Thidreks saga

Þiðrekssaga (also Thidreksaga, Thidrekssaga, Niflungasaga or Vilkina saga) is a chivalric saga of the adventures of the hero Dietrich von Bern who is based on the historical Theodoric the Great, and Bern refers to the city of Verona in Northern Italy. The saga was written down in the mid-13th century in Norway, and it was to be widely read in medieval Scandinavia. The name Vilkinasaga was first used in Johan Peringskiöld's Swedish translation of ... more

Þiðrekssaga (also Thidreksaga, Thidrekssaga, Niflungasaga or Vilkina saga) is a chivalric saga of the adventures of the hero Dietrich von Bern who is based on the historical Theodoric the Great, and Bern refers to the city of Verona in Northern Italy. The saga was written down in the mid-13th century in Norway, and it was to be widely read in medieval Scandinavia. The name Vilkinasaga was first used in Johan Peringskiöld's Swedish translation of 1715. Peringskiöld named it after Vilkinaland, which the saga says was an old name for Sweden and Götaland. The preface of the Norwegian Þiðriks saga af Bern says that it was written according to "tales of German men" and "old German poetry", possibly transmitted by Hanseatic merchants in Bergen. This somewhat formless compilation which is teeming of legendary heroes from various ages constituted the basis of the Swedish Didrikssagan from the mid-15th century. The Swedish reworking of the story is rather independent, many repetitions were... less