What do you think?
Rate this book
The Saga of Didrik of Bern: with The Dward King Laurin
The Saga of Didrik of Bern tells the epic story of the legendary King Didrik and his warriors. Early in the saga, we hear about how the young Didrik assembles a formidable group of warriors, and about their journey to challenge a powerful king. These warriors include Wideke, whose father, Weland the smith, forged his unbeatable sword Mymming, and Heym, who was raised on a stud farm with magnificent black and grey horses. The saga then tells of Didrik's feud with his father's brother Ermentrik, and his long exile at the court of Attilia, King of the Huns.
The saga is driven by human drama, but giants, dwarfs, dragons, and other mythical and magical creatures all appear. Tales of other legendary figures and heroes from northern Europe are interwoven with the story of Didrik: The saga tells about Weland, and the many ways he used his smithing skills, and also tells a version of the story of Sigurd the dragon slayer and the Nyfflings.
The saga was probably compiled in Norway based on German poems about Didrik (also known as Dietrich, Thidrek, or Theoderic), and a Swedish version was produced later. Presented here is a translation of the medieval Swedish version of the saga.
Also included in this edition is a prose translation of the medieval Danish poem The Dwarf King Laurin, which tells one more story about Didrik of Bern.
The saga is driven by human drama, but giants, dwarfs, dragons, and other mythical and magical creatures all appear. Tales of other legendary figures and heroes from northern Europe are interwoven with the story of Didrik: The saga tells about Weland, and the many ways he used his smithing skills, and also tells a version of the story of Sigurd the dragon slayer and the Nyfflings.
The saga was probably compiled in Norway based on German poems about Didrik (also known as Dietrich, Thidrek, or Theoderic), and a Swedish version was produced later. Presented here is a translation of the medieval Swedish version of the saga.
Also included in this edition is a prose translation of the medieval Danish poem The Dwarf King Laurin, which tells one more story about Didrik of Bern.
338 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
2 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Ian Cumpstey
7 books9 followersIan Cumpstey lived and worked in Sweden for eight years. He has now returned to England, and lives in Cumbria. He is an associate member of the Swedish to English literary translators association. He has published three collections of translations of Scandinavian folk ballads: Lord Peter and Little Kerstin (2013), Warrior Lore (2014), and The Faraway North (2016).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 6, 2020
Didrik és lovagjai története nálunk alig ismert. Mégis, mivel a mondák az egész germán (skandináv) kultúrához kötődnek, sok az átfedés más, ismert mondakörökkel, és én is sok ismerős figurát találtam benne, Attila királytól egészen a Nibelungok Sigurdjáig (Wagner operáiban Siegfried). Ezeknek a svéd változatait dolgozták egybe, és készítettek belőlük prózai fordítást.
Folyamatosan visszaköszönt benne az, amit néhány évvel ezelőtt Huizinga könyvében olvastam a korszak Európájáról. Szigorú előírások, bonyolult szabályrendszerek, kiüresedett, de halálosan komolyan vett lovagi eszmény – gigantikus játszótér felnőtteknek. És tényleg.
Aki szereti (vagy valaha szerette) a westernt és/vagy a fantasyt, annak fokozottan ajánlott.
Részletes értékelés a blogon:
https://gyujtogeto-alkoto.blog.hu/202...
Folyamatosan visszaköszönt benne az, amit néhány évvel ezelőtt Huizinga könyvében olvastam a korszak Európájáról. Szigorú előírások, bonyolult szabályrendszerek, kiüresedett, de halálosan komolyan vett lovagi eszmény – gigantikus játszótér felnőtteknek. És tényleg.
Aki szereti (vagy valaha szerette) a westernt és/vagy a fantasyt, annak fokozottan ajánlott.
Részletes értékelés a blogon:
https://gyujtogeto-alkoto.blog.hu/202...
May 25, 2021
After reading the Nibelungenlied, Volsungasaga, Poetic Edda, and Prose Edda last Fall, I thought I had completed my incredible adventure into the medieval German/Norse Myths, Epic Poems and Heroic Sagas. I then remembered that the Nibelungenlied briefly introduced another remarkable lord named Dietrich von Bern, who was in exile at Etzel's court, and played a critical role in the bloodbath that culminates between the Nibelungs and Etzel's and Kriemhild's knights. The footnotes mentioned that this was the main hero of another epic heroic cycle, and I remember thinking, "What is this?! Another thrilling body of heroic legends to explore?"
And so that is what I did. Unfortunately, tracking down English translations of the heroic sagas about Dietrich von Bern is not easy. I spent weeks trying to find them, and was eventually able to find this recent translation of the Swedish version of the saga that originally came from the German oral tradition. It was written down in German in the 13th century, and then in Norwegian, and later polished up in Swedish. So there's a long and interesting heritage to this saga and the related poems, built over centuries of retellings and the blending of historical characters, like Atilla the Hun, who is known as Etzel in the Nibelungenlied, or Atli in the Volsungasaga and Eddas, and Gothic king Ermenrich, or Gunnar/Gunther, based on real 5th century Burgundian king Gundaharius, or the titular hero himself, Dietrich von Bern, who is a legendary version of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. The way this saga and its related tales fit into the larger picture of German/Scandinavian hero legend canon is a big, complicated, but endlessly interesting puzzle that adds to the glory and awe of the whole body of work.
The Swedish version is known as Thidrekssaga, and it adds to, clarifies, but otherwise leaves mostly unchanged the Germanic and later Norwegian versions. Some parts of the original Swedish manuscript are gone, so the Norwegian manuscript was used to fill in the gaps.
Like all proper sagas, it tells not only Didrik/Dietrich's full life, an all-encompassing history of his adventures and battles and fortunes and misfortunes and encounters and heroic deeds, like the loss of his kingdom, his exile, and the regaining of his kingdom, but it tells a pretty thorough history of most of his allies and examines their prowess as warriors or rulers, like Weyland Smith and his son Wideke, and Wildefer, and Heym the Small, and Deitlief the Dane, and Fasholt the Proud, and Attilia, king of the Huns, Hillebrand, and many others whose shields serve as the cover art for this book; and of those who become his enemies, like his uncle King Ermentrik, the Nyfflings who come to Attilia's kingdom, or legendary Sigurd, whom Didrik faces in single combat that extends into days, or Osantrix, the ruthless conqueror who battles Attilia; and of his kingdom, and his ancestors and relatives, and those who at some point cross paths with Dietrich or his companions.
Some of the characters or events in Thidrekssaga have smaller epic poems based on them, like the fight between Hillebrand and his son Alebrand, or the poem Biterolf und Dietlieb, which tells of these heroes' service in the court of Attilia/Etzel. Many of these characters have parts in the heroic oral tradition and appear in various works by various bards, , which creates this huge sense of cohesion and continuity between events and character arcs. The tales as they are told here are not always in chronological order, sometimes shifting around to introduce a new thread or character and tie him into the saga.
In this world, powerful weapons and armors crafted by master smiths or dwarves serve the heroes faithfully. The attention and description given to these items shows their importance in the legends, constantly reminding the listener or reader how mighty and sharp and deadly these tools of destruction are. There's the sword Eckiasax, which Didrik wins in his defeat of Jarl Ekka. This sword is forged by the same dwarf who forged Nagelring, a mighty sword that also appears in Volsungasaga, or Mymming, a deadly sword that belongs to Wideke and can cut down anyone or anything. And of course there is Gram, the legendary sword of Sigurd, which he uses to kill Fafnir.
Despite its fantastical and heroic nature, Thidrekssaga, like the Nibelungenlied and Volsungasaga, is filled with realistic human drama and conflict, turmoil between rulers, jealousy among warriors, vengeance for the fallen, the desire to prove oneself, to outdo others, the drive of competition, insecurity tied to failure, and heavy amounts of hatred, love, kinship, honor, loyalty, dignity, betrayal, powerlust, cannibalism, and far-reaching adventure and mountains of slain bodies and blood. There's a timeless, historic feel to everything in the saga, as though these events really happened, and we are hearing the songs composed to relay them to us.
Unlike in modern fiction, human interactions and desires and the way events play out in sagas do not seem orchestrated to hold your hand toward predictable outcomes or predetermined conclusions, or "acceptable" resolutions. Everything from the character quality to the way events unravel has a natural, undesigned element to it, with things sometimes going extremely well, without artificial conflict or drama tossed in for 'story', and other times going exceedingly badly, falling into chaos in ways none would assume. There is so much tension and violence in this setting, and so much social and political complexity that the slightest act can have big, unforeseen consequences. There is serious complexity beneath everything, yet masterfully hidden by the straight-forward narration.
This is a prose translation of the medieval poem, and reads clearly and easily, but with the character and manner of medieval speech and phrasing preserved, so that it never feels modern or cleaned up for modern audiences with small attention spans. Because it is translated from old epic poetry, many times the phrasing feels poetic, magnificent, grand, and dramatic, as it should, for it conveys a sprawling saga across distant European lands and the larger than life strength and heroism and feats and personalities of many fantastic characters.
We visit a world in which brave and proud men of incredible capabilities, all given family histories and regaling stories of achievement, are pitted against one another, or are allied together, and the destruction they deal to each other or their enemies, with heads frequently being chopped off, limbs sliced, swords cutting all the way through bodies and landing in saddles, bodies cleaved in half, is enormous and colorful. The conflicts that arise in these ancient lands of Northern Europe, and which spread far and wide into Italy and beyond, end in the deaths of thousands, with towering exploits and ultra-violence that sings along the pages with vibrant characterization, and dynamically shifts from carnage to tenderness or joviality, or deeds of valor, or one-on-one combat in the dead of night, with only the sparks from the swords to light the struggle.
This heroic cycle includes many familiar scenes with Sigurd, but also shows us events that are only hinted at in the Nibelungenlied, like his slaying of the dragon Fafnir. This scene is detailed in the Volsungasaga, but it occurs differently here, as does his slaying of Regin. Same, though, is Sigurd's ability to understand the speech of birds after consuming the dragon's blood, and his invincibility over all his body where he smears this blood, except for the spot between his shoulder blades he misses, which ultimately is his undoing.
But there are other scenes we are treated to with Sigurd that we don't get anywhere else. We see his origins as the son of Sigmund, raised as an orphan, and his childhood as a powerful bully. The Scandinavian versions of these legends give us (a quite different) back story on Sigurd, but the German versions, to my knowledge, do not provide much of Siegfried's childhood or his life before his heroism. Also here we see the raging combat between Sigurd and Didrik that I have not seen anywhere else.
This version has Sigurd dying in the way that is consistent with the Nibelungenlied, being stabbed in the back by Hagen, whereas the Volsungasaga and Eddas see him murdered in his sleep. Despite many of the names and cultural references in Thidrekssaga being Norse, it seems to more often follow the German traditions.
Dragons and giants and dwarves and sinister magic also feature in this saga, with three giant brothers who reign havoc and terror in the wars they become involved in, and more than one dragon is slain over the span of the saga, with dark magic used to turn wild beasts against an army, and to create an army of dragons. Wars occur often, on a grand scale, and the feats performed by each warrior whether it is hero or villain are given center stage, dramatically illustrated, with deaths and defeats and carnage all around.
After Thidrekssaga, another heroic poem of Dietrich's adventures is included in the book, translated into prose, known as the Dwarf King Laurin, or just Laurin, or sometimes The Small Rose Garden. The version translated here is from Danish. In this brief tale, Didrik and Wideke go to the Dwarf King's mountain and destroy his rose garden to see if he will challenge them, and cut off their hands and legs, as Hillebrand says he will. They fight, they destroy, they pillage.
Absolutely a splendid work, another timeless epic, fantastical saga, a vivid and captivating narrative of many incredible people and events and conflicts. It is not only an enriching work about medieval legends in Europe, but it is itself a product of the culture and the time, making it fascinating from multiple angles.
And so that is what I did. Unfortunately, tracking down English translations of the heroic sagas about Dietrich von Bern is not easy. I spent weeks trying to find them, and was eventually able to find this recent translation of the Swedish version of the saga that originally came from the German oral tradition. It was written down in German in the 13th century, and then in Norwegian, and later polished up in Swedish. So there's a long and interesting heritage to this saga and the related poems, built over centuries of retellings and the blending of historical characters, like Atilla the Hun, who is known as Etzel in the Nibelungenlied, or Atli in the Volsungasaga and Eddas, and Gothic king Ermenrich, or Gunnar/Gunther, based on real 5th century Burgundian king Gundaharius, or the titular hero himself, Dietrich von Bern, who is a legendary version of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. The way this saga and its related tales fit into the larger picture of German/Scandinavian hero legend canon is a big, complicated, but endlessly interesting puzzle that adds to the glory and awe of the whole body of work.
The Swedish version is known as Thidrekssaga, and it adds to, clarifies, but otherwise leaves mostly unchanged the Germanic and later Norwegian versions. Some parts of the original Swedish manuscript are gone, so the Norwegian manuscript was used to fill in the gaps.
Like all proper sagas, it tells not only Didrik/Dietrich's full life, an all-encompassing history of his adventures and battles and fortunes and misfortunes and encounters and heroic deeds, like the loss of his kingdom, his exile, and the regaining of his kingdom, but it tells a pretty thorough history of most of his allies and examines their prowess as warriors or rulers, like Weyland Smith and his son Wideke, and Wildefer, and Heym the Small, and Deitlief the Dane, and Fasholt the Proud, and Attilia, king of the Huns, Hillebrand, and many others whose shields serve as the cover art for this book; and of those who become his enemies, like his uncle King Ermentrik, the Nyfflings who come to Attilia's kingdom, or legendary Sigurd, whom Didrik faces in single combat that extends into days, or Osantrix, the ruthless conqueror who battles Attilia; and of his kingdom, and his ancestors and relatives, and those who at some point cross paths with Dietrich or his companions.
Some of the characters or events in Thidrekssaga have smaller epic poems based on them, like the fight between Hillebrand and his son Alebrand, or the poem Biterolf und Dietlieb, which tells of these heroes' service in the court of Attilia/Etzel. Many of these characters have parts in the heroic oral tradition and appear in various works by various bards, , which creates this huge sense of cohesion and continuity between events and character arcs. The tales as they are told here are not always in chronological order, sometimes shifting around to introduce a new thread or character and tie him into the saga.
In this world, powerful weapons and armors crafted by master smiths or dwarves serve the heroes faithfully. The attention and description given to these items shows their importance in the legends, constantly reminding the listener or reader how mighty and sharp and deadly these tools of destruction are. There's the sword Eckiasax, which Didrik wins in his defeat of Jarl Ekka. This sword is forged by the same dwarf who forged Nagelring, a mighty sword that also appears in Volsungasaga, or Mymming, a deadly sword that belongs to Wideke and can cut down anyone or anything. And of course there is Gram, the legendary sword of Sigurd, which he uses to kill Fafnir.
Despite its fantastical and heroic nature, Thidrekssaga, like the Nibelungenlied and Volsungasaga, is filled with realistic human drama and conflict, turmoil between rulers, jealousy among warriors, vengeance for the fallen, the desire to prove oneself, to outdo others, the drive of competition, insecurity tied to failure, and heavy amounts of hatred, love, kinship, honor, loyalty, dignity, betrayal, powerlust, cannibalism, and far-reaching adventure and mountains of slain bodies and blood. There's a timeless, historic feel to everything in the saga, as though these events really happened, and we are hearing the songs composed to relay them to us.
Unlike in modern fiction, human interactions and desires and the way events play out in sagas do not seem orchestrated to hold your hand toward predictable outcomes or predetermined conclusions, or "acceptable" resolutions. Everything from the character quality to the way events unravel has a natural, undesigned element to it, with things sometimes going extremely well, without artificial conflict or drama tossed in for 'story', and other times going exceedingly badly, falling into chaos in ways none would assume. There is so much tension and violence in this setting, and so much social and political complexity that the slightest act can have big, unforeseen consequences. There is serious complexity beneath everything, yet masterfully hidden by the straight-forward narration.
This is a prose translation of the medieval poem, and reads clearly and easily, but with the character and manner of medieval speech and phrasing preserved, so that it never feels modern or cleaned up for modern audiences with small attention spans. Because it is translated from old epic poetry, many times the phrasing feels poetic, magnificent, grand, and dramatic, as it should, for it conveys a sprawling saga across distant European lands and the larger than life strength and heroism and feats and personalities of many fantastic characters.
We visit a world in which brave and proud men of incredible capabilities, all given family histories and regaling stories of achievement, are pitted against one another, or are allied together, and the destruction they deal to each other or their enemies, with heads frequently being chopped off, limbs sliced, swords cutting all the way through bodies and landing in saddles, bodies cleaved in half, is enormous and colorful. The conflicts that arise in these ancient lands of Northern Europe, and which spread far and wide into Italy and beyond, end in the deaths of thousands, with towering exploits and ultra-violence that sings along the pages with vibrant characterization, and dynamically shifts from carnage to tenderness or joviality, or deeds of valor, or one-on-one combat in the dead of night, with only the sparks from the swords to light the struggle.
This heroic cycle includes many familiar scenes with Sigurd, but also shows us events that are only hinted at in the Nibelungenlied, like his slaying of the dragon Fafnir. This scene is detailed in the Volsungasaga, but it occurs differently here, as does his slaying of Regin. Same, though, is Sigurd's ability to understand the speech of birds after consuming the dragon's blood, and his invincibility over all his body where he smears this blood, except for the spot between his shoulder blades he misses, which ultimately is his undoing.
But there are other scenes we are treated to with Sigurd that we don't get anywhere else. We see his origins as the son of Sigmund, raised as an orphan, and his childhood as a powerful bully. The Scandinavian versions of these legends give us (a quite different) back story on Sigurd, but the German versions, to my knowledge, do not provide much of Siegfried's childhood or his life before his heroism. Also here we see the raging combat between Sigurd and Didrik that I have not seen anywhere else.
This version has Sigurd dying in the way that is consistent with the Nibelungenlied, being stabbed in the back by Hagen, whereas the Volsungasaga and Eddas see him murdered in his sleep. Despite many of the names and cultural references in Thidrekssaga being Norse, it seems to more often follow the German traditions.
Dragons and giants and dwarves and sinister magic also feature in this saga, with three giant brothers who reign havoc and terror in the wars they become involved in, and more than one dragon is slain over the span of the saga, with dark magic used to turn wild beasts against an army, and to create an army of dragons. Wars occur often, on a grand scale, and the feats performed by each warrior whether it is hero or villain are given center stage, dramatically illustrated, with deaths and defeats and carnage all around.
After Thidrekssaga, another heroic poem of Dietrich's adventures is included in the book, translated into prose, known as the Dwarf King Laurin, or just Laurin, or sometimes The Small Rose Garden. The version translated here is from Danish. In this brief tale, Didrik and Wideke go to the Dwarf King's mountain and destroy his rose garden to see if he will challenge them, and cut off their hands and legs, as Hillebrand says he will. They fight, they destroy, they pillage.
Absolutely a splendid work, another timeless epic, fantastical saga, a vivid and captivating narrative of many incredible people and events and conflicts. It is not only an enriching work about medieval legends in Europe, but it is itself a product of the culture and the time, making it fascinating from multiple angles.
November 20, 2017
Review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I fell in love with the Dietrich-legends a couple of years ago. Since then, I have read pretty much everything available about them in English, and created several storytelling performances from the various stories from the cycle. I especially enjoyed the Norwegian Thidrekssaga, but while I was aware that there was a Swedish version as well, it was not available in English. This volume makes up for that gap in the literature (and on my bookshelf), and I am extremely grateful for it.
This book contains two texts: The Swedish Didrik saga, and the Danish version of the legend of King Laurin's Rose Garden (one of my favorite legends from the Dietrich cycle). Both are concise, carefully translated, easily readable, and come with a whole lot of useful and interesting notes and comments. They are both broken up into chapters, and also smaller sections. The Didrik saga, as the author notes, has probably been strung together from individual stories in the oral tradition, because sometimes it has inconsistencies, but it still ends up as a continuous story, from Dietrich's ancestry all the way to his death.
If you have never heard of Dietrich before, or never read any of his legends, this book can be a great introduction. It contains most of the important stories, and a lot of the fun ones - Sir Sintram being stuck in a dragon's mouth, Wittich slaying a giant and then pretending to be dead to prank his comrades, a sorcerer-queen raising an army of dragons to combat some knights, Sir Heym the Small trying to live as a monk and failing at it, or Tristan's brother going through the same forbidden love story, but finding a practical way to get out of it alive (and married). Next to these entertaining bits, the saga also contains some of the "big" stories - Dietrich in exile, Hildebrand fighting his own son, and, of course, the End of the Niebelungs, from King Attila's perspective (with Dietrich's active participation, and an incredibly epic fight scene). Most people, when they think "medieval legends with dragons and sorcerers" think King Arthur... but in truth, the Dietrich cycle has a lot more of the dragons, giants, sorcerers, Dwarf kingdoms, and other magical elements. In addition, it is deeply tied to a lot of other famous stories from the Middle Ages, such as King Arthur (see Tristan), Weyland the Smith, Egil the Archer, and, of course, Attila the Hun. The characters that surround Dietrich, just as the King himself, are all interesting and complex, all with their own personality, destiny, and adventures.
This book is a rich and exciting read, opening up an underappreciated world of magic and chivalry.
I fell in love with the Dietrich-legends a couple of years ago. Since then, I have read pretty much everything available about them in English, and created several storytelling performances from the various stories from the cycle. I especially enjoyed the Norwegian Thidrekssaga, but while I was aware that there was a Swedish version as well, it was not available in English. This volume makes up for that gap in the literature (and on my bookshelf), and I am extremely grateful for it.
This book contains two texts: The Swedish Didrik saga, and the Danish version of the legend of King Laurin's Rose Garden (one of my favorite legends from the Dietrich cycle). Both are concise, carefully translated, easily readable, and come with a whole lot of useful and interesting notes and comments. They are both broken up into chapters, and also smaller sections. The Didrik saga, as the author notes, has probably been strung together from individual stories in the oral tradition, because sometimes it has inconsistencies, but it still ends up as a continuous story, from Dietrich's ancestry all the way to his death.
If you have never heard of Dietrich before, or never read any of his legends, this book can be a great introduction. It contains most of the important stories, and a lot of the fun ones - Sir Sintram being stuck in a dragon's mouth, Wittich slaying a giant and then pretending to be dead to prank his comrades, a sorcerer-queen raising an army of dragons to combat some knights, Sir Heym the Small trying to live as a monk and failing at it, or Tristan's brother going through the same forbidden love story, but finding a practical way to get out of it alive (and married). Next to these entertaining bits, the saga also contains some of the "big" stories - Dietrich in exile, Hildebrand fighting his own son, and, of course, the End of the Niebelungs, from King Attila's perspective (with Dietrich's active participation, and an incredibly epic fight scene). Most people, when they think "medieval legends with dragons and sorcerers" think King Arthur... but in truth, the Dietrich cycle has a lot more of the dragons, giants, sorcerers, Dwarf kingdoms, and other magical elements. In addition, it is deeply tied to a lot of other famous stories from the Middle Ages, such as King Arthur (see Tristan), Weyland the Smith, Egil the Archer, and, of course, Attila the Hun. The characters that surround Dietrich, just as the King himself, are all interesting and complex, all with their own personality, destiny, and adventures.
This book is a rich and exciting read, opening up an underappreciated world of magic and chivalry.
June 25, 2020
A reluctant 4 stars, only because I have a love for medieval epic and romance to begin with.
This saga did have a few drawbacks however. There are so many characters, events and fights that one feels that a sense of focus is lost at times.
That being said, there are some really fun and fast moving stories here. Didrik is a warrior and king who, like King Arthur, has a band of amazing knights. Parts of the saga has to do with the backstories of these knights and how they became loyal to Didrik.
What is also interesting about this saga is that it’s part of that matrix of tales dealing with not only Didrik, but Sigurd/Siegfried and the dragon. We find versions of this tale in The Saga of The Volsungs and The Song of the Nibelungs. Both of these are 13th Century works, but the first is an Icelandic prose saga and the second the great Austrian poem. Indeed I have wanted to read an English translation of another saga that has a version of this tale: Thidrek’s Saga. So I was excited to find Didrik of Bern, which is a later Swedish version of that saga.
Although dealing mainly with Didrik, a good portion gives us the Sigurd tale, and I found it interesting how it blended elements of those two other books mentioned above.
I was also delighted to find a wonderfully told version of the tale of Wayland The smith, the blacksmith mistreated by the king he serves. He appears as a dwarf called Volund in The Poetic Edda.
All of these seemingly disparate tales connect with Didrik in some way. It goes to show just how many legends there are in Germanic myth and how mythographers have to try and make them connect.
Didrik is also known as Dietrich, and he also has a claim as a Germanic hero with his own cycle of stories, just like Sigurd.
Here Didrik sets up his castle called Bern. He fights with some kings, and forms alliances with others.
His great enemy is Ermantrik of Rome, and he has a friend in King Attilia in his realm Hunaland. Atillia is supposed to be based on Atilla the Hun. Didrik himself may be based on Theoderik the Great, a Gothic king of Rome.
A nice bonus is the story of Laurin the Dwarf King, a separate story in this book. It’s good, but sadly disappointing since it didn’t have certain enchanting events as other versions I read.
That’s the issue with myths and legends: so many rescensions. You read a short retelling in a book that you fall in love with. Then you finally come across a full translation of an original text only to find it’s not the version you read in that earlier book.
This saga did have a few drawbacks however. There are so many characters, events and fights that one feels that a sense of focus is lost at times.
That being said, there are some really fun and fast moving stories here. Didrik is a warrior and king who, like King Arthur, has a band of amazing knights. Parts of the saga has to do with the backstories of these knights and how they became loyal to Didrik.
What is also interesting about this saga is that it’s part of that matrix of tales dealing with not only Didrik, but Sigurd/Siegfried and the dragon. We find versions of this tale in The Saga of The Volsungs and The Song of the Nibelungs. Both of these are 13th Century works, but the first is an Icelandic prose saga and the second the great Austrian poem. Indeed I have wanted to read an English translation of another saga that has a version of this tale: Thidrek’s Saga. So I was excited to find Didrik of Bern, which is a later Swedish version of that saga.
Although dealing mainly with Didrik, a good portion gives us the Sigurd tale, and I found it interesting how it blended elements of those two other books mentioned above.
I was also delighted to find a wonderfully told version of the tale of Wayland The smith, the blacksmith mistreated by the king he serves. He appears as a dwarf called Volund in The Poetic Edda.
All of these seemingly disparate tales connect with Didrik in some way. It goes to show just how many legends there are in Germanic myth and how mythographers have to try and make them connect.
Didrik is also known as Dietrich, and he also has a claim as a Germanic hero with his own cycle of stories, just like Sigurd.
Here Didrik sets up his castle called Bern. He fights with some kings, and forms alliances with others.
His great enemy is Ermantrik of Rome, and he has a friend in King Attilia in his realm Hunaland. Atillia is supposed to be based on Atilla the Hun. Didrik himself may be based on Theoderik the Great, a Gothic king of Rome.
A nice bonus is the story of Laurin the Dwarf King, a separate story in this book. It’s good, but sadly disappointing since it didn’t have certain enchanting events as other versions I read.
That’s the issue with myths and legends: so many rescensions. You read a short retelling in a book that you fall in love with. Then you finally come across a full translation of an original text only to find it’s not the version you read in that earlier book.
October 24, 2024
A great read. I highly recommend this book.
Dietrich of Bern (Didrik, Thidrek) was a mythical Germanic hero who battled dragons, giants, evil knights & dwarves. He famously appeared in the Nibelungenlied as the reluctant hero who brought Hagen to justice. Dietrich perhaps originated as a legendary version of the Ostrogothic king, Theodoric the Great.
Thidrekssaga (Dietrich’s Saga) is an Old Norse saga that collects almost all Germanic heroic legends into a single narrative. It includes stories of Volund (Wayland the Smith), Sigurd (Siegfried), Witege (Wideke) & Etzel (Attila).
Dietrich of Bern (Didrik, Thidrek) was a mythical Germanic hero who battled dragons, giants, evil knights & dwarves. He famously appeared in the Nibelungenlied as the reluctant hero who brought Hagen to justice. Dietrich perhaps originated as a legendary version of the Ostrogothic king, Theodoric the Great.
Thidrekssaga (Dietrich’s Saga) is an Old Norse saga that collects almost all Germanic heroic legends into a single narrative. It includes stories of Volund (Wayland the Smith), Sigurd (Siegfried), Witege (Wideke) & Etzel (Attila).
August 12, 2024
An epic and sometimes untidy, tale of a great germanic hero.
If you're into germanic myths you may hadseen him as some Nibelung/Volsung's saga secondary character. He appears on those stories as a mighty warrior and always joined by Master Hillebrand another knight of reknown, when King Gunther/Gundohar and his family are in route to meet their sister at Attila's court.
But Didrik has his own story and much of the pages are related to his adventures and his friends too. In here we will hear about Wideke, Heym and many more. Companions of noble Didrik that feature in a lot of chapters, oftenly helping him, some others betraying him.
Mr Cumpstey did a great work in joining all manuscrips around this hazy character and assemble a coherent narrative. Unfortunately, it's not historically accurate but we can skip that in order to find a complete book that works coherently.
The story is interesting, often recalling some paralelism with other legends as King Arthur and Hrolf Kraki. I found that a lot of the back story was important but even so, I was bored reading about the grandfather or a father of an important character.
Despite this remarks, it is a great book and people who liked legendas such as the Nibelung Cycle/Volsung Saga, Beowulf or the likes, will find a great story worth of a read (3/5).
If you're into germanic myths you may hadseen him as some Nibelung/Volsung's saga secondary character. He appears on those stories as a mighty warrior and always joined by Master Hillebrand another knight of reknown, when King Gunther/Gundohar and his family are in route to meet their sister at Attila's court.
But Didrik has his own story and much of the pages are related to his adventures and his friends too. In here we will hear about Wideke, Heym and many more. Companions of noble Didrik that feature in a lot of chapters, oftenly helping him, some others betraying him.
Mr Cumpstey did a great work in joining all manuscrips around this hazy character and assemble a coherent narrative. Unfortunately, it's not historically accurate but we can skip that in order to find a complete book that works coherently.
The story is interesting, often recalling some paralelism with other legends as King Arthur and Hrolf Kraki. I found that a lot of the back story was important but even so, I was bored reading about the grandfather or a father of an important character.
Despite this remarks, it is a great book and people who liked legendas such as the Nibelung Cycle/Volsung Saga, Beowulf or the likes, will find a great story worth of a read (3/5).
August 12, 2025
It’s very funny that the Romans considered Attila the Hun the Scourge of God while the Germanic Heroic Legends basically treat him like their Michael Scott.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews