Wolfdietrichs Wurm

Abstract

The MHG epic ‘Wolfdietrich’ and the ON ‘Thidreks saga’ contain an unlucky fight against a dragon: Wolfdietrich or Thidrek af Bern helps a lion against it, but the dragon takes the lion in its mouth and the knight in its tail and drags them to its cave. This very characteristic situation was depicted in medieval church art, at least three times: 1. on floor-tiles found in the monastery of Pilis (Hungary), including the sword broken into three pieces and three dragon cubs (13th century or roughly around 1300); 2. in the cloister of St. Michael at Hildesheim (Lower Saxony), together with a second dragon (1230/50); 3. on the richly decorated ‘Schottenportal’ of St. James at Regensburg (Bavaria), left side (second half of the 13th century). The last depiction is therefore older than the different versions of the MHG epic and the compilation of the ON saga, probably attesting that the unlucky dragon fight was already a part of a pre-literary ‘Wolfdietrich’.