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This project collects Geni profiles for characters in the Nibelungenlied.
The Nibelungenlied (Middle High German: Der Nibelunge liet or Der Nibelunge nôt), translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem from around 1200 written in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The Nibelungenlied is based on an oral tradition that has some of its origin in historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries and that spread throughout almost all of Germanic-speaking Europe. Parallels to the German poem from Scandinavia are found especially in the heroic lays of the Poetic Edda and the Völsunga saga.
- Wikipedia: Nibelungenlied.
Background
The Nibelungenlied is just one piece of a heroic legend widespread in the Germanic and Scandinavian regions, which has been handed down for centuries in many different versions. Other pieces include Guðrúnarkviða II (11th century eddic poem), Waltherius (10th century Latin poem), Grípisspá (12th or 13th century eddic poem), Hyndluljóð (12th century eddic poem), Atlakviða (in Poetic Edda, 13th century), Atlamál (in Poetic Edda, 13th century), Brot af Sigurðarkviðu (in Poetic Edda, 13th century), Guðrúnarhvöt (in Poetic Edda, 13th century), Hamðismál (in Poetic Edda, 13th century), Hversu Noregr byggðist (14th century), Sigurðarkviða hin skamma (in Poetic Edda 13th century), Skáldskaparmál (in Prose Edda, 13th century), Thidrekssaga (13th century Norse saga), Völsunga saga (13th century Norse saga), and Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrit (16th century ballad).
Characters
- Brunhild (Norse: Brynhildr), queen of Iceland, wife of Gunther.
- Dancrat (Elsewhere: Gebicca; Norse: Gjuki), king of Burgundy; husband of Uote; father of Gunther, Gernot, Giselher, and Kriemhild.
- (Dietlind), daughter of Rudiger and Gotelind; wife of Giselher.
- Dietrich (Historic: Theoderic the Great), lord of the Amelungs; cousin of Gotelind on his father's side; engaged to Herrat.
- Etzel (Norse: Atli; Historic: Attila the Hun, husband of (1) Helche, and (2) Kriemhild; father of Ortlieb.
- Gernot, son of Dancrat and Uote; brother of Kriemhild, Gunther, Giselher, and perhaps Hagen
- Giselher, son of Dancrat and Uote; brother of Kriemhild, Gunther, Gernot, and perhaps Hagen; husband of (Dietlind).
- Gotelind, wife of Rudiger; mother of (Dietlind); cousin of Dietrich on his father's side.
- Gunther (Old Norse Gunnarr), king of the Burgundians; son of Dancrat and Uote; brother of Kriemhild, Gernot, Giselher, and perhaps Hagen; husband of Brunhild.
- Hagen of Tronje (Norse: Högni), brother or half-brother of Gunther. In Thidreks saga, Hagen was Gunnar's half-brother, fathered by an elf on Uote when Gebicca was away.
- Helche (Thidrekssaga: Erkia), wife of Etzel; maternal aunt of Herrat.
- Herrat, daughter of Nantwin; engaged to Dietrich.
- Hiordis (Norse: Sieglind), wife of Siegmund; mother of Siegfried.
- Kriemhild (Norse: Gudrun), daughter of Dancrat and Uote; sister of Gunther, Gernot, Giselher, and perhaps Hagen; wife of (1) Siegfried, and (2) Etzel; mother of Sigmund and Ortlieb.
- Nantwin, father of Herrat.
- Ortlieb, son of Etzel and Kriemhild.
- Pilgrim, bishop of Passau; brother of Uote.
- Rudiger, husband of Gotelind; father of (Dietlind).
- Siegfried (Norse: Sigurd), son of Sigmund and Hiordis; husband of Kriemhild.
- Siegmund, husband of Hiordis; father of Siegfried.
- Uote (Norse: Grimhild), wife of Dancrat; mother of Gunther, Gernot, Giselher, Kriemhild, and perhaps Hagen.
Resources
- Wikipedia: Nibelung English
- Wikipedia: Nibelungensage German