Nibelungenlied

aka Der Nibelunge nôt

The Song of the Nibelungs

Author

Unknown

Language

Middle High German

Year

c. 1200

Country

Germany

Genre

Epic / Long-form / Standalone Poem

0

The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The Nibelungenlied is based on an oral tradition of Germanic heroic legend that has some of its origin in historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries and that spread throughout almost all of Germanic-speaking Europe. Scandinavian parallels to the German poem are found especially in the heroic lays of the Poetic Edda and in the Völsunga saga.