(note: I posted this first at Yggdrasil - where you can play your favourite legendary characters - end of commercial!)

The Thidrekssaga is a less-known poem than the Volsungasaga or the Nibelungenlied, but it offers another version of the legends of Sigfried and the Nibelungen. It is also the core of an interesting philological conundrum.

First, though being a poem written around the beginning of the 13th century in Old Swedish (see the original text and a partial translation in English) it draws from much more ancient Germanic materials such as the Hildebrandslied (8th century).

Second, its hero, Thidrek (or Didrik or Dietrich) of Bern, has been traditionally identified with the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great (Theodoric of Verona), but this theory has been recently challenged by Dr. Ritter-Schaumburg's theory that identifies him with a king Dietrich of Bonn, possibly Theodoric I, son of the Frankish king Clovis. The mix between the two figures is however fascinating.

On the Net, just to begin, is an analysis by P.P. Koch which also addresses the identity problem; Timeless Myths offers a more straightforward summary with (much-needed) family trees; and The Heroic Saga-Cycle of Dietrich von Bern, by F.E. Sandbach, an essay which follows the traditional interpretation.