Ortnit is the eponymous protagonist of the Middle High German heroic epic Ortnit. First written down in strophic form in around 1230 by an anonymous author, it circulated in a number of distinct versions.
In the earliest version, King Ortnit sets out on an expedition to make the daughter of the heathen King Machorel his bride. He is greatly assisted by the cunning of the dwarf Alberich, who can only be seen by the wearer of a magic ring, and by the martial prowess of the Russian king Ilyas, Ortnit's uncle. In the second part of the story, Machorel, enraged by Ortnit's abduction of his daughter, sends him, in a feigned gesture of reconciliation, two dragon eggs. When these hatch, the dragons terrorise the land. After a year's delay, Ortnit sets out to kill the dragons, but falls asleep and is killed by them.
In most of the surviving versions, this is followed by the story of Wolfdietrich, who avenges Ortnit's death and marries his widow. Though the two stories have distinct origins, they were possibly combined and integrated at an early stage. The earliest surviving versions, Ortnit A and Wolfdietrich A may be the work of a single author.
The bride-quest and dragon motifs come from older oral traditions, but a strong crusading element in the journey to the Levant and defeat of a heathen army reflects the concerns of the 13th century. There is no consensus about the origins of the figure of Ortnit himself.
With a dozen manuscripts, six printed editions and a theatrical adaptation, the story remained popular right up until the early 17th century.
Versions
The story of Ortnit survives in eight narrative versions, grouped in four main traditions:
Ortnit A (also Ortnit AW, after the two manuscripts) is the oldest version, written around 1230, containing 597 strophes. A later adaptation in the Dresden Heldenbuch condenses the text to about a third of the length.
Ortnit C survives only in two fragments containing around 60 strophes of Ortnit with material close to that of Ortnit A.
Ortnit D, written around 1300, combines material from version C and a further, unknown version. Version D survives in four different variants from the 15th and 16th centuries: a 560 strophes, five manuscripts e 497 strophes, four manuscripts, including the manuscript version of the Strassburg Heldenbuch y 443 strophes, one manuscript z 555 strophes, the six printed editions of the Strassburg Heldenbuch.
A verse drama in rhyming couplets by Jakob Ayrer published in 1618, Vom dem keiser Ottnit, was er biss and sein Endt erstritten und ausgericht, auff das Getreulichst der Histori nach is based on Ortnit D.
Wolfdietrich B is not accompanied by a separate Ortnit tale. Instead, the stories are integrated: Wolfdietrich meets Ortnit, defeats him in battle and gains his friendship; Ortnit later kills two giants and a dragon but is then killed in his sleep by a second dragon.
The story
Ortnit A
I. (Strophes 1–69) In his castle at Garda, King Ortnit of Lambarten (Lombardy) tells his vassals that he means to seek a wife, and one of them, his uncle Ilyas, King of Russia, mentions the beautiful daughter of Machorel of Muntabur (Mount Tabor), a heathen king. In spite of the fact that Machorel kills any suitor for his daughter, intending to marry her himself once his wife is dead, Ortnit sets his heart on her.
II. (70–212) Delayed from setting out by winter weather, he is given a ring by his mother, who tells him it will lead to adventure. Following her instructions, he rides off into the wilderness until he encounters what he takes to be a child, who can only be seen by the one wearing the ring. After they have argued and fought - the child is unexpectedly strong - the child reveals himself to be the dwarf Alberich and Ortnit's natural father (having stepped in when Ortnit's parents were unable to conceive). He gives Ortnit a suit of golden armour with magical properties and vows to accompany him.
III. (213–287) Ortnit and his army set sail from Messina and, after 10 days at sea, arrive off the coast of Tyre, Machorel's capital. Alberich gives Ortnit a magic stone which allows him to speak and understand any language, and this enables him to pose as a merchant to secure permission to dock. Ortnit wants to take the city immediately, riding through the open gates, but Alberich insists this would be dishonourable. Instead, Alberich goes to Muntabur and gives Machorel a formal challenge: to give his daughter to Ortnit or be attacked. Machorel refuses and flies into a range.