Here you can hear about those occurrences by narration of German men, even by a lot born in Soest where those actions took place, who have seen unbroken the places where those occurrences happened, where Hagen fell and Irung was slain, and the Snake Tower wherein Gunter had to face his death, and the garden that is still called Niblungs Garden. And all's standing in the same place as in former times when the Nibelungs were slain; even the gates: the eastern gate where the battle started at first, and the western gate called Hagen Gate which the Nibelungs broke down into the garden; all that is called similarly as it happened formerly. Even those men told us about it who were born in Bremen and Münster Castle. They did not know of each other for sure, but all told about it in the same way. Most of it does even correspond with old German ballads by wise men who have rhymed about the big events that happened in this country.

Þiðreks saga.

Nonetheless, two professionals have been contributing outstanding results to disentangle this most popular occidental saga: 

In 1931 Prof Aloys Schröfl proved by his books Und dennoch – die Nibelungenfrage gelöst and Der Urdichter des Liedes von der Nibelunge Nôt und die Lösung der Nibelungenfrage (1927) that the second part of the Nibelungenlied called 'Der Nibelunge Nôt' (Grimhilde's revenge and the Nibelungs' Downfall), cannot be the right sequel of the first (Sigfrid's life and death), because the second one is based on appropriated work of Pilgrim of Aribon, Bishop at Passau on the Danube in 10^th century. Considering connotative cultural and historical environment of Ottonian German Empire, Schröfl rather found conclusive circumstantial evidence that Pilgrim intended to use his version of the Nibelungen story as 'the carrot' for the court of Hungary. With it, he believed to enlarge his influence on this country that was about to be christianised, as Schröfl conclusively points out. Thus, according to his research, the later formed and most discussed lay, necessarily drawn up to the plenteously glorified ancestors of the Hungarians, might be evaluated today as an early political flyer! 

The lay's first part, however, was principally not subject to Schröfl's research. He rather distilled out a distinctive archetypal Upper German work from the second part serving for the eldest texts we have (as a missing postulated Latin Nibelungias has been already supposed). Thus, regarding characteristic plagiarism, assimilation, and assemblage of compiled medieval heroic epics as well as the surviving folios of the anonymously written (or copied) Nibelungenlied, the prime narrative must have been transformed to 'updates' due to the spirit of high medieval times. Including the known congruent handwritings of the lay and the assumable archetype, Schröfl detected at least three notably different dates of presentation. His special research into the politico-religious relations of German Empire with Hungary (10^th century) is mainly focussing on connective approach to motive and authorship of the archetype, which, however, has been either scholarly suppressed or apodictically negated through non-convincing Germanistic evaluation. (Schröfl fairly underlined that the original creators of Upper German Nibelungen lay are explicitly quoted in its Lament work KLAGE as 'Bischof Pilgrin von Pazzowe' and his 'Master(-writer) Kuonrat'.) 

Heinz Ritter († 1994), philologist and scientist from German Schaumburg on the Weser, seems to have got the core of the saga by his impressive publications and lectures. His long and meticulous work, done over many decades, led him to various Nordic texts, especially to the manuscript known as Old Norse 'Membrane' [perg. fol. 4 ] at the royal library of Stockholm (usually completed with Icelandic versions A to C) and two Old Swedish versions at Stockholm Riksarkivet he shortly called 'Svava' with an obvious respect to 'Svensk' as well as that most quoted central territory ('Swana', 'Swawa') in these texts. According to Ritter's research they surely cannot deal Theodoric the Great of Ravenna, but rather an equally named Rhine-Frankish king of Germanic Migration Era who had his first residence in Frankish lands. 

The Svava (or the Didriks-krönikan) and the Membrane (popular name of Þiðreks saga) include narration about the historical Nibelungen, as being classified by progressive German research following Ritter ('Ritter-Schaumburg'). The Svava retells less pompous than the slightly more longwinded Membrane, but both narrate quite more objective than all the other traditional texts of High Middle Ages. The archetype of these manuscripts was certainly known before or in the era of Charlemagne who had initiated the recording of historical ballads and narrations to a great extent, as Ritter argues in his book Sigfrid ohne Tarnkappe, published by Herbig Company, Munich, Germany; 1992 to 1997. 

This book reveals a very imposing correlation between action and topography related to Sigfrid's life and death. 

However, the 'Niflunga' parts of the Svava and the Membrane do not provide the same course of events as the Nibelungenlied.
 

The Evaluation of the Nordic Manuscripts

Ritter's method of dealing with Thidreks saga is principally based on his answer to the cardinal question whether a tradition assumed being remarkably pregnant with historical facts may be dissected in twilight mixture of mythological narratives. As Ritter expressively underlined at his lectures, rather less significant as well as detectable non-contemporary implementations by an evident group of Norse editors might have induced scholarly evaluation to consider Thidreks saga for the most part as less authentic or fabulous pool of mostly unrelated single tales. Following Ritter's index of circumstantial evidences, however, we have to consider the factual piece that the Old Swedish scribe of the Didriks Chronicle would not title his work SAGA, eg in view of remarkably depicted Baltic politics. Beside other indication, Ritter regards the Svava principally guiding Thidreks saga, and he considers all these texts as certain coherent chronicle of such recognizable literary selectivity that subsequently will allow efforts to estimate them as sources of preponderant historical events.

Theodore M. Andersson, reviewer of a symposium-based comprehensive supplement edited by Susanne Kramarz-Bein for Walter de Gruyter's encyclopaedia of Germanic antiquity, comments the current contradicting scholarly cataloguing of Thidreks saga. Andersson, incidentally seeing a clear literary difference between 'Norse' and 'of Norway', was obviously remembering Ritter's publications by this introductory remark of 1996: »... Þiðreks saga, which had not received much scholarly attention for several decades, came back into fashion about ten years ago ...«

This English review, available at http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~alvismal/7susanne.pdf [2005], follows Heinrich Beck's position by means of his paper Þiðreks saga als Gegenwartsdichtung? who, stringently against Ritter's postulation and reasoning, also exposes Thidreks saga to the light of Nordic poetry and heroic narrative somehow inspired by history. Andersson recites: »... Heinrich Beck's "Þiðreks saga als Gegenwartsdichtung?" ... points out that Þiðreks saga ... synchronizes events from legendary prehistory with near-contemporary events in the twelfth century (campaigns against the Slavs on the eastern frontier of Germany). Time in Þiðreks saga is thus a variable quantity ...«

Moreover, Heinrich Beck classifies the message of Þiðreks saga expressively more subtle than its naïve reader would imagine. Addressing to Ritter, he will underpin Germanism's fundamental attitude towards the general understanding of SAGA with this manifesto: »Germanistic saga research has recognized long since (...) that saga tradition is not an ancient forwarding but derives from topic adoption.« (Translated quotation from Zur Thidrekssaga-Diskussion; Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, 112, 1993; pp 441-448.)

The Germanistic and other scholastic strategy against H. Ritter or believable research intentionally ignores the fact that the Old Norse scribes evidently used to title translated historiographies as 'saga'. The author's publication Sage und Wirklichkeit. Dietrich von Bern und die Nibelungen (2008) thus repudiates that kind of subtle exploration of Thidreks saga by Heinrich Beck and other experts in literature agreeing with his questionable position.

Ritter's translation of the Old Swedish Didriks Chronicle was not called in question on literary subject. For elaborating research he therein left his comparing analysis of both chronological and historiographical structures of the Svava and Thidreks saga manuscripts. In the addenda of this translation (pp 399-455) he exemplarily scrutinises and refutes the Svava's dependency from the Membrane and Icelandic texts against scholastic evaluation of Scandinavian researchers. Ritter also implemented into his posthumous publication Der Schmied Weland, published by his son Hans Martin Ritter, Prof PhD, at Olms, Germany (1999), a supplementary analysis that points out the different literary style of these texts anything but less insignificant through exemplary synoptic studies providing Thidreks saga's predilection for certain subjective notional forwarding and, as a result, also for mythologizing, cf Quotations from Der Schmied Weland (German). 

Seasoned practitioners have not rejected Ritter's methodical deciphering of the geographical and ethnic names in the Didriks Saga, a work of noteworthy terminological consistency considering rational contemporary circumstances of time and location. In 1959 William J. Pfaff had already introduced an equally titled book with a study in Germanic heroic Legend, who, however, failed in the actual terminology of such important places originally spelled 'Bern' or 'Drekanfils'. Ritter rather found out that the right geographical operation area related to the Didriks Chronicle does extend diagonally from South-Sweden and Jutland to German Moselle river and, west-to-east, from Belgium to Baltic countries.

Thus, the revising research would hardly believe that the Nordic editors had done more than a mere translation of an imported tradition, mainly a Lower German Historia Dietrich von Bern; especially considering the item that the translators evidently never attempted to change any location name there. To boot, it seems implausible that the Norse scribes of King Haakon IV would have had any good reason to implant any own narration or compilation on such unfamiliar small locations as Vernica, Thorta or Brictan, such strange rivulets as Duna, Wisara or Eydissa, such elsewhere never mentioned but nonetheless real mountain forests as the Osning or Valslanga. 

Further progressive research will also concentrate upon Roswitha Wisniewski's postdoctoral thesis Die Darstellung des Niflungenunterganges in der Thidrekssaga (Hermaea Edition, Tübingen, Germany) by which she provides an extrapolative evidence of Thidreks saga's sources. The scholar in literature, now emeritus professor, reminds us on the subject that James Westfall Thompson has given the fundamental characteristics of both narrative forms: »The medieval  C h r o n i c l e   was neither a mere table of dates nor the representation of a time; it was a detailed arrangement of events in the order of time. The medieval H i s t o r y was neither a generic term encluding all classes of materials nor the simple narration of a spectator. Whether according to its earliest use, it may have been an exposition of the results of research, or of the process of research itself, it was now understood to mean an exhibition of events in their deeper relations of cause and effect, in their moral and political bearings, and in an approach to a dramatic or pictorial form. The history was a work of art, the chronicle a faithful narration of acts and an orderly arrangement of dates.«
 

The Nibelungs Origin Place

As Ritter refers to the Svava and the Nibelungs by means of his comprehensive publication Die Nibelungen zogen nordwärts (Herbig, 1981), the Nibelungs home location as well as name giving to them will be related to German Eiffel. There, a small rivulet called Neffel springs in the district of Zülpich and crosses that hilly region north-eastwards.  Zülpich: Weihertor. Photo by the author. Ritter and Böckmann suppose Nibelungs residence at either Virnich or Virmenich – on well known ancient kings and military short-cut road from Cologne to Trier.

Henri Grégoire, researcher and philologist, has connected that subject with Nivelle, castle and town of Belgium. The records about persons of this place show epithet donation as Nivellung, respectively Nibelunc (whom Charlemagne proudly called his uncle), as these names were given to Pepins in 7^th and 8^th century. (The Pepins were forming most influential 'mayor-domus' family serving as Mayor of the Palace Charlemagne and other preceding Frankish rulers.) Grégoire, although trying a suspect relocalization of Burgundia, basically agrees with Emil Rückert who already published in 1836 his ethnological and genealogical discoveries by his book Oberon von Mons und die Pipine von Nivella – Untersuchungen über den Ursprung der Nibelungensage.

However, Ritter recognizes the Nibelungs castle just 80 miles farther to the east, since an eye-catching number of location names there, in the region of German Zülpich, must be seriously taken into consideration for verifying those Norse-Nordic texts related to King Gunter's family. For example, there is an old place called Juntersdorf, formerly spelled 'Guntirsdorp' (dorp = village). The manuscripts retell also that Hagen's father was originally spelled Elf, Elff(e) or Albe, as this name is supposed to be closely related to Elvenich. In former times, this place was testified as Albinacum or Albihenae. Incidentally, H. van der Broeck, author of 2000 Jahre Zülpich (Publisher: Kölnische Verlagsdruckerei, 1968) reckons this location to a Celtic location of worshipping, since those ‘nich’ or ‘ich’ endings given to places of this region are very typical for Roman-Celtic influence on contemporary spelling. 

Old small settlements called Virnich (that belongs today to Schwerfen) and Virmenich (now Firmenich) may be found there. These names might correspond well with the Nibelungs residence originally spelled Verniza, Vernica, Verminza. With respect to strong spelling of both places, as Ritter considers, it has been proved even to some other location names that those consonants 'z' or 'c' were converted later into 'ch'. 

He also quotes correlating significant indication that will prove Zülpich region as the right home location of the historical Nibelungs: The original texts note brightest full moon night when these folk met the Rhine at Duna Crossing on their fateful march to Grimhilde and her spouse Atala, King of Saxony: Since important campaigns were usually planned to start at full moon in Late Antiquity as well as medieval times, the Nibelungs with polished armour under their garments could have covered only c. 30 miles from their capital place! 

The Nibelungs region of Zülpich formerly pertained to contemporary Ripuarian territory whose ruler King Sigebert – Gregory of Tours just called him 'the Lame' – was residing at Cologne before he was eliminated by King Clovis. Thus, the historical Nibelungs were representing a Frankish tribe of 5^th to 6^th century, and so we should make an effort to encounter Merovingians by the Svava in Frankish history. 

Regarding research into the early history of Pepin Family, as Reinhard Schmoeckel notes in his book Deutsche Sagenhelden und die historische Wirklichkeit, some more interesting indications are to consider for correlation with the Nibelungs: 
  

Juntersdorf: A view from the Neffel to the landscape.	Virnich.
Photos by	the author.
Irnich Castle at Virnich.	Virmenich Castle.

The Svava quotes about the last Nibelungs Ride – the undercover campaign to their downfall – 
by this: 

...so they rode to the Rhine, where Duna meets the Rhine...

The Duna may not be taken for the Danube in this connection, rather for Dhünn river (recorded as Duone in 1117) that was falling till 1830/1840 into the Rhine at Leverkusen, the town to the north of Cologne. Incidentally, that location has been proved by Ritter as an important crossing point of former times. A Nordic Rhine Map, 5-6th century, may impart to us a geographic overview, as the old location and river names of this map are entirely given by the Svava and Membrane texts! 

Reinhard Schmoeckel has carefully studied Ritter's findings for historical integrity. According to Schmoeckel's statements and conclusions being published in his afore mentioned book, the records about Didrik of Berne are basically not contradicting to historical facts, rather supplementing them to homogenous historiography of Mid-Europe and Scandinavia from Late Antiquity to Early Middle Ages! 

Other researchers generally agree with Ritter: Walter Böckmann, book author and documentary film maker, and Ernst F. Jung, historian and philologist, largely share Ritter's revision of the Nibelungs factual history. Roswitha Wisniewski, Prof PhD, found strong indication that a comprehensive record of Saxon narrative about the Frankish 'Theodoric of Berne' was transferred in first half of 13^th century from Wedinghausen monastery at Arnsberg, Westphalia, to Scandinavia where it was seemingly translated into the Thidreks saga, as the authoress notes well in her postdoctoral thesis. 
 

Soest by Merian.

The Svava: Sigfrid and the Nibelungs

Note: The 'Svava' or ' Swana' is north-eastern region of the Harz by evaluation of contemporary chronicles and old cartographic material. The next chapter Questions and Findings is based on the footnotes of this synopsis. Nonetheless, you may not necessarily jump between both, but rather read just successively. 

Nordharz Map of 1968

i Latest research renders the location of King Sigmund's realm, the dowry he received from King Nidung's daughter, in accordance with the poet of the Nibelungenlied.

1  Sigfrid   (He is also spelled 'Siegfried' or 'Sigurd' in other texts.)

Some old maps of northern Harz show a deserted settlement called Siewershausen, see X- mark on the enclosed map, that was named originally Sigefrideshuson according to elder archive maps. Is this location the birth- or memorial or discovery place of Sigfrid? The message about King Sigmund's missing son might have spread out quickly from the court. Had Mime, the sly smith and Sigfrid's foster-father, kept such notice in mind and chosen a similar name for his foundling in order to remember its right father? 
 

Siewershausen, deserted settlement. A view to SE. Photos by the author.	Minsleben – "Mynnersleben" on the Holtemme rivulet. A view to the mountains where to find the rocky ground of Ilsenstein Castle.

Sigfrid's Size

Mime takes an armour he has just made for a king, puts it on Sigfrid, and it does fit! Moreover, it fits so well that he moves with it on his long walk to Brynhilde's castle. If he were aged as a boy, he could certainly not slay seven guardians and go at loggerheads with some knights and squires on the queen's castle! What are the mathematical probabilities that both the king and Sigfrid may have same size of just about a giant's? There is much impressing description of Sigfrid's size, as Lord Brand recites at the Grand Banquet for King Didrik's followers and friends (Sv 177&178). However, that speech might rather spring from boating yobbos who are much overrating themselves: Only a short time later is the fact that these guys have go home with a shaming man-to-man result of a trial of strength at King Isung: They had lost not less than nine of twelve fights! Besides, Hagen and King Gunter were defeated! Didrik's fight may be left aside here for his wilful deceit by broken oath!
 

2  Mime

Mime is not any old smith who has to do his every day's job for the villagers or his feudal lord! Contrarily, rather Kings of far countries do request very finest metal wear from him, the Genius of Hard Metal, Master of all Haute Couturiers of Men's Late Antiquity! Moreover, Mime is not in dire need to lend his own hand with creating his superb models. For instance, the Mimung, very best sword at that time, was made by his former apprentice Weland. 

Mime seems to coddle Sigfrid who certainly has not to work at his forge. His adoptive son, being frustrated nonetheless, thanks his foster-father's questionable tenderness by hanging around, poking his nose into the smithy now and then, where he does nothing else than vastly enervate and beat Mime's workers. Just at that point, as Sigfrid was hardly to control for his enormous puberty, Mime is going to teach him working at the anvil.

According to early documented testimonies, a village called Minsleben – just a few miles far from Siewershausen – does belong not only to the eldest settlements of that region, but is also closely related to iron works of early times. Ritter was witness of scientific diggings and analysis of ferrous slag found at Minsleben, whose suffix leben is a derivation from Thuringian leva or leven. Furthermore, Ritter noted that Mime was written down as Mymmer or Mynner in the original scripts. 
 

3  Regen

Seven miles to the southeast from Minsleben, the Regenstein rises up as a small woodland mountain with steeply ascending rocks. 
 

The 'Feuerland' forest surrounds the Regenstein. Photo by the author.

Imposing caves are crossing the Regenstein foot area that has been nicknamed Feuerland ('Fireland'). They could have been serving for places to Germanic worshipping, eg Thing ritual. 
 

Photos by the author.

Today, just a mile far from the Regenstein, ponds and marshy places fill the little valley of Goldbach rivulet. Old land registry maps specify its parcels as Drachenkopf (Dragonhead) and Drachenloch. The latter, 'Dragon Valley', rolls approximately a third mile. Forest rangers of this district still use these names! Today, this area is privately run and restricted. 
 

The  impressing 'Dragon Valley' rolls about a third mile.	Photos by the author who thanks the proprietors of this     land for the release of both photos.

Was Regen a solitary protozoon or rather the Count of Regenstein?

There was and there is still an ideal habitat for the first named possibility on the right location. Although the Old Norse-Nordic texts report on Regen as a brother of Mime, there is, generally, a chance of meaning only spiritual brotherhood: Mime had certainly all the slyness and cunning of a reptile, as Sigfrid finally got a taste of it (see also footnote 4).

On the other hand, Hartebold alias the first Count of Regenstein (s. below), a homeless parvenu who recently had received that location probably without remarkable means, could easily and specially protect his area by making good use of the ghastly natural scenery surrounding his castle: As most important performer, he just needed the completing 'dragon' to horrify (and rob?) unexpected visitors – certainly by masquerade. There are some tortuous items supporting such theory of an unreal dragon, cf original quotations in Sv 158 and Sv 304. 

The German transscription of theVölsunga Saga, ch 18, quotes this speech by the 'dragon': 

'Haven't you heard how that all folk are afraid of me and my shocking helmet?' 
  

Actually, the German transscription of the Völsunga Saga enlightens us on the incentive related to the smith and his brother: That dragon-worm, being called Fafnir due to Edda narratives, makes this confession in the presence of Sigfrid who just has wounded him lethally:

'I had on the shocking helmet to protecting myself against all folks for all the time I was keeping my brother's heritage... so that nobody else dared to approach me; no sword was frightening me, and I never found so many men against me, methought being much stronger than them, so all were afraid of me ...'

(The Völsunga Saga will provide a divergent background of the 'brothers’ heritage', however.)
 
 

The Regenstein with its ruined castle by Merian, 1654.

         There is historical narration about name giving to Regenstein:
  

There is at least one interesting parallelism to the Siebengebirge on the Rhine which is believed Dragon Place by Upper German tradition: Sieben is an old German(ic) word for regnen or Regen, while gebirge just means mountains. The Old Norse name for Regen is Fafnir ('Fafner'). 
 

4  Dragon Blood

Regarding the legendary incredible qualities of Sigfrid's skin, the Svava itself qualifies all those quotations to a reasonable degree when retelling the tournament fight against Didrik, where Sigfrid, even protected by an armour, must give up for his wounds! 

Incidentally, by retelling his fable of the 'Dragon Killer' who had taken that special bath from the beast's bloody brew, Sigfrid could certainly make some people believe to have become invulnerable superman just by this thrilling 'excuse': As historians have noted, the Merovingians, most important dynasty of early Frankish rulers, were tainted with hereditary skin disease called 'ichthyosis hystrix' which most striking form will make human skin as thick as a swine's rind.

This is translated text from the entry Drache=Dragon by German DUDEN, Edition 1969:
...The victory over the dragon means victory over chaos, darkness, or an old order...

Thus, the dragon represents the bad – and he must not necessarily come out by its natural appearance!
 

The 'dragon-worm' as being placed on the Drachenfels 'Dragon Rock' on the Rhine.

Incidentally, this protozoon sculpture is a detailed reconstruction basing on real skeleton fragments preserved at Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt, and the Berlin Zoo!

Photo by the author.

5  Brynhilde's Castle

Sigfrid moves without horse but in heavy armour from Mime's smithy straight to Brynhilde's residence shortly nicknamed Seaguard by the Svava – so this place must be in reach by walking! The nearest castle to this condition will be either the Heimburg or Ilsenstein; the latter on a mountain in the neighbourhood of the highest of the Harz, the 'Brocken' with its marvellous sight-seeing place. Incidentally, the original manuscripts of the Nibelungs Lay provide Isenstein as Brynhilde's castle. 

The more exactly narrating Nordic texts specify her castle's location 'at the North Mountains' (Sv 14); and she had also 'a stud estate in the forest nearby' whose horses were much praised for their extraordinary qualities.

Queen Brynhilde was known as orphan. Her uncle – who rather might be her brother-in-law – was Heim (the) Studder or Heimir who run her stud estate, as delivered by the Völsunga Saga which nicknames Brynhilde's castle Shielded Castle or Castle of Shields. Actually, its rocks photographed from the distance do resemble simple shields of Late Antiquity being heaped up irregularly. The position of Heimir's castle, the Heimburg that became related with German rulers Henry IV and Henry the Lion later on, can be verified by a large lake – 'sea' in German use – recently found subterranean only some miles to the north, as the proprietors of Dragon Valley land parcel have told the author of this contribution. 

Nonetheless – against Ritter's conviction – the remarkable strong Queen Brynhilde might have had no reason to give up I(l)senstein after the death of her parents and move down to her bad- tempered relative on the lower Heimburg (Sv 14), as Walter Böckmann does also believe. This princely castle might surely belong to the queen's real estates; but the 'Isenstein', with its surviving castle rocks and longwinded access way of a good one mile, is in quite more representative landscape position!
 

Amid the photo the Heimburg cone at an important strategic position.	The Harz rising behind the Heimburg.

 All photos by the author.

Horse Capital of Drübeck Crypt.	The Heimburg by Merian, 1654.           Ground Plan

The traditional but 'peculiar horse breeding in woodlands and forests' as Tacitus quotes in his Germania, ch 27, is also shown by the Horse Capital at the crypt of Drübeck Cloister Church, which was founded a good 2 miles far from the Ilsenstein. Incidentally, the distance from this place to the Heimburg is approximately 9 miles.
 

6  Theoderic of Berne or 'Didrik'

Ritter estimates Didrik's birth date about 470, his age of being proclaimed 'King of Berne' about 20. In his mid-twenties, Didrik has to go into King Atala's exile for a big threat coming from his kinsman King Ermenrik. During this time of deprivation, lasting approximately two decades, Didrik seizes the opportunity to aid Saxon King Atala who was warring against Baltic tribes. Thereafter he leaves the court of his good friend Atala for conquering 'Rome' or 'Roma seconda', the ancient Roman name for Trier on the Moselle which was residence and important strategical place of Ermenrik and his advisor Sevekin. However, this campaign brings Didrik high personal losses in the battle of Gränsport on the Moselle's mouth, and so he goes back to King Atala and renounces his restoration to the throne for the loss of a kinsman and two sons of Atala, his good friends. Some years later, after the Niflungs downfall at Soest, he leaves King Atala's country for 'Berne' where he goes out with his new army. He meets the troops of Sevekin at Graach on the Moselle and overthrows them without great effort. The Norse-Nordic chroniclers retell that he immediately was crowned 'King of Rome' and thereafter was even ruling a greater realm.

Ritter believes in Bonn on the Rhine as the former Berne by his book Dietrich von Bern – König zu Bonn (Herbig, 1982). He argues that Bern is based on derivation from Latin Verona - Berona as being used in the Middle Ages for Bonn on the Rhine. Nonetheless, we seriously have to consider another more precious ancient place in the Lower Rhine-Lands for ascribing it to that similar old spelling! Apparently, the context of the Norse-Nordic manuscripts unmistakably allow to recognize Babilonia as only possible location widely known as Cologne on the Rhine. Thus, the Rhine-Frankish King Didrik cannot be confused with Theodoric the Great. 
 

7  Hagen

Hagen's father can enter the garden of certainly well guarded kingly castle without any problems for a lovers' tryst! Therefore, he certainly was already introduced to the court and could go around there to please himself – as a high-ranked close kinsman of the queen? If yes, regarding all known abnormalities of Hagen as noted in the manuscripts, he birth might be based upon an incest affair. His father comes across as very self-confident and auspicious as a druid (Sv 161) and might have forwarded the origin location of his (fore-) fathers as epithet to the name of his son.
 

8  King Isung's Land

... They were riding across large woodlands and heaths ...

The Svava's description perfectly corresponds with the heath lands of German Lüneburg. Ritter believes the kingly castle on the Kalkberg of Lüneburg town. 
 

The Kalkberg of Lüneburg by Merian.

Incidentally, Sigfrid reports to King Isung that on the shield of an arrival is 'also a lion of gold with a crown' (Sv 185). Since there was no other subject mentioned afore being in connection with this symbol, it must be King Isung's, too. Actually, we know dynasties with a lion on their heraldic crests that have been ruling this region between Brunswick and Lüneburg! 
 

9  Sigfrid and Grimhilde (and King Atala)

The Svava does not report on any affections for a love match between Sigfrid and Grimhilde! 

Grimhilde was aged just over 40 when she married King Atala. Considering a health-conscious way of life as well as corresponding genes, she could have given birth to a child, the meaningful son of King Atala, just in time. Nonetheless, we may wonder if the couple were willing to sacrifice him, probably their only heir apparent, for the apparently planned provocation for slaying the Niflungs guests. If the kingly pair would not, any suitably aged son of King Atala's concubine could have been publicly introduced as Grimhilde's son.

As the Edda texts provide, King Atala let punish a talkative court-maid who alleged that Grimhilde was sleeping with the exiled King Didrik on Soest Castle. (Where was King Atala in those night(s)?)

Regarding the Niflungs pedigree directly extracted from the Thidrek Saga texts, however, Grimhilde's youngest 'brother' Gislher cannot be the natural son of King Aldrian, the early died Niflungs father. Furthermore, his widow Queen Oda will be the improbable natural mother of the youngest Niflung, as Ritter remarks in his posthumous book.
 

10  Schlangenturm

The existence of a tower with this name is historically provable to Soest.
 

11  Sigfrid's Niflunga Hoard

If there were such authentic hoard, most probably a cave, it certainly should meet these requirements: 
  

Such a cave was found in a rocky hill at Kallenhardt, Warstein, in 1926: 

In the tunnel of that Hohler Stein ('Hollow Rock'), mortal remains of a man were found in undisrupted stratum. Nonetheless, a burial had been impossible for that position. The age of the dead was determined to nearly 50. The jewellery found at his skeleton, a rune fibula, an arm and a finger ring, and knobs (preserved today at North- Rhine- Westphalian museums of Lippstadt and Münster) do correspond with the period of Atala's lifetime and appropriate status of a king on the hunt. Prof Stieren and Dr Julius Andree, his scientific assistant, directed this exploration. On the next official excursion, in 1933, relicts of a forgery of 30-Years War were found at the western inlet of the cave that still has an unspecified number of tunnels. As Ritter notes in his book on the Nibelungs history, Dr Adree told him that Prof Stieren 'certainly had suppressed much' onto the Kallenhardt discovery. 
 

Bricked wall           x  Position of the dead man	A

12  Graves

If survivors of the Soest Battle had wanted to leave a solid message about those dramatic events to the far posterity by the techniques of that era, they surely would have resigned themselves to doing by gravely limited choices. 

At that time, in other epochs as well, characteristic features of dead persons were often expressed by precious burial objects, nonetheless – fortunately. 

Which would be the least arrangements if to proceed to the kingly family of Soest in this way?
  

The latest gold coin of these graves was a mint of East-Roman Emperor Justinian I who was reigning from 527 till 565. Thus, this fact does meet the additional condition.
 

Top picture on the left: The medallion (c. 10 cm or 4 inches in diameter) as shown at Burghofmuseum Soest, Germany, and its contour copy by the author. This piece was found in one female grave chamber, specified as position No 105, that also included a key. However, a key to give as burial object was atypical for that time. Hagen's shield symbol was a non-coroneted eagle. Both Ritter and Walter Böckmann interpret Prof Stieren's statements as concealing his real final conclusion from that discovery.	The pictures below are the golden rune fibula found in the kingly chamber No 106 and its contour copy from the reverse (c. 5 cm or 2 inches in diameter). Rune type experts have read one of its engravings either A-T-A-N-O  or A-T-A-L-O.More information. This piece belongs also to the stock of Burghof- museum Soest. . Photos and illustrations by the author.

Final Remarks and Reactions

In comparison with traditional Nibelungen recitation such as the Nibelungenlied, the Old Norse-Nordic narratives appear as objective as a police report. We also must state that historiography of literature provides evidence that stylistically drier traditions rather were serving for embellished adaptations of sophisticated epic poetry at considerable conception of High Middle Ages. Furthermore, the long-established scholastic opinion that the historical core of the Nibelungs' downfall were the defeat of Burgundian King Gundahari by West-Roman and following Hunnish troops in 435/436 appears as de facto less homogenous identification referring to transfigured erroneous appropriation being based upon recognizable deceptive instrumentation and destination of Upper German heroic tradition Nibelungenlied (notably Aloys Schröfl and Bálint Hóman, allusively Ritter and other authors). Moreover, the literary research has come to realize that the writing artists in its environing 'courtier’s poetry' would have thought hardly of any atavism back to literary style of Thidreks saga. 

The notable research of Heinz Ritter has been subsequently calling for reliability and review of the doctrinal foundation of Germanistic profession that, however, has not been ready to receive him for some obvious consequences. Thus, an institute of Siegen University, Germany, put a sharp defamatory flyer in circulation to bawl out Ritter's contribution that certainly appears 'poisonous' for Germanistic research. (The authors of that leaflet were not only students.) The German version of this contribution also includes a reader's response to a less forceful but more subtle argumentation written by Heiko Droste as an another detractor. An entry in the German Wikipedia even tries to shake Ritter's name-giving 'Svava' to his translation of the Didriks Chronicle. (»"Svava" ist allerdings ein Geisterwort ...« at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svava [April 2005]). Meanwhile the basic documents of the author's German publication have been temporarily suspended in the Open Directory. 

Some more direct and indirect detraction against Ritter coming from antagonistic Germanistics, as a discussion on German TV presented by Hessischer Rundfunk (Dec. 1984) which the historian Ernst F. Jung unmasked as a tricky tribunal against Ritter, or the symposium of Bonn to the latter by means of contributions by H. Beck and S. Kramarz-Bein, could not unsettle Ritter's research that was mostly welcomed to reviewers of German press (quotations being linked in German version). 

Heinz Ritter was honoured with German Bundesverdienstkreuz (Distinguished Service Cross) and the Verdienstorden des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Order of Service of North Rhine Westphalia, for his meritorious literary research. 
 

Appendix
 

German Citations and Comments:
Dietrich von Bern – Chronicle or Poetry?
German Review on Ritter
Ritter about his Principle and Position of Researching the Thidreks saga
Ritter's Priority of the Old Norse and Nordic texts – An extract from Der Schmied Weland
The Steel of Weland the Smith – Summaries of Scientific Analyses
Zur Schuldfrage von Atala und Grimhild, Atli und Gudrun