What is the Nibelungenlied?
Q: What is the Nibelungenlied?
A: The Nibelungenlied is an epic poem in Middle High German that tells the story of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, and of the revenge of his wife Kriemhild.
Q: What does "Nibelung" mean?
A: Nibelung in this context means "dwarf".
Q: How was it originally passed down?
A: The Nibelungenlied was part of oral tradition, meaning it usually was not written down. During the Middle Ages people started to write down stories more and more.
Q: How many sources are there for this story?
A: There are about 35 German sources and one Dutch source for the story.
Q: What happened to the original manuscript?
A: The original manuscript has been lost.
Q: What are A, B, and C manuscripts?
A: A, B, and C manuscripts are three oldest manuscripts which have been labelled A, B, and C respectively - Hohenems-Munich manuscript (last quarter 13th century), St.Gallen manuscript (mid-thirteenth century) and Donaueschlingen manuscript (second quarter 13th century).
Q: How do these manuscripts differ from each other?
A:Manuscript B seems to be closest to the original; however, the real relation between them is unknown. Manuscripts A and B end with daz ist der Nibelunge not (that is the fall of the Nibelungs); for this reasons they are known as Not versions while Manuscript C ends with daz ist der Nibelunge liet (English : that is song/epic oftheNibeleungs)andisknownasLiedversion .In total ,C text has been edited with regard to publicof time .Itis less dramatic which probably madeitmore popular aestheticallyBtextwouldhavebeen greatest artistic achievementfor contemporarypublic .
