Nibelungensage

Nibelungensage, a Germanic legend, was particularly well developed in Old Norse literature and in the German Nibelungenlied. The centre of all the legends is the treasure (Hort) of the Nibelungs. In the Nordic form, contained in the Eddas (see Edda), Wolsungen saga, Thidrek saga (see Dietrichsage), and Faroëse songs, the three gods Odin, Hoenir, and Loki seize the dwarf Andvari and force him to yield up his treasure of gold. The treasure is guarded by a dragon, who is slain by Sigurd, the son of the King of the Franks, and he thereupon acquires the gold. Sigurd finds the Valkyrie Brynhild, put to sleep by Odin, wakes her, and they swear fidelity to each other. Sigurd later associates with King Gjuki on the Rhine and his sons Gunnar, Högni, and Gutthorm. Their sister Gudrun gives Sigurd a potion engendering oblivion. He forgets Brynhild and marries Gudrun. By magic means he enables Gunnar to overcome and marry Brynhild. Brynhild and Gudrun quarrel, and Sigurd is killed by Gutthorm. The brothers acquire the Hort. Gudrun is then married to Atli (see Attila), who seeks to wrest the gold from her brothers. When they refuse to yield it, he has them killed. He, in turn, is killed by Gudrun. This Nordic version is the oldest recorded form of the story, but its origin is probably Frankish.

The earlier part is largely mythological; from the point at which Sigurd and Gudrun are married it has a basic resemblance to the German Nibelungenlied. The legend has a historical foundation in the time of the migration of peoples, and particularly in two episodes: the destruction of the Burgundian kingdom at Worms in 437 by the Huns under Attila, and the death of Attila in bed with a Germanic girl, Ildico, in 453. Attila's death was probably due to haemorrhage, possibly cerebral, but was popularly turned into an act of assassination by the girl. A further element is the legend of Dietrich von Bern. The combination and distortion of these tales, with the fusion of mythological elements, have produced the story, which has been treated in many adaptations in German literature. The principal Nibelungen works are the anonymous Nibelungenlied and Der hürnen Seyfrid, Der Nibelungen Hort by E. Raupach, Nibelungen im Frack by A. Grün, Hebbel's Die Nibelungen and Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, Nibelunge by W. Jordan, and Der Nibelunge Not by M. Mell, a 20th-c. treatment.