Die Zagheit Dietrichs von Bern (German Edition)

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Witige, however, is afraid, and flees Dietrich by riding his horse Schemming into the sea, where he is rescued by the sea-spirit Wachilt identified by the Thidrekssaga as his great grandmother. She tells him that Dietrich was so hot with anger that his armor was soft, and Witige could have easily defeated him. Now, however, the armor had hardened, and thirty Witiges could not defeat Dietrich.

Meaning of "Zagheit" in the German dictionary

Dietrich meanwhile mourns on the shore. The general outline of the story told in Die Rabenschlacht, about the death of Etzel and Herche's sons, is often considered to be one of the oldest components of the legends around Theoderic. Alternate versions are found in the Heldenbuchprosa and the Thidrekssaga. Historically, it may be based on the death of Attila's son and successor Ellac at the Battle of Nedao. Theoderic's father Theodemar is thought to have fought in this battle. Witige's character is sometimes thought to have been influenced by Witigis , a Gothic king and usurper who surrendered Ravenna to the Byzantine army.

Diether is similarly thought to have a connection to the historical Theodahad , whom Witigis betrayed, usurping the Ostrogothic throne. Alphart, a young hero in Dietrich's army fighting the Battle of Ravenna, goes out to fight single-handed with Witege and Heime , who had deserted to Ermenrich, and he falls, not in fair battle, but by the treachery of Witege whose life he had spared. Alphart is said to have died twice in Dietrichs Flucht see Homeric nod and was especially mourned by Dietrich in both that poem and Die Rabenschlacht.

Heinzle states that the tale may either be very old, or may have been extrapolated from the character in Dietrichs Flucht , creating a more elaborate version of his death combining the role of Witige in Die Rabenschlacht the killer of a youth with Alphart's much lamented death in Dietrichs Flucht. In the Nibelungenlied , Witige is also said to have slain the young Nuodung. Dietrich und Wenezlan has only survived in a single, incomplete and fragmentary version of about rhyming couplets.

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Initially, Dietrich seems reluctant, but when Wolfhart grows angry and accuses Dietrich of cowardice, saying that if Dietrich refuses Wenezlan will attack Etzel with an army, Dietrich says he had been joking and of course would fight to free his vassals. There is then a lacuna. The combat between Dietrich and Wenezlan begins in between their two armies and in the company of courtly ladies.

When they have dehorsed each other, they fight on foot all day. The fragment ends before a conclusion is reached. The poem only loosely fits into the category of "historical Dietrich poems," with the single combat being more reminiscent of the fantastical poems. Dietrich's initial refusal to fight and the accusation of cowardice zagheit also has more in common with the fantastical poems, where this is a frequent occurrence.

His admission that he was merely playing a joke may be a game played by the author. The majority of preserved narratives about Dietrich are fantastical in nature, involving battles against mythical beings and other heroes. They are generally regarded as containing newer material than the historical poems, though, as the Old English Waldere's references show, Dietrich was already associated with monsters at an early date.

Many of the poems show a close connect to the Tyrol , and connections between them and Tyrolean folklore are often speculated upon, even in cases where the text itself clearly originated in a different German speaking area. Most of the poems seem to take place prior to Dietrich's exile, with Witige and Heime still members of Dietrich's entourage, though not all: Different exemplars of the fantastical poems often show a huge degree of variation from each other Germ.

Fassungsdivergenz , a trait not found in the historical poems. Most fantastical poems have at least two versions containing substantial differences in the narrative, including inserting or removing entire episodes or altering the motivation of characters, etc. Older scholarship generally attempted to reconstruct the "original" version of the poems. Newer scholarship focuses on why such differences might arise and has generally given up on constructing an authorial version. These texts remained popular into the 16th century, unlike the historical poems, being included in some of the first printed books in the German language see Heldenbuch.

The Eckenlied exists in three principal versions, of which two are complete. It is of the first poems about Dietrich to be partially written down: The oldest nearly complete version is the Landsberger Eckenlied, which is missing its ending. The two additional complete versions are transmitted from the midth century but traceable to sources in the 14th century , one in the Dresdner Heldebuch, and one in a printed edition: The poem begins with a conversion between three giants: Ecke, Fasold , and Ebenrot.

Ecke proclaims that Dietrich von Bern is praised by everyone, while Ecke, despite having performed heroic deeds, is completely unknown. Ebenrot counters that Dietrich's reputation is a lie: Fasold intervenes and says that Ebenrot is wrong: Dietrich slew Hilde and Grim because the giants would otherwise have killed him. Ecke decides to agree with Fasold. Meanwhile, three queens are on the mountain of Jochgrimm: To encourage Ecke not to kill Dietrich, Seburg gives Ecke a sword and armor hardened in dragon blood.

It is the same armor that Emperor Ortnit wore when he rode out to fight dragons: Ortnit fell into a magic sleep, however, and was dragged away by a dragoness to her brood, which sucked his flesh out through the invincible armor. It was then recovered by Wolfdietrich , who killed the dragons, but himself had to go to a monastery to repent for his sins, being tortured by demons.

From there Seburg got the armor. She tries to convince Ecke to take a horse, but he refuses. Ecke travels to Verona, but is directed to Tyrol. After coming upon a man mortally wounded by Dietrich, Hilferich von Lunders possibly Londres, i. Lotharingia , he finally encounters Dietrich himself, and challenges him to combat. Dietrich refuses, saying Ecke has done him no wrong, and Ecke accuses him of cowardice zagheit.

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At this Dietrich agrees to fight. Ecke and Dietrich fight for a long time, and Ecke tries to force Dietrich to surrender, but Dietrich refuses. Finally, Dietrich gains the upper hand, but Ecke also refuses to surrender. Due to Ecke's invincible armor, Dietrich is forced to stab the giant dishonorably through a gap in his armor. He then mourns Ecke at some length. Ecke asks Dietrich to cut off his head and bring it to Seburg, which he does. He then puts on the giant's armor and takes his sword.

In the Landsberger version, a nymph named Vrou Babehilt binds his wounds. After recovering some from his wounds, Dietrich encounters a woman running through the forest. She is being hunted by Fasold, who rides up and demands to know why Dietrich is interfering with his hunt.

Fasold is described as having two long braided locks that hang down to his waist and which are woven in with iron. The giant decides not to fight the still gravely wounded Dietrich, apparently not recognizing his brother's armor or seeing Ecke's head. Dietrich falls asleep while the maiden watches. However, Fasold changes his mind and returns in the night — the maiden is barely able to rouse Dietrich before Fasold appears with his hounds.

The two fight, and Dietrich overcomes Fasold by cutting off his braided locks, and the giant surrenders. However, he then recognizes his brother's armor and Dietrich admits to having killed Ecke, and the two fight once more. Dietrich accuses Fasold of fighting with the strength of two men, saying Ecke's spirit has entered the giant, at which Fasold counters that Diether's spirit must have entered Dietrich, he is so strong.

At the memory of Witige's treachery, Dietrich is enraged and finally overcomes Fasold, sparing him only at the insistence of the maiden. At this point the three texts diverge — in all, Fasold treacherously leads Dietrich to members of his family in hopes that they will kill him, taking him to the giant Eckenot whose name Gillespie suggests may be a corruption of Ebenrot or vice versa and then to two or three giantesses, variously Ecke's mother, aunt, or sisters. Dietrich finally kills Fasold.

In the Dresdner version, he then rides into Jochgrimm and throws the head of Ecke at the feet of Seburg, saying that she is the cause of Ecke's pointless death. In the printed edition, Seburg reveals that she sent Ecke to his death deliberately, since he and his brothers were going to force them into marriage. It also mentions that, with Ecke's sword Dietrich later slew Odoacer when called upon to do so by Emperor Zeno. The poem is often interpreted, based on the last line of the printed edition, as an explanation of the name of Dietrich's sword, Ecke sachs.

This originally meant "sword with a sharp edge", but when ecke took on the meaning it has in modern German corner , the name was reinterpreted as meaning "the sword of Ecke". The name Eckesachs never appears in the text however, though the sword is referred to as "Hern Ecken sachs" Sir Ecke's sword. Eckesachs was apparently famous enough to be referenced in Heinrich von Veldeke 's Eneis, which predates the Eckenlied. Based on folkloric evidence, 19th-century scholarship believed that the three queens on Jochgrimm represented three witches who caused storms from that mountain in Tyrolian folklore, as evidenced by a 17th-century prayer to the witches to cause "ffasolt" to send storms far away.

Fasold would thus be a wind-demon. This interpretation is complicated by apparent similarities between the poem and the French late Arthurian romance Le Chevalier du Papagau, where Arthur fights a giant whose lack of horse is similarly emphasized to that of Ecke. Heinzle calls into question both the connection to the wind-demon prayer and the connection to the French text.

Evidence for an oral version of the tale might be provided by the Ekka episode of the Thidrekssaga, which differs in crucial details in both its treatment of Ecke and Fasold. Additionally, a fragmentary text known as "Dietrich und Fasold" exists, which appears to match neither the meter nor the content of the Eckenlied.

Despite this, Heinzle doubts the existence of an earlier, oral version. Only the first nine stanzas of the Goldemar have survived: The introduction to the poem is a critique of the heroic genre, accusing it of praising brutality. Albrecht instead sets out to tell how Dietrich von Bern's love was awakened for a woman, Hertlin, whom he encounters held prisoner by the dwarf king Goldemar while setting off to fight the giant Trutmunt.

The text ends just after Dietrich addresses Goldemar, but from the Heldenbuchprosa we know that Dietrich defeats Goldemar and wins Hertlin as his first wife the prose explains that Hertlin dies, allowing Dietrich to marry Herrat. The Laurin was one of the most popular poems about Dietrich and is attested in numerous manuscripts and printed versions. It probably originates in the 12th century in Tyrol , and has four principle versions.

All of them, except the Dresdner Laurin which is written in stanzas, are written in rhyming couplets. At that point Dietrich walks in and is very angered by Hildebrand's private criticism. Hildebrand tells Dietrich where he can find such an adventure: He will fight any challenger who breaks the thread surrounding his rose garden.

Dietrich and Witige immediately set off to challenge Laurin; Hildebrand and Dietleib follow secretly behind. Upon seeing the beautiful rose-garden, Dietrich relents and decides that he does not want to harm anything so lovely. Witige, however, says that Laurin's pride must be punished, and not only breaks the thread, but tramples the entire rose garden. Almost immediately the dwarf Laurin, armed so wonderfully that Witige mistakes him for Michael the Archangel , appears, and demands the left foot and right hand of Witige as punishment for the destruction of the garden.

He fights and defeats Witige, but Dietrich then decides that he cannot allow his vassal to lose his limbs, and fights Laurin himself. Initially, Dietrich is losing, but Hildebrand arrives and tells Dietrich to steal the dwarf's cloak of invisibility and strength-granting belt, then fight him on foot the dwarf had been riding a deer-sized horse wrestling him to the ground. Laurin, now defeated, pleads for mercy, but Dietrich has become enraged and vows to kill the dwarf. Finally, Laurin turns to Dietleib, informing him he had kidnapped and married the hero's sister, so that he was now Dietleib's brother-in-law.

Dietleib hides the dwarf and prepares to fight Dietrich, but Hildebrand makes peace between them. Dietrich and Laurin are reconciled, and Laurin invites the heroes to his kingdom under the mountain. All are enthusiastic except Witige, who senses treachery. In the mountain they are well received, and Dietleib meets his sister.

She tells him she is being well treated and that Laurin has only one fault: She wants to leave. Meanwhile, Laurin, after a feast, confides to Dietleib's sister that he wishes to avenge himself on the heroes. She advises him to do so. Around 40 AD, the first Romans settled on the site and this small town on the left bank of the Rhine was probably first called Drusomagus and belonged to the Roman province of Raetia. The remains of the late Roman fortress Constantia were discovered in , around the first bishop took up residence in Konstanz and this marked the beginning of the citys importance as a spiritual centre.

By the late Middle Ages, about one quarter of Konstanzs 6, inhabitants were exempt from taxation on account of clerical rights, trade thrived during the Middle Ages. Konstanz owned the bridge in the region, which crossed the Rhine. Its linen production had made a name for the city.

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In to , the Council of Constance took place, during which, on 6 July , John Hus and it was here that the Papal Schism was ended and Pope Martin V was elected during the only conclave ever held north of the Alps. Ulrich von Richentals illustrated chronicle of the Council of Constance testifies to all the happenings during the Council as well as showing the everyday life of medieval Konstanz. Close by stands the Imperia, a statue that was erected in to satirically commemorate the Council, in , the Swiss Confederacy conquered Thurgau, Konstanzs natural hinterland.

In the Swabian War of , Konstanz lost its last privileges over Thurgau to the Confederation, the Protestant Reformation took hold in Konstanz in the s, headed by Ambrosius Blarer. Soon the city declared itself officially Protestant, pictures were removed from the churches, and the bishop moved to Meersburg. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving.

As Siegfried, he is one of the heroes in the German Nibelungenlied, as Sivard Snarensven he was the hero of several medieval Scandinavian ballads.

Sigmund dies in battle when he attacks Odin, and Odin shatters Sigmunds sword, dying, Sigmund tells Hiordis of her pregnancy and bequeaths the fragments of his sword to his unborn son. Hiordis marries King Alf, and then Alf decides to send Sigurd to Regin as a foster, Regin tempts Sigurd to greed and violence by first asking Sigurd if he has control over Sigmunds gold. When Sigurd says that Alf and his control the gold and will give him anything he desires. Sigurd replies that he is treated as an equal by the kings, then Regin asks Sigurd why he acts as stableboy to the kings and has no horse of his own.

Sigurd then goes to get a horse, an old man advises Sigurd on choice of horse. In this way Sigurd acquires Grani, a directly descended from Odins own horse. They take the pelt to the home of Hreidmar to display their catch. Woodcut — Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts.

Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print, the block is cut along the wood grain. The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with a roller, leaving ink upon the flat surface. Multiple colors can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks, single-leaf woodcut is a term for a woodcut presented as a single image or print, as opposed to a book illustration.

There were further specialists who made the blank blocks and this is why woodcuts are sometimes described by museums or books as designed by rather than by an artist, but most authorities do not use this distinction. The division of labour had the advantage that a trained artist could adapt to the medium relatively easily, there were various methods of transferring the artists drawn design onto the block for the cutter to follow. Either the drawing would be made directly onto the block, or a drawing on paper was glued to the block, either way, the artists drawing was destroyed during the cutting process.

Other methods were used, including tracing, in both Europe and the Far East in the early 20th century, some artists began to do the whole process themselves. Compared to intaglio techniques like etching and engraving, only low pressure is required to print, as a relief method, it is only necessary to ink the block and bring it into firm and even contact with the paper or cloth to achieve an acceptable print. In Europe a variety of woods including boxwood and several nut and fruit woods like pear or cherry were commonly used, in Japan, there are three methods of printing to consider, Stamping, Used for many fabrics and most early European woodcuts.

Used for European woodcuts and block-books later in the fifteenth century, also used for many Western woodcuts from about to the present. The block goes face up on a table, with the paper or fabric on top, the back is rubbed with a hard pad, a flat piece of wood, a burnisher, or a leather frotton. A traditional Japanese tool used for this is called a baren, later in Japan, complex wooden mechanisms were used to help hold the woodblock perfectly still and to apply proper pressure in the printing process.

This was especially helpful once multiple colors were introduced and had to be applied with precision atop previous ink layers, printing in a press, presses only seem to have been used in Asia in relatively recent times. Printing-presses were used from about for European prints and block-books, simple weighted presses may have been used in Europe before the print-press, but firm evidence is lacking. Illuminated manuscript — An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders and miniature illustrations.

Comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as painted, islamic manuscripts may be referred to as illuminated, illustrated or painted, though using essentially the same techniques as Western works. This article covers the technical, social and economic history of the subject, for an art-historical account, the earliest surviving substantive illuminated manuscripts are from the period to , produced in the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Roman Empire.

The significance of these works lies not only in their inherent artistic and historical value, had it not been for the monastic scribes of Late Antiquity, most literature of Greece and Rome would have perished in Europe. As it was, the patterns of textual survivals were shaped by their usefulness to the severely constricted literate group of Christians, the majority of surviving manuscripts are from the Middle Ages, although many survive from the Renaissance, along with a very limited number from Late Antiquity.

The majority of manuscripts are of a religious nature. However, especially from the 13th century onward, a number of secular texts were illuminated. Most illuminated manuscripts were created as codices, which had superseded scrolls, a very few illuminated manuscript fragments survive on papyrus, which does not last nearly as long as vellum or parchment.

Most medieval manuscripts, illuminated or not, were written on parchment, beginning in the late Middle Ages manuscripts began to be produced on paper. Illuminated manuscripts continued to be produced in the early 16th century, Manuscripts are among the most common items to survive from the Middle Ages, many thousands survive. They are also the best surviving specimens of medieval painting, indeed, for many areas and time periods, they are the only surviving examples of painting.

There are a few examples from later periods, the type of book that was most often heavily and richly illuminated, sometimes known as a display book, varied between periods. In the first millennium, these were most likely to be Gospel Books, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Romanesque period saw the creation of many huge illuminated complete Bibles — one in Sweden requires three librarians to lift it.

Many Psalters were also illuminated in both this and the Gothic period. Finally, the Book of Hours, very commonly the personal book of a wealthy layperson, was often richly illuminated in the Gothic period. Other books, both liturgical and not, continued to be illuminated at all periods, the Byzantine world also continued to produce manuscripts in its own style, versions of which spread to other Orthodox and Eastern Christian areas. See Medieval art for other regions, periods and types, reusing parchments by scraping the surface and reusing them was a common practice, the traces often left behind of the original text are known as palimpsests.

The Gothic period, which saw an increase in the production of these beautiful artifacts, also saw more secular works such as chronicles. Miniature illuminated manuscript — These include Persian miniatures, and their Mughal, Ottoman and other Indian offshoots. This article gives an art historical account of the miniature form, for the techniques involved in production, see illuminated manuscript.

The earliest extant miniatures are a series of colored drawings or miniatures cut from the Ambrosian Iliad and they are similar in style and treatment with the pictorial art of the later Roman classical period. Of even greater value from a point of view are the miniatures of the Vatican manuscript of Virgil, known as the Vergilius Vaticanus. They are in a perfect condition and on a larger scale than the Ambrosian fragments. The drawing is quite classical in style, and the idea is conveyed that the miniatures are copies from an older series. The colors are opaque, indeed, in all the miniatures of early manuscripts the employment of body color was universal.

The method followed in placing the different scenes on the page is highly instructive of the practice followed, as we may presume, by the artists of the early centuries. Again, for the purpose of securing something like perspective, an arrangement of zones was adopted. It was reserved for the Byzantine school to break away more decidedly from the natural presentment of things, but on comparing the miniatures of the Byzantine school generally with their classical predecessors, one has a sense of having passed from the open air into the cloister.

Under the restraint of ecclesiastical domination Byzantine art became more and more stereotyped, the tendency grows to paint the flesh-tints in swarthy hues, to elongate and emaciate the limbs, and to stiffen the gait.

Browns, blue-greys and neutral tints are in favor, in the miniatures of Byzantine manuscripts are first seen those backgrounds of bright gold which afterwards appear in such profusion in the productions of every western school of painting. The influence of Byzantine art on that of medieval Italy is obvious, the early mosaics in the churches of Italy, such as those at Ravenna and Venice, also afford examples of the dominating Byzantine influence.

In the native schools of illumination of Western Europe, decoration only was the leading motive, the highest qualities of the miniatures of the 10th and 11th century of this school lie in fine outline drawing, which had a lasting influence on the English miniature of the later centuries. But the southern Anglo-Saxon school rather stands apart from the line of development of the western medieval miniature. Under the Carolingian monarchs there developed a school of painting derived from classical models, in this school, which owed its origin to the encouragement of Charlemagne, it is seen that the miniature appears in two forms.

Accompanied as it was with profuse decoration in border and initial, on the other hand, there is also the miniature in which there is an attempt at illustration, as, for example, the depicting of scenes from the Bible. Here there is freedom, and we trace the classical style which copies Roman, as distinguished from Byzantine. Theoderic the Great — Theoderic the Great, often referred to as Theodoric, was king of the Ostrogoths, ruler of Italy, regent of the Visigoths, and a patricius of the Roman Empire.

His father was King Theodemir, a Germanic Amali nobleman, Theodoric grew up as a hostage in Constantinople, received a privileged education, and succeeded his father as leader of the Pannonian Ostrogoths in Settling his people in lower Moesia, Theoderic came into conflict with Thracian Ostrogoths led by Theodoric Strabo, Emperor Zeno subsequently gave him the title of Patrician, Vir gloriosus, and the office of Magister militum, and even appointed him as Roman Consul. Seeking further gains, Theoderic frequently ravaged the provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire, while he promoted separation between the Arian Ostrogoths and the Roman population, Theoderic stressed the importance of racial harmony, though intermarriage was outlawed.

Seeking to restore the glory of Ancient Rome, he ruled Italy in its most peaceful and prosperous period since Valentinian, memories of his reign made him a hero of German legend as Dietrich von Bern. The man who would rule under the name of Theoderic was born in AD. This was just a year after the Ostrogoths had thrown off nearly a century of domination by the Huns, treated with favor by the Emperors Leo I and Zeno, he became magister militum in , and one year later he became consul. Afterwards, he returned to live among the Ostrogoths when he was 31 years old, at the time, the Ostrogoths were settled in Byzantine territory as foederati of the Romans, but were becoming restless and increasingly difficult for Zeno to manage.

Not long after Theoderic became king, the two men worked out an arrangement beneficial to both sides, the Ostrogoths needed a place to live, and Zeno was having serious problems with Odoacer, the King of Italy who had come to power in Ostensibly a viceroy for Zeno, Odoacer was menacing Byzantine territory, at Zenos encouragement, Theoderic invaded Odoacers kingdom. Theoderic came with his army to Italy in , where he won the battles of Isonzo and Verona in , on February 2,, Theoderic and Odoacer signed a treaty that assured both parties would rule over Italy.

A banquet was organised in order to celebrate this treaty and it was at this banquet that Theoderic, after making a toast, killed Odoacer, Theoderic drew his sword and struck him on the collarbone. Initially, Dietrich seems reluctant, but when Wolfhart grows angry and accuses Dietrich of cowardice, saying that if Dietrich refuses Wenezlan will attack Etzel with an army, Dietrich says he had been joking and of course would fight to free his vassals.

There is then a lacuna. The combat between Dietrich and Wenezlan begins in between their two armies and in the company of courtly ladies. When they have dehorsed each other, they fight on foot all day. The fragment ends before a conclusion is reached. The text itself may have been written around the same time as the manuscript. Due to stylistic influence from Wolfram von Eschenbach died c.

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