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Nibelungen
Nibelungen or Nibelungs, in Germanic myth and literature, an evil family possessing a magic hoard of gold. The hoard is accursed. The Nibelungenlied [song of the Nibelungen] is a long Middle High German epic by a south German poet of the early 13th cent. It includes pagan legends and traditio...
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Etzel
Etzel , in Germanic mythology, king who corresponds to the historic Attila . In the Nibelungenlied he appears as Etzel and in the Volsungasaga as Atli.
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Gudrun
Gudrun or Kudrun , in Germanic literature. 1 Heroine of the Icelandic epic, the Volsungasaga. 2 Heroine and title person of an anonymous Middle High German epic written shortly after and strongly influenced by the Nibelungenlied (see under Nibelungen ). The epic tells the story of Hilde, Ha...
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Siegfried
Siegfried or Sigurd , great folk hero of early and medieval Germanic mythology. His legend, important in several Germanic epics, recounts his killing of the dragon Fafnir, his marriage to Gudrun (or Kriemhild), his love and betrayal of Brunhild, and his tragic death. See Niebelungenlied under N...
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August Wilhelm von Schlegel
August Wilhelm von Schlegel , 1767-1845, German scholar and poet. With his brother, Friedrich von Schlegel, he founded the Athenaeum, which he edited (1798-1800). He served as secretary to Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte (later Charles XIV of Sweden) and became professor (1818-45) of art and lite...
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Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld , 1794-1872, German religious and historical painter and draftsman. He studied with his father, Veit Hans Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1764-1841), a painter and engraver, and in Vienna. In 1817 he went to Rome and joined the Nazarenes ; with them he worked on the frescoes o...
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Peter von Cornelius
Peter von Cornelius 1783-1867, German painter. He studied at Düsseldorf and in Rome, where he joined the German Nazarene group and collaborated with other members in the decoration of the Casa Bartoldy. In 1820 he was commissioned by Louis I of Bavaria to paint the fresco decorations in the ...
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Woden
Woden , Norse Odin , in Germanic religion and mythology, the supreme god. His cult, although widespread among the Germanic tribes, was sometimes subordinated to that of his son Thor. With his brothers, Woden fashioned the earth and the sky from the dead body of the giant Ymir, and from an ash tre...
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Attila
Attila , d. 453, king of the Huns (445-53). After 434 he was coruler with his brother, whom he murdered in 445. In 434, Attila obtained tribute and great concessions for the Huns in a treaty with the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II, but, taking advantage of Roman wars with the Vandals and Pers...
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Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great c.454-526, king of the Ostrogoths and conqueror of Italy, b. Pannonia. He spent part of his youth as a hostage in Constantinople. Elected king in 471 after his father's death, he became involved in intrigues in which he was by turns the ally and the enemy of Byzantine emperor ...
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