Short answers, pulled from the story.
Karl Joseph Simrock (the 28th of August 1802 - the 18th of July 1876) was a German poet and scholar based in Bonn. He is primarily known for his modern German translation of Das Nibelungenlied, which went through more than 53 editions, and for his translations of major medieval German literary works including poetry by Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach.
Simrock was expelled from the Prussian civil service in 1830 for writing a poem in praise of the July Revolution in France, which had overthrown the French monarchy that year. His public support for the revolution made him politically unacceptable to his Prussian employers.
Simrock's most celebrated translation was Das Nibelungenlied (1827). He also translated the poems of Walther von der Vogelweide (1833), Hartmann von Aue's Arme Heinrich (1830), Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival and Titurel (1842), Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan (1855), and the Heldenbuch (1843-1849).
The Deutsche Volksbücher was Simrock's most popular publication, with fifty-five volumes printed between 1839 and 1867. His most academically valuable contribution was considered to be the Handbuch der deutschen Mythologie, published between 1853 and 1855.
Simrock studied law at the University of Bonn and Humboldt University in Berlin before entering the Prussian civil service in 1823. After his expulsion in 1830, he became a lecturer at the University of Bonn, where he was made professor of Old German literature in 1850 and remained until his death in 1876.
Simrock wrote both. His original works include Wieland der Schmied (1835), which demonstrated his independent poetical ability, and a volume of Gedichte (1844) containing lyrics, romances, and ballads. He also published two collections of Old German sacred poetry, Lauda Sion (1850) and Deutsche Sionsharfe (1857).