Gudrun

Information about Gudrun

For a 2005 European windstorm, see .
For the Icelandic name, see .
For south German/Austrian epic, see .


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Gudrun and Sigurd
Volsung Cycle
Volsunga saga
Poetic Edda
Norna-Gests þáttr
Artifacts
Andvarinaut
Gram
Dwarves
Andvari
Hreidmar
Otr
Regin
Dragon
Fafnir
People
Volsung
Sigmund
Signy
Sinfjötli
Helgi Hundingsbane
Sigurd
Brynhild
Gudrun
Attila
Gunnar
Locations
Gautland
Hunaland
Related
Nibelungenlied
Hagbard and Signy
In Norse mythology, Gudrun, who is called Kriemhild in the Nibelungenlied, was the sister of Gunnar. She is loosely based on the princess Ildico in her role as the wife of Attila the Hun. Gudrun fell in love with Sigurd, who didn't care for her, because he was in love with the valkyrie Brynhild, to whom he gave the ring Andvarinaut.

Norse mythology

Her brother Gunnar, however, decided to marry Brynhild, but this was impossible because Brynhild swore, knowing that only Sigurd could do so, that she would only marry the man that could defeat her in a fair fight. Brynhild had a magic belt which was responsible for the fact that she was stronger than any man.

In another version, Brynhild is imprisoned inside a ring of fire as a punishment by Odin. Sigurd has already gone through the fire once and promised his marriage to Brynhild, but he is cursed by Andvarinaut and bewitched, switches bodies with Gunnar for a little while. In the guise of Gunnar, he rides through the fire and Brynhild is forced to marry Gunnar.

Gudrun's mother Grimhild, who is called Ute in the Nibelungenlied, gave her a love-potion and Sigurd forgot his love for Brynhild. Gunnar allowed a marriage between Gudrun and Sigurd under the condition, that Sigurd would win the hand of Brynhild for him. Sigurd succeeded in doing so; taking the shape of Gunnar, he took Andvarinaut from Brynhild and gave it to Gudrun as his morning gift. Both Queens, Gudrun and Brynhild, were married on the same day.

After the death of Sigurd, Byrnhild had Gudrun and Sigurd's three year old son Sigmund murdered. Gudrun later married the king Atle (loosely based on Attila the Hun)[1], who is in the northern version responsible for the death of her whole family, who did inherit the name Völsunge/Niebelungen from the gold. The queen took revenge for her family by killing her and Atli's two sons Erp and Eitil and serving them as dinner to him at a feast in his hall. Later, when he was solidly drunk, she broke the news to him:

"Thou giver of swords, / of thy sons the hearts
All heavy with blood / in honey thou hast eaten;
Thou shalt stomach, thou hero, / the flesh of the slain,
To eat at thy feast, / and to send to thy followers.
Thou shalt never call / to thy knees again
Erp or Eitil, / when merry with ale;
Thou shalt never see / in their seats again
The sharers of gold / their lances shaping,
(Clipping the manes / or minding their steeds.)"


(Atlakviða, stanza 39--40.)


She then set fire to the hall of Attila, thus killing him along with and all of his men. Subsequently, she tried to drown herself by jumping into the sea with an armful of stones, but the waves found her revenge fitting, and instead carried her to Sweden, where she married another king, Jónakr, with whom she had three sons Hamdir, Sörli and Erp.

Svanhild, her daughter by Sigurd, was wooed by Ermanaric, but was accused wrongly of adultery and was killed by her husband. She also had a son by Sigurd named Sigmund (named after Sigurd's father).

Then her three sons were killed when they avenged Svanhild (see Jonakr's sons).

In the southern version Gudrun, here Kriemhild, kills her brothers to get the Niebelungen-gold back, for this she is killed by Dietrich von Bern.

A south German/Austrian epic called Kudrun or Gudrun also has a principle female character called Gudrun but her story is quite different.

Some scholars see the Queen Brunhilda, wife to the Frankish King Sigibert I, and Hildico, last wife to Attila as influences on the character of Kriemhild and Fosse.

Notes

1. ^ The article Atle in Nordisk familjebok (1904).

Popular Culture

Family Relations

  • Gjuki (father)
  • Grimhild (mother)
  • Gunnar (brother)
  • Hogni (brother)
  • Gundy/Gullrond (sister; rarely mentioned)
  • Gotthorm (maternal half-brother; slayer of Sigurd)
  • Brynhild (sister-in-law; sister of Atli, wife of Gunnar)
  • Sigurd (first husband)
  • Sigmund (son with Sigurd; murdered at Brynhild's behest)
  • Svanhild (daughter with Sigurd)
  • Atli (second husband)
  • Erp (son with Atli)
  • Eitil (son with Atli)
  • Jonkar (third husband)
  • Hamdir (son with Jonkar)
  • Sorli (son with Jonkar)
  • Erp (son with Jonkar)
  • Hniflung (nephew via Hogni; helped her kill Atli)
  • Solar (nephew via Hogni; mentioned in Atlakvitha En Grönlenzka)
  • Snævar (nephew via Hogni; mentioned in Atlakvitha En Grönlenzka)
  • Gjuki (nephew via Hogni; mentioned in Drap Niflunga)
European windstorm is a severe cyclonic storm that tracks across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe in the winter months. These storms usually track over the north coast of Scotland towards Norway but can veer south to affect other countries including England, Wales,
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The Völsung Cycle is a series of legends in Norse mythology that were first recorded in medieval Iceland. The original Icelandic tales were greatly expanded with native Scandinavian traditions, such as that of Helgi Hundingsbane, which, in turn, originally appears to have been a
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Völsunga saga is a legendary saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Volsung clan (including the story of Sigurd and Brynhild and destruction of the Burgundians). It is largely based on epic poetry.
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The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends.
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Norna-Gests þáttr or the Story of Norna-Gest is a legendary saga about the Norse hero Norna-Gest. The story is inserted into the Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason in the Flatey Book and contains several poems from the Poetic Edda.
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Andvarinaut ("Andvari's Gift") was a magical ring capable of producing gold, first owned by Andvari.

The mischievous Loki tricked Andvari into giving Andvarinaut to him. In revenge, Andvari cursed the ring to bring destruction to whoever possessed it.
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Gram was the name of the sword that Sigurd (Siegfried) used to kill the dragon Fafnir. It was forged by Weyland the Smith and originally belonged to his father, Sigmund, who received it in the hall of the Volsung after pulling it out of a log into which Odin had stuck
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Andvari was a dwarf who lived underneath a waterfall and had the power to change himself into a fish at will. He had a magical ring named Andvarinaut, which helped him become wealthy.
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Hreidmar was the avaricious king of the dwarf folk, who captured three gods with his unbreakable chains. He was father of Fafnir, Ótr and Regin. He owned a house of glittering gold and flashing gems built by Regin and guarded by Fafnir.
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Otr or OTR may refer to:
  • Ótr, a dwarf in Norse mythology
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  • Coto 47 Airport (IATA: OTR, ICAO: MRCC), an airport that serves Coto 47, Costa Rica
OTR is an acronym for:

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Regin was the son of Hreidmar and foster father of Sigurd. Regin had all wisdom and deftness of hand. Regin built a house of glittering gold and flashing gems for his father.
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Fáfnir (Old Norse) or Frænir (Faroese) was a son of the dwarf king Hreidmar and brother of Regin and Ótr. In the Volsunga saga, Fáfnir was a dwarf gifted with a powerful arm and fearless soul.
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Vǫlsung was murdered by the Geatish king Siggeir and avenged by one of his sons, Sigmund and his daughter Signy who was married to Siggeir. Vǫlsung was the common ancestor of the ill-fortuned clan of the Vǫlsungs, including the greatest of Norse heroes, Sigurd.
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Sigmund is a hero whose story is told in Volsunga saga. He and his sister, Signy, are the children of Volsung and his wife Ljod. Sigmund is best known as the father of Sigurd the dragon-slayer, though Sigurd's tale has almost no connections to the Volsung tales.
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Signe is the name of two heroines in two connected legends from Scandinavian mythology which were very popular in medieval Scandinavia. Both appear in the Völsunga saga, which was adapted into other works such as Wagner's Ring, including its famous opera The Valkyrie.
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Sinfjötli (in Old Norse) or Fitela (in Anglo-Saxon) 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.
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Helgi Hundingsbane was a hero in the Norse sagas, who appears in the Volsunga saga and in two lays in the Poetic Edda named Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and Helgakviða Hundingsbana II.
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Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) was a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictoral form from seven runestones in Sweden[1]
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Brynhildr was a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie. She is a main character in the Völsunga saga and some Eddic poems treating the same events. Under the name Brünnhilde she appears in the Nibelungenlied
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Attila the Hun
Khan of Hunnic Empire
("Khan of the Huns")

Reign 434–453
Died 453
Buried
Predecessor Bleda & Rugila
Successor Ellac
Royal House Dulo
Royal anthem
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Gunther (Gundahar, Gundahari, Latin Gundaharius or Gundicharius, Old English Gúðere, Old Norse Gunnarr, anglicised as Gunnar) is the German name of a semi-legendary king of Burgundy of the early 5th century.
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Götaland ( listen   (help info ) ), Gothia, Gothland[1][2], Gothenland, Gotland[3], Gautland,
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Hunaland and its people are mentioned several times in the Poetic Edda, and in the Fornaldarsagas.

Its origins are partly the old Frankish kingdom (the Franks were once called Hugones, in Latin, and Hūgas in Old English) and partly in the Huns.
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The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. It tells the story of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, his murder, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge.
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Hagbard and Signy (Signe) (the Viking Age) or Habor and Sign(h)ild (the Middle Ages and later) were a pair of lovers in Scandinavian mythology and folklore whose legend was widely popular.
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Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian peoples, including those who settled on Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled.
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The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. It tells the story of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, his murder, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge.
..... Click the link for more information.
Gunther (Gundahar, Gundahari, Latin Gundaharius or Gundicharius, Old English Gúðere, Old Norse Gunnarr, anglicised as Gunnar) is the German name of a semi-legendary king of Burgundy of the early 5th century.
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Attila the Hun
Khan of Hunnic Empire
("Khan of the Huns")

Reign 434–453
Died 453
Buried
Predecessor Bleda & Rugila
Successor Ellac
Royal House Dulo
Royal anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) was a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictoral form from seven runestones in Sweden[1]
..... Click the link for more information.

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