Siegfried (character)
Sigfried, from Sigurd (Old Norse:Sigurðr) or Siegfried (Middle High German: Sîvrit), is a legendary hero of Germanic mythology, who at killing a dragon and bathing in its blood, he became immortal. He may have been inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovingian dynasty, with Sigebert I being the most popular contender. The oldest scholarship sometimes connected him with Arminius, victor of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. He may also have a purely mythological origin.
Sigurd's story is first attested to in a series of sculptures, including runes from Sweden and stone crosses from Britain, dating to the 11th century. In both the Nordic and Continental German tradition, Sigurd is portrayed as dying as a result of a dispute between his wife (Gudrun/Krimilda) and another woman, Brunhilda, whom he has tricked into marrying King Gunnar/Gunther. The slaying of a dragon and the possession of the treasure of the Nibelungs is also common in both traditions. In other respects, however, the two traditions seem to diverge.
The most important works to introduce Sigurd/Sigfried are Nibelungenlied, Völsunga Saga and Poetic Edda. He also appears in many other German and Scandinavian works, including a number of medieval and early modern Scandinavian ballads. Richard Wagner used the legends about Sigurd/Siegfried in his operas Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. Wagner drew heavily on Norse tradition in creating his version of Siegfried. The hero's depiction of him of him has influenced many subsequent depictions.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Sigfried was strongly associated with German nationalism. The Thidrekssaga ends the story of Sigurd by saying:
"Everyone said that no man who now lives, who is born or born is equal to him in strength, courage and in all kinds of courtesy, as well as in the audacity and generosity he had over all men, and that his name would never perish in the German language, and the same was true with the Nordics."
Etymology
The names Sigurd and Sigfried do not share the same etymology. Both have the same first element, Proto-Germanic *sigi-, meaning "victory". However, the second elements of the two names are different: in Sigfried it is Proto-Germanic *-frið , meaning "peace"; in Sigurd it is Proto-Germanic *-ward , meaning "protection". Although they do not share the same second element, it is clear that surviving Scandinavian written sources considered Siegfried to be the continental version of the name they called Sigurd. The normal form of Siegfried in Middle High German is Sîvrit or Sîfrit, with the element *sigi- contracted. This form of the name had been common even outside of heroic poetry since the IX century, although the form Sigevrit is also attested, along with Middle Netherlandish Zegevrijt. In Early Modern German, the name becomes Seyfrid or Seufrid (spelled Sewfrid). The modern form Siegfried is not frequently attested until the 17th century, after which it becomes more common. In modern scholarship, the form Sigfrid.
The Old Norse name Sigurðr comes from an original *Sigvǫrðr, which in turn derives from an old *Sigi-warðuR. The Danish form Sivard is also originally derived from it. Hermann Reichert notes that the root form -vǫrðr rather than -varðr is only found in the name Sigurd, with other personal names instead of using the form -varðr''; he suggests that the form -vǫrðr may have had religious significance, while -varðr was purely non-religious. There are competing theories as to which name is the original. Names equivalent to Siegfried are first attested in Anglo-Saxon in the 7th century and become frequent in Anglo-Saxon England in the 9th century. Jan-Dirk Müller argues that this late attestation date means that Sigurd may more accurately represent the original name. Wolfgang Haubrichs suggests that the form Siegfried arose in the bilingual Frankish kingdom as a result of the influence of romantic language on an original name *Sigi-ward. According to normal phonetic principles, the Germanic name would have become Romance *Sigevert, a form that could also represent a Germanic Romance form of Sigefred. He further notes that *Sigevert would be a plausible form of the romantic name Sigebert (see section Origins) from which both names could have arisen. second possibility, Haubrichs considers the option that metathesis of r into *Sigi-ward could have taken place in Anglo-Saxon England, where the variation between -frith y -ferth is well documented. Hermann Reichert, on the other hand, points out that Scandinavian attesting figures in German, English and Irish sources of the 17th century XII that have Siegfried-equivalent names are systematically changed to Sigurd-equivalent forms in later Scandinavian sources. The equivalent forms of Sigurd, on the other hand, do not appear in non-Scandinavian fonts from before the XI, and older Scandinavian sources sometimes call people Sigfroðr, Sigfreðr or Sigfrǫðr, who are then called Sigurðr. He argues from this evidence that an equivalent form of "Siegfried" is the oldest form of Sigurd's name also in Scandinavia.
Origins
Unlike many figures in the Germanic heroic tradition, Sigurd cannot easily be identified with a historical figure. The most popular theory is that Sigurd has its origins in one or more figures of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks: the Merovingians had several kings whose names began with the element *sigi- . In particular, the assassination of Sigebert I, who was married to Brunnhilde of Austrasia, is often cited as a likely inspiration for the figure, a theory first advanced in 1613 that Sigebert was murdered by his brother Chilperico I at the instigation of the queen and wife of Chilperico Fredegunda. If this theory is correct, in the legend, Fredegunde and Brunnhilde appear to have switched roles, while Chilperic has been replaced by Gunther. These parallels, however, are not exact and are not accepted by all scholars. Jens Haustein argues that while Sigurd's story appears to have Merovingian resonances, no connection to any particular historical figure or event is convincing. Another theory argues that Sigurd and his slaying of the dragon would represent a mythological version of Publius Quintilius Varus' defeat of Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. C. A connection between Siegfried and Arminius was first proposed by Franz-Joseph Mone in 1830, who believed that Sigurd was a fusion of various historical figures. In 1837, Adolf Griesebrecht proposed that Sigurd is a mythologized version of Arminius, while the Romans represent the dragon. The most recent scholar to take this position is Otto Höfler, beginning in 1959, who also suggested that Gnita-Heath, the name of the place where Sigurd slays the dragon in the Scandinavian tradition, represents the field of battle for the Teutoburg Forest, while Arminius' Germanic name may have been "Segi-friþuz". Modern scholarship generally dismisses a connection between Sigurd and Arminius as tenuous speculation. However, the idea that Sigurd derives from Arminius continues to be promoted outside of academia, including in popular magazines such as Der Spiegel .
It has also been suggested that Sigurd may be a purely mythological figure with no historical origin. 19th-century scholars frequently derived the story of Sigurd from myths about Germanic deities including Odin, Balder, and Frey; such derivations are no longer generally accepted. Catalin Taranu argues that Sigurd's slaying of the dragon ultimately has Indo-European origins, and that this was later linked to the story of the murder of the Merovingian Sigebert I.
Continental Germanic traditions and testimonies
Continental Germanic traditions about Siegfried are written down in Song of the Nibelungs around the year 1200. German tradition strongly associates Siegfried with a kingdom called Niederland, « High Niderlant» Middle High German, which, despite its name, is not the same as the modern Netherlands, but describes the kingdom of Siegfried around the city of Xanten. Late medieval Heldenbuch-Prose identifies Niederland with the area around Worms, but describes it as a separate kingdom from the land of King Gibich (i.e. the kingdom of Burgundy).
Song of the Nibelungs
The Song of the Nibelungs gives two contradictory descriptions of Sigfried's youth. In the main story level, Sigfried receives a courtly education in Xanten by his father King Sigmund and his mother Sieglind. He is then seen coming to Worms, capital of the Burgundian kingdom to woo Princess Krimilda.
However, the Burgundian vassal Hagen von Tronje tells a different story of Sigfried's youth: according to Hagen, Sigfried was a wandering warrior ('recke& #39; in Middle High German) he gained the treasure of the Nibelungs, as well as the sword Balmung and an invisibility cloak (Tarnkappe ) which increases the user's strength twelve times. He also tells an unrelated story about how Sigfried slew a dragon, bathed in its blood, and thus his skin became as hard as horn which makes him invulnerable. Of the characteristics of the adventures of young Sigfried, only those that are directly relevant to the rest of the story are mentioned. To win Krimhilda's hand, Sigfried befriends the Burgundian kings Gernot and Giselher and the princes, Gunther and Krimhilda. When Gunther decides to woo the warrior queen of Iceland, Brunhilda, he offers to let Sigfried marry Krimhilda in exchange for Sigfried's help in his courtship of Brunhilda. As part of helping Sigfried, they lie to Brunhild and claim that Sigfried is Gunther's vassal. Any suitor to Brunhilda must perform various physical tasks, and she will kill any man who fails. Sigfried, using his invisibility cloak, helps Gunther in every task. On his return to Worms, Siegfried marries Krimhilda after Gunther's marriage to Brunhilda. However, on Gunther's wedding night, Brunnhilde prevents him from sleeping with her, tying him up with her belt and hanging him from a hook. The next night, Sigfried uses her invisibility cloak to overpower Brunhilda, allowing Gunther to sleep with her. Although he does not sleep with Brunhilda, Sigfried takes the belt and ring from him and then gives them to Krimhilda.
Sigfried and Krimhild have a son, whom they name Gunther. Later, Brunhilda and Krimhilda begin to fight over which of them should take precedence, with Brunhilda believing that Krimhilda is just a vassal's wife. Finally, in front of the cathedral gate in Worms, the two queens discuss who should go in first. Brunnhild openly accuses Krimhild of being married to a vassal, and Krimhild claims that Siegfried took Brunhild's virginity, showing her belt and ring as proof of it. Although Sigfried publicly denies it, Hagen (Gunter's half-brother) and Brunhilda decide to murder Sigfried, and Gunter agrees. Hagen tricks Krimhilda into telling him where Sigfried's skin is vulnerable, and Gunther invites Sigfried to go on a hunt in the Waskenwald. When Siegfried is drinking at a spring, Hagen stabs him in the vulnerable back with a spear. Sigfried is mortally wounded, but still attacks Hagen, before cursing the Burgundians and dying. Hagen arranges for Sigfried's corpse to be dumped outside Krimhilda's bedroom door. Krimilda is crying a lot for Sigfried who is buried in Worms. The wording of the text known as The Song of the Nibelungs makes several small changes to the locations in the text: Siegfried is not killed in the Vosges, but in the Odenwald, with the narrator claiming that he is still you can visit the spring where he was killed near the village of Odenheim (today part of Östringen). The editor states that Siegfried was buried in Lorsch Abbey. It is also mentioned that he was buried in a marble sarcophagus; this may be connected to ancient royal marble sarcophagi that were on display in the abbey, having been unearthed after a fire in 1090.
Rosengarten to Worms
In the "Rosengarten zu Worms" (c. 1250), Siegfried is betrothed to Krimhild and is one of the twelve heroes defending her rose garden in Worms. Krimilda decides that she would like to test Siegfried's mettle against the hero Dietrich von Bern, so she invites him and twelve of his warriors to fight his twelve champions. When the fight is finally due to begin, Dietrich initially refuses to fight Siegfried because the dragon's blood has made Siegfried's skin invulnerable. Dietrich is convinced to fight Siegfried by the false news that his mentor Hildebrand is dead and becomes so enraged that he begins to breathe fire, melting Siegfried's protective horn cloak onto his skin. He is thus able to pierce Siegfried's skin with his sword, and Siegfried is so afraid that he flees into Krimhilda's lap. Only Hildebrand's reappearance prevents Dietrich from killing Siegfried. Siegfried's role as Krimhild's betrothed does not match that in The Song of the Nibelungs , where the two are married but are never formally engaged. The detail that Krimhild's father is named Gibich rather than Dancrat the latter being his name in The Song of the Nibelungs , shows that the Rosengarten includes some ancient traditions absent from that poem, though still heavily dependent on from The Song of the Nibelungs . Some of the details agree with the Thidrekssaga . Rosengarten A mentions that Siegfried was raised by a blacksmith named Eckerich.
Þiðrekssaga
Although the Þiðrekssaga (c. 1250) is written in Old Norse, most of the material is translated from German (particularly Low German) oral tales, as well as possibly some from German written sources such as The Song of the Nibelungs . Therefore, it is included here. The Thidrekssaga refers to Siegfried as Sigurd ( Sigurðr ) and an Old Norse approximation of the name Siegfried , Sigfrœð . He is the son of King Sigmund of Tarlungaland (probably a corruption of Karlungaland , that is, the land of the Carolingians) and Queen Sisibe of Spain. When Sigmund returns from a campaign one day, he discovers that her wife is pregnant and, believing that she is unfaithful, exiles her to the "Swabian Forest"; (Black Forest?), where she gives birth to Sigurd. She dies after a while, and Sigurd is found by the blacksmith Mimir. Mimir tries to raise the child, but Sigurd is so rebellious that Mimir sends him to his brother Regin, who has been transformed into a dragon, in the hope that he will kill the child. Sigurd, however, kills the dragon and tastes its meat, whereupon he learns the language of the birds and of Mimir's treachery. He stains himself with the dragon's blood, making his skin invulnerable, and returns to Mimir. Mimir gives him weapons to placate him, but Sigurd kills him anyway. He then meets Brunnhilde, who gives him the horse Grane, and goes to King Isung of Bertangenland. One day Thidrek (Dietrich von Bern) arrives in Bertangenland; He fights Sigurd for three days. Thidrek is unable to hurt Sigurd due to his invulnerable skin, but on the third day, Thidrek is given the sword Mimung, which can cut through Sigurd's skin and defeats him. Thidrek and Sigurd then ride to King Gunnar (Gunther), where Sigurd marries Gunnar's sister Grimilda (Krimilda). Sigurd recommends that Gunnar marry Brunhilda, and the two go to court her. Brynhild now claims that Sigurd had previously said that he would marry her (without mentioning it earlier in the text), but eventually she agrees to marry Gunnar. However, she will not allow Gunnar to consummate the marriage, and so, with Gunnar's agreement, Sigurd takes Gunnar's form and deflowers Brunhilda, draining her of her strength. The heroes then return with Brunhilda to Gunnar's court.
Some time later, Grimilda and Brunhilda fight over who has a higher rank. Brunhilda claims that Sigurd is not of noble birth, whereupon Grimilda announces that Sigurd and not Gunnar deflowered Brunhilda. Brunhilda convinces Gunnar and Högni (Hagen) to murder Sigurd, which Högni does while Sigurd drinks from a spring on a hunt. Later, the brothers place his corpse on Grimilda's bed, and she cries. The author of the saga has made a number of changes to create a more or less coherent story from the many oral and possibly written sources he used to create the saga. The author mentions alternate Scandinavian versions of many of these same tales, and seems to have changed some details to match the stories known to the Scandinavian audience from him. This is true in particular of the story of Sigurd's youth, which combines elements of the Norse and Continental traditions later attested in "Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid", but also contains an unattested story of Siegfried's parents The "Thidrekssaga" it does not mention how Sigurd gained the treasure from the Nibelungs.
Heldenbuch
The so-called Heldenbuch, first found in Diebolt von Hanowe's 1480 Heldenbuch and then contained in prints until 1590, is considered one of the most important testimonies of a continuous oral tradition outside the The Song of the Nibelungs, with many details according to the Thidrekssaga. The Heldenbuch-Prose has very little to say about Siegfried: it notes that he was the son of King Sigmund, came from Niederland and was married to Krimilda. However, it has not been proven in other sources that Krimilda orchestrated the disaster at Etzel's court to avenge Siegfried for being assassinated by Dietrich von Bern. According to Heldenbuch, Dietrich killed Siegfried fighting in the rose garden in Worms (see the Rosengarten zu Worms section above). This may have been another version of Siegfried's death that was in oral circulation.
Biterolf and Dietleib
The second half of the heroic poem Biterolf und Dietleib (between 1250 and 1300) presents a war between the Burgundian heroes of The Song of the Nibelungs and the heroes of the cycle around Dietrich von Bern, something probably inspired by the Rosengarten zu Worms. In this context, it also features a fight between Siegfried and Dietrich in which Dietrich defeats Siegfried after initially appearing cowardly. The text also features a fight between Siegfried and the hero Heime, in which Siegfried knocks Heime's famous sword Nagelring out of his hand, after which both armies fight for control of the sword. The text also relates that Dietrich once He once took Siegfried to Etzel's court as a hostage, something also alluded to in The Song of the Nibelungs.
Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid
Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, "The Horn-Skinned Siegfried's Song", is a late medieval/early modern heroic ballad that tells of the adventures of Siegfried in his youth. It agrees in many details with the Thidrekssaga and other Old Norse accounts of the Song of the Nibelungs, suggesting that these details existed in an oral tradition about Siegfried in Germany.. According to the "Hürnen Seyfrid", Siegfried had to leave the court of his father Sigmund because of his rude behavior and was raised by a blacksmith in the forest. However, he was so rebellious that the blacksmith arranged for a dragon to kill him. However, Siegfried was able to kill the dragon and eventually kills many more by trapping them under logs and setting them on fire. The dragon's skin, described as hard as horn, melts, and Siegfried sticks his finger into it, discovering that his finger is now hard as horn as well. He is stained with melted dragon skin everywhere except one spot. Later, he stumbles across the trail of another dragon that has kidnapped Princess Krimilda of Worms. With the help of the dwarf Eugel, Siegfried fights the giant Kuperan, who holds the key to the mountain where Krimilda has been taken. He rescues the princess and slays the dragon, finding the treasure of the Nibelungs within the mountain. However, Eugel prophesies that Siegfried only has eight years to live. Realizing that he will not be able to use the treasure, Siegfried throws the treasure into the Rhine River on his way to Worms. He marries Krimilda and rules there along with his brothers Gunther, Hagen and Giselher, but they resent him and kill him after eight years.
Other traditions and certifications
The Icelandic abbot Nicholas de Thvera records that while traveling in Westphalia, he was shown the place where Sigurd slew the dragon (called Gnita-Heath in Norse tradition) between two villages south of Paderborn. In a song by the poet mid-century wandering lyricist XIII Der Marner, «the death of Siegfried», Sigfrides [...] tôt, is mentioned as a popular story that the German courtly public enjoys hearing, along with "the treasure of the Nibelungs", der Nibelunge hort. The chronicles of the city of Worms record that when Emperor Frederick III visited the town in 1488, he learned that the townspeople said that the "giant Siegfried", gigas [... ] Sifridus des Hörnen, was buried in the cemetery of Saint Meinhard and Saint Cecilia. Frederick ordered the graveyard dug up; according to a Latin source, he found nothing, but a German chronicle reports that he found a skull and some bones that were larger than normal.
Sigfried and Krimhild
Sigfried married, after some feats, Krimilda, and managed for her brother, Gunther, the hand of the sullen Valkyrie Brunhilda. Trading his rings, Siegfried took on the guise of Gunther and passed certain tests that only the hero could pass. Brunhilda since then considered her husband superior, until Krimilda told her the true facts of her. Since then, Brunhilda prepared revenge, which was carried out by Gutorm, Gunther's brother (in other texts, Hagen de Tronje). Said revenge consisted of revealing to the executioner the exact place where the hero's skin was not protected by the dragon's blood. Taking advantage of this information, the assassin launched a spear that ended Siegfried's life. Brunilda committed suicide the next day, because despite everything she loved Siegfried. Krimilda was then married to Etzel, who wanted to become the owner of the treasure of the Nibelungs, which Gunther had hidden at the bottom of the Rhine. Krimilda invited her brothers, and during the banquet at the court of King Etzel (Attila), the men of Gunther were killed, getting their own people treacherously wiped out. Later, Krimilda intoxicated and killed Etzel himself, finally throwing herself into the flames of the palace, whose fire she herself had caused.
Inheritance
According to legend Sigurd had descendants of:
- Krimilda or Guðrún Gjúkadóttir (c. 710), daughter of Gebica, king of the burgundy. The fruit of his marriage was born Swanhild or Svanhildr Sigurdsdatter, also called Svanhild of Xanten and Swanhilde of Burgundia.
- Brunilda, daughter of Buðli of Ringerike. Aslaug was born as a result of this relationship, which would be one of the wives of the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok.