings of German Literature (Rochester, NY, 2002) and numerous articles on medieval love-lyrics, Old High German, and the supernatural. His translations include Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival and Titurel (Oxford World’s Classics, 2006) and Hartmann von Aue’s Iwein or The Knight with the Lion (Cambridge, 2007). oxford world’s classics For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics have brought readers closer to the world’s great literature. Now with over 700 titles — from the 4,000-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century’s greatest novels — the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing. The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy, and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers. OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS The Nibelungenlied The Lay of the Nibelungs Translated with an Introduction and Notes by CYRIL EDWARDS 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Cyril Edwards 2010 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Nibelungenlied. English. The Nibelungenlied: the Lay of the Nibelungs / translated with an introduction and notes by Cyril Edwards. p. cm. — (Oxford World's Classics) Written down by an anonymous poet c.1200. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-19-923854-5 (pbk.: acid-free paper) 1. Epic poetry, German—Translations into English. 2. Nibelungen—Poetry. I. Edwards, Cyril W. II. Title. III. Title: Lay of the Nibelungs. PT1579.A3E38 2010 831'.21—dc22 2009024520 Typeset by Glyph International, Bangalore, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc ISBN 978-0-19-923854-5 13579108642 For Kate, most indefatigable of readers, and in memory of George T. Gillespie and David R. McLintock This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my editor at Oxford World’s Classics, Judith Luna, for permitting me to take on this task, which has, on the whole, been enormous fun. As an undergraduate, I was weaned on the 1965 Penguin Classics translation of the Nibelungenlied by Arthur Hatto, and I am grateful for the assistance his version, and that of D. G. Mowatt (Everyman’s Library, 1962), have provided. Undertaking such tasks, I have always felt the need to consult both colleagues and lay readers, to ensure both reliability and readability. I am most grateful to those I list below, but particularly to Kate Douglas. This is the third translation with which she has helped me, and there is no limit to her acuity. Other readers who helped were Katy Beebe, Jeff Ashcroft, Jennifer Hall, and Christine Ward. Heather Birt gave valuable advice on fiddling. Hauke Fill helped with Danubian place-names. Peter Drexler made available to me several film versions of the Nibelungenlied. Stewart Spencer wrote the section on Richard Wagner. Carolyne Larrington helped me through the Eddic morass. Paul Fouracre and Helena Carr guided me through the equally morassic Merovingian material. Kurt Gärtner assisted with Middle High German lexis. Karen Pratt made available to me Schlauch’s translation of The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok — a rare book indeed. Frank Lamport helped me through his knowledge of Hebbel, and my colleague Kevin Hilliard with the eighteenth-century reception of the lay. Christine Glassner kept me abreast of recently found fragments of the Nibelungenlied and showed me the beautiful Melk fragments. Peter Christian and Rupert Wilson almost overcame my incompetence with computers, as I made my way up and through these thirty-nine steps. Two reference books in particular have been of great assistance: David Dalby’s Dictionary of the Mediæval German Hunt (Berlin, 1965) and George Gillespie’s Catalogue of Persons Named in German Heroic Literature (Oxford, 1973). Finally I would like to thank my tutors who introduced me to the text, both now deceased, Ruth Harvey and Peter Ganz. All errors are, as the cliché would have it, mine alone. This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Introduction xi Note on the Text and Translation xxx Select Bibliography xxxii Chronology xxxv THE NIBELUNGENLIED 1 Appendix I: History and Legend 215 Appendix II: The Nordic Sources and the Problem of Genesis 218 Appendix III: The Metre of the Nibelungenlied 223 Explanatory Notes 227 Glossary of People and Places 240 A map of the Nibelungenlied 245 All Mankinde is of one Author, and is in one volume; when one Man dies, one Chapter is not torne out of the booke, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God emploies several translators; some peeces are translated by age, some by sicknesse, some by warre, some by justice; but Gods hand is in every translation; and his hand shall binde up all our scattered leaves againe, for that Librarie where every booke shall lie open to one another. (John Donne, Devotions VII) Being true to the author is all. (Naveed Chaudhri) INTRODUCTION Written down by an anonymous poet c.1200, the Nibelungenlied, to give it its commonly used Modern German title, is the greatest medieval German heroic poem or lay, a revenge saga on an epic scale, which has justly been compared with Homer and with the Old Icelandic Saga of Burnt Njal. It tells of the heroic dragon-slayer Sivrit’s wooing of the beautiful Kriemhilt and King Gunther’s wooing of the Amazon-like Queen Prünhilt. The brutal murder of Sivrit by the fierce anti-hero Hagen, and the vengeance wreaked by Kriemhilt are recounted in bloody detail. Its origins reach back into the fifth century; it underwent a long genesis in the form of oral poetry before taking on written form. The poem proved hugely popular in the Middle Ages, with some forty manuscripts and fragments surviving. The latest of these is the Ambraser Heldenbuch, a huge two-volume compilation of romances and epics, now in the Austrian National Library, which was compiled between 1504 and 1516 for the emperor Maximilian I. After this last late medieval recording of the text the lay disappeared from sight almost entirely for 200 years. Rediscovered in 1755, the Nibelungenlied then became central to the nationalist thinking of the Romantics, coming to be regarded, anachronistically, as the ‘national epic’ of the Germans. This nationalistic abuse of the text culminated in its popularity in the Third Reich. The Lay of the Nibelungs was a central inspiration behind Richard Wagner’s monumental Ring cycle. Its greatest cinematic treatment is Fritz Lang’s two-part silent film, Siegfried’s Death and Kriemhild’s Revenge (1922–4), one of the high points of Weimar cinema. The Poet and the Literary Context Half a century ago it was possible to write with some confidence of ‘the poet of the Nibelungenlied’, or the ‘Last Poet’, while accepting his anonymity and the fact that we know virtually nothing of his identity. Recent research has oscillated between accepting this older, monolithic view of a single author responsible for fashioning the epic as we know it, and acknowledging the debt that the lay owes to oral poetry.