The Hamðismál is a poem which ends the

heroic poetry In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

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 ...

'', and thereby the whole collection.

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 ...

had been the wife of the hero

Sigurd Sigurd ( ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon — known in Nordic tradition as Fafnir () — and who was later murdered. In the Nordic countries, he is referred t ...

, whom her brothers had killed. With Sigurd she had had the daughter

Svanhild Swanhild, Suanhild or Svanhild may refer to: Historical * Swanachild, Bavarian princess who became the wife of Charles Martel (c. 688–741) * Swanhild, wife or concubine of King Harald Fairhair of Norway (c. 850–933) * Swanehilde of Saxony (c. ...

, who had married to the

Goth Goth or Goths may refer to: * Goths, a Germanic people Arts and entertainment * Gothic rock or goth, a style of rock music * Goth subculture, developed by fans of gothic rock * ''Goth'' (2003 film), an American horror film * ''Goth'' (2008 f ...

king

Ermanaric Ermanaric (died 376) was a Greuthungian king who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of Oium, the part of Scythia inhabited by the Goths at the time. He is mentioned in two Roman sources: the contemporary writings of ...

(Jörmunrekkr). Ermanaric had Svanhild trampled to death by horses, due to which Gudrun wants vengeance, and she agitates her sons (see

Jonakr's sons Hamdir (Old Norse: ), Sörli (O.N.: ), and Erpr (O.N.: ) were three brothers in Germanic heroic legend who may have had a historic basis in the history of the Goths. Legend According to the Edda and '' Völsunga saga'', Hamdir and Sörli were t ...

) from a later marriage to kill Ermanaric, cf. ''

Guðrúnarhvöt Guðrúnarhvöt is one of the heroic poems of the '' Poetic Edda''. Gudrun had been married to the hero Sigurd and with him she had the daughter Svanhild. Svanhild had married the Gothic king Ermanaric (''Jörmunrekkr''), but betrayed him with ...

''. The poem is considered to belong to the oldest of the heroic poems, probably from the 9th century. It makes an archaic impression with its bitter and laconic language. Howling with wrath, the brothers

Hamdir Hamdir (Old Norse: ), Sörli (O.N.: ), and Erpr (O.N.: ) were three brothers in Germanic heroic legend who may have had a historic basis in the history of the Goths. Legend According to the Edda and '' Völsunga saga'', Hamdir and Sörli were t ...

and

Sörli Hamdir (Old Norse: ), Sörli (O.N.: ), and Erpr (O.N.: ) were three brothers in Germanic heroic legend who may have had a historic basis in the history of the Goths. Legend According to the Edda and '' Völsunga saga'', Hamdir and Sörli were t ...

ride over a misty mountain. The last lines are like carved on a runestone:

Sources and historic basis

The legend of Jörmunrek appears in the ''

'' as ''Hamðismál'' and ''

''. It also appears in

Bragi Boddason Bragi Boddason, known as Bragi the Old (Old Norse language, Old Norse: ''Bragi hinn gamli'') was a Norwegian skald active in the first half of the 9th century in poetry, 9th century, the earliest known skald from whom verses have survived. Portio ...

's ''

Ragnarsdrápa Ragnarsdrápa (Old Norse: ‘Drápa about Ragnarr’)Clunies Ross, p. 27. https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1130&v=intro. is a skaldic poem attributed to the oldest known skald, Bragi inn gamli (‘the old’) Boddason, who lived in the 9th cent ...

'', in the ''

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 in ''

Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essentia ...

''.

Jordanes Jordanes (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

wrote in 551 that the Gothic king

was upset with the attack of a subordinate king and had his wife Sunilda (i.e. Svanhild) torn to pieces by horses, and as revenge Ermanaric was pierced with spears by her brothers Ammius (Hamdir) and Sarus (Sörli) and died from the wounds. The ''

Annals of Quedlinburg The ''Annals of Quedlinburg'' (; ) were written between 1008 and 1030 in the convent of Quedlinburg Abbey. In recent years a consensus has emerged that it is likely that the annalist was a woman. The annals are mostly dedicated to the history of ...

'' (end of the 10th century) relates that the brothers Hemidus (Hamdir), Serila (Sörli) and Adaccar (Erp/

Odoacer Odoacer ( – 15 March 493 AD), also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus and became the ruler of Italy (476–493). Odoacer' ...

) had cut off the hands of Ermanarik.

References

Nationalencyklopedin (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version. History The project was ...

Nordisk familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...

External links

Hamðismál
English translation by

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 ...

Hamðismál in Old Norse

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamdismal 9th-century poems Eddic poetry Nibelung tradition