"DIU KLAGE" — A MODERN TEXT FROM THE MIDDLE AGES?

Author(s): Albrecht Classen

Source: Neuphilologische Mitteilungen , 1995, Vol. 96, No. 3 (1995), pp. 315-329
Published by: Modern Language Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43346108

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Neuphilologische

Mitteilungen

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 315

DIU KLAGE - A MODERN TEXT FROM THE MIDDLE AGES? 1

As much as the heroic poem Nibelungenlied (ca. 1200) is known today as one of the classics
of world literature, as little has a shorter poem called Diu Klage (The Lament, ca. 1 220/ 1 250)
received any serious attention, not to speak of acknowledgement, by the general readership
and the scholarly community. This is surprising because here we find a unique reception
C Rezeption ) of the Nibelungenlied which describes the mourning and pain resulting from the
tremendous slaughter at Ezzel's court.2 In fact, Diu Klage has remained almost unknown in
the English speaking world until recently because of the negative evaluations prevalent since
the nineteenth century, and because no translations had been available to provide an avenue
for the critical assessment of this largely unknown lament poem.3 Such a translation has
finally appeared in 1994, prepared by Winder McConnell, who undertook this task not,
though, because he wanted to acknowledge its particular literary quality; in his introduction
he does not really go beyond the traditional canon discussion and provides the following
comment: "With its immoderate use of th eflagellum Dei tradition, the Chlage is hardly a
work that will impress the modern reader."4 Nevertheless he is willing to admit that the
medieval audiences might have had a different opinion, since all major Nibelungenlied
manuscripts, with the exception of the so-called Piarist Manuscript (Vienna), also contain
a version of Diu Klage.5 Many of these were highly luxurious codices, commissioned by
members of noble families and royal houses who would not have allowed a literary text of
low esteem and little relevance to be copied in the manuscripts.6 Moreover, usually the other
entries stand out as so-called masterpieces of Middle High German literature - as we see
them today and as the medieval audiences apparently believed as well.
The poem represents a deliberate attempt to provide a continuation of the Nibelungenlied
and, above all, to reevaluate the characters and their action. In addition, the Klage author
makes a bold attempt to explore the human reactions to such massive slaughter and shows
behavioral patterns how to cope with profound emotional pain. McConnell is absolutely
right in his final assessment: "the Chlage represents the first known reaction to the
Nibelungenlied , or, to put it another way, the genesis of the Rezeptions geschickte surround-
ing the great epic" (xxiii). What does this mean, however, with respect to the aesthetic,
philosophical, and ethical value of this work? Do we have to incorporate Diu Klage into the
medieval canon of "important" works because of its close relationship with the Nibelungen-
lied , or does this thirteenth-century epic constitute a new literary tradition? Or do we have
to agree with almost the entire body of scholarship that Diu Klage represents an inferior,
mawkish poem that failed to live up to the standards set by the Nibelungenlied ?7
Not even an agreement has yet been reached how to define the generic type of this poem,
whether it belongs to the Germanic lament songs for the dead warriors,8 whether it falls in
the category of literary interpretations,9 or whether it might be defined as a commentary.10
Possibly, Diu Klage has to be seen as a reworking of the Germanic heroic epic in a Christian
vein,1 1 which finds its partial corroboration in King Ezzel's laments that he had not followed

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
3 1 6 ALBRECHT CLASSEN

the Christian religion and had, after years of e

Gods (961ff.).
Formally, to be sure, the differences to the Nib
the chronologically older poem the heroic meter
Diu Klage is built upon rhymed couplets that p
narratives and the thirteenth-century ms. *C of
The content can be quickly summarized in the f
has come to an end in which all Burgundian her
scores of Hunnish fighters, the few survivors, th
his liege man Hildebrant, emerge from the ruin
rendering suffering begins that affects everyb
country. The three protagonists go from one
happened and how they fought their duels. The
whole generation of worthy men, they cry ab
son's death, and then order their burial. Afterwa
the devastating news in Vienna, Passau, and Wo
arrived. A deep sense of tragedy spreads from
the world of the Burgundians. Sadness takes ho
reconsider the value of life in face of imminent
from Worms, Dietrich and Hildebrant say good
because of his profound suffering and because h
friends and family. In Worms Gunther's young
king; in return he hands out the fiefs to his nobl
Burgundian rule.
Despite - or rather because of - the monumen
entire world, scholarship has not treated Diu K
about this poem have been negative. Following
the middle of the nineteenth century until the e
the history of German medieval studies as about
As a second step in my analysis, I will then test th
tell us about the cultural ritual of lamentations
occurred either as a result of personal revenge, bl
G. G. Gervinus examined Diu Klage only in re
the prime question in mind what this text could
(1835-1842, 4th ed. 1853). 14 In 1879 Wilhelm
content and boring plot development. 15 In 1904
reading of Diu Klage turns into a tiresome lit
influential Verfasserlexikon article, annotated
highly within the canon of Middle High German
explores the question further what might hav

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 ' Diu Klage ' - a Modern Text from the Middle Ages ? 317

Nibelungenlied . According to Neumann, Diu Klage is, above all, a poem noteworthy for its
reflexivity with which it pursues the basic concerns which the Nibelungenliedhas left open. 17
Gustav Ehrismann, in his famous Literaturgeschichte from 1935, did not bother much with
Diu Klage and only summarized the previous scholarly findings, but at least he pointed out
that the text has to be seen within the Germanic tradition of lamentations.18
The most critical opinion about our text was voiced by Helmut de Boor for whom Diu
Klage represents the levelling of the once monumental work of art - Nibelungenlied - into
a Christian treatment of the tragedy which requires the customary lamentations. De Boor
sees the exorbitant crying and mourning as the downside of the heroism displayed by the
Burgundian warriors, and further even accuses the poet of having failed in elaborating the
theme of lamenting. Obsessed with the concept of heroic epics in which military events and
male acts of honor dominate, he perceives nothing but monotony and lack of variation. "Von
der Größe des Nibelungenliedes hat dieser Nachfahr wenig begriffen". 19 Altogether, for de
Boor, Diu Klage represents the ultimate decline of the Stauferian literature; it is a text which
lives from the glory of the past, but could not conceive an original thought: "Der große
Gedanke des heroischen Sterbens, die Selbstbehauptung im Tode, geht unter in Tränenströ-
men und Klagegeschrei" (168).20
Max Wehrli has recently argued, although without being fully convinced himself, as it
seems, that the author made the courageous attempt at liquidating the final catastrophe in
offering a new Christian outlook on the tragedy.21 Finally, Franz Bäuml boldly pointed out
that Diu Klage does no longer conform with the classical literary aesthetics of the twelfth and
early thirteenth century - the classical period -, but rather investigates the possibilities to
historicize and justify the events which had been outlined in the Nibelungenlied.22 The
purpose of the Klage poet, then, would have been to defictionalize and concretize the
Nibelungen tragedy (170). In other words, Bäuml acknowledges the Klage' s innovative
approach to history and its literary reflection, which also implies a reorientation of aesthetics.
Otfrid Ehrismann now makes at least an attempt to reach a critical understanding of the
poem when he discusses the obvious changes from the Nibelungenlied to the Klage. He
notices the anonymous author's deliberate efforts to restore the traditional feudal structure,
to reconfirm the role of the Christian Church, and to place Kriemhilt and Hagen in a simple
paradigm of good and evil characters. For him Diu Klage opens a new perspective towards
joy because the foundations of medieval society are at the end reconfirmed and a tendency
towards the bonum is established by means of a positive réévaluation of Kriemhilt.23 On the
other hand, Ehrismann accuses the Klage poet, along with the author of the manuscript *C
version of the Nibelungenlied, of having failed in completing the required "Trauerarbeit," the
coming to terms with the enormous suffering: "sie rücken ein durch den Text ins Wanken
geratenes (optimistisches) Weltbild wieder zurecht und verweigern die notwendige Trauer-
arbeit".24 Finally, Joachim Bumke once more offers a summary of Diu Klage plot and
concludes that it cast a simplified moralizing schema on the Nibelungen Stoff, which then
robbed the old tragic poem of its profound dimension in face of utter death.23

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 3 1 8 ALBRECHT CLASSEN

Basically modern German philology has not re

those advocated in the nineteenth century as f
scholars, such as Urban Küsters (1991), who focuse
Old High German to Early Modern German, do
Klage positively because King Ezzel's lamentation
heroic ideal of a royal ruler.26
Here I will argue that the opposite is the case
"Trauerarbeit" and demonstrates how human suff
is understandable that literary historians see it as
aesthetic, moral, and ethical quality of medieva
At the same time the discrepancy between the m
esteem which the poem enjoyed in the Middle
entirely inadequate simply to question the interpr
who commissioned the many manuscripts.27 T
Nibelungenlied in almost all major Nibelungenlie
it indicates that the medieval audiences thought h
it as a clear, namely critical response to the olde
It seems to be highly questionable whether
sophisticated understanding of medieval texts t
might have a different view, but not necessaril
necessarily mean quality, a large number of man
poem normally indicates that it was considered w
posterity. In other words, there might be a lite
found in the Nibelungenlied , but which might
different interpretive tools than those traditiona
genlied.
The first, but most important, thing would be to remember that, simply put, Diu Klage is
not the same as the Nibelungenlied , and therefore must be viewed on its own grounds, not
in comparison with the grand heroic poem.
Bäuml was correct in his observation that Diu Klage is situated in a different transmission
process than the Nibelungenlied , since the narrator not only retells the story of the
Burgundians' downfall, but also emphasizes that the basic events are well known because
of the previously dominant oral dissemination.29 To this we may add that the Klage poet
delighted in reflecting on the older heroic text and has his characters repeat the events over
and over again as they had occurred in the Nibelungenlied.
In addition, the poet felt the need to provide an overview of the genesis of the tragedy by
starting with the parents of the Burgundian kings Gunther, Giselher, and Gemot (25ff.) and
taking us quickly to Kriemhilt's marriage with Siegfried and his subsequent murder. He
comments that he brought his death upon himself because of his arrogance (39), which will
later be echoed in the characterization of Hagen. In fact, this interest in reevaluating the

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 ' Diu Klage ' - a Modern Text from the Middle Ages ? 319

behavior of the individual heroes will become one of the dominant threads in the narrative

because the survivors repeatedly discuss the reasons for the horrible slaughter and try to find
a cause, if not to speak of guilt, which would explain the unexplainable.
Kriemhilt, in particular, gains the author's attention since the Nibelungenlied author had
attributed to her most of the responsibilities.30 Here we learn that she always suffered from
being a foreigner in the Hunnish lands (75), that she continually felt the pain from the loss
of her first husband (76ff.), and that she had strategized from the first day of her arrival how
to get her revenge against the murderer Hagen (97ff.).
After a certain time she had gained enough influence to be in a position to discuss this
revenge publicly. The narrator emphasizes Siegfried's innocence in the court cabal leading
eventually to the downfall of all Burgundians, which contradicts to some extent his previous
attempt at criticizing him for his arrogant behavior leading to his own death:

dem helde sterben nicht gezam.

von deheines recken hant.
wand er het vvol elliv lant.
mit siner chraft ver cheret. ( 1 06- 1 09).

This might not be sufficient to explain to the audience why Hägen had committed this
crime, particularly because the fight between Brunhilt and Kriemhilt, which directly led to
Siegfried's death, is not mentioned here. But the audience would not need any further
explanations, since they were, in all likelihood, not unfamiliar with the Nibelungenlied , and
now simply listened to the poetic commentary of the Klage poet.
More important, the narrator justifies Kriemhilt's decision to search revenge because it
was an expression of her loyalty to her former husband:

trivve div ist dar zv gut.

div machet werden mannes lip.
vnd eret ovh also schoniv wip.
daz ir zvht noch ir mvt.
nach schänden nimmer niht getvt. (146-150).

The Germanic sense of honor attributes Kriemhilt the charisma of an unfairly mortified
person who was called upon to restore her honor after the terrible defeat by Hägen. And the
narrator's intentions are to demonstrate Kriemhilt's innocence:

swer diz maere merchen chan.

der sagt vnschuldich gar ir lip.
wan daz diz uil edel werde wip.
taete nach trivve <.>
ir rache in grozzer rivve. (154-158).

7 22297

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
320 ALBRECHT CLASSEN

Even Ezzel will later declare:

het ich di ganzen trivve.

an ir vil vverdem libe erchant.
ich het mit ir elliv lant.
gervmet ê ich si het verlorn.
getrivver vvip wart ni geborn.
von deheinler| mvter mere. (830-835).

Once these goals are clearly marked, the following sections reflect backwards on the
individual events in the Nibelungenlied , evaluating and judging them in light of Kriemhilt's
honor. The Burgundians arrived with too much pomp and open display of their wealth at
Ëzzel's court (177f.), whereas their illegal appropriation of the Nibelungen treasure had
already burdened them with heavy guilt. Their death is now seen as the consequence of their
previous action: "ich vvaene si ir alten svnde/engvlten vnd niht mere" ( 1 96f.), whereas Ezzel
is freed from any charge since his ignorance preserved his innocence in these matters.
Not that the author offers an objective or unemotional interpretation of the Burgundian
tragedy, which he sees, on the contrary, as "daz was iedoch ein groziv not./daz si von den
gelagen tot" (219f.). But he also says that it was "in was ir vrteillich tach" (216) at which
they had to pay for an old sin, which amounts to nothing but a refusal of the Nibelungenlied
and its sense of honor and heroism. Briinhilt herself will later express her regret that all of
these events ever had taken place:

owe daz <ich> ie gesach.

der edelen Criemhilde lip.
do daz ere gernde wip.
mit rede er zvrnde mir den mvt.
des verlos der helt gvt.
daz leben Sifrit ir man.
da von ich nv den schaden han.
daz ir frevde ir / wart benomen.
daz ist mir nv her heim chomen. (3976-3984).

History itself is seen as a fateful phenomenon which subjugates the individual and forces
suffering upon it. Hägen emerges as history's agent and as the prime cause for the terrible
tragedy. Rumold expresses this for the entire Burgundian court in Worms once he has
received the news of the large-scale mayhem: "mine herre di han ich verlorn./nivvan von
Hagenen vbermvt./div diche grozzen schaden tvt" (4030-4032).
Kriemhilt had tried to single out Hägen as the one main culprit, but she could not achieve
this end. The narrator therefore annotates "daz chom von chranchem sinne" (243) which
McConnell translates as "because she lacked good sense" (15). This would be in contradic-
tion to the previous and also later assessment of Kriemhilt and her actions, wherefore the
proper translation would rather be: "because her mind was filled with deep sorrow."
Ezzel might have been able to prevent the tragedy if he had been informed about the actual

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 ' Diu Klage ' - a Modem Text from the Middle Ages ? 321

cause of the battle and the terrible bloodshed. The narrator again attacks the Burgundians for
their haughtiness that "di von Bvrgonden lant./liezenz dvrch ir vbermvt" (288f.), but also
expresses his astonishment that such an enormous number of highly trained warriors had to
die because of the suffering of one woman (335).
Throughout this poem the survivors discuss whether Kriemhilt is to be blamed for the
horrendous outcome of events, and each time the historical background is evoked, retold, and
reexamined to reach a new, perhaps more objective view of the history of the slaughter. An
explanation is needed, as the suffering fills all hearts and threatens to take their lives.31
Moreover, the event needs to be discussed and analyzed from all possible angles to deal with
mourning.
What Diu Klage really sets out to do is to try to initiate "Trauerarbeit," that is, to come to
terms with this overpowering suffering and sadness, which is now profiled against the
account of the battles and the fact that not only a few individuals had succumbed in the
fighting, but thousands of the very best fighters of the entire world. The author makes a
valiant attempt to fathom the dimension of mourning through giving rough figures of how
many people had died:

Von svvannen si dar waren chomen.

svva man si het genomen.
mit botsheften in den landen,
zer Bvrgonden handen. (437-440).

The focus also turns to King Ezzel and his personal reactions to the incredible event which
took away all his family, his relatives, and all of his warriors. Ezzel is facing a deserted and
destroyed court, and nothing seems to have remained which would give him a purpose to live.
Over and over again the poet gives vivid expression to this enormous pain, and it is the
attempt to cast this profound human experience in a literary form which gives Diu Klage its
outstanding aesthetic quality:

man mvse Eceln des iehen.

daz also sere gechleit.
vvrde mit der vvarheit.
ni me von decheinem man.
vvi lvt er vvfen began.
sam man hört eines vvisentes horn.
dem edelen fvrsten v vol geborn.
div stimme vz sinem mvnde.
erdoz in der stvnde.
do er so sere chlagte.
daz da von er wagte.
beide tvrne vnd palas. (620-63 1 ).n

Scholarship objected to this, as it was called, morbid and monotonous lamenting and
criticized the loss of tragic tension which had been the dominant feature of the Nibelungen-

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 322 ALBRECHT CLASSEN

lied.33 Nevertheless, the suffering that the s

that no rationalization is possible to remove it f
and progressively intensified lament can hel
this pain.34 Moreover, they form a new com
people who join them in ventilating the exor

svvi lvt ie der kvnech schre.

di vrovven shrîten allez mite.
ez ist ovh noch der livte site.
svva einem leit ce hercen gat.
daz der ander vrevde bi im lat. (652-656).

This pain is not limited to Ezzel's court and the Hunnish kingdom, because messengers
are sent out to carry the news into the distant lands where the dead heroes had come from.
Sorrow is disseminated, it spreads like a wildfire, and eventually engulfs the entire world,
although the outcome of Diu Klage indicates that hope is on its way with a new generation
to replace the dead warriors and rulers.35
The author skillfully weaves these loose narrative threads together, thereby connecting
the most diverse cultures and peoples under the umbrella of profound suffering in face of all-
encompassing death.36 Fritz Peter Knapp argues Diu Klage might have been strongly
influenced by the lamentatio or planctus or threnus poem "Pergama fiere volo" (eleventh or
early twelfth century) which would position the heroic text in the tradition of laments about
the fall of Troy. If we can accept his cogent thesis, Diu Klage would represent the effort by
a learned poet (cleric?) to utilize the response to the vernacular epic Nibelungenlied as a
springboard to explore the theme of mourning, taking the classical genre of the lamentatio
or planctus as its model.37
Dietrich eventually sends the minstrel S wemmel to Worms to carry out the important task
of informing the families; the messenger is fearful, however, that he might be killed for such
bad news (2657). Nevertheless he receives good instructions and specific guidelines how to
act on behalf of Ezzel and Dietrich. The Hunnish King orders him, in particular, to point out
to Queen Briinhilt:

vvi ez allez si ergangen.

vnd vvi mir si befangen.
min lant mit grozem sere.
vnt daz nie geste mere.
getaten vvirte so leide.
desen svln si doch beide.
niht engelten sprach der gvte. (2625-2631).

In other words, the suffering is not to be continued, the blood feud has come to a
screeching halt, and in face of the overpowering pain no further revenge is possible. The
dawn of a new age has arrived, and Diu Klage is its harbinger.

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 'Diu Klage ' - a Modern Text from the Middle Ages? 323

Ezzel does not want the Burgundian Queens to fear the deterioration of their political
relations and therefore emphasizes that they do not have to make up for the horrible deeds
committed by their brothers, sons, and husbands (2630f.). At the same time he insists on
being free of any guilt in this matter, because he had made a good-face effort to welcome the
guests as his friends, who in turn displayed unjustified hatred against him (2633-2642).
Ezzel searches both for a way to control the damage, and to clear his name of any blame
that might be assigned to him because he was the host, and it was his court where the
bloodshed took place. Dietrich joins him in these efforts:

daz ich dem edeln vvibe.

ir herce leit enbieten sol.
da mit envvirt mir nimmer vvol. (2666-2668),

but it is the minstrel Swemmel who is charged with bringing the news to the world.
Critically examined, the survivors are struggling with the question how to deal with the
past, and how to approach the future. They are intermediaries between two sets of radically
opposed cultural traditions and have to build bridges between them. Their behavior serves
as a model for the contemporary listeners/readers how to comprehend the tragedy, how to
rationalize it, and how to empathize with those who lost a family member in the battle. After
Ezzel and Dietrich have explored the depth of human suffering, it is the duty of the world to
pay them due respect, and also to join in their lamentation.
Sigmund Freud's concept of "Trauerarbeit" possibly finds its appropriate application in
this context and could provide the theoretical basis for the overall interpretation of Diu
Klage. He states: "Mourning is regularly the reaction to the loss of a loved person, or to the
loss of some abstraction which has taken the place of one... As an effect of the same
influences, melancholia instead of a state of grief develops in some people, whom we
consequently suspect of a morbid pathological disposition... although grief involves grave
departures from the normal attitude to life, it never occurs to us to regard it as a morbid
condition and hand the mourner over to medical treatment."38
Both the behavior of Dietrich and his comrade Hildebrant, and that of Ezzel, conform with
this picture. Even Ezzel's losing of his mind finds a powerful explanation, since his behavior
leads to a grave case of melancholia (4186ff.). In a sense, Diu Klage can be defined as a
medieval case study of the psychological effects of grief and mourning. This finds multiple
corroboration in the world of the Burgundian s .
Swemmel and his entourage reach Vienna first and tell the Duchess Isalde what had
happened. In response,

man begonde an alien sîten.

in der stat vber al.
vben also grozzen schal,
die armen mit den riehen,
daz sich div chlagelichen.

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 324 ALBRECHT CLASSEN

vvol mohte so si iahen,

di dort di chlage sahen.
vnde ovch mit chlage schieden dan. (2770-2777).

Next they arrive in Pöchlarn, the home of Ezzel's brother Riiedeger, where they first
pretend, as Dietrich had told them to do, that the Margrave was staying behind until all the
guests had left. But the circumstances quickly reveal the truth of his death, since the
messengers behave contrary to expectations and fail in keeping up the pretense. One of the
squires is so grief-stricken that he begins to cry, which makes the other shed tears as well
(3063-3065).
Wilhelm Scherer and Oskar Walz had already pointed out this moving scene, stressing the
empathy that it evokes among the readers (1928); nevertheless modern scholarship was not
willing to follow their lead and turned its back to Diu Klage?9
The tragic dimension of this and the previous scene cannot be underestimated. Before,
the Margravine had told her daughter of an ominous dream in which she had seen the past
events:
min hovbt was von hare bloz.
daz ich eines hares groz.
mines vahses niht entrvch.
ein gadem vinster gen'ch.
da hiez er mich in gan.
ich vant in innerthalben stan.
zv sloz er do di tvr.
nie mer chomen wir dar fvr.
vngerne was ich drinne.
sprach div margravinne. (2893-2902).40

Young Dietlinde also had had a prophetic dream and gives a brief synopsis to her mother
(2906-2912). Nevertheless neither woman dares to try an interpretation of these dreams
because the conclusions would be too horrible to imagine. But it is the daughter who
correctly translates the squire's tears as indications that her father is dead, and that they will
have to accept profound suffering:

ich vvaene wir gar gescheiden sin.

von frevde vnd ovch von vvnne.
min vrowe hat ir chvnne.
leider s wache enpfangen.
ez ist vns vbel ergangen. (3070-3074).

These visionary words break the dam and make one of the Hunnish squires utter

ein vvf vz sinem halse brach,

mit zv getanem mvnde.
er wand iz da ce stvnde.
da mit ver heln mohte.
neheinem hercen ez tohte.

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 ' Diu Klage ' - a Modern Text from the Middle Ages ? 325

daz iz versvvigen chvnde. (3078-3083).

The emotions are so powerful that they affect the entire court, indeed, the entire city: "daz
beweinte v vip vnd man./vnd alle di da v varen./in der stat ce Bechlaren" (3 1 40-3 142), which
will later be repeated in Worms once Swemmel and his men will have arrived there and will
have reported the news of the doom that befell the Burgundians. The Margravine does not
survive the suffering and passes away (4232). The same happens in Worms where Queen
Ute dies seven days later after the messengers had brought the news (3959).
Even back at Ezzel's court the tragedy takes its toll. Ezzel practically loses his mind over
the deep sorrow, which is even intensified once he learns that his friends Dietrich and
Hildebrant are determined to leave and to return to their homelands. Filled with desperation,
he asks them: "welt ir mir nv entwichen. /sít ich min volch verlorn han?" (4124f.), but he
has to accept that Dietrich can no longer stay at his court after having lost all his men (4 1 29f.).
Ezzel cannot cope with the pain by himself, particularly because Dietrich had been the last
support and friend he had in his life:

sie vlizzen sich der reise.

manech vvitvve vnd weise.
beliben mvse hinder in
Ecel wandelte den sin.
von disen starchen leiden.
do si von im vvolden scheiden. (4139^-144).

S. Freud commented on this progressive stage of mourning in the following way:

"melancholia is the reaction to a real loss of a loved object; but, over and above this, it is
bound to a condition which is absent in normal grief or which, if it supervenes, transforms
the latter into a pathological variety."41 Obviously, the Klage poet had a very similar
understanding of this phenomenon and developed a powerful image of the consequences of
extreme mourning in the figure of Ezzel.
It is, indeed, a tragedy of unfathomable dimensions. Only a few are able to sustain the
enormous pain, and they barely succeed in rearranging their lives. Dietlinde, Ríiedeger's
daughter, experiences "daz div vil groz ere./an si eine was bechom[men]" (4284f.). But she
holds out and awaits the arrival of a promised husband to be sent by Dietrich (4286f.). Bishop
Pilgrim of Passau orders that the events are written down for posterity to remember them
(4296f.), and thus compensates the pain through literary activities. Others, however,
succumb and die as a consequence of their pain.
Diu Klage turns out to be a powerful literary treatment of an ancient motif,42 and it is the
only work in Middle High German that is solely focused on the lament itself and its effects
on people at all levels of society. For these two reasons it deserves our attention and a much
better critical evaluation than German scholarship has heretofore been willing to give. The
very "failure" of this text, that is, the allegedly "monotonous" repetitions, the constant

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 326 ALBRECHT CLASSEN

retelling of what had happened and why it

weeping, and finally, even the seemingly "
mourning because of the massive death of
indicate that the Klage poet pursued very in
This poem belongs to a different tradition
behavior. The modern interpreter should not ex
nor would it be appropriate to search for exp
a new set of aesthetic and ethical criteria un
contrast to the Nibelungenlied. In a way we
emerging that introduces hitherto unknown
thirteenth-century literature. These criter
alternative light than the Nibelungenlied. In o
on a wrong track when it discussed this poe
outlined here ("Trauerarbeit"), do we gain ad
and appreciation of Diu Klaget
Albrecht Classen

Notes

1 This paper is the expanded version of a presentation at the Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the
Medieval Association of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA, March 3-5 1995. I thank the audience for its
comments.

2 Here and following I use the name of the Hunnish king as it appears in the manuscr
the English translation as "Attila."
3 The highly influential literary history by J. G. Robertson , A History of German Litera
by Dorothy Reich (New York: Elmsford, 1970), basically discards Die Klage as a work "m
to the epic itself... the grim silence of the heroic world is disturbed by psychological exp
mawkish sentimental regrets" (61).
4 The Lament of the Nibelungen (Div Chlage). Transi, and with an Introduction
McConnell. Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture (Columbia, S.C.: Ca
1994), xxiii. Here I will quote from this edition because it is a concise diplomatic edition
the leading manuscript B. See my review in: Bryn Mawr Medieval Review Jan. 31, 1995
electronic journal only available on Internet). Currently I am preparing a Modern Germa
of the same text.
5 This manuscript is also known as Lienhart Scheubels Heldenbuch' see Willy Krogma
Pretzel, Bibliographie zum Nibelungenlied und zur Klage 4th expanded ed. Biblio
deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters, 1 (Berlin: Schmidt, 1966); Frank Tobin, "Middle H
A Concise History of German Literature to 1900. Ed. by Kim Vivian. Studies in German
Linguistics, and Culture (Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1992), 21-57, goes so far as to q
level of critical perception of those who commissioned the manuscripts: "causes one to w
the poetic sensitivity" (45). Just before this article went into print, I discovered that ms. k
stanzas of Diu Klage after all.
6 Das Nibelungenlied. Paralleldruck der Handschriften A, B, and C nebst Lesarten
Handschriften . ed. Michael S. Batts (Tübingen: Niemever, 1977).
7 See Hans Szklenar, "Die literarische Gattung der Nibelungenklage und das Ende alter maere,"

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 ' Diu Klage ' - a Modern Text from the Middle Ages? 327
Poetica 9 (1977): 41-61; Irina Borisow, "Burgundenuntergang und Nibelungenlied," Literatur in
Bayern 35 (1994): 1 1-15 makes a new attempt to reinterpret Diu Klage as a religious response to the
Nibelungenlied , this method was also applied by Dietz-Riidiger Moser, "Vom Untergang der
Nibelungen," Literatur in Bayern 30 (1992): 2-19; neither study leads, however, to an aesthetic
examination of Diu Klage.
8 Richard Leicher, Die Totenklage in der deutschen Epik von der ältesten Zeit bis zur Nibelungen-
Klage. Germanistische Abhandlungen, 58 (Hildesheim-New York: Olms, 1977; rpt. of the 1927 ed.),
158.
9 Werner Schröder, "Das Leid in der 'Klage'," W. S., Nibelungenlied-Studien (Stuttgart: Metzler,
1968), 185-225.
10 G. T. Gillespie, '"Die Klage' as a Commentary on 'Das Nibelungenlied'," Probleme mittelhoch-
deutscher Erzählformen. Marburger Colloquium 1969. Hg. Peter F. Ganz und Werner Schröder
(Berlin: Schmidt, 1972), 153-177.
11 Hans Szklenar, "Die literarische Gattung der Nibelungklage (1977), 41-61; Michael Cur-
schmann, "Nibelungenlied und Nibelungenklage. Über Mündlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit im Prozeß
der Episierung," Deutsche Literatur im Mittelalter. Kontakte und Perspektiven. Hugo Kuhn zum
Gedenken (1979), 85-199, here 102, fn. 16, is verv much opposed to such a cliché-like perception.
12 Werner Hoffmann, Das Nibelungenlied. 6., überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage des Bandes
Nibelungenlied von Gottfried Weber und W. H. Sammlung Metzler, 7 (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1992), 126;
Hoffmann is not willing, however, to see Diu Klage in any other light than traditional scholarship when
he speaks of the "unverkennbaren künstlerich-ästhetischen Mängel" (126).
13 Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Germanistik im 19. Jahrhundert. Hg. von Jürgen Fohrmann und
Wilhelm Voßkamp (Stuttgart- Weimar: Metzler, 1994).
14 G. G. Gervinus, Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung. Erster Band. 4. gänzlich umgearbeitete
Ausg. (Leipzig: Engelmann, 1853), 338-340.
15 Wilhelm Wackernagel, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. 2. verm. und verbesserte Aufl.
CBasel: Schweiehauser. 1879). 266f.
16 Robert Koenig, Deutsche Literaturgeschichte. 30. Aufl. hg. von Karl Kinzel. 1. Bd. (Bielefeld-
Leipzig: Velhagen & Klasig, 1904), 71
17 Friedrich Neumann, "Nibelungenlied und Klage," Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters
Verfasserlexikon. Hg. Karl Langosch. Vol. 3 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1943), 513-560, here 559f.
18 Gustav Ehrismann, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters. Bd
6, 2. Teil, Schlußband: Die mittelhochdeutsche Literatur (Munich: Beck, 1935), 143f.
19 Helmut de Boor, Die höfische Literatur. Vorbereitung, Blüte, Ausklang 1170-1250. Geschicht
der deutschen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, 2. 7th ed. Aufl. (Munich: Beck, 196
168.
20 First published in 1953, de Boor's Literaturgeschichte still today can claim to be the authoritative
voice for Middle High German literature; nevertheless this radical condemnation of Diu Klage
troublesome for me. Does de Boor really believe that only the heroic acceptance of death, whethe
justified or not, satisfies the high standard of literary aesthetics? Such a judgment smacks of fascis
to me, although I would not want to identify de Boor with the kind of Germanistik practised during t
Nazi era.
21 Max Wehrli, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur vom frühen Mittelalter bis zum Ende des 16.
Jahrhunderts. Geschichte der deutschen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (Stuttgart:
Reclam, 1980), 405.
22 Franz Bäuml, "Mittelalter," Geschichte der deutschen Literatur. Kontinuität und Veränderung.
Vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. Vol. 1 : Vom Mittelalter bis zum Barock. Hg. von Ehrhard Bahr
(Tübingen: Francké, 1987), 1-244, here 169.
23 Otfrid Ehrismann, Nibelungen Lied. Epoche - Werk - Wirkung. Arbeitsbücher zur Literaturge-
schichte (Munich: Beck. 1987). 245.
24 O. Ehrismann, 246.
25 Joachim Bumke, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im hohen Mittelalter (Munich: Deutsch
Taschenbuch Verlag, 1990), 205.

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
328 ALBRECHT CLASSEN

26 Urban Küsters, "Klagefiguren. Vom höfischen

Grenzen höfischer Kultur. Anfechtungen der L
hohen Mittelalters. Forschungen zur Geschichte
1991), 9-75, here 30.
27 F. Tobin, "Middle High German" (see fn. 3), 45
of the thirteenth century to the early sixteenth
documents of public taste in the Middle Ages.
28 Werner Hoffmann, Das Nibelungenlied. 6t
Gottfried Weber and Werner Hoffmann. Sammlun
Lutz Mackensen, Die Nibelungen. Sage, Geschicht
1984), 181. Both were wrong in their assessmen
29 Bäuml, 12f. The subsequent use of the mascu
the narrator might have been a woman. There is
30 O. Ehrismann, Nibelungen Lied , 20 If.
31 As a matter of fact, Riiedeger's wife, Lady
as a consequence of the tragic news.
32 Dietrich tries several times to moderate Ezzel
He admonishes him to remember his duties as a ru
lost both wife and child, and also all of his men, a
since his court is destroyed, both in terms of buil
if the pain does not really affect him in order to
many men remain in his country and that for t
gain help for himself ( 1044ff.). In fact, Ezzel def
which death has brought upon them all and whi
death will never again wield such power [as he h
be a model in lamenting, and it is his prime funct
whereas his followers, such as Dietrich, should
burvine the dead.
33 W. Schröder, "Das Leid in der 'Klage'," 185.
34 Werner Schröder, "Das Leid in der 'Klage',
35 A similar feature can be found in Kudrun wh
too many of the warriors have been killed and the
the enemy; here quoted from Kudrun. Trans, by
(Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1992), 98f.
36 G. T. Gillespie, "'Die Klage' as a Comment
37 Fritz Peter Knapp, " Tragoedia und Planctus
litterati ," Nibelungenlied und Klage. Sage und G
gengespräche 1985. Hg. F. P. K. (Heidelberg: W
38 Sigmund Freud, vol. III, 198f.; here quote
Riviere (London: Hogarth Press and the Instit
Bowlby, Attachment and Loss. 3 Vols. (New Yor
Mourn. Growing through the Grief Process (
Trauerarbeit des Witwers. Vorläufiger Versuch,
Oswald von Wolkenstein Gesellschaft 4 (1986/
39 Wilhelm Scherer, Oskar Walzel, Geschichte
Josef Körner. 4th ed. (Leipzig-Berlin: Eichler,
40 For the relevance of prophetic dreams in t
Dreams to Reality in Middle High German Na
Narratives. A Festschrift for Dr Elspeth Kenne
1994), 109-120.
41 S. Freud, "Mourning and Melancholia," 161.
42 William H. Race, "Lament," The New Prin
Preminger and T. V. F. Borgan, Co-Editors (Prin

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 ' Diu Klage ' - a Modern Text from the Middle Ages? 329
43 This observation also applies to other contemporary texts such as Tristrant als Mönch in which
the experience of death and mourning gain a dominant function. Although the Tristrant is based on
the principle of satire and parody of the Tristan tradition, the same interest in the psychological
dimension of mourning influences both texts. See the introduction to my translation of Tristrant
(Greifswald: Reineke Verlag, 1994).

This content downloaded from

79.106.209.5 on Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:34:46 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms