Preface.

The epic poem of Gu-drun is one of the most importantearly literary works of the German race. It is attributedto the latter part of the twelfth or the beginning of thethirteenth century, and to a date a little subsequent tothat of the Nibelungen Lied. It was first brought to thenotice of the modern world in the year 1817, the only originalmanuscript now known to exist having been discoveredabout that time in the castle Ambras in the Tyrol,among other manuscripts which had been collected by theEmperor Maximilian I. (1493-1519). The manuscript isnow in the Imperial Library at Vienna. It has been severaltimes edited and printed in the original Middle High German,with critical annotations; various translations intomodern German have also been published: but so far asI can learn, no complete metrical version in the Englishlanguage has been made public.

The name of the author is unknown; it is generallythought to have been constructed, in great measure, fromearlier legends which had been repeated by wandering singers.According to the late Karl Bartsch, the distinguishedcritic and editor of Mediæval German literature, the tale[iv]shows affinity to legends of the Scalds of Norway and Denmark,and to those of the Shetland Isles. Traces of resemblanceare said to be found among the relics of Anglo-Saxonliterature. The supposition that the poem was constructedfrom various early legends explains some of themarvellous incidents of the tale, and those chronologicalinconsistencies where the rude habits and ideas of earliertimes are combined with the later knightly usages of theMiddle Ages and with Christian belief.

The scene of the poem is laid principally on the shoresof the North Sea, and includes Ireland and Normandy, aswell as Holland, Denmark, and Friesland. Very vagueideas of geography were, however, entertained by the poet.Some names of places are thought to be f

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