''Guðrúnarkviða III'', ''The Third Lay of

Gudrun Gudrun ( ; ) or Kriemhild ( ; ) is the wife of Sigurd/Siegfried and a major figure in Germanic heroic legend and literature. She is believed to have her origins in Ildico, last wife of Attila the Hun, and two queens of the Merovingian dyn ...

'', is a short

Old Norse poem Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in the Old Norse language, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. Old Norse poetry is associated with the area now referred to as Scandinav ...

that is part of 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 has not left any traces in ''

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 ...

'' and was probably not known by its compilers. It is dated to the early 11th century, because that was the time when the ordeal by boiling water made its appearance in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

and the poet speaks of it as a practice of foreign origin. According to Henry Adams Bellows, the poem is based on material that came from northern Germany, where the ordeal by boiling water had long been current. He adds that it has so little local colour that it was probably composed based on a story that the poet had heard from a German. The Guðrún lays show that the hard-boiled heroic poetry of the ''Poetic Edda'' also had a place for the hardships of women.

Synopsis

Herkja, one of Atli's former concubines, was serving as a maid at his court. She reported to Atli that she had seen Guðrún together with King Þjóðrekr, which made Atli very angry. He approached Guðrún and she asked him what was the matter. Guðrún answered that she was innocent and could swear on the sacred white stone that she had not been with Þjóðrekr in that way. She had only talked with Þjóðrekr about their sorrows in secret. Þjóðrekr had arrived with thirty warriors and he had lost all of them, while Atli, her husband, had murdered all her brothers and all the men of her people. Gunnarr could no longer come, and she could no longer greet

Högni Haguna or Hagana is a historical Germanic name. It is attested in the form ''Hagano'' in Old High German (8th century) and as ''Haguna'' and ''Hagena'' in Old English. Old West Norse has ''Hǫgni'', presumably loaned from the character in German l ...

. She had lost both her beloved brothers and she would like to avenge Högni with her sword. She declared that she wanted payment for her sorrows and she suggested the ordeal of boiling water, for which Atli should summon Saxi, the king of the Southrons, who could hallow the kettle.Bellows notes that the identity of Saxi is not clear. However, the poem clearly points out that the ordeal by boiling water was still regarded as a southern and foreign institution and they needed a southern and Christian king to administer the ordeal. The introduction of the ordeal followed the introduction of Christianity. Then, the poem passes to the execution of the ordeal and what happened to Herkja:

Notes

References

The Third Lay of Guthrun
Henry Adams Bellows' translation and commentary
The Third Lay of Gudrún

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 ...

's translation
The Third Lay of Guthrún
Lee M. Hollander's translation
Guðrúnarkviða hin þriðja

Sophus Bugge Elseus Sophus Bugge (5 January 1833 – 8 July 1907) was a Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scholarly work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runi ...

's edition of the manuscript text
Guðrúnarkviða in þriðja

Guðni Jónsson Guðni Jónsson (22 July 1901 – 4 March 1974) was an Icelandic professor of history and editor of Old Norse texts. Life and career Guðni was born at Gamla-Hraun at EyrarbakkiPáll Lýðsson"GUÐNI JÓNSSON" Minningargreinar, ''Morgunblaði ...

's edition with normalised spelling {{DEFAULTSORT:Gudrunarkvida 3 11th-century poems Eddic poetry Nibelung tradition Völsung cycle