Dietrich von Bern: Germanic Hero or Medieval King? On the Sources of Dietrichs Flucht and Rabenschlacht

Abstract

The so-called historical Dietrich epics Dietrichs Flucht and Rabenschlacht, composed in the 13th century, are generally considered to relate stories about Theodoric the Great, King of Italy from 493 till 526, based either on an oral tradition of more than six hundred years or on written sources such as chronicles. An analysis of the texts, however, shows that many of the geographical names occurring in the poems and many of the events described rather seem to reflect the political situation during the reign of Emperor Frederic II (1212-1250).