Hagbard and Signy

Information about Hagbard and Signy

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
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. The heroes' connections with other legendary characters place the events in the 5th century AD. Hagbard and his brother Haki were famous sea-kings (see Haki for his battles over the throne of Sweden). Like the name Hagbard (Hagbarðr), the legend is believed to have continental Germanic origins.[1]

Storyline

Enlarge picture
Signhild, Josef Wilhelm Wallander, 1861
During the centuries of popularity the story changed. This is the most comprehensive version from Gesta Danorum (book 7).

Hagbard was the son of Haamund and Signy was the daughter of Sigar. Once, when Hagbard and his brothers were pillaging, they started to fight with Signy's brothers. The battle was even and they finally decided to have peace. Hagbard followed Signy's brothers and managed to be alone with Signy in secret. She promised him her love, in spite of being more interested in Haki, the more famous brother.

When a German nobleman proposed to Signy, it became apparent that she was more interested in Hagbard. The German, then, started intriguing and created an animosity between the two groups of brothers. There was a battle and Hagbard's brothers were killed, after which honour obliged Hagbard to slay Signy's brothers and the German suitor.

In order to meet Signy, Hagbard dressed up as a woman and claimed to be his brother Haki's shieldmaiden. Haki had not been involved in the battles with Signy's brothers, and he was the one whom Signy really had wanted. Hagbard, however, trusted in Signy's promise to him.

Since he was dressed as a woman, Hagbard was offered to sleep among Signy's handmaidens. When the handmaidens washed his legs, they asked him why they were so furry and why his hands were so callous. Because of this, he invented a clever verse to explain his strange appearance. Signy, however, who understood that it was Hagbard who had come to see her, explained to the maidens that his verse was truthful.

During the night, they exchanged promises of eternal love and faithfulness. These promises filled Hagbard with such pleasure that he did not fear meeting her father and brothers if he were discovered leaving her chamber.

Hagbard was deceived by the handmaidens and he was arrested by Sigar's men. He defended himself well and slew many of the men. He was, however, defeated and taken to the ting, where the people had different opinions. Some claimed the he should be killed whereas others claimed that it would be a shame to lose such a brave warrior. It was decided that the king's honour had to be protected and Hagbard killed.

The gallows were constructed, while the queen gave him a drink to quench his thirst. She mocked him, but Hagbard answered I will drink a last toast, and I take the horn of death with the same hand as with the one I sent your two sons to the goddess Hel. I will not die without revenge. Then, he threw the horn onto her head so that the mead ran over her face.

During this time, Signy was amongst her crying maidens, asking them if they were willing to follow her wherever she would go. Crying she told them that she would die with the only man she had embraced in life. Then she asked them to set her chamber on fire, as soon as the watchman signalled the execution. They all vowed to die with her.

Hagbard was brought to a hill, which is named after him, to be hanged. In order to test his fiancée's fidelity, he asked the hangmen to first hang his coat. He explained that it would please him to get an impression of how he would look as dead.

His last wish was granted, and the watchman who thought it was Hagbard who was hanging, signalled so to the maidens who were gathered around Signy in the hill fort. The maidens set the house on fire and hanged themselves in the flames.

When Hagbard saw that the king's hill fort was aflame, he felt more joy about his loved one's faithfulness than sorrow about his own impending death. He exclaimed poetically his happiness whereupon he was immediately hanged.

Folk songs

The song of Habor and Signhild was very popular and it was sung all over Scandinavia for centuries. It has also been subjected to scholarly analysis in many ways. It has been claimed that it was sung as early as the 13th century, and in Sweden it exists in many versions ranging from handwritten ditties from the early 17th century to eighteen chapbooks from the period 1638-1839. In the 17th century, it seems to have been Sweden's most popular folk song. There were also many versions in Denmark and Norway.

The folk song is still known among non-scholars.

Locations

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"Hagbard's gallows", a megalithic monument in Halland, Sweden.
The Danes claimed very early that the name "Sigari oppidum" (Sigar's hill fort) referred to the Swedish Sigerstad in Halland between Halmstad and Falkenberg, where there are many monuments about the legend, such as Hagbard's gallows, Hagbard's stones, Siger's hill, Signy's chamber, Signy's well and Hagbard's mound. These monuments are all mentioned in Tuneld, Geografie Ofver Konungariket Swerige (1793).

A second Dane wrote in 1779, that the most likely location was in Blekinge, where there is a Hagbard's oak and a Signy's chamber. There is also a location in Nerike, named Segersjö (Sigar's lake), which has two cairns called Hagbard's cairn and Signy's cairn. There are also locations in Norway.

Laurentius Petri wrote in the Svenska Krönikan (Swedish chronicle), in 1559, that there were many traditions about Habardh and Signill. According to the songs, Hagbard was not Swedish, but the son of a Norwegian king and Signy was a Swedish princess. The songs also related that Hagbard was hanged not far from Sigtuna in Uppland, where there was a plain called Hagbard's plain in Håtuna Parish.

This placed the events in Old Sigtuna, a version that Johannes Messenius wanted to confirm in Sveopentaprotopolis (1611). He argued that the names in the area of Old Sigtuna contradicted the Danish claims of a Danish location. Later in Scondia illustrata, he contradicted his claims and said that Signill was rather a Danish princess and Habor a Norwegian. However, in 1612, he reasserted that Signy was a Swedish princess, in Old Sigtuna.

In 1678, Old Sigtuna was renamed Sighildsberg in honour of Signy. The interest continued unabated for centuries.

Sources

e.g.

References

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
  • Otierre aka OTR, an Italian hip-hop band
  • 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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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.
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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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Viking Age is the term denoting the years from about 800 to 1066 in Scandinavian History[1][2][3]. The vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare.
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Middle Ages form the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three "ages": the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Modern Times.
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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 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini, the year of our Lord.

Overview

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Hagbard, the brother of Haki and son of Hamund, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king, in Norse mythology. He is mentioned in Skáldskaparmál, Ynglinga saga, Nafnaþulur, Völsunga saga and Gesta Danorum.
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Hake, Haki or Haco, the brother of Hagbard, was a famous Scandinavian sea-king, in Norse mythology. He would have lived in the 5th century and he is mentioned in Ynglinga saga, Nafnaþulur, Völsunga saga and Gesta Danorum.
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