The Nibelungenlied: The Lay of the Nibelungs (Oxford World's Classics) Read Free Page A

practised in the
Nibelungenlied
is in some respects also state-of-the-art. The couched lance, the lance held underarm, was developed from the late eleventh century onwards. 7 The one-on-one joust and the massed charge known as the bohort are other features that develop in the twelfth century, primarily in tournaments. The battle between Hagen and Gelpfrat in the Twenty-sixth Adventure is a two-stage process, well known from tournaments and from the Arthurian romance: first the knights joust on horseback, then this leads into a sword-fight on foot.
    Yet there are echoes of an older, more heroic world, particularly in the second part of the lay. The slaying of the child Ortliep is not an incident that would occur in courtly romance, nor indeed is the killing of Kriemhilt. Dragons often figure in Arthurian romance, as in Hartmann’s
Iwein
, but bathing in the dragon’s blood seems also to hark back to an older age. The consequence of the bathing in the blood is Sivrit’s supernatural strength; both this and the corresponding physical prowess of Prünhilt mark these as characters who would be out of place in contemporary courtly literature. The supernatural is far from being absent in the courtly romance, wheregiants, dwarves, fairies, and invisibility are frequently met with, but there is a different feel, a different atmosphere when it occurs in the heroic epic. The prophecy of the water-sprites, for example, which leads to Hagen’s brutal attempt on the life of the chaplain, is integral to the sense of
wyrd
, of inexorable fate, familiar to the reader of
Beowulf
, of the
Hildebrandslied
, and of Icelandic sagas such as the great tale of revenge, the
Saga of Burnt Njal
.
    Sivrit’s childhood and upbringing epitomize the dichotomy between the heroic and the courtly ethos. In the Second Adventure we learn: ‘They very rarely let the boy ride without a guard. Sigmunt and Siglint ordered that he be elegantly dressed. The wise men of the court, knowledgeable in matters of reputation, also took care of him.’ (strophe 25). The son of Sivrit and Kriemhilt is given similar care at court: ‘They took great care over his upbringing, as was his due.’ (stophe 716). This sheltered upbringing at the royal court contrasts sharply with the account of Sivrit’s youth given by Hagen in the Third Adventure, which portrays Sivrit as the hero who sets off alone in search of adventure, a migratory motif common in heroic epic (and in fairy-tale). The Eighth Adventure, which describes Sivrit’s return to the land of the Nibelungs and his conquering of the giant and the dwarf-king Albrich, is clearly an attempt by the narrator to compensate retrospectively for the lack of an earlier account of Sivrit’s heroic youth. It does little to further the plot.
    Another way in which the courtly ethos exerts its influence is in the portrayal of love. After some youthful dalliance with unnamed ladies of the court, Sivrit’s ‘thoughts turned to noble love’ (strophe 47).
hôhe minne
, ‘noble love’ or, more literally, ‘lofty love’, is courtly love,
fin amors
, love at a distance, and there can be no doubt that the portrayal of the early relationship between Sivrit and Kriemhilt was influenced by this central concept of courtly culture. Courtly love ceases at the point of marriage, and Sivrit’s punishment of Kriemhilt, when he beats her for being too loose-tongued, is not a motif to be found in the courtly romance.
    In the Twenty-seventh Adventure Volker the fiddler shows his musical skills at Pöchlarn, performing
Minnesang
, the courtly love-lyric: ‘Bold Volker, with his fiddle, walked over and stood courteously before Gotelint. He fiddled sweet melodies and sang her his songs.’ The relationship between Volker and Gotelint, Margrave Rüedeger’s wife, is one of admiration from a distance, and bears aresemblance to the relationships to be found in the wooing songs of
Minnesang
. This scene contrasts sharply with the bloody use Volker