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COPYRIGHT 2003 University of Waterloo - Dept. of Germanic and Slavic Language Literature
I. Biterolf und Dietleib
The mid-twelfth century anonymous German epic Biterolf und Dietleib divides the European continent into two hostile spheres: a southeastern sphere centered around the east European, "Hunnish" court of Etzel, and a northwestern sphere dominated by the Rhenish court at Worms. The text's representation of a pan-European war has generated considerable interpretive speculation among medieval Germanists. Is it a purely literary construction, or is it meant to reflect or refract contemporary geographic/political constellations, an east/west European divide? Representative of the former view, Michael Curschmann disregards any connection with actual history, considering the text "Dichtung uber Heldendichtung" in which the division of Europe develops a construction immanent to the epic tradition, a "Rivalitat der Sagenkreise" and "klare Polaritat nordwestlicher und sudostlicher Sagenwelten" that first appears in the Nibelungenlied, and is to be considered derivative thereof. (1) Fritz Peter Knapp, representing a more historically inclined group of scholars, interprets the poetic geopolitics of Biterolf as reflecting "eine gewisse Distanz zu traditionellen Machtzentren des Reichs und eine Ausrichtung auf Suden und Osten," which "einer politisch-okonomischen Neuorientierung der adligen Machthaber in den Landern Steiermark und Osterreich Ausdruck verleihen soll." (2)
Both camps have neglected certain geographical, cultural, and narrative aspects which shed light on the text's relationship with both the Nibelungenlied and its wider cultural-historical context. Biterolf not only tells the story of the famous Nibelungenlied in reverse--instead of the Burgundian court at Worms going off to the Land of the Huns for the final, decisive battle, here the court of Attila (or Etzel, as his is known in the German vernacular epics) journeys en masse to a confrontation with Gunther's court along the banks of the Rhine--the later epic also "civilizes" the grim heroic military ethos of its source-model: instead of total annihilation of both parties, as in the Nibelungenlied, the Huns and Burgundians decide to settle their differences with chivalric tournaments, leading ultimately to reconciliation, a big celebration, and mutual survival. (3) Yet the phenomenon of "chivalrication" (Verritterlichung) has, in recent years, been interpreted almost exclusively in terms of literary genre, (4) as if it would point to nothing more than the expected inroads of fashionable, French-influenced romance discourse a la Wolfram von Eschenbach or Gottfried von Strabburg into the grim martial absolutism of the older heroic literary tradition. While there is no doubt some truth in this, nonetheless I think the Biterolf-poet had other, culturally more concrete things in mind than bringing his heroic tale up to the fashionable literary standard of the day. Namely, he places chivalric combat within a discourse of "gentilic" difference more pronounced and sophisticated than anything found in contemporary romances. (5) This move has important implications for our understanding of representations of national consciousness and ethnicity in medieval German literature that looks to the continental east.
The Biterolf-poet constructs an ethno-cultural divide within his representation of pan-European military civilization. None of the eastern European warriors in the text--Huns, Bohemians, Poles, Prussians, Vlachs and Cumans--know how to turnieren, that is, to fight with the lance on horseback in "proper" chivalric fashion. As the two opposing sides, working out the terms of the battle, decide upon a pre-emptive, recreational tournament, Rudiger, Etzel's Bavarian vassal and envoy to the Rhine, tells the Burgundian king:
"... welt jr tuornierens phlegen? sy wundert, daz vnns auf den wegen mit streite in disen lannden noch nyomant hat bestannden. nu wolden die von Hunen lanndt daz man jn rette daz bekannt, was geturnieret weare." (8395-8401) (6) "How about a tournament? The Huns have been wondering why nobody from these lands has come to challenge them on the way. They are eager to learn what tourneying is all about."
Indeed, the Huns are not the only ones ignorant of the art. Bloedelin, Etzel's brother, tells Rudiger that their allies, the Poles and the Prussians, are similarly handicapped:
"wir Huanen gesahen doch nie mer wie turnieren sey getan: die Preuassen und die Polan habent sein selten icht gephlegen." (8276-79) "We Huns have never before witnessed the tourney. The Prussians and the Poles don't know how to do it, either,"
Ignorance of the tournament is not, however, exclusive to Etzel's kingdom and its Slavic vassals. All the Slavs, regardless of which side they are on, are similarly incompetent. Witzlan, king of the Bohemians and ally of the Burgundians, goes into some detail describing the native customs of his countrymen:
"nu die rede ist so gewant, daz wir hie streites sullen phlegen: ob wir niht kunnen," sprach der degen, mit gleyoen und buckeleren, doch muogen wir satele laaren mit flaotsehen wol sneidanden. Die tieffen ferchwuonden suln wir mit swerten houwen hie." "The word is that we will engage in battle here," spoke the hero. "Even if we do not come bearing lances and buckler-shields, we can still empty saddles with our sharp broadswords. And we can deliver the coup de grace with our longswords."
When Gunther tells Witzlan the first confrontation is going to be a tournament rather than a pitched battle, Witzlan assures him that the fighting style of the Bohemians, albeit somewhat primitive, can be adapted to the tournament:
"[den Beheimen] sol nicht wesen schwaare ob sy nicht spere enfuoelen: sy sullens mit flatschen ruoeren den helden auf die rende. ja sicht man von ir hendn durch zaume selten geschlagen; uf haben vnd nachjagen, des kunnen sy das mynnist. sy habn annders dhainen list, wan das sy an guoten knechten ymmer muagen erfechten, daran ist jr syn gewant. Der site ist in Beheim lannt." (8446-58) "[The Bohemians] won't be hindered at all by the fact that they aren't wielding lances: they'll hit the opponents' shields with their broadswords. Although they aren't used to seizing the bridle, at least they are able to pursue and hunt down the enemy. They don't have much mole skill than that, but they are firmly intent upon holding their own against worthy warriors: that is the custom in Bohemia."
Slavic-Hunnish ignorance of the chivalric arts is rendered even more pronounced by the fact that in the entire rest of the world, from Arabia to Spain, such military practice is the rule: "even though Rudiger and his men had never been to a tournament on the Rhine before, they had seen this skill (kunst) in Arabia." (7) "Walther of Spain said: 'We know how to tourney. I'll contribute one hundred knights. They'll quickly see how good we are at the tournament.'" (8) The Saxons and the Thuringians, too, are "versed in this game" (kunden wol dasselbe spil). (9) The inclusion of these latter two peoples is especially significant, since it highlights the geographic borders of the knightly martial arts: the Saxons and Thuringians are the immediate western neighbors of the Poles and the Bohemians. Turnieren, therefore, is a kind of international standard, with the sole exception of the European countries east of Germany.
Despite references to the desire of east European peoples to learn how to fight with the lance, none of them does. The only warrior unpracticed in turnieren who becomes proficient in the course of the text is Wolfhart of Lombardy, one of Dietrich's Gothic Amelungs, who are allies of the Huns:
"mich muoet," sprach aber Wolthart, "daz ich nie kain herefart versass in Lamparten lant, vnd mir das nie ward erkant daz sy hayossent turnieren, seyt es sol ritter zieren." (8207-12) "I regret," responded Wolfhart, "that I didn't take part in any expeditions in Lombardy, and that I never witnessed that which they call 'tourneying,' since it is supposed to glorify the knight."
Nevertheless, in his first encounter in the ensuing battle Wolfhart is seen wielding the lance like any other non-east European knight. (10) In contrast, the east Europeans persist in their native military customs, with the result that Slavic and Hunnish warriors from both sides who cannot fight with the lance are designated to confront each other: the Huns and Vlachs are assigned to the Bohemians, and their battle becomes a vicious melee of horse-to-horse...
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