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sagas, Bikka persuades Ermanaric to ask in marriage Swanhild, the daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun. The king's only son, Randver, is sent to bring home the bride, but on their arrival Bikka accuses them of illicit love and Ermanaric in his rage has Randver hanged and Swanhild trampled to death by wild horses. Gudrun's sons set out to avenge their sister, but their attempt only partially succeeds, for, after having cut off Ermanaric's hands and feet, they are overcome and slain by his followers.

This story seems to have been influenced by the Harlung saga, which was eventually incorporated in the Ermanaric saga. In the original myth two twins, the Harlungs, were commissioned by the sky-god Irmintius, to bring home his bride, the sun-maiden. But they themselves were fired with love at sight of the beautiful maid; by means of their treasures they won her favour, and for this crime they were punished with death by the angry god. From this dawn-myth developed the hero-saga of the Harlungs, nephews of Ermanaric, whose evil counsellor accuses them of plotting to win the queen's love. Ermanaric, incensed at their presumption and covetous of their treasure, gets the two youths into his power, and has them hanged.

For a time the two Gothic sagas of Theoderic, brave, wise, generous, and great even in exile,
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and of Ermanaric, powerful; grasping, cruel, the murderer of his own kith and kin, existed side by side. But these two Gothic kings, both of the Amelung race, very naturally came to be thought of as kinsmen, and by the tenth century the tradition had been formed that it was the unscrupulous Ermanaric who had driven his nephew Dietrich into exile and seized his possessions. Odoacer disappeared from the story, and with this change the saga reached the stage which forms the basis of the medieval poems of the Dietrich cycle: Dietrich, whose capital was Bern (= Verona, the first important Italian city reached in crossing from the northern to the southern side of the Alps, and therefore the best known to the Alamans) is expelled from his rightful possessions by his uncle Ermenrich(the High German form of Ermanaric), and goes into exile at Attila's court. At the end of thirty (some sources say thirty-two) years he returns at the head of a powerful army to reconquer his own. Ermenrich is defeated at the battle of Ravenna, and after his death Dietrich rules once more in security over his own lands.

Though we have no direct proof that at this stage of the development of the saga Ermenrich met not only with defeat, but also with death, at Dietrich's hands, this issue to the conflict was demanded by poetic justice, and was certainly
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current at a somewhat later period. According to a Low German poem printed in the sixteenth century, but based on a much older ballad, and generally known as Ermenrichs Tod, Ermenrich escaped after his defeat, and for long successfully eluded his pursuers. At last, however, Dietrich discovered the castle in which he had taken refuge, and, choosing only eleven followers, set off to complete his revenge. Having a garrison of 350 men in his castle, and seeing his nephew apparently in his power, Ermenrich ordered the gates to be thrown open, whereupon Dietrich rushed in with his companions, cut down all who barred his way, and with one terrible blow slew his treacherous enemy.

Unfortunately none of the other poems of the Dietrich cycle agree with this version. This is due to the fact that later on a conception arose (cf. p. 30) that Dietrich eventually returned to his own country unopposed. This would, of course, have been impossible until after Ermenrich's death, which was therefore accounted for in various ways. In the so-called Anhang zum Heldenbuch Eckehart kills him to avenge the murder of the Harlungs, while according to the Thidrekssaga he dies of an incurable disease. In most of the poems, however, his death is passed over in silence.

The further development of the Dietrich saga was determined chiefly by the constant endeavor
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to add to Dietrich's fame by ascribing to him all manner of valiant deeds. Additions of this kind were, indeed, almost demanded to account of the traditional thirty years of inactivity at Attila's court; for it was incredible that so famous a hero as Dietrich should have passively endured so long an exile, or that he should have failed to take part in Attila's wars and to make some return by his valour for the hospitality he enjoyed. His connection with Attila thus came to be of the greatest importance for the further development of the saga, with the result that the original basis of expulsion, exile, and return, though not forgotten, fell into the background, while the main interest centred in interpolated episodes. According to the medieval saga he makes an unsuccessful attempt, with the help of troops lent by Attila, to reconquer his own, in the course of which campaign Attila's two sons meet their death; he rids the neighbourhood of Attila's court of man-eating ogre; he proves his valour in Attila's wars with Slavonic tribes; he marries Herrat, the niece of Attila's consort Helche; he is the leader of the twelve knights who journey to Worms, under Attila's patronage, to measure themselves with Kriemhild's champions; and he it is who finally conquers the Burgundian heroes, Gunther and Hagen, when all Attila's vassals have been slain.

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Of these interpolations Dietrich's exploits against the Slavs, as related in the Thidrekssaga and in the fragmentary High German poem of Dietrich und Wenezlan, and his victory over Kriemhild's till then invincible champion, Siegfried (cf. p. 31), are but loosely connected with the saga, his marriage with Herrat, too, is of little interest, except in so far as it emphasises the closeness, according to medieval tradition, of the ties between Dietrich and Attila; while the story of the slaying of the ogre and rescue of a maiden about to be devoured, as told in Etzels Hofhaltung, is a comparatively late addition to the cycle of Dietrich poems, composed in imitation of the mythical stories of Dietrich's youthful adventures, and mentioned here only because the author chose to assign it to the period of exile. The remaining additions to the saga, however, require more detailed notice.

Dietrich's unsuccessful campaign appears to have been originally conceived as taking place in the twentieth year of his exile, and as ending in a defeat -- with which was connected, perhaps at a later stage, an old tradition of the death of Attila's two sons. But in course of time the idea that the popular hero ever suffered defeat at the hands of his rapacious uncle became intolerable, and he is actually represented in the medieval poems as going voluntarily into exile after winning
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all his battles. The most remarkable development of this conception is found in Dietrchs Flucht, a brief summary of which will serve, if we disregard the multiplication of his victories and subsequent returns into exile, to give a rough idea of the form of the saga taken for granted by the other poems of the cycle.

Heinrich der Vogler, the author of Dietrichs Flucht, opens with a long and fanciful genealogy in the most approved medieval style. He connects his hero's ancestors with the heroes of other well-known sagas, recounts many of their adventures and exploits, and at last comes to Dietrich's father Dietmar, and his uncles Ermenrich and Diether, the father of the Harlung princes. He then tells how Sibeche (the German representative of the Norse Bikka) incites Ermenrich to the murder of the two Harlung princes and to an infamous plot against Dietrich's life. Fortunately Dietrich is warned and saved from falling into the trap set for him, whereupon Ermenrich collects a great army and marches on Bern. Though possessing a vastly inferior force, Dietrich succeeds in taking Ermenrich by surprise, and completely defeats him, taking prisoner his son Friedrich.

Desiring to reward his followers for their valour, Dietrich sends a picked body of them to escort to Bern a large treasure, but they are ambushed on their return journey by a large
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force of Ermenrich's men and carried off as prisoners. Ermenrich now threatens to hang them all in revenge for his defeat. The reminder that his son Friedrich is in Dietrich's power fails to move him, and Dietrich is compelled to purchase their lives by surrendering his kingdom and going into exile.

After many years of exile at Attila's court news comes that Dietrich's party have recovered possession of Bern. He returns, defeats another army sent against him by Ermenrich, and, after appointing trusty vassals as governors of the various provinces of his kingdom, leads back to Attila as force of Huns lent for the campaign. During his absence Witege yields to bribery, goes over to Ermenrich (as Tufa did to Odoacer), and surrenders to him the important fortress of Ravenna. With a new army of Huns, Dietrich returns once more, and again defeats Ermenrich, who takes refuge in Bologna. But Dietrich has lost so many of his best warriors that a siege is impossible, and, realising that he can enjoy no safety in Bern while his uncle lives, he once more returns to Attila. At this point Heinrich der Vogler, apparently tiring of his subject , concludes his tedious narrative; but in a second poem, the Rabenschlacht (Battle of Ravenna), he provides a sort of sequel. This consists in another victorious campaign, in
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the course of which, however, Dietrich's brother and Attila's two sons are slain. But it is in this tragedy that the interest of the Rabenschlacht centers, and the author, after telling of Dietrich's third return to Attila with his sad news is content to omit all mention of the final recovery of his kingdom and of Ermenrich's death.

In addition to the assumption that Dietrich took part in Attila's wars with the Slavs, and to the invention of one or more unsuccessful attempts to regain his throne, a welcome opportunity of adding to Dietrich's fame and swelling the list of exploits performed during the time of exile offered itself in connection with the Nibelungen tragedy. Tradition having fixed the scene of this great catastrophe, in which the Burgundians perish to a man fighting against overwhelming odds, in Attila's capital, the inference that Dietrich played a leading part in the conflict must have been irresistible to the medieval mind. It was undoubtedly drawn and readily accepted, but curiously enough, it I s only the Nibelungenlied, and a portion of the Thidrekssaga based on the Nibelungenlied, that have preserved the resulting story of his tardy but decisive intervention. It is quite evident, however, from the characterisation of Dietrich and his followers, especially Hildebrand and Wolfhart, that he Dietrich episode in the Nibelungenlied represents a lost