What is "heldenbuch"

Heldenbücher (singular Heldenbuch "book of heroes") is the conventional title under which a group of manuscripts and prints of the 15th and 16th centuries has come down to us. Each Heldenbuch contains a collection of primarily German epic poetry, typically including material from the Theodoric cycle, and the cycle of Hugdietrich, Wolfdietrich and Ortnit. The Heldenbuch texts are thus based on medieval German literature, but adapted to the tastes of the Renaissance, remodelled in rough Knittelvers or doggerel.

The Heldenbücher group was edited in 19th-century German scholarship, by Friedrich Heinrich von der Hagen (Leipzig 1855, 2 vols.), Müllenhoff (Berlin 1866-73, 5 vols.), Simrock (Stuttgart 1843-49, 6 vols.) and A. von Keller (Stuttgart, 1867).