Героические книги: Немецкий героический эпос XV-XVI веков.

Heldenbücher (singular Heldenbuch "book of heroes") is the conventional title under which a group of German manuscripts and prints of the 15th and 16th centuries has come down to us. Each Heldenbuch contains a collection of primarily epic poetry, typically including material from the Theodoric cycle, and the cycle of Hugdietrich, Wolfdietrich and Ortnit. The Heldenbuch texts are thus based on medieval German literature, but adapted to the tastes of the Renaissance.

The first printed Heldenbuch dates to 1479, bearing the title der helden buch/das nennet den wolfdieterich, putting its main focus on Wolfdietrich, whom it makes an ancestor of Dietrich's. Later printed Heldenbücher appeared in Augsburg 1491, Hagenau 1509, Augsburg 1545, Frankfurt 1560 and Frankfurt 1590.

Along with the poems, the Strassburg Heldenbuch of Diebolt von Hanow included an introductory essay, now called the "Heldenbuch Prosa" ("Heldenbuch Prose"), which was copied by all the later printed editions, either as a preface or as an afterword. The "Heldenbuch Prosa" is also transmitted in a printed book of Sigenot, Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, and Laurin (Lübeck, 1560), and excerpts are printed in a printing of Laurin (Nuremberg, 1555). It presents "a brief survey in prose form of the most important figures and events of German medieval heroic poetry". The Heldenbuch Prosa offers an all encompassing depiction of the entire heroic age, partially in the form of a narrative, partially in the form of a catalog of names. It is structured both genealogically and geographically, dividing the heroes into those from around Aachen and Cologne, those from Hunland, and those from Worms. The compiler's use of prose may indicate a claim for the historical veracity of the account. The piece starts with the "first hero," Orendel von Trier, and his adventures, before listing the most important lands in which the heroes lived. It then explains the genesis of the heroes: in the beginning, God created the dwarves with the knowledge of minerals; he then created the giants to protect the dwarves from dragons and other monsters, but the giants later became evil, so he created the heroes, brave and strong, to defend the dwarves against both the giants and the dragons. The heroes also honoured and helped women, protecting widows and orphans. None of the heroes were peasants, and all lords and nobles are descended from them. Now follows a list of famous heroes, briefly characterised, and a long section outlining the stories of Ortnit, Hugdietreich and Wolfdietrich. It then describes the descent from Wolfdietrich of Dietrich von Bern, telling how the spirit of Mohammed came to his mother when she was pregnant and foretold her son's greatness. Some figures from the Nibelungenlied are introduced as heroes from the Rhineland and Lower Rhine, which links to the next section devoted to the heroes of Hungary (Hunland) centred around King Etzel, and then to a long passage about Dietrich von Bern. According to the text, Dietrich is the grandson of Wolfdietrich and son of Dietmar. During her pregnancy, Dietrich's mother was visited by the demon Machmet (i. e. Mohammed imagined as a Muslim god), who prophesies that Dietrich will be the strongest spirit who ever lived and will breathe fire when angry. The devil (Machmet?) then builds Verona/Bern in three days. Ermenrich, here imagined as Dietrich's brother rather than his uncle, rapes his marshal Sibiche's wife, whereupon Sibiche decides to advise Ermenrich in such a way as to ensure his lord's destruction. Thus he advises Ermenrich to hang his own nephews, the Harlungen. Their guardian, Eckehart of Breisach, informs Dietrich, and Dietrich declares war on Ermenrich. Ermenrich, however, captures Dietrich's best men, and to ransom them, Dietrich goes into exile. He ends up at Etzel's court, who gives Dietrich a large army that reconquers Verona. However, once Dietrich had fought at the rose garden against Siegfried, slaying him. The piece closes with the demise of the heroes, beginning with the marriage of Etzel and Kriemhilt: according to Heldenbuch Prosa, Kriemhilt organized her wedding as revenge for Dietrich having killed Siegfried in a rose garden. This leads to deaths of the Burgundians and many other warriors at Etzel's court, leaving only Dietrich and Hildebrand alive. They are then involved in a battle against Günther at Bern, which only Dietrich survived. Told by a dwarf that "your kingdom is no longer of this world", he disappears for ever. The only remaining hero is Eckehart, who, having visited the Venusberg, will continue to live until the day of judgment and warns others not to go there. The Heldenbuch Prosa assembles an enormous amount of material in a somewhat haphazard fashion to explain the world of the heroic poems. Some of the material in the "Heldenbuch Prosa" is not to be found in the narratives in the book or in other surviving material; some has parallels in the Thidrekssaga, but the compiler cannot have been familiar with that text. This suggests that he was also drawing on oral traditions, as well as perhaps as on his own invention, in order to make coherent sense of the material. Although the Nibelungenlied is not included in the Strassburg Heldenbuch or its printed version (it is found in the Ambraser Heldenbuch and Lienhart Scheubel's Heldenbuch), the "Heldenbuch Prosa" provides evidence of the persistence of an oral tradition in existence alongside a well known written text.

The Ambraser Heldenbuch (Vienna, Austrian National Library, Cod. Ser. nova 2663)
The Dresden Heldenbuch (Dresden, State Library, Mscr. M 201)