The Nibelungenlied is a heroic epic which tells the story of the knight Siegfried's marriage to Kriemhild and his subsequent death at the hands of Knemhild's kinsman, Hagen. In the second part of the story, Kriemhild marries Etzel, king of the Huns. She uses her new position to exact revenge on Hagen for her husband's death; her own brothers and many more of her kinsmen die in the process.
Chivalry was a code of behavior which evolved in the Middle Ages. It is associated with the tradition of mounted knights in armor, lord and ladies, feasts, jousts, and war games. In fact, "knights" arose from the development of new military techniques. The behavior of a knight both on the battlefield and in everyday life was expected to follow a certain set of rules— a.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 2,053 words. This
study guide contains 40,789 words (approx. 136 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our Nibelungenlied Access Pass.