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Dietrich von Bern as a Literary Symbol

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

George Fenwick Jones
George Fenwick Jones*
Affiliation:
Princeton University, Princeton, N. J.
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Extract

During the wedding feast in Heinrich Wittenwiler's Ring* one of the peasants notices how quickly the food is disappearing; so

      Er wolt eim fresser legen ab
      Und sprach: “Her Guggoch ist ein man,
      Der selber lieder tichten chan
      Von Dietreichen dem Perner.“

Tricked by the flattery, Guggoch sings a popular song about the great Gothic emperor while the others greedily devour the food. The purpose of this essay is to explain why Wittenwiler chose this particular song for his peasant bard.

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Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 67 , Issue 7 , December 1952, pp. 1094 - 1102
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1952

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References

Notes

* Being primarily documentation, notes appear at the end of the article.—G.F.J.

1 Heinrich Wittenwilers Ring, ed. E. Wiessner (Leipzig, 1931), vv. 5920 ff.

2 MGH, SS, iii, 31, vv. 17 ff. On the title page of Book i (Theoderich) of Ein Kampf um Rom, Felix Dahn quotes another version of this saying: “Dietericus de Berne, de quo cantant rustici usque hodie.”

3 H. Lorens, “Das Zeugniss für die deutsche Heldensage,” Germania, xxxi (1886), 145 ff.

4 Ed. L. Ettmüller, Mittheilungen der antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Zürich, ii (1884), 50, vv. 10 ff.

5 Die Chroniken der deutschen Städie (Leipzig, 1862 ff.), viii, 376, v. 31; see also p. 879, v. 26. This work served as a model for many later writers. For their treatment of this passage, see O. Jänicke, “Zeugnisse und Excurse zur deutschen Heldensage,” ZfdA, xv (1872), 318, 320.

6 K. Müllenhoff, “Zeugnisse und Excurse zur deutschen Heldensage,” ZfdA, xii (1865), 372.

7 Cited, together with similar passages from an unnamed 15th-century chronicle, in W. Grimm, Die deutsche Heldensage, 3rd ed. by R. Steig (Gütersloh, 1889), p. 324.

8 W. Gimm, Die deutsche Heldensage (Berlin, 1867), p. 288; see 3rd ed., pp. 313, 324. Grimm, Müllenhoff, and Jänicke, include many of the following references, mostly from MSS. or editions now difficult to obtain.

9 Theoderici de Nyem, De Schismate, ed. G. Erler (Leipzig, 1890), p. 220.

10 Müllenhoff, p. 373.

11 Jansen Enikels Weltchronik, v. 16, 297, and Fürstenbuch, v. 3605, vv. 3610 ff. (MGH, DC, iii); Gotfrid Hagens Boich van der stede Colne (Chr. d. d. Städte, xii, 127, v. 3685; 157, v. 4757; 164, v. 5007; 183, v. 5689). Ottokars Österreichische Reimchronik (MGH, DC, v), 131, vv. 9,889 ff.; 16,597 ff.; 29,994 ff.; 57,041 ff.

12 A. Socin, Mittelhochdeulsches Namenbuch (Basel, 1903), pp. 566, 572. See other examples in L. Uhland, “Zur schwäbischen Sagenkunde,” Germania, i (1856), 312 ff.

13 Rudolf von Ems Alexander, ed. V. Junk (Leipzig, 1929), BLVS (cclxxiv, vv. 20,665 ff.

14 Der Marner, ed. P. Strauch (Strassburg, 1876), Quellen und Forschungen, xiv, 125, v. 263. A riddle attributed to the Marner uses “Ecke” and “Dieterich” as models of strength. (K. Bartsch, Meisterlieder der Kolmarer Handschrift [Stuttgart, 1862], BLVS lxviii, 440, v. 32.)

15 Der Renner von Hugo von Trimberg, ed. G. Ehrismann (Tübingen, 1908 ff.), v. 16,184.

16 Uhland, p. 327.

17 Note that the Hildebrandslied and the Waltharius were both recorded by clergymen. According to C. Erdman (ZfdA, lxxiv [1937], 116), Bishop Gunther of Bamberg not only collected, but probably wrote, songs about Theoderic. See also G. Zink, Les Légendes Héroïques de Dietrich et d'Ermrich (Lyons, 1950), p. 263.

18 O. Erdmann, Otfrieds Evangelienbuch (Halle, 1882), p. 4, vv. 5 ff.

19 G. Ehrismann (Geschichle der deutschen Literatur, München, 1932, i, 184) assumes he is referring to epics about Theoderic and other such heroes, but this is not mentioned in the letter.

20 G. Baesecke, Vor- und Friihgeschichte des deutschen Schrifttums (Halle, 1940), i, 358.

21 Ehrismann, I, 93. A Raszmann (Die deutsche Heldensage und ihre Heimat, Hannover, 1863, ii, xxi) tells how Louis the Pious refused even to read such books. He assumes that they were about Theoderic.

22 Müllenhoff, p. 374.

23 Grimm (1st ed.), p. 305. Cf. Müllenhoff, p. 430.

24 W. Braune, Althochdeuisches Lesebuch (Halle, 1888), p. 54, v. 24.

26 Quedlinburg Annalen (MGH, SS, m), p. 31, vv. 30 ff. Kaiserchronik, ed. H. Massmann (Quedlinburg and Leipzig, 1849), vv. 14,161 ff.; Eike von Repgaus Sachsische Chronik (MGH, DC, ii), p. 134, vv. 30 ff.; Österreichische Chronik von den 95 Herrschaften (MGH, DC, vi), pp. 69, vv. 4 ff., 70, v. 12; Closener's Strassburg chronicle (Chr. d. d. Städte, viii), p. 31, vv. 22 ff.; Königshofen's Alsatian chronicle (ibid., p. 380, vv. 9 ff.); Rothe's Duringische Chronik, ed. R. von Liliencron (Jena, 1859), p. 139; etc.

25 Raszmann, ii, 656.

27 Cf. Ring, vv. 5929-30 with Eckenlied, v.2, 1 (Deutsches Heldenbuch, ed. J. Zupitza, Berlin, 1870, v, 219).

28 Otto of Freising (Ottonis Episcopi Frisingensis Chronica, ed. A. Hofmeister [Hannover, 1912], p. 232), “Arrianus”; Zurich yearbook (Ettmüller, 50), v. 15: “ain unglouben wider die cristenhait,” v. 16: “boes unglöubig folk,” v. 21: “kezer an dem glouben,” v. 24: “ain hert uncristen man,” v. 26: “den cristânliuten nit holt”; Königshofen (Chr. d. d. Städte, vm, 379, v. 23), “ketzer am glouben”; Closener (ibid., p. 31, v. 17), “ketzer an dem glouben”; Roth (Liliencron, p. 139), “eyn grosser ketzer”; Heinrich von Münchens Weltchronik, ed. P. Gichtel (München, 1937), p. 43, “uebel man” and “chetzer.”

29 Kaiserchronik, vv. 14,190 ff.; Sachsische Chronik (MGH, DC, ii, 134, vv. 32 ff.);. Otto of Freising (Hofmeister, p. 232); Felix Hemmerlin (Jänicke, p. 325); Closener (Chr. d. d. Städte, viii, 31, v. 27). This legend is the basis of Giosuè Carducci's La Legenda di Teodorico, which was inspired by a bas-relief on the Basilica of Verona (Antología Carducciana, ed. G. Mazzoni and G. Picciola, Bologna, 1912, pp. 110 ff.).

30 Grimm (1st ed.), p. 50.

31 H. Schneider, Germanische Heldensage (Berlin and Leipzig, 1928), i, 278 ff.

32 Baesecke, pp. 93, 128; 9.

33 Erdmann, p. 13, vv. 33 ff.

34 Baesecke, pp. 340; 356.

35 According to C. Baier, the 12th-century poet Stricker probably used the word gebûr in the sense of an ‘uneducated layman’ (Der Bauer in der Diehtung des Strickers, Tübingen, 1938, p. 59).

36 Baesecke, p. 340.

37 Müllenhoff, p. 430.

38 Des Teufels Netz, ed. K. Barack (Stuttgart, 1863), BLVS, lxx, vv.11,759 ff. Note that Ecke kills Theoderic, instead of vice versa.

39 Die Geschichte des Pfarrers vom Kahlenberg, in Narrenbuch, ed. F. Bobertag (Berlin and Stuttgart, 1884), DNL, xi, vv.514 ff.

40 Müllenhoff, pp. 430 ff.

41 MGH, SS, vi, 130, v.31 ff.

42 Hofmeister, p. 232.

43 Sächsische Chronik (MGH, DC, ii, 135, v.1). The Eckenlied was often parodied in Lügensprüche, e.g., in Suchenwirt's “ein maus ein leben sluog zu tot, zu Tirol in dem Walde” (Uhland, p. 328).

44 Grimm (1st ed.), p. 206. Cf. p. 207.

45 Many of these are listed in Ersch and Gruber, Encyklopädie (ed. 1834), xxv, 104.

46 Chr. d. d. Städie, viii, 380, vv.23 ff. For a similar passage, see Grimm (3rd ed.), p. 324.

47 Müllenhoff, p. 422.

48 Ibid., p. 373. Cf. “vulgari fabulatione et cantilenarum modulatione” (MGH, SS, vi, 130, v.35).

49 Chr. d. d. Städte, xiii, 383, vv.26 ff.

50 “ … nec pro veritate recitantur a prudentibus” (Uhland, p. 335).

51 Müllenhoff, p. 376. Luther's contemporary, Sebastian Munster, wrote: “Von disem Dietrich sagt man vil, dz doch in den warhafftigen historien kein grundt hat” (Jänicke, p. 326).

52 Strauch, p. 125, v.270.

53 Uhland, p. 327.

54 K. Bartsch, Deutsche Liederdichter des swölften bis vierzehnten Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1910), p. 285, vv.95 ff.

55 For instances of lyre in the Neidhart Songs and Hans Sachs, see DWb, vi, 686, 1.

56 Das Schachzabelbuch Kunrats von Ammenhausen, ed. F. Vetter (Frauenfeld, 1887), v.19, 233.

57 Cf. “Wie Egg Dietrichen sluog / und metz Hilgart zog den pfluog” with “Dô Egge Dieterichen vant, / Irmengart dü rief zehant…” The same verses from the Eckenlied are alluded to in Enikel's Weltchronik, vv. 3611 ff. (MGH, DC, iii).

58 For village songs in the Ring, see vv. 6267 ff., 6333 ff., 6436 ff.

59 Ring, vv. 32 ff., 4862 ff.

60 Friederich Dedekinds Grobianus, verdeutscht von Kaspar Scheidt, ed. G. Milchsack (Halle 1882), NDL, xxxiv, vv.2259 ff.

61 W. Streitberg, Gotisches Elementarbuch (Heidelberg, 1920), p. 37.

62 Baesecke, pp. 94, 128.

63 Cf. Renner, vv.10,345, 10,348; Ring, vv. 5920 ff., 5991 ff.; Grobianus, vv.2239, 2259.