Um Leib und Leben

The study describes concepts of body and of law in the Nibelungenlied and analyzes gender relationships in the epic from the perspective of both areas of knowledge. The linking of the literary text with medical and natural-philosophical as well as legal normative documents of the 12th and early 13th century shows how the Nibelungenlied takes up and modifies the notions of that period. Starting from the different areas of knowledge, the study explores the gender relationships of the imagined world and revises previous findings of gender research of the Nibelungenlied.