"Völsungakviða" or "Helgakviða Hundingsbana I" ("The First Lay of

Helgi Hundingsbane Helgi Hundingsbane is a hero in Norse sagas. Helgi appears in '' Volsunga saga'' and in two lays in the ''Poetic Edda'' named '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' and '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana II''. The ''Poetic Edda'' relates that Helgi and his mist ...

") is an Old Norse poem found in the ''

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 ...

''. It is only preserved in the Icelandic manuscript

Codex Regius Codex Regius (, "Royal Book" or "King's Book"; ) or GKS 2365 4º is an Icelandic codex in which many Old Norse poems from the ''Poetic Edda'' are preserved. Thought to have been written during the 1270s, it is made up of 45 vellum Vellum ...

(ca. 1270). It constitutes one of the Helgi lays, together with ''

Helgakviða Hundingsbana II "Völsungakviða in forna" or "Helgakviða Hundingsbana II" ("The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane") is an Old Norse poem found in the ''Poetic Edda''. It constitutes one of the Helgi lays together with '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' and ''Helgak ...

'' and ''

Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar "Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar" ("Lay of Helgi Hjörvarðsson") is a poem collected in the ''Poetic Edda'', found in the Codex Regius manuscript where it follows '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' and precedes '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana II''. The por ...

''. The locations in the poem have been fervently debated with a Danish school maintaining Danish origins and locations and a Swedish one pointing out that locations (e.g.

Brávellir Brávellir (Old Norse) or Bråvalla (modern Swedish) () was the name of the central plain of Östergötland (East Götaland), in Norse mythology. It appears in several traditions, such as those of the Battle of Bråvalla (Battle of the Bravelli ...

and Brandey) and characters (

Ylfing The Wulfings, Wylfings or Ylfings (the name means the "wolf clan") was a powerful clan in ''Beowulf'', '' Widsith'' and in the Norse sagas. While the poet of ''Beowulf'' does not locate the Wulfings geographically, Scandinavian sources define the Y ...

s, Högni and Granmarr) place the events in

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

and

Södermanland Södermanland ( ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latinisation of names, Latinized form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a Provinces of Sweden, historical province (or ) on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Österg� ...

. The poem is also ambiguous in attributing Helgi to the

Yngling The Ynglings were a dynasty of kings, first in Sweden and later in Norway, primarily attested through the poem ''Ynglingatal''. The dynasty also appears as Scylfings (, ) in ''Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal'' were composed sometime ...

and

Völsung Völsung ( , ) is a figure in Germanic mythology, where he is the eponymous ancestor of the Völsung family (, ), which includes the hero Sigurð. In Nordic mythology, he is the son of Rerir and was murdered by the Geatish king Siggeir. He was ...

clans, which suggests a merging of originally unrelated traditions. In the Edda, the poem is a sequel to ''

'' whose heroes Helgi Hjörvarðsson and

Sváfa In Norse mythology, Sváfa or Sváva is a valkyrie and the daughter of king Eylimi. Consequently, she was probably the maternal aunt of Sigurd, the dragon slayer, although this is not explicitly mentioned in ''Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar'' where ...

are reborn as Helgi Hundingsbane and Sigrún. However, in

, it is actually followed by ''

''. The poem begins in a location called Brálund with the birth of Helgi Hundingbane, the son of Sigmund and

Borghild In Norse mythology, Borghild was the first wife of Sigmund. They had two sons, Hamund and Helgi. ''Völsunga saga'' Sinfjötli (Borghild's step-son) "saw a lovely woman and strongly desired to have her. The brother of Borghild, the wife of Ki ...

Norns The Norns ( , plural: ) are a group of deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.''Nordisk familjebok'' (1907) The Norns are often represented as three goddesses known as Urd ( Urðr), Verðandi, and S ...

arrived at the dwelling to shape his future as a hero. When Helgi was but fifteen years old, he slew a man named Hunding. This caused Hunding's sons Eyjólfr, Álfr, Hjörvarðr and Hávarðr to approach Helgi asking for

wergild Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price ( blood money), was a precept in some historical legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, ...

and the return of the booty Helgi had taken from their father. When Helgi refused them this, Hunding's sons declared war and in the ensuing battle, Helgi killed all of Hunding's sons.In the ''

Völsunga saga The ''Völsunga saga'' (often referred to in English as the ''Volsunga Saga'' or ''Saga of the Völsungs'') is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century prose rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story ...

'', Hunding's sons kill Sigmund and his father-in-law Eylimi, whereupon

Sigurd Sigurd ( ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon — known in Nordic tradition as Fafnir () — and who was later murdered. In the Nordic countries, he is referred t ...

takes revenge. Helgi met the

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 ...

Sigrún who informed him that her father Högni has betrothed her to Höðbroddr, the unworthy son of king Granmarr of the Hniflung clan. Helgi promised to take on Höðbroddr and to claim her as his own. Helgi then assembled a mighty host and departed to wage war on Höðbrodd's family. When they had arrived at Granmar's kingdom, the poem deals with a flyting between Helgi's half-brother

Sinfjötli Sinfjötli ( ) or Fitela (in Old English) in Norse mythology was born out of the incestuous relationship between Sigmund and his sister Signy. He had the half-brothers Sigurd, Helgi Hundingsbane and Hamund. Etymology and orthography ''Sinfj� ...

and Höðbrodd's brother Guðmundr. Then, the armies clashed at Frekastein and Helgi was victorious winning Sigrún as his bride.

Notes

External links

Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I
Translation and commentary by Henry Adams Bellows
The First Lay of Helgi Hundingcide
Translation by

Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Old English language, Anglo-Saxon literature. Biography In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated hi ...

Helgakviða Hundingsbana hin fyrri
Sophus Bugge's edition of the manuscript text
Helgakviða Hundingsbana I
Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling {{DEFAULTSORT:Helgakvida Hundingsbana I Eddic poetry Nibelung tradition