Medieval Literature on Display by Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand;

Author:Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK

Figure 10 Nibelung Museum exterior, Book of the Anonymous Poet, pg. 23.

Medieval story and modern city

As the masthead of the city’s homepage illustrates, the legend of the Nibelungs has become a cornerstone of the city’s modern public image. Modern Worms proudly markets itself as the “Nibelungenstadt” (the city of the Nibelungs), wrapping the city’s identity in the intertwining strands of history and narrative. Indeed, the modern city of Worms seems to have been as obsessed with the Nibelungenlied as Kriemhild was with the treasure, with a passion that might threaten to overshadow other aspects of the city’s rich heritage. In 2017, it was perhaps Martin Luther who had top billing in town as sites across Germany celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. This monument from 1856 commemorates Luther’s appearance before the Reichstag in 1521, which culminated in his banishment and subsequent sojourn at the Wartburg, where he translated the New Testament. From the Lutherplatz, we glimpse the towers of the majestic twelfth-century cathedral that, along with its contemporaries in Mainz and Speyer, provides a magnificent example of German Romanesque architecture. Finally, Worms was long a center of Jewish learning, life, and culture. Sometimes called “Little Jerusalem” (“Klein-Jerusalem”), Worms was home to one of the oldest continually existing Jewish communities in Germany from the tenth century to the time of the Nazis.

All this to say that several pasts contribute to the layers that make up the present city of Worms; these layers are evident in documents, in archives, in buildings. The semantic field of the German word for history beautifully reflects the process of how stories become layered and evolve into tales that tellers may later categorize as fact and/or fiction. German is not the only language in which the word for story and the word for history are the same; the word for both is the feminine noun Geschichte. The semantic field for the word Geschichte, however, includes the related word for layer as well, and this association applies neatly to the discussion here. Both stories and histories reveal multiple layers (Schichten) of narratives that have become layered (geschichtet) over time. In sum, it is clear that several pasts contribute to the layers that make up the present city of Worms and that are evident all around. It should not surprise us, however, that the city has claimed the story of the Nibelungenlied as the cultural heritage that makes it stand out. For Volker Gallé, the identity that emerges from myth, legend, and story requires a particular kind of monument if it is to be put on display. This narrative as “monument” must be enacted—because there are few, if any, tangible artifacts of it to be had; no manuscripts, for example, are available for display.7 Other pasts have established, and they maintain, a tangible foothold in the city landscape of Worms: the Jewish past, the Holy Roman imperial past, and the Reformation past. The medieval past enfolds these others, demarcating them with remnants of the city’s medieval wall. For the Nibelungs, however, artifacts and visitable structures must therefore be found or created.

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