Oral Tradition

On this page, I will shortly discuss the problems surrounding the reliability of oral tradition.

From the older literature on oral tradition and its historical value, it appears there are several schools of historical thought on this subject:

• The school that reverently communicates as Truth all facts and fictions preserved in oral tradition,
• The school that starts to froth at the mouth at the mere mention of oral tradition as an historical source,
• and several intermediary schools.

Personally, I don't see any fundamental reason why oral tradition cannot preserve some historical facts. Of course, these facts are buried under tons of details not having any historical basis.
The most important point, however, is that

when claiming that a specific oral tradition has retained some historical truth, one should support this claim by some evidence.

I claim that oral tradition has retained some historical facts about Dietrich von Bern and the Nibelungen, facts which have been written down in the Thidrekssaga.

According to my own rule, I should give some evidence to support this claim.

I will not try to find the evidence in the misty maze of theoretical possibilities and impossibilities of oral tradition as an historical source. I have several reasons:

• First of all, I know too little of the current literature on the subject.
• Secondly, I merely want to discuss the specific case of the Thidrekssaga.
• Finally, I will not attempt to prove the Thidrekssaga is reliable by proving oral tradition is reliable. In fact, I will attempt to prove the opposite.

Before attempting to prove anything, let us consider the problem:

Ritter, by believing the Thidrekssaga contains accurate information on fifth century heroes, also believes oral tradition has reliably retained this information until it was written down.

Ritter tries to prove the reliability of the written Thidrekssaga by showing its topography contains factual information on the fifth century Rhineland.
If his evidence is accepted, it logically follows that oral tradition has retained reliable information, since oral tradition was the Thidrekssaga's source.

I will follow Ritter and take the written Thidrekssaga as a starting point, specifically the part on Bertangaland.

First of all, part of the Bertangaland-story told by the Thidrekssaga has been independently preserved in some old Danish folk-songs, pointing to some oral tradition.

In my opinion, the text of the story of Bertangaland:

• has originally been composed during the life-time of Dietrich von Bern, probably in the fifth century.
• has changed surprisingly little since the fifth century.

If both statements are proven to be correct, it follows that oral tradition has done a nice job in retaining historical information.

For proving these statements, it is necessary to take a closer look at the social and political system of the fifth century.

Load the page discussing the social and political system of the fifth century.

Load the page discussing the Bertangaland-story and its historical value.