Germanic heroic legend

Hagen kills Siegfried while the Burgundian kings Gunther, Giselher, and Gernot watch. Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1847.

Germanic heroic legend (German: germanische Heldensage) is the heroic literary tradition of the Germanic-speaking peoples, most of which starts or is set in the Migration Period (4th-6th centuries AD).

Stories from this time period, to which others were added later, were transmitted orally, traveled widely among the Germanic speaking peoples, and were known in many versions. These legends usually redid historical events or people in the manner of oral poetry, forming a heroic age. Heroes in these legends often display a heroic way of thinking focusing on honor, glory, and loyalty above other concerns. Like Germanic mythology, heroic legend is a genre of Germanic folklore.

Germanic Heroic Legend Media

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  The shieldmaiden Hervor dying after the Battle of the Goths and Huns, by Peter Nicolai Arbo, before 1892.

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  The hero Wolfdietrich fights against dragons. From Heidelberg, Universitätsbiblothek, Cpg 365, folios 1v and 2r.

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  Franks Casket front. To the right is a depiction of the Adoration of the Magi, to the left is a scene from the legend of the hero Wayland the smith.

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  Hildr stands between the two sides and attempts to mediate between father and husband on the picture stone Smiss (I).

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  Carving in the church portal of San Zeno Maggiore (c. 1140) in Verona that most likely depicts Dietrich/Theodoric, marked as regem stultumcode: la is deprecated (stupid king), being carried to Hell by an infernal horse. The devil stands in the open mouth of Hell on the far right.