Virginal (poem)
It is one of the so-called fantastical (aventiurehaft) Dietrich poems, so called because it more closely resembles a courtly romance than a heroic epic.
The poem concerns the still young and inexperienced Dietrich's quest to save the dwarf queen Virginal in Tyrol from a force of attacking heathens.
After defeating the heathens, Dietrich encounters a series of further adventures while trying to reach Virginal's court, including, depending on version, his capture by giants and his rescue of the hero Rentwin out of the mouth of a dragon.
The girl invites Dietrich and Hildebrand to Virginal's palace at Jeraspunt, heading there herself as messenger to announce the heroes.
The knight is named Rentwin, son of Helferich von Lune und der Portalaphe, and thus great nephew of Hildebrand.
Dietrich rides alone ahead when the heroes head to Virginal's palace, and gets lost, arriving at the castle Muter.
In Muter, Nitger's sister Ibelin takes care of Dietrich, and with her help he is able to send a message to his friends telling them of his predicament.
Hildebrand and Helferich decide to gather a force to free Dietrich, calling for the aid King Imian of Hungary, Witege, Heime, and Biterolf and Dietleib.
Hildebrand, Helferich, Rentwin, and Libertin are invited to the castle Orteneck by the heathen Janapas, Orkise's son, while they were heading to Jeraspunt.
[16] Joachim Heinzle dismisses such attempts to differentiate separate layers of the poem over time as setting an impossible task.
[17] The Heidelberg version accentuates this theme by filling the poem with letters and oral messages that retell elements of the story to characters absent at the time of those events.
The poem emphasizes the fellowship of the heroic warriors, particularly between Dietrich and Hildebrand, as the heroes join forces to defeat adversaries such as Orkise or the giants at Muter.
[18] The Heidelberg version shows a tendency toward realism, particularly when Dietrich must abruptly leave Virginal to save his kingdom from an unnamed threat.
[21] The poem is composed in a stanzaic form known as the "Berner Ton," which consists of 13 lines in the following rhyme scheme: aabccbdedefxf.
[22] The following stanza of the Eckenlied can stand in as a typical example:[23] Dietrich's captivity among giants is an extremely old part of the oral tradition surrounding him, being referenced in the Old English Waldere, where Witege saves him.
[19] Another version of the same story is also found in the Thidrekssaga: there Dietrich and Fasolt come across the knight Sintram, Hilderband's nephew, in the mouth of a dragon.
The Visconti were in possession of the case of Arona (Arone) at the time of the Virginal's composition, and this is the castle where Rentwin and his father Helferich live.
