There is only one manuscript of

, in the collection known as the

of the early 16th century, but it is now accepted that this anonymous poem, which raises many problems of provenance and source, was composed between 1230 and 1240, a whole generation after the

, with which it is frequently compared. The comparison is misleading for, although there is some justification for the belief that the later poem was inspired by the earlier one, they are actually very different. It is also likely that the very difference of

from its clearly very popular predecessor accounted for the fact that for three centuries it seems to have disappeared, until it was taken up in the

, where it is placed alongside the

. The relative…

1308 words

Citation: Gibbs, Marion E.. "Kudrun". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 July 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16327, accessed 21 November 2024.]