Waltharius

The Waltharius, a medieval Latin epic poem of over 1400 lines,
richly retells the story of a vigorous Germanic saga in the language and
style of classical and Christian Latin poetry. Walter, its hero, is a
pagan warrior ready to mock his enemies and mercilessly decapitate them,
but also a pious Christian who refrains from premarital sex and stops to
pray and ask for God's mercy in the middle of a battle. The poem varies
remarkably in tone, providing both fervent moral commentary and bitter
black comedy. The growing scholarship on the poem outside of Germany,
where it has always been popular, no doubt results from its weird allure
and eclectic nature. It has something for everyone. This new edition
uses a fresh review of manuscripts - especially the recently discovered
fragments at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - in order
to provide a text and apparatus that will aid the reader in
understanding the poem's tangled manuscript history. The notes are
rather fuller than those of previous English-language editions,
providing useful context to understand the complicated relationships
among the Germanic, classical Latin, and Christian Latin traditions as
well as tracking various themes and stylistic features that the poet
employs.