Koninc Ermenrîkes Dôt

The present volume presents an edition of a Low German ballad broadsheet dating from approx. 1540 complete with commentary and interpretation. In the case of „JunckerBaltzer“ the edition situates a historical „folk song“ of the landsknechtlied genre in its historical and literary context. Given its status as a late form of the Ermanarich-Sage, the ballad „Koninc Ermenrnkes Dtt“ has traditionally been devoted special attention within research on the heroic saga. However the ballad also has testimonial value in connection with the literary genre in which the late heroic epic continued to flower. Connections are traced with Upper German Dietrich von Bern epics, the Hamdirlied and the Thidrekssaga on the one hand, and with the Folkevise, the later Hildebrandslied and German folk song on the other. The return to the original title „Van Dirick van dem Berge“ is expressive of the new perspective pursued in the present interpretation.