Based on earlier oral tradition, the Nibelungenlied tells of the tragic adventures of the Burgundian court at Worms. The principal historical figures in the poem are actually Burgundians of the 5th century, but much of the poem draws on prehistorical German mythology and folklore, and in its final form shows the influence of courtly literature and French romance. The poem is remarkable not only for its exciting story and colourful characters but also for its metrical and linguistic sophistication.
The Nibelungenlied is divided into 39 parts known as “adventures,” each composed in stanzas consisting of four long lines with variable caesuras and rhyme. Some 2,400 of these stanzas make up the vast work. The poem opens with the arrival in Worms of Siegfried, the son of Siegmund, the king of the Netherlands (today the Low Countries). Siegfried, a prince of noble character and immense physical strength, woos and wins the hand of the Burgundian princess Kriemhild. Gunther, the king of Burgundy, Siegfried’s brother-in-law, desires to marry the virgin queen of Iceland, Brünnhilde. Siegfried has wooed Brünnhilde for Gunther by means of a ruse, and he now goes to Iceland with Gunther and his men to assist in the wedding. Brünnhilde does not at first acquiesce to Gunther’s demands, but Siegfried once more uses his supernatural powers to subdue her and force her submission.
On his return to Worms, Siegfried quarrels with Kriemhild, who reveals the secret of his trickery in wooing Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde’s wounded pride incites her to plot Siegfried’s murder, enlisting the help of Hagen von Tronje, Gunther’s most faithful vassal. Siegfried is then lured to the Odenwald forest by Hagen, where Hagen treacherously stabs him to death. Siegfried’s body is taken back to Worms and shown to Kriemhild. Kriemhild swears revenge. With the help of her second husband, Etzel (Attila the Hun), king of the Huns, she invites the Burgundians to a feast at her court, where she avenges Siegfried’s death by ordering the massacre of the Burgundian guests. Hagen and Gunther are killed, Kriemhild herself then being slain by Hildebrand, Dietrich von Bern’s steward. The closing section of the poem relates how Dietrich takes the surviving treasures of the Nibelungs back to Worms, where they are buried beside Siegfried’s body.
The poem’s fame grew rapidly in the 13th and 14th centuries, and at least 35 manuscripts of it are still in existence. These manuscripts vary considerably, but they derive from a common source, which is dated roughly to the year 1200. The poem was first printed in 1472. Richard Wagner’s four operas based on the poem—Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung (1848–74)—are popularly known as the “Ring of the Nibelungs.”