Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...

, Völsung ( non, Vǫlsungr ) was the son of Rerir and the eponymous ancestor of the ill-fated Völsung clan (), which includes the well known Norse hero Sigurð. He was murdered by the Geatish king

Siggeir Siggeir is the king of Gautland (i.e. Götaland/Geatland, but in some translations also rendered as ''Gothland''), in the ''Völsunga saga''. In ''Skáldskaparmál'' he is given as a Sikling and a relative of Sigar who killed the hero Hagbard. '' ...

and later avenged by one of his sons, Sigmund, and his daughter

Signy Signy or Signe ( non, Signý, sometimes known as german: Sieglinde) is the name of two heroines in two connected legends from Norse mythology which were very popular in medieval Scandinavia. Both appear in the Völsunga saga, which was adapted i ...

, who was married to Siggeir. Völsung's story is recorded in the Völsung Cycle, a series of

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

s about the clan. The earliest extant versions of the cycle were recorded in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

; the tales of the cycle were expanded with local

Scandinavian folklore Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been mutually influenced by, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland an ...

, including that of Helgi Hundingsbane (which appears to originally have been part of the separate tradition of the

Ylfing The Wulfings, Wylfings or YlfingsWord initial ''w'' was lost before rounded vowels in Proto-Norse, e.g. ''wulf'' corresponds to ''ulf'', and ''Wulfing''/''Wylfing'' corresponds to ''Ylfing'', because the ''i'' in the second syllable causes an uml ...

s), and form the material of the epic poems in the Elder Edda and of , which preserves material from lost poems. Völsung is also the subject matter of the

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...

epic poem and is mentioned as in the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

epic ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...

''.

Synopsis

Völsung was the great-grandson of

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...

and it was Odin's wife Frigg who made sure that Völsung would be born. Völsung's parents, who were the king and queen of Hunaland, could not have any children until the goddess sent them an apple of fertility carried by the giantess

Hljod Hljod or Ljod (Old Norse: ''Hljóð'' ) is a jötunn in Norse mythology. She is the spouse of Völsung, the daughter of the jötunn Hrímnir, and the mother of Sigmund and Signy. Name The Old Norse name ''Hljóð'' has been translated as 'h ...

. Völsung's father, Rerir, died shortly after this, but his wife was pregnant for six years, until her health began to fail. She commanded that the child be delivered by caesarean section, an operation that in those days cost the life of the mother. Völsung was a well grown child and he kissed his mother before she died. He was immediately proclaimed king of Hunaland and when he had grown up he married the same giantess Hljod. Together they had ten sons and one daughter, including the twins

, their daughter, and Sigmund, the most courageous and beautiful of their sons. Völsung built himself a great hall in the centre of which stood a large oak tree called the

Barnstokkr In Norse mythology, Barnstokkr (Old Norse, literally "child- trunk"Byock (1990:113).) is a tree that stands in the center of King Völsung's hall. Barnstokkr is attested in chapters 2 and 3 of the ''Völsunga saga'', written in the 13th century f ...

, the

King of the Geats Geatish kings ( la, Rex Getarum/Gothorum; sv, Götakungar), 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 ...

, soon arrived and proposed to Signy. Both Völsung and his sons approved, but Signy was less enthusiastic. A great wedding was held in the hall, when suddenly a stranger appeared. He was a tall old man with only one eye and could not be anyone but

. He went to the oak tree, took his sword and stuck it deep into the trunk. Odin told everyone that the sword was meant for the man who could pull the sword from the oak tree. Then he vanished. Everyone at the wedding tried to pull the sword but only Sigmund succeeded, and he did so effortlessly. Siggeir, his brother-in-law, offered thrice its weight in gold for the sword, but Sigmund scornfully said no. This greatly angered Siggeir, and he swore that one day the sword would be his and that he would avenge his humiliation upon the Völsung family. He returned home the next day, ending the wedding feast early. Before he left he invited the Völsungs to conclude the feast with him when the winter had passed. Three months later Völsung and his sons sailed to Siggeir's land. They were met by Signy, who warned them that Siggeir intended to ambush them. They refused to turn back, whereupon Signy cried and implored them to go home. Soon they were attacked by Siggeir's army. Völsung fell and his ten sons were taken captive. For the continued story, see Sigmund.

Modern retellings

The story of Völsung and his children, from the marriage of Signy to Siggeir to Sigmund's vengeance on Siggeir, is retold in the novelette "Vengeance" by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, which appeared in the magazine '' Adventure'', June 30, 1925. Brodeur was a professor at Berkeley and became well known for his scholarship on Beowulf and other Norse sagas. As ''Völsungakviđa en Nýja'' (''The New Lay of the Völsungs'') J. R. R. Tolkien retells the story in the Old Norse verse style of the '' Poetic Edda''. It was published posthumously together with a poetic retelling of the Niflung saga under the title, ''

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún ''The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún'' is a book containing two narrative poems and related texts composed by English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and HarperCollins on 5 May 2009. The two poems that make ...

''. The Völsung tale was also the inspiration for much of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's second and third operas of the Ring cycle. Siegmund and his twin sister Sieglinde reconnect and fall in love in ''Die Walküre'' (The Valkyrie) and Siegmund pulls the sword from the tree. Their son Siegfried goes on to become a hero in the following opera, ''Siegfried''.

Synopsis

Modern retellings

See also

References

External links