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133-671: The earliest surviving Heldenbuch is a parchment manuscript dating from the first half of the 14th century, which survived only in five fragments (two are now missing). It is variously referred to as the Rheinfränkisches Heldenbuch ("Rhine Franconian Heldenbuch") from its dialect or the Berlin-Wolfenbüttel Heldenbuch from the location of two of the fragments, and preserves parts of the Eckenlied (E 3 ), Virginal (V 3 ), Ortnit (C) and Wolfdietrich (C), though

266-439: A Muslim god), who prophesies that Dietrich will be the strongest spirit who ever lived and will breathe fire when angry. The devil (Machmet?) then builds Verona/Bern in three days. Ermenrich , here imagined as Dietrich's brother rather than his uncle, rapes his marshal Sibiche's wife, whereupon Sibiche decides to advise Ermenrich in such a way as to ensure his lord's destruction. Thus he advises Ermenrich to hang his own nephews,

399-720: A hemorrhage on his wedding night. After Attila's death in 453, the Hunnic Empire faced an internal power struggle between its vassalized Germanic peoples and the Hunnic ruling body. Led by Ellak , Attila's favored son and ruler of the Akatziri , the Huns engaged the Gepid king Ardaric at the Battle of Nedao , who led a Germanic coalition to overthrow Hunnic imperial authority. The Amali Goths would revolt

532-637: A nomadic people who lived in Central Asia , the Caucasus , and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part of Scythia at the time. By 370 AD, the Huns had arrived on the Volga, causing the westwards movement of Goths and Alans . By 430, they had established a vast, but short-lived, empire on

665-544: A caesura, then an additional three or four feet, depending on placement in the stanza. Printed this way, the stanza from the Codex Buranus (cited according to Vollmann's edition) appears thus: Dietrich und Fasold appears to be written either in the same stanza as the Nibelungenlied , or else in the " Hildebrandston "—it is not clear from the fragmentary nature of the text. The Eckenlied , together with Sigenot are

798-521: A connection. The issue remains controversial, but recent archaeogenetic studies show some Hun-era individuals to have DNA similar to populations in ancient Mongolia. Their relationships with other entities, such as the Iranian Huns and the Huna people of South Asia , have also been disputed. Very little is known about Hunnic culture, and very few archaeological remains have been conclusively associated with

931-470: A dwarf that "your kingdom is no longer of this world", he disappears for ever. The only remaining hero is Eckehart, who, having visited the Venusberg , will continue to live until the day of judgment and warns others not to go there. The Heldenbuch-Prosa assembles an enormous amount of material in a somewhat haphazard fashion to explain the world of the heroic poems. Some of the material in the "Heldenbuch-Prosa"

1064-437: A fixed rank with fixed duties. Kim affirms the importance of the logades for Hunnic administration, but notes that there were differences of rank between them, and suggests that it was more likely lower ranking officials who gathered taxes and tribute. He suggests that various Roman defectors to the Huns may have worked in a sort of imperial bureaucracy. Unlike the Iranian Huns , who quickly began to mint their own coinage,

1197-532: A genetic study of individuals from the around the Tian Shan mountains of central Asia dating from the late second century CE, Damgaard et al. 2018 found that these individuals represented a population of mixed East Asian and West Eurasian origin. They argued that this population descended from Xiongnu who expanded westward and mixed with Iranian Sakas . This population in the Tian Shan mountains may be connected to

1330-709: A group of Huns and Alans fighting against Radagaisus in defense of Italy. Uldin was also known for defeating Gothic rebels who troubled the East Romans around the Danube and for beheading the Goth Gainas around 400–401. The East Romans began to feel the pressure from Uldin's Huns again in 408. Uldin crossed the Danube and pillaged Thrace. The East Romans tried to buy off Uldin, but his sum was too high so they instead bought off Uldin's subordinates. This resulted in many desertions from Uldin's group of Huns. Uldin himself escaped back across

1463-725: A horse takes him on his back". They appear to have spent so much time riding that they walked clumsily, something observed in other nomadic groups. Roman sources characterize the Hunnic horses as ugly. It is not possible to determine the exact breed of horse the Huns used, despite a relatively good description by the Roman writer Vegetius . Sinor believes that it was likely a breed of Mongolian pony. However, horse remains are absent from all identified Hun burials. Based on anthropological descriptions and archaeological finds of other nomadic horses, Maenchen-Helfen believes that they rode mostly geldings . Apart from horses, ancient sources indicate that

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1596-694: A legend developed based on medieval chronicles that the Hungarians , and the Székely ethnic group in particular, are descended from the Huns. However, mainstream scholarship dismisses a close connection between the Hungarians and Huns. Modern culture generally associates the Huns with extreme cruelty and barbarism. The origins of the Huns and their links to other steppe people remain uncertain: scholars generally agree that they originated in Central Asia but disagree on

1729-439: 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

1862-537: A people who practiced artificial cranial deformation as evidence of Hunnic agriculture. Kim similarly argues that all steppe empires have possessed both pastoralist and sedentary populations, classifying the Huns as "agro-pastoralist". As a nomadic people, the Huns spent a great deal of time riding horses: Ammianus claimed that the Huns "are almost glued to their horses", Zosimus claimed that they "live and sleep on their horses", and Sidonius claimed that "[s]carce had an infant learnt to stand without his mother's aid when

1995-442: A plural suffix "supposedly meaning 'people'", qun (force), and hün (ferocious). Maenchen-Helfen dismisses all of these Turkic etymologies as "mere guesses" and proposes an Iranian etymology, from a word akin to Avestan hūnarā (skill), hūnaravant- (skillful). He suggests that it may originally have designated a rank rather than an ethnicity. Robert Werner has advanced an etymology from Tocharian ku (dog), suggesting—as

2128-532: A ranking hierarchy, much like Germanic societies. Denis Sinor similarly notes that, with the exception of the historically uncertain Balamber , no Hun leaders are named in the sources until Uldin , indicating their relative unimportance. Thompson argues that permanent kingship only developed with the Huns' invasion of Europe and the near-constant warfare that followed. Regarding the organization of Hunnic rule under Attila, Peter Golden comments "it can hardly be called

2261-539: A state, much less an empire". Golden speaks instead of a "Hunnic confederacy". Kim, however, argues that the Huns were far more organized and centralized, with some basis in organization of the Xiongnu state. Walter Pohl notes the correspondences of Hunnic government to those of other steppe empires, but nevertheless argues that the Huns do not appear to have been a unified group when they arrived in Europe. Ammianus wrote that

2394-514: A variety of genetic signatures. Maróti et al. 2022 showed that the genomes of nine Hun-era individuals who lived in the basin varied from European to Northeast Asian connections, with those individuals showing associations with Northeast Asia being most similar to groups found in Mongolia such as the Xiongnu and the Xianbei . An analysis of Hun-era genomes by Gnecchi-Ruscone et al. 2022 likewise found

2527-519: A wide range of genetic variability, with two individuals showing a connection to ancient Northeast Asians and others showing European ancestry. The history of the Huns in the fourth century is not very clear, and the Huns left no sources themselves. The Romans became aware of the Huns when the latter's invasion of the Pontic steppes forced thousands of Goths to move to the Lower Danube to seek refuge in

2660-604: Is found in the Ambraser Heldenbuch and Lienhart Scheubel's Heldenbuch), the "Heldenbuch-Prosa" provides evidence of the persistence of an oral tradition in existence alongside a well-known written text. The modern reception of the Heldenbücher starts in the 18th century. The Dresden Heldenbuch is first mentioned by Heinrich Goltlieb Titz and Johann David Köhler in 1714, and the manuscript was later owned by Johann Christoph Gottsched . Diebolt von Hanowe's Strassburg Heldenbuch

2793-436: Is a lie: the hero treacherously slew the giants Hilde and Grim while they were asleep to steal their armor. 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: one of them, Seburg wishes very much to see Dietrich, and hearing of Ecke's interest, asks him to bring

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2926-521: Is an anonymous 13th-century Middle High German poem about the legendary hero Dietrich von Bern , the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend . It is one of the so-called fantastical ( aventiurehaft ) Dietrich poems, so called because it more closely resembles a courtly romance than a heroic epic . The Eckenlied tells the story of Dietrich's fight against

3059-686: Is discussed in Johann Schilter's Catalogue of German Authors in 1728. Although the above shows knowledge of manuscript Heldenbücher among some before 1800, the majority of discussions of the Heldenbuch focused on the printed version with Ornit , Wolfdietrich , Laurin , and the Rosengarten zu Worms before this point. The printed Heldenbuch continued to dominate discussions into the early nineteenth century. In 1796, Friedrich von Adelung published "Sieben Stücke aus dem Heldenbuch" ("Seven pieces from

3192-503: Is from the fifteenth century, various fragments and depictions in Runkelstein Castle make it likely that similar versions existed in the first half of the fourteenth century. Similarly, parts of a version similar to the incomplete E 2 were copied into a printed text of the Eckenlied by fifteenth century scribe Konrad Bollstatter. All versions thus existed at the same time and should be treated equally. Each manuscript or print

3325-551: Is highly likely that there were oral tales circulating about Ecke. Heinzle, however, is doubtful that any such oral tradition exists: he suggests rather that the Ekka episode was altered by the compiler of the Thidrekssaga. The Eckenlied was one of the most popular poems about Dietrich, with one or possibly two of Dietrich's giantess opponents from the Dresden version being included to in

3458-562: Is likewise disputed, but probably in 406/407 and 431/433 respectively. Otherwise, the Huns made no attempt to conquer or settle on Roman territory. Following Attila's death, the Huns were driven out of Pannonia and some appear to have returned to the Pontic Steppe, while one group settled in Dobruja . One of the only written sources for the size of Attila's domain is given by the Roman historian Priscus. Priscus refers to Attila ruling as far as

3591-567: Is listed below according to the version of the Eckenlied it contains as named by Joachim Heinzle. Manuscripts: The first printing represents an independent version: There follow more than eleven further printings into the sixteenth century and beyond. The fragmentary Dietrich und Fasold is transmitted on three small strips of a manuscript from around 1300 that were used as bookbinding in Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek Hanover MS VII 626. The Eckenlied

3724-608: Is not to be found in the narratives in the book or in other surviving material; some has parallels in the Thidrekssaga , but the compiler cannot have been familiar with that text. This suggests that he was also drawing on oral traditions, as well as perhaps as on his own invention, in order to make coherent sense of the material. Although the Nibelungenlied is not included in the Strassburg Heldenbuch or its printed version (it

3857-457: Is often interpreted as a critique of courtly love service : Ecke foolishly rides out on behalf of Seburg, which results in his death and extreme hardship for Dietrich. Dietrich's zagheit (cowardice), a common motif in the fantastical Dietrich poems, functions here as a criticism of Ecke's insistence on fighting. Victor Millet sees in this criticism a disavowal of the knightly battles on behalf of women commonly portrayed in courtly romance . On

3990-401: Is often interpreted 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

4123-415: Is therefore futile to speculate about identity or blood relationships between H(s)iung-nu, Hephthalites, and Attila's Huns, for instance. All we can safely say is that the name Huns , in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors. Today, there is "no general consensus" and "scholarship is divided" on the issue of a Hun-Xiongnu connection. Recent supporters of a connection between

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4256-534: The Wunderer and Virginal . Further evidence for an oral version of the tale might be provided by the Ekka episode Thidrekssaga , which differs in crucial details in both its treatment of Ecke and Fasold. Additionally, the fragmentary Dietrich und Fasold appears to match neither the meter nor the content of the Eckenlied. Particularly because of the version found in the Thidrekssaga, Victor Millet believes that it

4389-504: The Eckenlied , but differences in meter and content make this uncertain. Fasold and the three queens may have originally been figures of Tyrolean folklore, while Ecke may have been invented to explain the name of Dietrich's sword, Eckesachs (sharp sword). The Eckenlied is the earliest poem about Dietrich attested (c. 1230) after his appearance in the Nibelungenlied . It was one of the most popular narratives about Dietrich throughout

4522-531: The Heldenbuch , such as Ornit. The text features rewritings of passages of that poem as well, yet changes the ending so that Ornit defeats the dragons. Von der Hagen dedicated his 1811 edition to Goethe and sent him an example, which was well received. The story "The New Melusine" contained within Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship is clearly inspired by the Heldenbuch-Prosa . The nineteenth century also saw

4655-611: The Kerch Strait into Crimea . Discovering the land fertile, they then attacked the Goths. Jordanes ' Getica relates that the Goths held the Huns to be offspring of "unclean spirits" and Gothic witches ( Getica 24:121). Since Joseph de Guignes in the 18th century , modern historians have associated the Huns who appeared on the borders of Europe in the 4th century AD with the Xiongnu who had invaded numerous Central Plain polities from

4788-564: The Mongolian Plateau between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD . After the devastating defeat by the Han dynasty , the northern branch of the Xiongnu retreated north-westward; their descendants may have migrated through the Eurasian Steppe and consequently they may have some degree of cultural and genetic continuity with the Huns. Scholars also discussed the relationship between

4921-484: The Nibelungenlied are introduced as heroes from the Rhineland and Lower Rhine , which links to the next section devoted to the heroes of Hungary (Hunland) centred around King Etzel, and then to a long passage about Dietrich von Bern . According to the text, Dietrich is the grandson of Wolfdietrich and son of Dietmar. During her pregnancy, Dietrich's mother was visited by the demon Machmet (i.e. Mohammed imagined as

5054-594: The North Caucasian Huns , were genuine Huns. The rulers of various post-Hunnic steppe peoples are known to have claimed descent from Attila in order to legitimize their right to the power, and various steppe peoples were also called "Huns" by Western and Byzantine sources from the fourth century onward. The Huns have traditionally been described as pastoral nomads , living off of herding and moving from pasture to pasture to graze their animals. Hyun Jin Kim, however, holds

5187-663: The Peace of Anatolius with the two Hun kings. Bleda died in 445, and Attila became the sole ruler of the Huns. In 447, Attila invaded the Balkans and Thrace. The war came to an end in 449 with an agreement in which the East Romans agreed to pay Attila an annual tribute of 2100 pounds of gold. Throughout their raids on the Eastern Roman Empire , the Huns had maintained good relations with the Western Empire. However, Honoria , sister of

5320-706: The Sabirs . In 463, the Saragurs defeated the Akatziri, or Akatir Huns, and asserted dominance in the Pontic region. The western Huns under Dengizich experienced difficulties in 461 when they were defeated by Valamir in a war against the Sadages , a people allied with the Huns. His campaigning was also met with dissatisfaction from Ernak , ruler of the Akatziri Huns, who wanted to focus on

5453-656: The Sogdian merchants under their rule, who were involved in the trade along the Silk Road to China. Atwood notes that Jordanes describes how the Crimean city of Cherson , "where the avaricious traders bring in the goods of Asia", was under the control of the Akatziri Huns in the sixth century. Hunnic governmental structure has long been debated. Peter Heather argues that the Huns were a disorganized confederation in which leaders acted completely independently and that eventually established

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5586-543: The Western Roman province of Gaul , where they fought a combined army of Romans and Visigoths at the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields , and in 452, they invaded Italy. After the death of Attila in 453, the Huns ceased to be a major threat to Rome and lost much of their empire following the Battle of Nedao (c. 454). Descendants of the Huns, or successors with similar names, are recorded by neighboring populations to

5719-503: The Yakut or Tungus . He notes that archaeological finds of presumed Huns suggest that they were a racially mixed group containing only some individuals with East Asian features. Kim similarly cautions against seeing the Huns as a homogenous racial group, while still arguing that they were "partially or predominantly of Mongoloid extraction (at least initially)." Some archaeologists have argued that archaeological finds have failed to prove that

5852-526: The "Heldenbuch-Prosa" ("Heldenbuch Prose"), which was copied by all the later printed editions, either as a preface or as an afterword. The "Heldenbuch-Prosa" is also transmitted in a printed book of Sigenot , Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid , and Laurin (Lübeck, 1560), and excerpts are printed in a printing of Laurin (Nuremberg, 1555). It presents "a brief survey in prose form of the most important figures and events of German medieval heroic poetry". The Heldenbuch-Prosa offers an all-encompassing depiction of

5985-487: The Battle of Chalons (451), "the vast majority" of Attila's entourage and troops appears to have been of European origin, while Attila himself seems to have had East Asian features. Genetic data is difficult to apply to steppe nomad societies, because they frequently migrated, intermixed, and were assimilated into each other. Nevertheless, genetics can supply information on migrations from East Asia to Europe and vice versa. In

6118-637: The Carpathian Mountains, have been attributed to the time of Attila and associated with the nomadic milieu of the Huns. While scholars have speculated about direct Hunnic control and settlement here, it is entirely unclear what kind of relationship the population of these regions had to the Huns. The Huns ruled over numerous other groups, including Goths , Gepids , Sarmatians , Heruli , Alans , Rugii , Suevi , and Sciri , alongside other groups where they occasionally asserted control. Peter Heather suggests that some of these groups were resettled along

6251-592: The Chinese called the Xiongnu dogs—that the dog was the totem animal of the Hunnic tribe. He also compares the name Massagetae , noting that the element saka in that name means dog. Others such as Harold Bailey, S. Parlato, and Jamsheed Choksy have argued that the name derives from an Iranian word akin to Avestan Ẋyaona , and was a generalized term meaning "hostiles, opponents". Christopher Atwood dismisses this possibility on phonological and chronological grounds. While not arriving at an etymology per se , Atwood derives

6384-418: The Danube by the Huns. Subject peoples of the Huns were led by their own kings. Those recognized as ethnic Huns appear to have had more rights and status, as evidenced by the account of Priscus. One of the principal sources of information on Hunnic warfare is Ammianus Marcellinus , who includes an extended description of the Huns' methods of war: They also sometimes fight when provoked, and then they enter

6517-510: The Danube, after which he is not mentioned again in history. Hunnish mercenaries are mentioned on several occasions being employed by the East and West Romans, as well as the Goths, during the late 4th and 5th century. In 433 some parts of Pannonia were ceded to them by Flavius Aetius , the magister militum of the Western Roman Empire . From 434 the brothers Attila and Bleda ruled

6650-479: The Danubian frontier of the Roman empire in Europe. Either under Hunnic hegemony , or fleeing from it, several central and eastern European peoples established kingdoms in the region, including not only Goths and Alans, but also Vandals , Gepids , Heruli , Suebians and Rugians . The Huns, especially under their King Attila , made frequent and devastating raids into the Eastern Roman Empire . In 451, they invaded

6783-520: The European Huns by individual burials that contains objects stylistically related to those used by the European Huns, although this could be a sign of the exchange of goods and the connections between elites rather than a sign of migration. As of 2023, there is little genetic data from the Carpathian basin in the Hunnic period (5th century), and the population living there during the Hunnic period shows

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6916-604: The European Huns did not strike their own coins. The extent of Hunnish control in Barbarian Europe is poorly understood, as it is not much covered in Roman sources. It is generally assumed that they established an empire that stretched as far West as the Rhine and perhaps as far north as the Baltic, though it is difficult to establish its boundaries with certainty. Some scholars, such as Otto Maenchen-Helfen and Peter Golden, believe that

7049-457: The Harlungen. Their guardian, Eckehart of Breisach , informs Dietrich, and Dietrich declares war on Ermenrich. Ermenrich, however, captures Dietrich's best men, and to ransom them, Dietrich goes into exile. He ends up at Etzel's court, who gives Dietrich a large army that reconquers Verona. However, once Dietrich had fought at the rose garden against Siegfried , slaying him. The piece closes with

7182-708: The Heldenbuch") in his Nachrichten von altdeutschen Gedichten, welche aus der heidelbergischen Bibliothek in die vatikanische gekommen sind . This publication was responsible for increased attention paid to manuscript Heldenbücher rather than the printed version. Ludwig Tieck examined original manuscripts and prints, in 1793 transcribing a Heldenbuch of 1577. In 1807 he announced his own Heldenbuch edition, though it never came to fruition. In 1811 Friedrich Heinrich von der Hagen , with whom Tieck at one point had planned to collaborate, published Der Helden Buch , with six works translated into Modern German, followed in 1820 and 1825 by

7315-537: The Huns and Romans, and the Huns overcame a weak Roman army to raze the cities of Margus, Singidunum and Viminacium . Although a truce was concluded in 441, two years later Constantinople again failed to deliver the tribute and war resumed. In the following campaign, Hun armies approached Constantinople and sacked several cities before defeating the Romans at the Battle of Chersonesus . The Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II gave in to Hun demands and in autumn 443 signed

7448-434: The Huns and Xiongnu include Hyun Jin Kim and Etienne de la Vaissière . De la Vaissière argues that ancient Chinese and Indian sources used Xiongnu and Hun to translate each other, and that the various "Iranian Huns" were similarly identified with the Xiongnu. Kim believes that the term Hun was "not primarily an ethnic group, but a political category" and argues for a fundamental political and cultural continuity between

7581-515: The Huns are known to have practiced a form of nomadic pastoralism . As their contact with the Roman world grew, their economy became increasingly tied with Rome through tribute, raiding, and trade. They do not seem to have had a unified government when they entered Europe but rather to have developed a unified tribal leadership in the course of their wars with the Romans. The Huns ruled over a variety of peoples who spoke numerous languages, and some maintained their own rulers. Their main military technique

7714-523: The Huns had any "Mongoloid" features at all, and some scholars have argued that the Huns were predominantly " Caucasian " in appearance. Other archaeologists have argued that "Mongoloid" features are found primarily among members of the Hunnic aristocracy, which, however, also included Germanic leaders who were integrated into the Hun polity. Kim argues that the composition of the Huns became progressively more "Caucasian" during their time in Europe; he notes that by

7847-565: The Huns had small eyes and flat noses. The Roman writer Priscus gives the following eyewitness description of Attila: "Short of stature, with a broad chest and a large head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with grey; and he had a flat nose and tanned skin, showing evidence of his origin." Many scholars take these to be unflattering depictions of East Asian (obsolete " Mongoloid ") racial characteristics. Maenchen-Helfen argues that, while many Huns had East Asian racial characteristics, they were unlikely to have looked as Asiatic as

7980-423: The Huns having several kings, with one being the "first of the kings". Ammianus also mentions that the Huns made their decisions in a general council ( omnes in commune ) while seated on horseback. He makes no mention of the Huns being organized into tribes, but Priscus and other writers do, naming some of them. The first Hunnic ruler known by name is Uldin . Thompson takes Uldin's sudden disappearance after he

8113-443: The Huns of his day had no kings, but rather that each group of Huns instead had a group of leading men ( primates ) for times of war . E.A. Thompson supposes that, even in war, the leading men had little actual power. He further argues that they most likely did not acquire their position purely hereditarily. Heather, however, argues that Ammianus merely meant that the Huns didn't have a single ruler; he notes that Olympiodorus mentions

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8246-558: The Huns together. Attila and Bleda were as ambitious as their uncle Rugila . In 435 they forced the Eastern Roman Empire to sign the Treaty of Margus , giving the Huns trade rights and an annual tribute from the Romans. When the Romans breached the treaty in 440, Attila and Bleda attacked Castra Constantias, a Roman fortress and marketplace on the banks of the Danube . War broke out between

8379-420: The Huns traded their horses for what he considered to have been "a very considerable source of income in gold", he is otherwise skeptical of Thompson's argument. He notes that the Romans strictly regulated trade with the barbarians and that, according to Priscus, trade only occurred at a fair once a year. While he notes that smuggling also likely occurred, he argues that "the volume of both legal and illegal trade

8512-417: The Huns used wagons for transportation. Maenchen-Helfen suggests that these wagons were mainly utilized to carry their tents, loot, as well as the elderly, women, and children. The Huns received a large amount of gold from the Romans, either in exchange for fighting for them as mercenaries or as tribute. Raiding and looting also furnished the Huns with gold and other valuables. Denis Sinor has argued that at

8645-409: The Huns. They are believed to have used bronze cauldrons and to have performed artificial cranial deformation . No description exists of the Hunnic religion of the time of Attila, but practices such as divination are attested, and the existence of shamans is likely. It is also known that the Huns had a language of their own ; however, only three words and personal names attest to it. Economically,

8778-420: 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

8911-408: The Middle Ages and into the early modern period. It was first printed in 1490 and continued to be printed until the end of the 1500s. The Eckenlied begins with a conversation 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

9044-399: The Pontic Steppe north of the Black Sea. They had conquered the Hungarian Plain in stages. The precise date that they conquered the north bank of the Danube is unclear. Maenchen-Helfen argued that they may have already taken control of it in the 370s. The dates when they gained control of the Roman territory south of the Middle Danube, Pannonia Valeria and the other provinces of Pannonia ,

9177-423: The Roman Empire in 376. The Huns conquered the Alans , most of the Greuthungi or Eastern Goths, and then most of the Thervingi or Western Goths, with many fleeing into the Roman Empire . In 395 the Huns began their first large-scale attack on the Eastern Roman Empire . Huns attacked in Thrace, overran Armenia , and pillaged Cappadocia . They entered parts of Syria , threatened Antioch , and passed through

9310-490: The Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III , sent Attila a ring and requested his help to escape her betrothal to a senator. Attila claimed her as his bride and half the Western Roman Empire as dowry. Additionally, a dispute arose about the rightful heir to a king of the Salian Franks . In 451, Attila's forces entered Gaul . Once in Gaul, the Huns first attacked Metz , then their armies continued westward, passing both Paris and Troyes to lay siege to Orléans . Flavius Aetius

9443-430: The Xiongnu and the European Huns, as well as between the Xiongnu and the "Iranian Huns". The name Hun is attested in classical European sources as Greek Οὖννοι ( Ounnoi ) and Latin Hunni or Chuni . John Malalas records their name as Οὖννα ( Ounna ). Another possible Greek variant may be Χοὖνοι ( Khounoi ), although this group's identification with the Huns is disputed. Classical sources also frequently use

9576-564: The Xiongnu, the Huns, and a number of people in central Asia who were also known as or came to be identified with the name "Hun" or " Iranian Huns ". The most prominent of these were Chionites , the Kidarites , and the Hephthalites . Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen was the first to challenge the traditional approach, based primarily on the study of written sources, and to emphasize the importance of archaeological research. Since Maenchen-Helfen's work,

9709-522: The assistance of the settled agricultural population at the edge of the steppe they could not have survived". He argues that the Huns were forced to supplement their diet by hunting and gathering. Maenchen-Helfen, however, notes that archaeological finds indicate that various steppe nomad populations did grow grain; in particular, he identifies a find at Kunya Uaz in Khwarezm on the Ob River of agriculture among

9842-485: The battle drawn up in wedge-shaped masses, while their medley of voices makes a savage noise. And as they are lightly equipped for swift motion, and unexpected in action, they purposely divide suddenly into scattered bands and attack, rushing about in disorder here and there, dealing terrific slaughter; and because of their extraordinary rapidity of movement they are never seen to attack a rampart or pillage an enemy's camp. And on this account you would not hesitate to call them

9975-486: The demise of the heroes, beginning with the marriage of Etzel and Kriemhilt: according to Heldenbuch-Prosa, Kriemhilt organized her wedding as revenge for Dietrich having killed Siegfried in a rose garden . This leads to deaths of the Burgundians and many other warriors at Etzel's court, leaving only Dietrich and Hildebrand alive. They are then involved in a battle against Günther at Bern, which only Dietrich survived. Told by

10108-674: 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.e. London ; in other versions he is described as von Lune and von Lütringen, i.e. 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 ). At this Dietrich agrees to fight. Ecke and Dietrich fight for

10241-466: The entire heroic age , partially in the form of a narrative, partially in the form of a catalog of names. It is structured both genealogically and geographically, dividing the heroes into those from around Aachen and Cologne , those from Hunland , and those from Worms . The compiler's use of prose may indicate a claim for the historical veracity of the account. The piece starts with the "first hero," Orendel von Trier, and his adventures, before listing

10374-518: The existence of this supposed codex. The first printed Heldenbuch dates to 1479, bearing the title der helden buch/das nennet den wolfdieterich , putting its main focus on Wolfdietrich, whom it makes an ancestor of Dietrich's. Later printed Heldenbücher appeared in Augsburg 1491, Hagenau 1509, Augsburg 1545, Frankfurt 1560 and Frankfurt 1590. Along with the poems, the Strassburg Heldenbuch of Diebolt von Hanow included an introductory essay, now called

10507-509: The extant of Attila's empire has been exaggerated and he probably only controlled Pannonia and some adjacent areas. In the 390s, the majority of the Huns were probably based around the Volga and Don on the Pontic Steppe. But by the 420s, the Huns were based on Great Hungarian Plain , the only large grassland near the Roman empire capable of supporting large numbers of horses. However, Aleksander Paroń believes that they likely continued to control

10640-402: The fragments do not give any indication of the original order. The large format and luxurious quality of the manuscript indicate the status of the heroic epic in the 14th century. After this, four complete Heldenbuch manuscripts are known: The Ambraser Heldenbuch , in spite of the name, is not a Heldenbuch in the same sense as these manuscripts, since only one third of its contents belong to

10773-499: The frescoes at Runkelstein Castle (c. 1400). Ecke is frequently mentioned as Dietrich's opponent when authors make allusions to the legends about Dietrich. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the poem even seems to have inspired a saying, "Ecke ist an den Berner geraten" (Ecke has met the Berner [i.e. Dietrich]), meaning that someone has met their match. Huns The Huns were

10906-606: The genre of heroic verse — the remainder are courtly and didactic works from the 13th century. However, the table of contents at the front of the codex has the heading "Tabula des Heldenpuechs". Within the heroic genre, it goes beyond the others in offering the complete Nibelungen cycle: the Nibelungenlied , the Nibelungenklage and Kudrun . From the Dietrich cycle it includes Dietrichs Flucht , Rabenschlacht , Biterolf und Dietleib , Ortnit (A) and Wolfdietrich (A). The manuscript

11039-408: The giant Ecke, who has been sent out by three queens to fetch Dietrich. Dietrich is forced to kill Ecke, after which he must fight Ecke's family, particularly Ecke's treacherous and vengeful brother Fasold. The poem exists in at least three separate but closely related versions, which offer different endings to the tale. A fragmentary text known as Dietrich und Fasold may represent another version of

11172-441: The giant Eckenot (whose name may be a corruption of Ebenrot or vice versa) and then to two or three giantesses, variously Ecke's mother, aunt, or sisters. The oldest nearly complete version, E 2 breaks off at this point. In the remaining two complete versions E 7 and e 1 , Dietrich finally kills Fasold for his treacherous behavior In version E 7 , which is probably the original ending, he then rides into Jochgrimm and throws

11305-451: The hands of Witege . Fasold implicitly compares Dietrich to Witege, as Fasold seeks to avenge his own brother's death. Meanwhile, Dietrich's successful defeat of Fasold avenges his failure to avenge his own brother and also allows him to get past his problematic victory over Ecke. Dietrich's defeat of the giants, who can be seen as personifying injustice, helps prove his qualities as an ideal ruler, something which e 1 explicitly connects to

11438-465: The head of Ecke at the feet of Seburg, saying that she is the cause of Ecke's pointless death. In version e 1 , 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 Eckenlied is transmitted in numerous manuscripts and printed versions, beginning in 1230. The poem

11571-653: The help of his bucellarii , then attacked the quarreling Goths and Huns, defeating them. In 469, Dengizich was defeated and killed in Thrace. After Dengizich's death, the Huns seem to have been absorbed by other ethnic groups such as the Bulgars . Kim, however, argues that the Huns continued under Ernak, becoming the Kutrigur and Utigur Hunno- Bulgars . This conclusion is still subject to some controversy. Some scholars also argue that another group identified in ancient sources as Huns,

11704-403: The hero to her. 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

11837-420: The heroes were peasants, and all lords and nobles are descended from them. Now follows a list of famous heroes, briefly characterised, and a long section outlining the stories of Ortnit, Hugdietreich and Wolfdietrich. It then describes the descent from Wolfdietrich of Dietrich von Bern, telling how the spirit of Mohammed came to his mother when she was pregnant and foretold her son's greatness. Some figures from

11970-451: The high civilian officers Gennadius Avienus and Trigetius, as well as Pope Leo I , who met Attila at Mincio in the vicinity of Mantua , and obtained from him the promise that he would withdraw from Italy and negotiate peace with the emperor. The new Eastern Roman Emperor Marcian then halted tribute payments, resulting in Attila planning to attack Constantinople. However, in 453 Attila died of

12103-427: The hinge upon which the entire administration of the Hun empire turned": he argues for their existence in the government of Uldin, and that each had command over detachments of the Hunnic army and ruled over specific portions of the Hunnic empire, where they were responsible also for collecting tribute and provisions. Maenchen-Helfen, however, argues that the word logades denotes simply prominent individuals and not

12236-492: The historical Theoderic's defeat of Odoacer and rule in Italy. Older scholarship believed that the Eckenlied had been heavily influenced by an Old French Arthurian romance "Le Chevalier du Papagau," in which Arthur fights against a similar giant antagonist. An earlier "native" poem about Ecke would thus have been rewritten to incorporate plot elements from this romance. More recent scholarship has abandoned this connection, viewing

12369-450: The identification of the Xiongnu as the Huns' ancestors has become controversial. Additionally, several scholars have questioned the identification of the "Iranian Huns" with the European Huns. Walter Pohl cautions that none of the great confederations of steppe warriors was ethnically homogenous, and the same name was used by different groups for reasons of prestige, or by outsiders to describe their lifestyle or geographic origin. [...] It

12502-462: The incoming Oghur speaking peoples. Dengizich attacked the Romans in 467, without the assistance of Ernak. He was surrounded by the Romans and besieged, and came to an agreement that he would surrender if his people were given land for their herds and his starving forces given food. During the negotiations, a Hun in service of the Romans named Chelchel persuaded the enemy Goths to attack their Hun overlords. The Romans, under their General Aspar and with

12635-609: The islands in the "ocean" ( Ὠκεανός ), but it is unclear if this meant the Baltic Sea or the world-encircling Ocean that the Greeks and Romans believed in. In either case, the description of Attila ruling as far as the islands in the "ocean" may be hyperbole. Archaeology is often used to argue for an area having been under Hunnic control; however, nomadic peoples often control territories beyond their immediate settlement. A large number of major finds from Silesia and Lesser Poland , north of

12768-507: The meat of these animals, with Maenchen-Helfen arguing, on the basis of what is known of other steppe nomads, that they likely mostly ate mutton, along with sheep's cheese and milk. They also "certainly" ate horse meat, drank mare's milk, and likely made cheese and kumis . In times of starvation, they may have boiled their horses' blood for food. Ancient sources uniformly deny that the Huns practiced any sort of agriculture. Thompson, taking these accounts at their word, argues that "[w]ithout

12901-675: The monastery library at Ebstorf in Lower Saxony and the Hessen State Archives in Marburg , together with a fragment of Rosengarten (R 8 ) in the Royal Library in Copenhagen , may represent the remains of another Heldenbuch. The language is Bavarian , and the manuscript probably of Austrian origin. William II, Landgrave of Hesse has been suggested as a possible owner. The manuscript

13034-477: The most important lands in which the heroes lived. It then explains the genesis of the heroes: in the beginning, God created the dwarves with the knowledge of minerals; he then created the giants to protect the dwarves from dragons and other monsters, but the giants later became evil, so he created the heroes, brave and strong, to defend the dwarves against both the giants and the dragons. The heroes also honoured and helped women, protecting widows and orphans. None of

13167-497: The most terrible of all warriors, because they fight from a distance with missiles having sharp bone, instead of their usual points, joined to the shafts with wonderful skill; then they gallop over the intervening spaces and fight hand to hand with swords, regardless of their own lives; and while the enemy are guarding against wounds from the sabre-thrusts, they throw strips of cloth plaited into nooses over their opponents and so entangle them that they fetter their limbs and take from them

13300-545: The name from the Ongi River in Mongolia, which was pronounced the same as, or similarly to, the name Xiongnu, and suggests that it was originally a dynastic name rather than an ethnic name. Most of the ancient descriptions of the Huns stress their strange appearance from a Roman perspective. These descriptions typically caricature the Huns as monsters. Jordanes stresses that the Huns were short of stature, had tanned skin and round and shapeless heads. Various writers mention that

13433-469: The names of older and unrelated steppe nomads instead of the name Hun , calling them Massagetae , Scythians , and Cimmerians , among other names. The etymology of Hun is unclear. Various proposed etymologies generally assume at least that the names of the various Eurasian groups known as Huns are related. There have been a number of proposed Turkic etymologies, deriving the name variously from Turkic ön , öna (to grow), qun (glutton), kün , gün ,

13566-507: The only attestations of a story-possibly a lost poem-about the giants Hilde and Grim, from whom Dietrich won his helmet, named "Hildegrim." The tale is told in its entirely only in the Old Norse Thidrekssaga , which used German sources. It is also possible that there may never have been a written poem about Hilde and Grim; the tale may have been a purely oral one and well known to the Eckenlied's and Sigenot's audience. The poem

13699-402: The other hand, version e 1 removes any criticism of love service and thus moves the epic much closer to romance. At the same time, Dietrich's brutal killing of Ecke casts heroic battle in a bad light, except in version E 7 , where Dietrich's innocence is emphasized to a greater degree. Particularly the opening conversation of the poem is frequently seen as a metaliterary discussion about

13832-620: The pastures may vary, the winter quarters always remained the same. This is, in fact, what Jordanes writes of the Hunnic Altziagiri tribe: they pastured near Cherson on the Crimea and then wintered further north, with Maenchen-Helfen holding the Syvash as a likely location. Ancient sources mention that the Huns' herds consisted of various animals, including cattle, horses, and goats; sheep, though unmentioned in ancient sources, "are more essential to

13965-514: The poem. The three principle versions are E 2 (c. 1300, incomplete), E 7 (1472), and e 1 (printed 1491). The oldest attestation, E 1 , a single stanza in the Codex Buranus , appear to show that the poem existed in a much shorter version, beginning with Ecke's encounter with Dietrich in the forest. It is possible that this is the original beginning of the poem, with everything before this encounter being added later. Although version E 7

14098-404: The poems of the Heldenbuch begin to play a role in poetological discourse: August Wilhelm Schlegel described these poems as a "heroic comedy" ( Heldenkomödie ) that could co-existed beside the "great tragedy" of the Nibelungenlied during a series of lectures held in 1802/03. In his Aesthetics , however, Friedrich Hegel described both the Heldenbuch and the Nibelungenlied as an example of

14231-553: The province of Euphratesia . At the same time, the Huns invaded the Sasanian Empire . This invasion was initially successful, coming close to the capital of the empire at Ctesiphon ; however, they were defeated badly during the Persian counterattack. During their brief diversion from the Eastern Roman Empire, the Huns may have threatened tribes further west. Uldin , the first Hun identified by name in contemporary sources, headed

14364-507: The qualities an epic ought not to have. In addition to editions of the individual works included in the Heldenbücher — see the relevant articles — there are a few editions of an entire Heldenbuch or of selections from the Heldenbücher: The University of Innsbruck has an ongoing transcription project for the Ambraser Heldenbuch. Eckenlied Das Eckenlied or Ecken Ausfahrt (The Song of Ecke or Ecke's Quest)

14497-462: The same year under Valamir , allegedly defeating the Huns in a separate engagement. However, this did not result in the complete collapse of Hunnic power in the Carpathian region, but did result in the loss of many of their Germanic vassals. At the same time, the Huns were also dealing with the arrival of more Oghur Turkic-speaking peoples from the East, including the Oghurs , Saragurs , Onogurs , and

14630-427: The similarities as superficial. Like the majority of German heroic epics , the Eckenlied is written in stanzas. The poem is composed in a stanza form known as the "Berner Ton," which consists of 13 lines in the following rhyme scheme: aabccbdedefxf . It shares this metrical form with the poems Goldemar , Sigenot , and Virginal . Early modern melodies for the "Berner Ton" have survived, indicating that it

14763-550: The slaves would have been used to manage the Huns' herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. Priscus attests that slaves were used as domestic servants, but also that educated slaves were used by the Huns in positions of administration or even architects. Some slaves were even used as warriors. The Huns also traded with the Romans. E. A. Thompson argued that this trade was very large scale, with the Huns trading horses, furs, meat, and slaves for Roman weapons, linen, and grain, and various other luxury goods. While Maenchen-Helfen concedes that

14896-564: The south, east, and west as having occupied parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia from about the 4th to 6th centuries. Variants of the Hun name are recorded in the Caucasus until the early 8th century. In the 18th century, French scholar Joseph de Guignes became the first to propose a link between the Huns and the Xiongnu people, who lived in northern China from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Since Guignes's time, considerable scholarly effort has been devoted to investigating such

15029-405: The specifics of their origins. Classical sources assert that they appeared in Europe suddenly around 370. Most typically, Roman writers' attempts to elucidate the origins of the Huns simply equated them with earlier steppe peoples. Roman writers repeated a tale that the Huns had entered the domain of the Goths while they were pursuing a wild stag, or else one of their cows that had escaped, across

15162-454: The status of Dietrich as a hero: Ecke, Fasolt, Ebenrot, and Seburg all desire to verify Dietrich's fame, in the same manner as the audience might. The Eckenlied also alludes to themes from the historical Dietrich poems, particularly events recounted in the Rabenschlacht : when Dietrich fights Fasold, Fasold taunts Dietrich with the death of Dietrich's brother Diether and Etzel's sons at

15295-469: The steppe nomad even than horses" and must have been a large part of their herds. Sheep bones are frequently found in Hun period graves. Additionally, Maenchen-Helfen argues that the Huns may have kept small herds of Bactrian camels in the part of their territory in modern Romania and Ukraine, something attested for the Sarmatians. Ammianus Marcellinus says that the majority of the Huns' diet came from

15428-496: 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

15561-524: The term "nomad" to be misleading: [T]he term 'nomad', if it denotes a wandering group of people with no clear sense of territory, cannot be applied wholesale to the Huns. All the so-called 'nomads' of Eurasian steppe history were peoples whose territory/territories were usually clearly defined, who as pastoralists moved about in search of pasture, but within a fixed territorial space. Maenchen-Helfen notes that pastoral nomads (or "seminomads") typically alternate between summer pastures and winter quarters: while

15694-514: The term to include the texts of the printed Heldenbuch and all the various poems in the cycle of Dietrich von Bern. This meaning of the term was then used by the editors of the Deutsches Heldenbuch (5 vols. 1866–1873). Though the Heldenbuch' s influence on modern poetry is limited, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was familiar with it, having created a dramatic farce known as "The Romantic Poetry" in 1809, which featured various characters from

15827-419: The three queens in the Eckenlied into witches with power over the weather, while Fasolt would be a storm demon. Fasolt's long hair is also taken as evidence of his demonic origins: The name Fasolt likely derives from a root similar to Old High German faso , thread, and most likely refers to his long braided hair. If this interpretation is correct, than Fasolt and Ecke were not originally brothers, but Ecke

15960-505: The time of Attila, the Hunnic economy became almost entirely dependent on plunder and tribute from the Roman provinces. Civilians and soldiers captured by the Huns might also be ransomed back, or else sold to Roman slave dealers as slaves. The Huns themselves, Maenchen-Helfen argued, had little use for slaves due to their nomadic pastoralist lifestyle. More recent scholarship, however, has demonstrated that pastoral nomadists are actually more likely to use slave labor than sedentary societies:

16093-420: The time of the report of Olympiodorus, the Huns at some point developed a system of ranked kings, including a senior king by the time of Charaton . Priscus also speaks of "picked men" or logades ( λογάδες ) forming part of Attila's government, naming five of them. Some of the "picked men" seem to have been chosen because of birth, others for reasons of merit. Thompson argued that these "picked men" "were

16226-522: 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

16359-463: The two-volume Der Helden Buch in der Ursprache herausgegeben ("The Heldenbuch published in the original language"), which includes the entire text of the Dresdener Heldenbuch. Von der Hagen attempted to expand the boundaries of the Heldenbuch to include all German heroic poetry besides the Nibelungenlied in his various editions. By the middle of the eighteenth century, most scholars limited

16492-510: Was mounted archery . The Huns may have stimulated the Great Migration , a contributing factor in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire . The memory of the Huns also lived on in various Christian saints' lives , where the Huns play the roles of antagonists, as well as in Germanic heroic legend , where the Huns are variously antagonists or allies to the Germanic main figures. In Hungary ,

16625-602: Was apparently famous enough to be referenced in Heinrich von Veldeke 's Eneis (c. 1186), which predates the Eckenlied. Heinzle does not believe that this early mention is any proof of an oral story about Ecke. Whether or not Ecke has a long existence in oral tradition, Fasolt and Seburg are more commonly supposed to have. They are commonly connected to a 17th-century prayer to witches at the mountain Jochgrimm outside of Bozen to cause "ffasolt" to send storms far away. This would make

16758-451: Was apparently modest". He does note that wine and silk appear to have been imported into the Hunnic Empire in large quantities, however. Roman gold coins appear to have been in circulation as currency within the whole of the Hunnic Empire. Christopher Atwood has suggested that the purpose of the original Hunnic incursion into Europe may have been to establish an outlet to the Black Sea for

16891-500: Was commissioned sometime before 1504 by the Emperor Maximilian I and completed in 1517. It is a luxurious codex — almost 500 large-format pages with three columns of text, decorated with Lombardic capitals and many marginal illustrations — and it provides evidence of the continuing interest of this material to an aristocratic readership into the 16th century. Two fragments of a 15th century manuscript of Virginal (V 7 ) in

17024-468: Was cut up by 1564 at the latest. A potential further Heldenbuch is the Heldenbuch an der Etsch ("Heldenbuch on the River Adige "). This phrase appears in a 1502 notebook entry by Maximilian I and has long been taken to refer to a lost source of the heroic poems in the Ambraser Heldenbuch. However, there are uncertainties over the interpretation of Maximilian's words and no firm conclusion can be reached on

17157-561: Was given the duty of relieving Orléans by Emperor Valentinian III. A combined army of Roman and Visigoths then fought the Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains . The following year, Attila renewed his claims to Honoria and territory in the Western Roman Empire . Leading his army across the Alps and into Northern Italy, he sacked and razed a number of cities. Hoping to avoid the sack of Rome, Emperor Valentinian III sent three envoys,

17290-595: Was inserted into a much older story. Heinzle, however, dismisses the weather prayer: its source is unclear and neither is it clear that "ffasolt" is the same as the Fasolt found in the Eckenlied Fasolt may also be a sort of reversal of versions of a legend in which Dietrich von Bern is leader of the Wild Hunt and hunts women in the forest: Dietrich instead fights against an opponent with this characteristic, as he also does in

17423-447: Was likely composed shortly before that time, possibly in Tyrol . As with almost all German heroic epic , it is anonymous. It was one of the most popular poems about Dietrich. In common with all fantastical Dietrich poems, the Eckenlied is characterized by a great deal of variation in its transmission, so that each manuscript essentially represents an parallel and equally valid version of

17556-452: Was meant to be sung. Heinzle gives the first stanza of the Eckenlied as a typical example: In the earliest version, E 1 , there is a slight variation in how the stanza is put together, with the lines pattern instead as: aabccbxexefxf . Heinzle interprets this to mean that the lines without rhymes were originally the first half of a caesura in a "Langzeile," the same line unit used in the Nibelungenlied . This features three or four feet,

17689-492: Was unsuccessful at war as a sign that the Hunnic kingship was "democratic" at this time rather than a permanent institution. Kim, however, argues that Uldin is actually a title and that he was likely merely a subking. Priscus calls Attila "king" or "emperor" ( βασιλέυς ), but it is unknown what native title he was translating. With the exception of the sole rule of Attila, the Huns often had two rulers; Attila himself later appointed his son Ellac as co-king. Heather argues that by

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