On this page, I will discuss the Bertangaland-chapters of the Thidrekssaga and hope to prove they were composed during the life of Dietrich von Bern himself and were only slightly altered during the next eight hundred years.
Compare the summary of the Bertangaland-part of the saga.
Why did Dietrich go to Bertangaland? In my opinion, it gave him a chance for
some heroism.
Dietrich badly wanted to become a Hero, so that he would attract many warriors,
which would give him a better chance to stand up against his neighbours.
Load the page discussing the importance of heroism in fifth century society.
In addition, a victory in single combat made the loser the follower of the victor. Thus, Dietrich would immensly gain by a victory.
Not only would it make Siegfried his follower (who would in
turn be followed by his own followers),
but Isung and his sons (followed by their followers) would become the
followers of their victors: Dietrich's followers.
Thus, Dietrich would have expanded his following by dozens, maybe even hundreds of warriors. This was the reason Dietrich wanted to fight in Bertangaland.
Compare the summary of the Bertangaland-part of the saga.
At first, the saga only seems to describe the great victory Dietrich has won in Bertangaland. On second reading, however, we notice some strange things:
The only fight the saga describes in detail is Dietrich vs. Siegfried. Dietrich is shown to be a great warrior, scoring a major victory by cunning and violence. However, this victory is not as complete as it first seems. In addition, in the overall score his party has lost.
Thus, after Bertangaland, Dietrich had only three heroes left.
The most interesting point, however, is Siegfried. The saga is downright vague in describing his further career:
First, when he has been defeated by Dietrich, Siegfried gives himself
up and declares himself Dietrich's follower.
Later on, the saga describes him marrying Grimhild, sister to Hagen and
Gunther. By this marriage, he becomes King in Nibelungenland.
By marrying Grimhild Siegfried leaves Dietrich's following. The saga, however, does not explicitly mention this. In fact, the saga is careful in describing peace and unity reigning between Dietrich and the Nibelungen, while Dietrich actively supports Siegfried's marriage. There are, however, reasons to believe Dietrich had nothing to do with Siegfried's marriage.
To me, it seems that the Nibelungen quickly made off with Siegfried and hastily arranged his marriage to Grimhild. Thus, they had attracted a real hero to their court, while Dietrich lost his grand trophy, the only tangible advantage of the tournament in Bertangaland.
What happened next? After Siegfried marrying Grimhild, the saga describes in boring detail the adventures of Herbort & Hilda and Iron & Isolde. These parts are probably interpolations from a later date. Within these parts we find the description of some marriages of Dietrich's heroes. These marriages were probably part of the original saga.
Thus, the original story first told about Bertangaland without mentioning that Dietrich did not win the tournament, then described some marriages of Dietrich's heroes. After that, the saga describes
how Dietrich's uncle Ermenrik invades Dietrich's realm and chases him.
Dietrich retreats and is forced into exile at Attila's court in Soest. Only Hildebrand and Wildeber follow him. Heime becomes a robber.
Before Bertangaland, Dietrich was the lord of a mighty following which kept his neigbours in awe. After Bertangaland, however, his following has shrunk to three heroes out of twelve. Probably, his following of common warriors will have shrunk at about the same ratio.
All of a sudden, Dietrich was only a minor king and his lands were basically up for grabs. His most powerful neighbour, his uncle Ermenrik, immediately took advantage of this and invaded Dietrich's realm. Dietrich did not even try to defend himself, he just fled to Attila's court.
Thus, Bertangaland was not the apogee of the Mighty Hero Dietrich von Bern, it was an unmitigated disaster. It made Dietrich's following fall apart and left his lands undefended.
Nevertheless, the saga cheerfully denies even the possibility of anything being the matter and grandly goes on about the immensly valorous and utterly conquering things Dietrich did as Attila's follower.
Therefore, it is safe to conclude that the Bertangaland-chapters of the Thidrekssaga have originally been composed as propaganda for Dietrich von Bern himself.
The saga (or better: its source) consequently described Dietrich's deeds in
the most favourable light possible, while simply ignoring the more murky and
damaging facts.
This is not surprising, it is what propaganda is supposed to do.
It is surprising, however, that the saga did not use the simpelest possible method for making Dietrich a hero.
The saga does not describe how Dietrich wins the grand tournament and leads his enlarged following home.
In other words, the saga did not use a direct lie to hide the damaging facts, which surely is the best method of propaganda in the long run.
In the short run, however, lies can lead to trouble. When a story is known to be false, it will not be believed, and its propagandistic value is reduced to zero.
Thus, the saga's original author had to take into account that some people knew what had really happened and was thus prevented from straying too far from the truth.
Now we have two reasons to believe that the Bertangaland-story of the Thidrekssaga goes back to a much older story, composed during the lifetime of Dietrich von Bern:
We have to conclude that the core of the Bertangaland-story has been composed during the life of Dietrich von Bern and has been faithfully preserved by oral tradition until it was written down eight hundred years later.
Eight hundred years is a long time. In addition, after Dietrich's death the story lost its main propagandistic value. It was retained in oral tradition not for its historical value, but because hearers wanted to hear yet another story about Dietrich von Bern.
During these eight hundred years, Dietrich's deeds were proudly recounted by bards. It is possible that they cared about the historical "truth" contained in their stories, it is also possible that they didn't care at all. Probably, some will have cared, while others will have cheerfully invented anything to please their audience.
The audience knew exactly what pleased it: the well known stories about their favourite heroes. The hearers thus served as a check on the bard inventing too much: they knew the main line of the stories, though they expected the bards to skilfully fill in the details.
But most of all, the audience wanted a story full of heroism. The great kings of old were mighty heroes, who habitually cleaved dragons, beheaded giants and savagely fought each other. As the historical value faded, did not this heroical value of the story become more important to the audience, thus to the bards?
For instance, the 13th-century Rosengartenlied bravely tells how Dietrich was challenged to a tournament by Grimhild and fought her champion and husband Siegfried. He took twelve heroes, who gallantly subdued their opposite number: the Nibelungen and their heroes. This is how a great hero like Dietrich is supposed to fight.
Why didn't the later bards, needing a story full of heroism, make Dietrich's heroes win their fights? Why did they retain the vague older version, in which most heroes lose most un-heroically?
Was it because to them this was the "real" story? The historical story?
Was it, after all, a story that should not be changed, because it told what "really happened"? If the bards thought so from the beginning, there is at least a chance that the Thidrekssaga's story may contain some historically valuable information.
In my opinion, the exact structure of the story of how Dietrich's heroes lost the tournament in Bertangaland proves
Apparently, oral tradition has done a nice job in retaining factual information on Dietrich von Bern and his heroes.
Nevertheless, whe should be careful. Though the main line of the story has been preserved, twenty-four generations of bards have had the time to change it on details. In addition, some stories are clearly of a much later date.
Furthermore, as we have seen the saga sometimes tells vague lies to hide damaging facts, not only in the Bertangaland-story, but also in other parts of the saga.
I think the Thidrekssaga may be used as an historical source for some events in the fifth century Rhineland. It must be used with care, but it may give much in return.
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