WOLFDIETRICH, German hero of romance. The tale of Wolfdietrich is connected with the Merovingian princes, Theo doric and Theodebert, son and grandson of Clovis; but in the Middle High German poems of Ortnit and Wolfdietrich in the Heldenbuch (q.v.) Wolfdietrich is the son of Hugdietrich, em peror of Constantinople. Repudiated and exposed by his father, the child was spared by the wolves of the forest, and was educated by the faithful Berchtung of Meran. After the emperor's death Wolf dietrich was driven from his inheritance by his brothers. Berchtung and his 16 sons stood by Wolf dietrich. Six of these were slain and the other ten imprisoned. After long exile in Lom bardy at the court of King Ortnit the hero returned to deliver the captives and regain his kingdom. Wolfdietrich's exile and return suggested a parallel with the history of Dietrich of Bern, with whom he was often actually identified ; and in the Anhang to the Heldenbuch it is stated, in despite of all historical considerations, that Wolfdietrich was the grandfather of the Veronese hero.
Among the exploits of Wolfdietrich was the slaughter of the dragon which had slain Ortnit (q.v.). He thus took the place of Hardheri, the original hero of this feat. The myth attached itself to the family of Clovis, around which epic tradition rapidly gathered. Hugdietrich is generally considered to be the epic coun terpart of Theodoric (Dietrich), eldest son of Clovis. After his father's death he divided the kingdom with his brothers. Wolf dietrich represents his son Theodebert (d. 548), whose succession was disputed by his uncles, but was secured by the loyalty of the Frankish nobles. But father and son are merged by a process of epic fusion in Wolfdietrich.
Ortnit and Wolfdietrich have been edited by Dr. J. L. Edlen von Lindhausen (Tubingen, 1906). G. Sarrazin, in Zeitschr. fur deutsche Phil. (1896), compared the legend of Wolfdietrich with the history of Gundovald, as given by Gregory of Tours in books vi. and vii. of his Hist. Francorum.