Ferdinand Schmidt (1816–1890) was a German writer known for retelling and adapting medieval epics for general readers. The library holds one work by him, Gudrun, a popular retelling of the Middle High German heroic epic of the same name. That epic is regarded, alongside the Nibelungenlied, as one of the two great heroic epics of medieval Germany, telling of Gudrun's abduction, her steadfast resistance, and her eventual rescue and reunion with her family. Schmidt's retellings, written in clear and fluent prose, preserve the plot structure and characters of the originals while making them accessible to ordinary readers, helping bring old epics to a wider audience in the nineteenth century; their readability has also made them useful as introductory works on German heroic epic. Public information about his life, education, and other writings is limited, so no speculation is offered here.
