Egil is a
legendary hero of the ''
Völundarkviða'' and the ''
Thidreks saga''. The name is from
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...
*Agilaz,
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110225031159/http://www.sofi.se/servlet/GetDoc?meta_id=1472 (archived link, 25 February 2011)] and the same legend is reflected in
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
Ægil of the
Franks Casket and
Alamanni
The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes
*
*
*
on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...
c Aigil of the
Pforzen buckle.
The Proto-Germanic form of the legend may only be guessed at, but it appears likely that Egil was a renowned archer who defended a keep together with his wife
Aliruna, against numerous attackers. The testimony of the Pforzen buckle is uncertain beyond naming ''Aigil'' and ''Ailrun'', possibly adding that they fought a battle at the
Ilz river. The
Franks Casket shows the scene of Aegil and his wife enclosed in the keep, with Aegil shooting arrows against attacking troops.
''Völundarkviða''
In the ''
Völundarkviða'', Egil is a son of a
Finn king, his elder brother being
Slagfiðr, his younger one
Völund
In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith (; , ; Old Frisian: Wela(n)du; ; ; (); from ', lit. "crafting one") is a master blacksmith originating in Germanic heroic legend, described by Jessie Weston as "the weird and malicious craftsman, Wey ...
. The three brothers marry
valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become ('single fighters' or 'once fighters').Orchard (1997:36) and Li ...
s they encounter in
swan
Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...
s'
form
Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens.
Form may also refer to:
*Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter dat ...
, Slagfiðr marries
Hlaðguðr svanhvÃt, and Völund marries
Hervör alvitr, daughters of king Hlödver, while Egil marries
Ölrún, a daughter of the Roman Emperor (
Kiár of
Valland).
''Thidreks saga''
In the ''
Thidreks saga'', Egil acts as a masterly archer, once he is forced by king
Nidung to
shoot an apple from the head of his son. He readies two arrows, but succeeds with the first one. Asked by the king what the second arrow was for, he said that had he killed his son with his first arrow, he would have shot the king with the second one. This tale is directly comparable to the legends of the Swiss hero
William Tell
William Tell (, ; ; ; ) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland. He is known for shooting an apple off his son's head.
According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Albrecht Gessler, ...
and the Danish hero
Palnatoke. As opposed to Tell's case, the king doesn't try to punish Egil for his openness, but, to the contrary, commends him for it (chapter 128). Völund is crippled by Nidung and held captive at his court. To help his brother, Egil shoots birds and collects their feathers, from which Völund makes a pair of wings. Völund ties a bladder filled with blood around his waist and flies away. Nidung commands Egil to shoot his fleeing brother, who hits the bladder, deceiving Nidung, and so Völund escapes (chapter 135).
See also
*
Wayland the Smith
*
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...
References
* Alfred Becker: “Franks Casket. Zu den Bildern und Inschriften des Runenkästchens von Auzon (Regensburg, 1973), pp 154 - 186, "Zur Wielandsage"
* Robert Nedoma, ''Noch einmal zur Runeninschrift auf der Gürtelschnalle von Pforzen'' in: Alemannien und der Norden, ed. Naumann (2004), 340–370.
External links
Austin Simmons, ''The Cipherment of the Franks Casket'' (PDF)
{{Authority control
Germanic heroic legends
Heroes in Norse myths and legends
Marksmanship
Germanic given names
Swan maidens