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Guðrúnarhvöt
Guðrúnarhvöt is one of the heroic poems of the '' Poetic Edda''. Gudrun had been married to the hero Sigurd and with him she had the daughter Svanhild. Svanhild had married the Gothic king Ermanaric (''Jörmunrekkr''), but betrayed him with the king's son, Randver. Furious Ermanaric hanged his own son and had Svanhild trampled to death by horses. Gudrun wants to avenge her daughter and she agitates her sons Hamdir and Sörli, her sons with King Jonakr by telling them about her fate. They depart for their fateful vengeance, a story that is told in the ''Hamðismál'', the last poem of the ''Poetic Edda''. Sources and historic basis The legend of Jörmunrek appears in the '' Poetic Edda'' as ''Hamðismál'' and ''Guðrúnarhvöt''. It also appears in Bragi Boddason's '' Ragnarsdrápa'', in the '' Völsunga saga'' and in '' Gesta Danorum''. Jordanes wrote in 551 that the Gothic king Ermanaric was upset with the attack of a subordinate king and had his wife Sunilda (i.e. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gudrun Agitating Her Sons
Gudrun ( ; ) or Kriemhild ( ; ) is the wife of Sigurd, Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two queens of the Merovingian dynasty, Brunhilda of Austrasia and Fredegund. In both the Continental (German) and Scandinavian traditions, Gudrun/Kriemhild is the sister of the Burgundians, Burgundian king Gunther, Gunther/Gunnar and marries the hero Siegfried/Sigurd. Both traditions also feature a major rivalry between Gudrun and Brunhild, Gunther's wife, over their respective ranks. In both traditions, once Sigurd has been murdered, Gudrun is married to Etzel/Atli, the legendary analogue of Attila the Hun. In the Norse tradition, Atli desires the hoard of the Nibelungen, which the Burgundians had taken after murdering Sigurd, and invites them to his court; intending to kill them. Gudrun then avenges her brothers by killing Atli and burning down his hall. The Norse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gudrun
Gudrun ( ; ) or Kriemhild ( ; ) is the wife of Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two queens of the Merovingian dynasty, Brunhilda of Austrasia and Fredegund. In both the Continental (German) and Scandinavian traditions, Gudrun/Kriemhild is the sister of the Burgundian king Gunther/Gunnar and marries the hero Siegfried/Sigurd. Both traditions also feature a major rivalry between Gudrun and Brunhild, Gunther's wife, over their respective ranks. In both traditions, once Sigurd has been murdered, Gudrun is married to Etzel/Atli, the legendary analogue of Attila the Hun. In the Norse tradition, Atli desires the hoard of the Nibelungen, which the Burgundians had taken after murdering Sigurd, and invites them to his court; intending to kill them. Gudrun then avenges her brothers by killing Atli and burning down his hall. The Norse tradition then tells of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Svanhildr
Svanhildr is the beautiful daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun in Germanic heroic legend, whose grisly death at the hands of her jealous royal husband Ermanaric was told in many northern European stories, including the Old Norse '' Poetic Edda'' (''Hamðismál'' and '' Guðrúnarhvöt''), ''Prose Edda'', and '' Völsunga Saga''; the skaldic poem '' Ragnarsdrápa''; the Danish Latin '' Gesta Danorum''; and the German Latin '' Annals of Quedlinburg''. She was "the most beautiful of all women", and was married to Ermanaric (''Jörmunrekkr'') the king of the Goths. She was accused of infidelity with the king's son, Randver. Because of this Ermanaric had her trampled to death under horses. Her mother made her half-brothers Hamdir and Sörli exact revenge for her death, a story which is retold in ''Hamðismál'' and '' Guðrúnarhvöt'', Bragi Boddason's '' Ragnarsdrápa'', in the '' Völsunga saga'' and in '' Gesta Danorum''. Jordanes wrote in 551 AD that Ermanaric, king of the Got ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamðismál
The Hamðismál is a poem which ends the Germanic heroic legend, heroic poetry of the ''Poetic Edda'', and thereby the whole collection. Gudrun had been the wife of the hero Sigurd, whom her brothers had killed. With Sigurd she had had the daughter Svanhildr, Svanhild, who had married to the Goths, Goth king Ermanaric (Jörmunrekkr). Ermanaric had Svanhild trampled to death by horses, due to which Gudrun wants vengeance, and she agitates her sons (see Jonakr's sons) from a later marriage to kill Ermanaric, cf. ''Guðrúnarhvöt''. The poem is considered to belong to the oldest of the heroic poems, probably from the 9th century. It makes an archaic impression with its bitter and laconic language. Howling with wrath, the brothers Hamdir and Sörli ride over a misty mountain. The last lines are like carved on a runestone: Sources and historic basis The legend of Jörmunrek appears in the ''Poetic Edda'' as ''Hamðismál'' and ''Guðrúnarhvöt''. It also appears in Bragi Boddason's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sörli
Hamdir (Old Norse: ), Sörli (O.N.: ), and Erpr (O.N.: ) were three brothers in Germanic heroic legend who may have had a historic basis in the history of the Goths. Legend According to the Edda and '' Völsunga saga'', Hamdir and Sörli were the sons of Gjuki's daughter Guðrún and King Jonakr (O.N.: ). Erpr was the son of Jonakr from an earlier marriage. Svanhildr, the daughter of Sigurðr and Guðrún, was also raised by Jonakr. King Jörmunrekr ( Ermanaric) proposed to Svanhildr through his son Randver, but the treacherous Bicke said that Randver tried to win Svanhild's love. Consequently, Jörmunrekr sentenced Randver to death by hanging and had Svanhildr trampled to death by horses. Guðrún then agitated her sons Hamdir and Sörli to avenge their half-sister, and tells them not to hurt the stones on the road. When Sörli and Hamdir met Erpr en route, they did not understand his riddles and, thinking him arrogant, killed him. During the night, they arrived and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddic Poetry
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse poetry. Several versions of the ''Poetic Edda'' exist; especially notable is the medieval Icelandic manuscript '' Codex Regius'', which contains 31 poems. Composition The ''Eddic poems'' are composed in alliterative verse. Most are in ''fornyrðislag'' ("old story metre"), while '' málaháttr'' ("speech form") is a common variation. The rest, about a quarter, are composed in '' ljóðaháttr'' ("song form"). The language of the poems is usually clear and relatively unadorned. Kennings are often employed, though they do not arise as frequently, nor are they as complex, as those found in typical skaldic poetry. Authorship Like most early poetry, the Eddic poems were minstrel poems, passed orally from singer to singer and from poet to po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germanic Heroic Legend
Germanic heroic legend () is the heroic literary tradition of the Germanic peoples, Germanic-speaking peoples, most of which originates or is set in the Migration Period (4th-6th centuries AD). Stories from this time period, to which others were added later, were transmitted oral literature, orally, traveled widely among the Germanic speaking peoples, and were known in many variants. These legends typically reworked historical events or personages in the manner of oral poetry, forming a Germanic Heroic Age, heroic age. Heroes in these legends often display a heroic ethos emphasizing honor, glory, and loyalty above other concerns. Like Germanic mythology, heroic legend is a genre of Germanic folklore. Heroic legends are attested in Anglo-Saxon England, medieval Scandinavia, and medieval Germany. Many take the form of Germanic heroic poetry (): shorter pieces are known as heroic lays, whereas longer pieces are called Germanic heroic epic (). The early Middle Ages preserves only a sm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonakr's Sons
Hamdir (Old Norse: ), Sörli (O.N.: ), and Erpr (O.N.: ) were three brothers in Germanic heroic legend who may have had a historic basis in the history of the Goths. Legend According to the Edda and '' Völsunga saga'', Hamdir and Sörli were the sons of Gjuki's daughter Guðrún and King Jonakr (O.N.: ). Erpr was the son of Jonakr from an earlier marriage. Svanhildr, the daughter of Sigurðr and Guðrún, was also raised by Jonakr. King Jörmunrekr ( Ermanaric) proposed to Svanhildr through his son Randver, but the treacherous Bicke said that Randver tried to win Svanhild's love. Consequently, Jörmunrekr sentenced Randver to death by hanging and had Svanhildr trampled to death by horses. Guðrún then agitated her sons Hamdir and Sörli to avenge their half-sister, and tells them not to hurt the stones on the road. When Sörli and Hamdir met Erpr en route, they did not understand his riddles and, thinking him arrogant, killed him. During the night, they arrived and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nibelung Tradition
The term Nibelung (German language, German) or Niflungr (Old Norse) is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend. It has an unclear etymology, but is often connected to the root ''Nebel'', meaning mist. The term in its various meanings gives its name to the Middle High German heroic epic the ''Nibelungenlied''. The most widespread use of Nibelung is used to denote the Kingdom of the Burgundians, Burgundian royal house, also known as the Gibichungs (German) or Gjúkingar (Old Norse). A group of royal brothers led by king Gunther, Gunther or Gunnar, the Gibichungs are responsible for the death of the hero Sigurd, Siegfried or Sigurd and are later destroyed at the court of Attila the Hun (called Etzel in German and Atli in Old Norse). This is the only use of the term attested in the Old Norse legends. In medieval German, several other uses of the term Nibelung are documented besides the reference to the Gibichungs: it refers to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamdir
Hamdir (Old Norse: ), Sörli (O.N.: ), and Erpr (O.N.: ) were three brothers in Germanic heroic legend who may have had a historic basis in the history of the Goths. Legend According to the Edda and '' Völsunga saga'', Hamdir and Sörli were the sons of Gjuki's daughter Guðrún and King Jonakr (O.N.: ). Erpr was the son of Jonakr from an earlier marriage. Svanhildr, the daughter of Sigurðr and Guðrún, was also raised by Jonakr. King Jörmunrekr ( Ermanaric) proposed to Svanhildr through his son Randver, but the treacherous Bicke said that Randver tried to win Svanhild's love. Consequently, Jörmunrekr sentenced Randver to death by hanging and had Svanhildr trampled to death by horses. Guðrún then agitated her sons Hamdir and Sörli to avenge their half-sister, and tells them not to hurt the stones on the road. When Sörli and Hamdir met Erpr en route, they did not understand his riddles and, thinking him arrogant, killed him. During the night, they arrived and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ermanaric
Ermanaric (died 376) was a Greuthungian king who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of Oium, the part of Scythia inhabited by the Goths at the time. He is mentioned in two Roman sources: the contemporary writings of Ammianus Marcellinus, and in ''Getica'' by the sixth-century historian Jordanes. He also appears in a fictionalized form in later Germanic heroic legends. Modern historians disagree on the size of Ermanaric's realm. Herwig Wolfram postulates that he at one point ruled a realm stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea as far eastwards as the Ural Mountains. Peter Heather is skeptical of the claim that Ermanaric ruled all Goths except the Tervingi, and furthermore points to the fact that such an enormous empire would have been larger than any known Gothic political unit, that it would have left bigger traces in the sources and that the sources on which the claim is based are not nearly reliable enough to be taken at face value. E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poetic Edda
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse poetry. Several versions of the ''Poetic Edda'' exist; especially notable is the medieval Icelandic manuscript '' Codex Regius'', which contains 31 poems. Composition The ''Eddic poems'' are composed in alliterative verse. Most are in ''fornyrðislag'' ("old story metre"), while '' málaháttr'' ("speech form") is a common variation. The rest, about a quarter, are composed in '' ljóðaháttr'' ("song form"). The language of the poems is usually clear and relatively unadorned. Kennings are often employed, though they do not arise as frequently, nor are they as complex, as those found in typical skaldic poetry. Authorship Like most early poetry, the Eddic poems were minstrel poems, passed orally from singer to singer and from poet to po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
