Heidrek or Heiðrekr (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ) is one of the main characters in the cycle about the magic sword

Tyrfing Tyrfing, also rendered as Tirfing or Tyrving, was a magic sword in Norse mythology, which features in the Tyrfing Cycle, which includes a poem from the ''Poetic Edda'' called '' Hervararkviða'', and the Hervarar saga. The name is also used ...

. He appears in the '' Hervarar saga'', and probably also in ''

Widsith "Widsith" (, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the '' Exeter Book'' (''pages 84v–87r''), a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the la ...

'',line 115, as ''Heathoric'' together with his sons

Angantyr Angantyr was the name of three male characters from the same line in Norse mythology, and who appear in '' Hervarar saga'', ''Gesta Danorum'', and Faroese ballads. The last generation named Angantyr also appears to be mentioned as ''Incgentheo ...

(''Incgentheow'') and Hlöð (''Hlith''), and Hlöð's mother Sifka (''Sifeca''). The etymology is , meaning "honour", and , meaning "ruler, king".

Youth

Heidrek was the son of king Höfund and his wife

Hervor Hervör (Old Norse: ''Hervǫr'') is the name shared by two female characters in the Tyrfing Cycle, presented in ''Hervarar saga, The Saga of Hervör and Heidrek'' with parts found in the ''Poetic Edda''. The first, the Viking Hervör, challenged ...

, a

shieldmaiden A shield-maiden ( ) was a female warrior from Scandinavian folklore and mythology. The term most often shows up in fornaldarsögur such as '' Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks''. However, female warriors are also mentioned in the Latin work ''Gesta Da ...

. Like his mother in her youth, he was ill-natured and violent. To amend this, he was raised by the wise

Geatish king Geatish kings (; ), ruling over the provinces of Götaland (Gautland/Geatland), appear in several sources for early Swedish history. Today, most of them are not considered historical. This list follows the generally accepted identification bet ...

Gizur, but this did not improve his disposition. One day, when his parents were having a banquet, Heidrek arrived uninvited and late at night, he started a quarrel which ended in manslaughter. His father, King Höfund, banished Heidrek from his kingdom, although Hervor did her utmost to soften Höfund's feelings against his son.

His father's advice

However, before Heidrek left, his father gave him some words of advice: :"Never help a man who has betrayed his master. :Never give peace to a man who has murdered his friend. :Don't allow your wife to visit her family frequently, even though she insists on doing so. :Never tell your loved one about your secret thoughts. :If you're in a hurry, never ride your best horse. :Never punish the son of a better man. :Never break a promise about peace. :Never have many

thrall A thrall was a slave or Serfdom, serf in Scandinavia, Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The status of slave (, ) contrasts with that of the Franklin (class), freeman (, ) and the nobleman (, ). Etymology Thrall is from the Old Norse ...

s in your company." Heidrek immediately decided never to follow his father's advice.

Departing

Hervor secretly gave her son the sword

as she bade him farewell, and his brother

kept him company for a while. When they had walked for some time, Heidrek wanted to have a look at the sword. Since he had unsheathed it, the curse the dwarves had put on the sword made him kill his brother.

Adventures

After a while, Heidrek met a patrol moving a prisoner who was to be executed because he had murdered his master. He remembered his father's advice and resolved to buy the criminal. Then he continued his journey and met a patrol moving a scoundrel who had killed his comrade. Likewise, Heidrek bought the man's life in order to disobey his father. Soon, Heidrek arrived in

Reidgotaland Reidgotaland, Reidgothland, Reidgotland, Hreidgotaland or Hreiðgotaland was a land mentioned in Germanic heroic legend (mentioned in the Scandinavian sagas as well as the Anglo-Saxon Widsith) usually interpreted as the land of the Goths. Etymo ...

, entered the

Goth Goth or Goths may refer to: * Goths, a Germanic people Arts and entertainment * Gothic rock or goth, a style of rock music * Goth subculture, developed by fans of gothic rock * ''Goth'' (2003 film), an American horror film * ''Goth'' (2008 f ...

ic king Harald's service, and disposed of two rebellious jarls for him. This earned him half the Gothic kingdom and the king's daughter, Helga. Heidrek and Helga had a son who was named

after Heidrek's brother and grandfather. During the same time old King Harald had a son who was named Halfdan. Unfortunately, Reidgotaland was struck with bad crops and starvation. The goðar (heathen priests) determined that they must sacrifice the most noble young man of the kingdom to

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

in order to restore good crops. Immediately, people started to quarrel about which of the princes was the most noble, and so they asked king Höfund of

Glæsisvellir Glæsisvellir (Glittering Plains) was a location in Jotunheim in Norse mythology. It is mentioned in sources such as '' Bósa saga ok Herrauds'', '' Hervarar saga'', ''Þorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns'' and '' Helga þáttr Þórissonar''. Legend I ...

. King Höfund decided that it was Angantyr (Harald's own grandson) who was the most noble prince. Höfund also told Heidrek to ask King Harald that in recompense for sacrificing his own son, he should receive half the Gothic army as his own. King Harald agreed to this. However, when Höfund called for a thing in order to sacrifice Angantyr, Heidrek objected and said that Odin would be happy if instead of Angantyr, he received King Harald and his son Halfdan. Then, Heidrek made a coup d'état with his half of the Gothic army, using

to kill King Harald and his son. When his wife Helga heard the news, she committed suicide by hanging herself.

King of the Goths

Heidrek used his army to subjugate the Gothic kingdom and ruled with brutal force. He defeated Humli, the king of the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...

, and captured his daughter Sifka, whom he raped. When she became pregnant, she was sent back to her father's kingdom, where she bore a son who was named

Hlöd Hlöd or Hlod was the illegitimate son of Heidrek, the king of the Geats, in Norse mythology. He appears in the ''Hervarar saga'' and probably also as ''Hlith'' in ''Widsith'', line 115, together with his father Heidrek, Heiðrekr (''Heathoric'') ...

. Heidrek married Olof, the daughter of Åke, the King of the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

. She often asked to go home to visit her family, and since Heidrek remembered his father's advice, he always gladly consented. This would turn out to be an unwise strategy, because one day he made the journey to Saxony in order to see his wife among her family. He found her in the arms of a blond

and immediately divorced her. Instead, he married a girl from

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

who was named Sifka, like the Hunnic princess. One day, they were visiting king Rollaug of Gardariki. To oppose a fourth word of advice given by his father, he told Sifka a secret and asked her to swear an oath never to tell anyone. The secret was that he had accidentally killed King Rollaug's son in a hunting accident. Naturally, Sifka immediately ran to King Rollaug and told him the secret, which caused King Rollaug to capture Heidrek and to kill all of his retinue. The two men who bound him were none other than the two culprits he had saved from the gallows. When king Rollaug was about to burn Heidrek alive, someone broke the news that the prince was still alive and that Heidrek was innocent. Rollaug apologized and in recompense for Heidrek's losses he gave him his own daughter, Hergerd. Heidrek and Hergerd had a daughter who was named Hervor, the

, after his mother who had just died. This was the beginning of a time of peace for Heidrek. During a voyage, Heidrek camped at the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...

(''Harvaða fjöllum'', cf.

Grimm's law Grimm's law, also known as the First Germanic Consonant Shift or First Germanic Sound Shift, is a set of sound laws describing the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stop consonants as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the first millennium BC, first d ...

). He was accompanied by eight mounted thralls, and while Heidrek slept, the thralls broke into his tent, took

and slew Heidrek. This was the last one of Tyrfing's three evil deeds. Heidrek's son Angantyr caught the thralls, killed them and reclaimed the magic sword, but the curse had ceased.

References

Sources

Henrikson, Alf (1998). ''Stora mytologiska uppslagsboken''. Tolkien, Christopher (1960) The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise: Translated from the Icelandic with Introduction, Notes and Appendices. Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd. ASIN: B000V9BAO0. An on-line PDF copy is available from th
Viking Society for Northern Research
{{Tyrfing Heroes in Norse myths and legends Gothic warriors Gothic kings Tyrfing cycle