* Völsung Cycle

The Völsungasaga ( often referred to in English as the Volsunga Saga or Saga of the Völsungs ) is a legendary saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan ( including the story of Sigurd and Brynhild and destruction of the Burgundians ).

Sigmund is best known as the father of Sigurð the dragon-slayer, though Sigurð's tale has almost no connections to the Völsung cycle.

Völsung and Sigmund are attending the wedding feast ( which lasted for some time before and after the marriage ), when Odin, disguised as a beggar, plunges a sword into the living tree Barnstokk (" offspring-trunk ") around which Völsung's hall is built.

When the Völsung clan arrive, they are attacked by the Gauts ; King Völsung is killed and his sons captured.

Sigmund / Siegmund is also the name of Sigurd / Siegfried's father in other versions of the Sigurd story, but without any of the details about his life or family that appear in Norse Völsung tales and poems.

Völsung is also mentioned as Wæls in the Old English epic Beowulf: a Danish bard at Hrothgar's court sings about him and his son Sigemund.

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.

In the northern version Atli is responsible for the death of her whole family, who inherited the name Völsung / Niebelungen from the Nibelung gold.

the ninth, Sigar, whence come the Siklings: that is the house of Siggeir, who was son-in-law of Völsung ,— and the house of Sigar, who hanged Hagbard.

Siggeir is prominent in Volsunga saga as the villanous husband of Signý the daughter of Völsung.

Rerir's son is Völsung.

He also confused, or merged, Helgo with Helgi Hundingsbane, who in other sources is either a Völsung or a Geatish Wulfing ( Ylfing ).

He is described as an Ylfing ( the Wylfings of Beowulf ) in several places, but also as a Völsung since he is described as the son of Sigmund and Borghild and the brother of Sinfjotle and Sigurd.

The Völsung origin is most likely a later addition, since the legends of Sigurd describe events in the 5th century and those of Helgi describe events in the 7th century.

The poem is also ambiguous in attributing Helgi to the Ylfing, Yngling and the Völsung clans, which suggests a merging of originally unrelated traditions.

In the third section ( containing stanzas 13 to 20 ), which is called the Old Völsung Lay, Sigrún's father had promised her to Hothbrodd, the son of king Granmarr.

In Hversu Noregr byggðist, it is given in more detail that Sigar the elder had two sons, Sigmund and Siggeir who killed Völsung.

The first Signy is the daughter of King Völsung.

In the Völsunga saga, Sinfjötli is the grandson of King Völsung.

Sigmund being of the Völsung line, Signý believes her brother will produce a son worthy of claiming a place in that line, and one night she " exchange shape " with a völva, goes to Sigmund in his underground dwelling, and spends three nights in his bed with Sigmund unaware that she is his sister in another form.

Very unlike her previous sons born of the devious and unpleasant King Siggeir, Signý then bears a son who is no less strong, handsome, and fearless than Völsung himself.

The hero Sigurðr Sigmundson ( Siegfried in the Nibelungenlied ), heir to the clan of Völsung and slayer of the dragon Fafnir, entered the castle and awoke Brynhildr by removing her helmet and cutting off her chainmail armour.

In Norse mythology, Völsung ( Old Norse: Vǫlsungr ) was the son of Rerir and the eponymous ancestor of the ill-fortuned Völsung clan ( Vǫlsungar ), including the greatest of Norse heroes, Sigurð.

When the Völsung clan had arrived they were attacked by the Gauts ( Geats ) and king Völsung was killed and his sons captured.

This was the normal way of naming a Germanic clan ( see e. g. Sigurd the Völsung ( descendant of king Völsung ), Folkung ( descendants of Folke ) and Yngling ( descendants of Yngvi-Freyr )).

The first section ( containing stanzas 1 to 4 ) introduces Helgi as the son of Sigmund, of the Ylfing and the Völsung clan, and Borghild.

Later, he appears as an old, one-eyed stranger and sticks his sword into the tree Barnstokkr during a feast at the palace of King Völsung, declaring that “ he who draws this sword out of the trunk shall receive it from me as a gift, and he himself shall prove that he has never carried a better sword than this one ,” which King Volsung ’ s son Sigmund does.

In Iceland, the tales of the Völsung cycle were expanded with native Scandinavian folklore, including that of Helgi Hundingsbane, which originally appears to have been part of a separate tradition, that of the Ylfings, and form the material of the epic poems in the Elder Edda and of Völsunga saga, which preserves material from lost poems.

Völsung built himself a great hall in the centre of which stood a large oak tree called the Barnstokkr.

Gram was forged by Wayland the Smith and originally belonged to his father, Sigmund, who received it in the hall of the Völsung after pulling it out of the tree Barnstokkr into which Odin had stuck it where no one else could pull it out.

Völsung fell and his ten sons were taken captive.

He was the ancestor of the Völsung lineage ( see Völsunga saga ) who were Frankish kings according to Snorri.

The Völsung tale was also the inspiration for much of Richard Wagner's second and third operas of the Ring cycle.

At the beginning of the poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, a prose narrative says that King Sigmund ( son of Völsung ) and his wife Borghild ( of Brálund ) have a son named Helgi, who they named for Helgi Hjörvarðsson ( the antagonist of the earlier Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar ).

According to legend, he married Aslaug and became the son-in-law of Sigurd the Völsung.

He and his sister, Signý, are the children of Völsung and his wife Hljod.

He invites Sigmund, his father Völsung and Sigmund's nine brothers to visit him in Gautland to see the newlyweds three months later.

Eventually, they avenge the death of Völsung.

According to Völsunga saga, Völsung was murdered by the Geatish king Siggeir and avenged by one of his sons, Sigmund, and his daughter Signy, who was married to Siggeir.

Völsung was the great-grandson of Odin himself, and it was Odin's consort Frigg who made sure that Völsung would be born.

Völsung was a strong child and he kissed his mother before she died.

Both Völsung and his sons approved, but Signy was less enthusiastic.

This greatly angered Siggeir, and he swore that one day the sword would be his and he would be revenged on the Völsung family.

Three months later Völsung and his sons sailed to Siggeir's land.