Kudrun

thumb|First page of Kudrun. Ambraser Heldenbuch, Austrian National Library Cod. ser. nova 2663 fol. 140t. Kudrun (sometimes known as the Gudrunlied or Gudrun), is an anonymous Middle High German heroic epic. The poem was likely composed in either Austria or Bavaria around 1250. It tells the story of three generations of the ruling house of Hetelings on the North Sea, but is primarily the story of Kudrun, who is abducted by the Norman prince Hartmut who desires to marry her. Kudrun remains true to her fiancé Herwig and eventually is rescued. After the defeat of the Normans, however, Kudrun ensures that peace will be kept between the two peoples by arranging for marriages and alliances.

Although the story of Kudrun is very likely the invention of the poet, the story of her parents has its origins in a common Germanic tale known in Scandinavia as the Hjaðningavíg: it tells how Kudrun's mother, Hilde, eloped with her father, Hetel, against the will of Hilde's father, Hagen. In Kudrun, this originally tragic tale has been transformed into a happy one that serves as the prehistory of Kudrun herself.