Hildebrand

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For other things named "Hildebrand", Hildebrand (disambiguation)

Hildebrand is a character from German legend.

Hildebrand is Old German and in Old Norse the form is Hildibrandr. The word Hild means battle and brand means sword. Hildebrand was one of the warrior kings the German and Scandinavian hero songs are known for. Hildebrand figures in three famous songs: in the Old High German Hildebrandslied, the Middle High German Nibelungenlied, and in the Old Norse song Hildebrand's death in Ásmundar saga kappabana (called Hildibrandr). He also appears as Hildiger in Gesta Danorum.

In the Nibelungenlied, he is the armourer, brother-in-arms and fatherly friend of Dietrich von Bern. It is he that kills Kriemhild, after she ordered her brother's death and killed Hagen herself.

In the Hildebrandslied, which is older, Hildebrand fights his own son Hadubrand. In fact Hildebrand became Dietrich's armourer, because he had to leave his home, he left his wife and his son. 30 years later, Hildebrand returns. His son Hadubrand is now ruling over his land, he is leading his army against the supposed invasion. As is customary, the two leaders meet between the armies. They start to list their family tree, in order to prevent themselves from killing a relative. Hadubrand says that he is "Hadubrand Hildebrand's son", but he was told that Hildebrand died, and he thinks that the fighter before him is using Hildebrand's name to deceive him. In fact in the original text with the end of the song is lost, but the legends and the third song tell the end of the story. Hildebrand has to kill his son otherwise he would be killed by him; he has pictures of all the warriors he killed on his red shield, and his son's picture is added to the others.

The Scandinavian song "Hildebrand's death" tell how Hildebrand fights against his half-brother. He is wounded fatally by him and the shield with the picture of his son falls near to his head on the ground. He begs his half-brother to cover his body, and to bury him properly.

Although associated with historical characters from the 5th and 6th centuries, Theodoric and Odoacer, Hildebrand himself has not been identified as a historical personage.