Seehase, Hagen/Ollesch, Detlef Herzog, Henker, Heckenreiter

Wahrheit und Mythos der bekanntesten deutschen Balladen über das 15. Jahrhunder

Ludovico Ariosto sang of ladies, knights, weapons, love affairs, courtly manners, and daring exploits at the turn of the 15th century in his Orlando furioso, or Roland's Furious. These 149 eight-line songs were strongly influenced by the old French chanson de geste and remained required reading for centuries, as exemplified by the reprints from Jena in 1805 and Paris in 1839. What delights students of Romance languages today was standard fare back then: the glorification of the past through a heroic figure, who was sometimes also intended to embellish the family tree of the ruling dynasty. The more drastic the hardships, the more painful the unrequited love, and the greater the heroic deeds, the better. What became a literary masterpiece in Orlando furioso was reflected less stylistically in popular narratives. All too often, fiction and truth became intertwined in accounts of real people, and the yarn was spun further over decades and centuries. This has made it difficult to maintain a clear overview of such narratives. Authors Hagen Seehase and Detlef Ollesch have now undertaken to take a closer look at some of these legendary figures and clarify their respective historical situations as far as possible. Readers will find the answers to these puzzles in this book, even if it sometimes has to be said: Se non e vero e ben trovato if it isn't true, it's well invented. (Dr. Elmar Heinz)