In literary tradition Goldemar appears in the Middle High German poem Goldemar (attributed to Albrecht von Kemenaten, c. 13th century) as the dwarf king who dwells in a mountain inhabited by dwarfs; the surviving poem is fragmentary and breaks off after the hero Dietrich finds dwarfs with a girl, with later prose summaries (Heldenbuch‑Prosa, Reinfrid material) naming the abducted girl Herlin and expanding elements of the episode. In popular tradition, distinct local legends (recorded in later sources) place a figure called King Goldemar as a subterranean/house spirit attached to Hardenstein castle near the Ruhr, living in intimacy with the castle lord Neveling von Hardenberg and linked to the mining landscape there. The two attestations share a name and subterranean/dwarf associations but their identity across genres is treated as plausible yet uncertain in scholarship.
The poem explicitly identifies Goldemar as a dwarf king who rules a mountain where dwarfs live, but provides only fragmentary physical description. Folk accounts call him 'King Goldemar' and treat him as a dwarf‑like subterranean house spirit able to occupy domestic space (including allegedly sleeping in the same bed as a human lord); explicit bodily details are minimal in the cited sources.
In the literary cycle, later prose traditions connected to the poem describe Goldemar as presiding over a dwarf community, abducting a princess (Herlin) and—in those expanded accounts—able to command giants until opposed by Dietrich (these expanded details derive from Heldenbuch‑Prosa and related medieval summaries rather than the surviving poem fragment). In folk tradition Goldemar is represented as an intimate household spirit: he kept close company with a named medieval lord at Hardenstein, 'played most beautifully on the harp,' and could confer good fortune while resident and apparently withdraw good luck on leaving (a note attributed to him promises the house would be as unlucky as it had been lucky once he departed). The sources also situate him conceptually amid mining and subterranean wealth, explaining his attachment to a mining castle locale.
Abraun
Abraun is an attested name in German-language plant-legend scholarship (Der abraun, ein beitrag zur pflanzensagenkunde, 1916) and a short database entry (Wikidata) labels it as a spirit from German mythology. Surviving accessible documentation is extremely limited: the principal academic treatment is a 1916 contribution to pflanzensagenkunde (plant-saga studies), but the excerpts available here contain only bibliographic metadata and do not record tales, descriptions, or rituals.
Adils
Adils (Old Norse Aðils; also Eadgils, Adillus, Athisl, Adhel) is a semi‑legendary sixth‑century Swedish king attested in Old Norse saga material and later medieval traditions. He appears in saga episodes as a storied royal figure involved in warfare, court acts, and marriage suits rather than as a supernatural being.
Agilaz (Egil)
Agilaz (reconstructed Proto-Germanic) — commonly recorded in medieval sources as Egil or Ægil — is a legendary archer attested in Germanic heroic tradition. He appears as the brother of Völund (Wayland/Weland) in the Old Norse poem Völundarkviða and in the Thidreks saga, and his name is also inscribed on early medieval objects (Franks Casket, Pforzen buckle). The attested material presents him as a named heroic human archer within saga and inscriptional contexts rather than as a recurrent supernatural species.
Alaisiagae
A group of Germanic female deities attested in Roman Britain, worshipped by continental auxiliary troops at a shrine near Vercovicium (Housesteads) on Hadrian's Wall. Epigraphic evidence records dedications to named members (Beda, Fimmilena, and in other lists Baudihillia and Friagabis) alongside Mars Thincsus and the numen of the emperor; modern scholarship interprets them variously as war/victory goddesses, as goddesses associated with assembly/justice, or as part of Matronae‑type fertility/ancestor cults.
Alberich
In Germanic heroic legend, Alberich is a dwarf associated with elven qualities and power. (Note: 1. Power tier: Reduce to Ancient as Alberich's abilities are not described beyond being a dwarf with elven qualities. 2. Origin story: Clarify that Alberich is mentioned in multiple Germanic texts, bu)
Alcis
A pair of youthful brother-deities worshipped by the Naharvali, attested only in Tacitus' Germania (c. 98 CE). They were venerated in a sacred grove under the care of a priest in female attire and are compared by Roman ethnography to the Graeco‑Roman Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux).
Alf and Alfhild
Alf and Alfhild are legendary human figures from Old Norse/early Scandinavian narrative tradition preserved principally in Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum. The tale presents Alf as a Danish prince and Alfhild as a Geatish princess who becomes a shieldmaiden and leader of a fleet of female raiders; their story includes combat, recognition, marriage, and later dynastic conflict.
Allerleirauh
Allerleirauh is the eponymous heroine of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale (Grimm no. 65; ATU 510B) who flees an enforced-marriage crisis by disguising herself in a mantle of many furs, takes menial service in another court, and later reveals her identity through three magnificent dresses and token objects to secure recognition and marriage.
Alp
A German-speaking folkloric figure associated with nocturnal disturbance of sleepers. Historically tied to the broader Germanic family of 'elves' and treated variously as an eerie nature-being in medieval glosses and as a male nocturnal spirit in later folk accounts that sits on sleepers' chests and causes nightmares (Alptraum) and 'elf-pressure' (Alpdruck).
Alraune
Alraune is the German folkloric figure identified with the humanoid-shaped mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) and the eponymous female character in Hanns Heinz Ewers's 1911 novel. In folklore the mandrake/Alraune is associated with love philtres, fertility, and a medieval gallows-origin legend; in literature the name labels a woman artificially conceived from a criminal's semen, whose emotional life and actions dramatize the folk moral about such origins.
Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte
A historical survey of Germanic religious history, providing an overview of the pantheon of gods and goddesses. (Note: - Power tier is not applicable to historical surveys - The article should reflect that it's a historical survey, not an entity with abilities or appearance - Consider adding information on the signifi)
Amleth
Amleth (Old Norse: Amlóði; Latinized Amlethus) is a legendary medieval Scandinavian prince and saga-hero best known from Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum. He is a human protagonist whose story centers on feigned madness, cunning survival, exile to Britain, marriage, wealth-gathering, and eventual vengeance against his father's murderer; the tale later inspired the character of Shakespeare's Hamlet and numerous adaptations.
Community Record
- [1]Goldemar (Wikipedia). Wikipedia contributors, 'Goldemar', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki
- [2]King Goldemar — The Fairy Mythology (Germany). Thomas Keightley, 'The Fairy Mythology: Germany: King Goldemar' (sacred-texts.com summary)folk
- [3]Wikidata: Goldemar. Wikidata entry Q1534813 for 'Goldemar'other
- [4]Archive citation: Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum — Goldemar von Albrecht von Kemenaten. Archive listing for scholarship on Albrecht von Kemenaten's Goldemar (Zeitschrift für deutsches Alterthum)academic
- [5]King Goldemar (Wikipedia — local legend). Wikipedia contributors, 'King Goldemar', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki