Sigurd

Sigurðr (Old Norse: ᛌᛁᚽᚢᚱᚦᛧ [ˈsiɣˌurðz̠]; Danish, English, Norwegian and Swedish: Sigurd, Icelandic: Sigurður, Faroese: Sigurð) or Siegfried (Middle High German: Sîvrit) is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible that he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovingian dynasty, with Sigebert I being the most popular contender. Older scholarship sometimes connected him with Arminius, victor of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The earliest extant representations for Sigurðr's legend come in pictorial form from nine runic inscriptions in Sweden and stone crosses from the British Isles, dating from the 11th century.

In both the Norse and Continental Germanic tradition, Sigurðr/Siegfried is portrayed as dying as the result of a quarrel between his wife (Guðrún/Kriemhild) and another woman, Brynhildr/Brünhild, whom he has tricked into marrying the Burgundian king Gunnarr/Gunther. His slaying of a dragon and possession of the hoard of the Niflungar/Nibelungen is also common to both traditions. In other respects, however, the two traditions appear to diverge. The most important works to feature Sigurðr are the Nibelungenlied, the Vǫlsunga saga, and the Poetic Edda. He also appears in numerous other works from both Germany and Scandinavia, including a series of medieval and early modern Scandinavian ballads.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Siegfried became heavily associated with German nationalism by Richard Wagner's two Norse-inspired operas, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.

The Þiðrekssaga finishes its tale of Sigurðr by saying:

Etymology
The names Sigurd and Siegfried do not share the same etymology. Both have the same first element, Proto-Germanic *sigi-, meaning victory. The second elements of the two names are different, however: in Siegfried, it is Proto-Germanic *-frið, meaning peace; in Sigurd, it is Proto-Germanic *-ward, meaning protection. Although they do not share the same second element, it is clear that surviving Scandinavian written sources held Siegfried to be the continental version of the name they called Sigurd.

The normal form of Siegfried in Middle High German is Sîvrit or Sîfrit, with the *sigi- element contracted. This form of the name had been common even outside of heroic poetry since the ninth century, though the form Sigevrit is also attested, along with the Middle Dutch Zegevrijt. In Early Modern German, the name develops to Seyfrid or Seufrid (spelled Sewfrid). The modern form Siegfried is not attested frequently until the seventeenth century, after which it becomes more common. In modern scholarship, the form Sigfrid is sometimes used.

The Old Norse name Sigurðr is contracted from an original *Sigvǫrðr, which in turn derives from an older *Sigi-warðuR. The Danish form Sivard also derives from this form originally. Hermann Reichert notes that the form of the root -vǫrðr instead of -varðr is only found in the name Sigurd, with other personal names instead using the form -varðr; he suggests that the form -vǫrðr may have had religious significance, whereas -varðr was purely non-religious in meaning.

There are competing theories as to which name is original. Names equivalent to Siegfried are first attested in Anglo-Saxon Kent in the seventh century and become frequent in Anglo-Saxon England in the ninth century. Jan-Dirk Müller argues that this late date of attestation means that it is possible that Sigurd more accurately represents the original name. Wolfgang Haubrichs suggests that the form Siegfried arose in the bilingual Frankish kingdom as a result of romance-language influence on an original name *Sigi-ward. According to the normal phonetic principles, the Germanic name would have become Romance-language *Sigevert, a form which could also represent a Romance-language form of Germanic Sigefred. He further notes that *Sigevert would be a plausible Romance-language form of the name Sigebert from which both names could have arisen. As a second possibility, Haubrichs considers the option that metathesis of the r in *Sigi-ward could have taken place in Anglo-Saxon England, where variation between -frith and -ferth is well documented.

Hermann Reichert, on the other hand, notes that Scandinavian figures who are attested in pre-twelfth-century German, English, and Irish sources as having names equivalent to Siegfried are systematically changed to forms equivalent to Sigurd in later Scandinavian sources. Forms equivalent to Sigurd, on the other hand, do not appear in pre-eleventh-century non-Scandinavian sources, and older Scandinavian sources sometimes call persons Sigfroðr Sigfreðr or Sigfrǫðr who are later called Sigurðr. He argues from this evidence that a form equivalent to Siegfried is the older form of Sigurðr's name in Scandinavia as well.

Origins
Unlike many figures of Germanic heroic tradition, Sigurðr cannot be easily identified with a historical figure. The most popular theory is that Sigurðr has his origins in one or several figures of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks: the Merovingians had several kings whose name began with the element *sigi-. In particular, the murder of Sigebert I (d. 575), who was married to Brunhilda of Austrasia, is often cited as a likely inspiration for the figure, a theory that was first proposed in 1613. Sigibert was murdered by his brother Chilperic I at the instigation of Chilperic's wife queen Fredegunda. If this theory is correct, then in the legend, Fredegunda and Brunhilda appear to have switched roles, while Chilperic has been replaced with Gunther.

Jens Haustein (2005) argues that, while the story of Sigurðr appears to have Merovingian resonances, no connection to any concrete historical figure or event is convincing. As the Merovingian parallels are not exact, other scholars also fail to accept the proposed model. But the Sigurðr/Siegfried figure, rather than being based on the Merovingian alone, may be a composite of additional historical personages, e.g., the "Caroliginian Sigifridus" alias Godfrid, Duke of Frisia (d. 855) according to Edward Fichtner (2015).

Franz-Joseph Mone (1830) had also believed Siegfried to be an amalgamation of several historical figures, and was the first to suggest possible connection with the Germanic hero Arminius from the Roman period, famed for defeating Publius Quinctilius Varus's three legions at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. Later Adolf Giesebrecht (1837) asserted outright that Sigurðr/Siegfried was a mythologized version of Arminius. Although this position was taken more recently by Otto Höfler (beginning in 1959), who also suggested that Gnitaheiði, the name of the place where Sigurðr kills the dragon in the Scandinavian tradition, represents the battlefield for the Teutoburg Forest, modern scholarship generally dismisses a connection between Sigurðr and Arminius as tenuous speculation. The idea that Sigurðr derives from Arminius nevertheless continues to be promoted outside of the academic sphere, including in popular magazines such as Der Spiegel.

It has also been suggested by others that Sigurðr may be a purely mythological figure without a historical origin. Nineteenth-century scholars frequently derived the Sigurðr story from myths about Germanic deities including Óðinn, Baldr, and Freyr; such derivations are no longer generally accepted. Catalin Taranu argues that Sigurðr's slaying of the dragon ultimately has Indo-European origins, and that this story later became attached to the story of the murder of the Merovingian Sigebert I.

Scandinavian attestations
Scandinavian stories about Sigurðr have a strong connection to Germanic mythology. While older scholarship took this to represent the original form of the Sigurðr story, newer scholarship is more inclined to see it as a development of the tradition that is unique to Scandinavia. While some elements of the Norse tradition may indeed be older than the surviving continental witnesses, a good deal seems to have been transformed by the context of the Christianization of Iceland and Scandinavia: the frequent appearance of the heathen gods gives the heroic stories the character of an epoch that is irrevocably over.

Although the earliest attestations for the Norse tradition are pictorial depictions, because these images can only be understood with a knowledge of the stories they depict, they are listed last here.

Poetic Edda
The Poetic Edda appears to have been compiled around 1270 in Iceland, and assembles mythological and heroic songs of various ages. The story of Sigurðr forms the core of the heroic poems collected here. However, the details of Sigurðr's life and death in the various poems contradict each other, so that "the story of Sigurðr does not emerge clearly from the Eddic verse".

The Poetic Edda identifies Sigurðr as a king of the Franks.

Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla
Sigurðr is born at the end of Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla; he is the posthumous son of Sigmundr, who dies fighting the sons of Hundingr, and Hjǫrdís. Hjǫrdís is married to the son of Hjálprekr and allowed to raise Sigurðr in Hjálprekr's home.

Grípisspá
In Grípisspá, Sigurðr goes to Grípir, his uncle on his mother's side, in order to hear a prophecy about his life. Grípir tells Sigurðr that he will kill Hundingr's sons, the dragon Fáfnir, and the smith Reginn, acquiring the hoard of the Niflungar. Then he will wake a valkyrja and learn runes from her. Grípir does not want to tell Sigurðr any more, but Sigurðr forces him to continue. He says that Sigurðr will go to the home of Heimir and betroth himself to Brynhildr, but then at the court of King Gjúki he will receive a potion that will make him forget his promise and marry Guðrún. He will then acquire Brynhildr as a wife for Gunnarr and sleep with Brynhildr without having sex with her. Brynhildr will recognize the deception, however, and claim that Sigurðr did sleep with her, and this will cause Gunnarr to have him killed.

The poem is likely fairly young and seems to have been written to connect the previous poems about Helgi Hundingsbane with those about Sigurðr.

Poems of Sigurðr's Youth
The following three poems form a single unit in the manuscript of the Poetic Edda, but are split into three by modern scholars. They likely contain old material, but the poems themselves appear to be relatively recent versions. The poems also mix two conceptions of Sigurðr: on the one hand, he is presented as an intelligent royal prince, on the other, he is raised by the smith Reginn and is presented as stupid. It is most likely that Sigurðr's youth with the smith, his stupidity, and his success through supernatural aid rather than his own cunning is the more original of these conceptions.

Reginsmál
In Reginsmál, the smith Reginn, who is staying at the court of Hjálprekr, tells Sigurðr of a hoard that the gods had had to assemble in order to compensate the family of Ótr, whom they had killed. Fáfnir, Ótr's brother, guards the treasure now and has turned into a dragon. Reginn wants Sigurðr to kill the dragon. He makes the sword Gramr for Sigurðr, but Sigurðr chooses to kill Lyngvi and the other sons of Hundingr before he kills the dragon. On his way he is accompanied by Óðinn. After killing the brothers in battle and carving a blood eagle on Lyngvi, Reginn praises Sigurðr's ferocity in battle.

Fáfnismál
In Fáfnismál, Sigurðr accompanies Reginn to Gnitaheiði, where he digs a pit. He stabs Fáfnir through the heart from underneath when the dragon passes over the pit. Fáfnir, before he dies, tells Sigurðr some wisdom and warns him of the curse that lays on the hoard. Once the dragon is dead, Reginn tears out the Fáfnir's heart and tells Sigurðr to cook it. Sigurðr checks whether the heart is done with his finger and burns it. When he puts his finger into his mouth, he can understand the language of the birds, who warn him of Reginn's plan to kill him. He kills the smith and is told by the birds to go to a palace surrounded by flames where the valkyrja Sigrdrífa is asleep. Sigurðr heads there, loading the hoard on his horse.

Sigrdrífumál
In Sigrdrífumál, Sigurðr rides to Hindarfjall, where he finds a wall made of shields. Inside he finds a sleeping woman who is wearing armor that seems to have grown into her skin. Sigurðr cuts open the armor and Sigrdrífa, the valkyrja, wakes up. She teaches him the runes, some magic spells, and gives him advice.

Brot af Sigurðarkviðu
The poem Brot af Sigurðarkviðu, although the ending is the only left, begins with Hǫgni and Gunnarr discussing whether Sigurðr needs to be murdered. Hǫgni suggests that Brynhildr may be lying that Sigurðr slept with Brynhildr. Then Gutþormr, Gunnarr and Hǫgni's younger brother, murders Sigurðr in the forest, after which Brynhildr admits that Sigurðr never slept with her.

The poem shows the influence of continental Germanic traditions, as it portrays Sigurðr's death in the forest rather than in his bed.

Frá dauða Sigurðar
Frá dauða Sigurðar is a short prose text between the songs. The text mentions that, although the previous song said that Sigurðr was killed in the forest, other songs say he was murdered in bed. German songs say that he was killed in the forest, but the next song in the codex, Guðrúnarqviða in fursta, says that he was killed while going to a þing.

Sigurðarkviða hin skamma
In Sigurðarkviða hin skamma, Sigurðr comes to the court of Gjúki and he, Gunnarr, and Hǫgni swear friendship to each other. Sigurðr marries Guðrún, then acquires Brynhildr for Gunnarr and does not sleep with her. Brynhildr desires Sigurðr, however, and when she cannot have him decides to have him killed. Gutþormr then slays Sigurðr in his bed, but Sigurðr kills him before dying. Brynhildr then kills herself and asks to be burned on the same pyre as Sigurðr.

The poem is generally assumed not to be very old.

Prose Edda
The so-called Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson is the earliest non-pictorial attestation of the Scandinavian version of Sigurðr's life, dating to around 1220. Snorri retells the story of Sigurðr in several chapters of the section of the poem called Skáldskaparsmál. His presentation of the story is very similar to that found in the Vǫlsunga saga (see below), but is considerably shorter. This version does not mention Sigurðr's vengeance for the death of his father. The text identifies Sigurðr as being raised in a place called "Thjod."

Sigurðr is raised at the court of king Hjálprekr, receives the sword Gramr from the smith Reginn, and slays the dragon Fáfnir on Gnitaheiði by lying in a pit and stabbing it in the heart from underneath. Sigurðr tastes the dragon's blood and understands the birds when they say that Reginn will kill him in order to acquire the dragon's gold. He then kills Reginn and takes the hoard of the Niflungar for himself. He rides away with the hoard and then awakens the valkyrja Brynhildr by cutting the armor from her, before coming to king Gjúki's kingdom. There he marries Gjúki's daughter, Guðrún, and helps her brother, Gunnarr, to acquire Brynhildr's hand from her brother Atli. Sigurðr deceives Brynhildr by taking Gunnarr's shape when Gunnarr cannot fulfill the condition that he ride through a wall of flames to wed her; Sigurðr rides through the flames and weds Brynhildr, but does not sleep with her, placing his sword between them in the marriage bed.

Sigurðr and Guðrún have two children, Svanhildr and young Sigmundr. Later, Brynhildr and Guðrún quarrel and Guðrún reveals that Sigurðr was the one who rode through the fire, and shows a ring that Sigurðr took from Brynhildr as proof. Brynhildr then arranges to have Sigurðr killed by Gunnarr's brother Gutþormr. Gutþormr stabs Sigurðr in his sleep, but Sigurðr is able to slice Gutþormr in half by throwing his sword before dying. Gutþormr has also killed Sigurðr's three-year-old son Sigmundr. Brynhildr then kills herself and is burned on the same pyre as Sigurðr.

Vǫlsunga saga
In the Vǫlsunga saga, Sigurðr was supposedly the posthumous son of Sigmundr and his second wife, Hjǫrdís. Sigmundr dies in battle when he attacks Óðinn (who is in disguise), and Óðinn shatters Sigmundr's sword. Dying, Sigmundr tells Hjǫrdís of her pregnancy and bequeaths the fragments of his sword to his unborn son.

Hjǫrdís marries King Alf, and then Alf decides to send Sigurðr to Reginn as a foster. Reginn tempts Sigurðr to greed and violence by first asking Sigurðr if he has control over Sigmund's gold. When Sigurðr says that Alf and his family control the gold and will give him anything he desires, Reginn asks Sigurðr why he consents to a lowly position at court. Sigurðr replies that he is treated as an equal by the kings and can get anything he desires. Then Reginn asks Sigurðr why he acts as stable boy to the kings and has no horse of his own. Sigurðr then goes to get a horse. An old man (Óðinn in disguise) advises Sigurðr on choice of horse, and in this way Sigurðr gets Grani, a horse derived from Óðinn's own Sleipnir.

Finally, Reginn tries to tempt Sigurðr by telling him the story of the Ótr's Gold. Reginn's father was Hreiðmarr, and his two brothers were Ótr and Fáfnir. Reginn was a natural at smithing, and Ótr was natural at swimming. Ótr used to swim at Andvari's waterfall, where the dwarf Andvari lived. Andvari often assumed the form of a pike and swam in the pool.

One day, the Æsir saw Ótr with a fish on the banks, thought him an otter, and Loki killed him. They took the carcass to the nearby home of Hreiðmarr to display their catch. Hreiðmarr, Fáfnir, and Reginn seized the Æsir and demanded compensation for the death of Ótr. The compensation was to stuff the body with gold and cover the skin with fine treasures. Loki got the net from the sea giantess Rán, caught Andvari (as a pike), and demanded all of the dwarf's gold. Andvari gave the gold, except for a ring. Loki took this ring, too, although it carried a curse of death on its bearer. The Æsir used this gold to stuff Ótr's body with, and covered his skin in gold. They then covered the last exposed place (a whisker) with the ring of Andvari. Afterwards, Fáfnir killed Hreidmar and took the gold.

Sigurðr agrees to kill Fáfnir, who has turned himself into a dragon in order to be better able to guard the gold. Sigurðr has Reginn make him a sword, which he tests by striking the anvil. The sword shatters, so he has Reginn make another. This also shatters. Finally, Sigurðr has Reginn make a sword out of the fragments that had been left to him by Sigmund. The resulting sword, Gramr, cuts through the anvil. To kill Fáfnir the dragon, Reginn advises him to dig a pit, wait for Fáfnir to walk over it, and then stab the dragon. Óðinn, posing as an old man, advises Sigurðr to dig trenches also to drain the blood, and to bathe in it after killing the dragon; bathing in Fáfnir's blood confers invulnerability. Sigurðr does so and kills Fáfnir; Sigurðr then bathes in the dragon's blood, which touches all of his body except for one of his shoulders where a leaf was stuck. Reginn then asked Sigurðr to give him Fáfnir's heart for himself. Sigurðr drinks some of Fáfnir's blood and gains the ability to understand the language of birds. Birds advise him to kill Reginn, since Reginn is plotting Sigurðr's death. Sigurðr beheads Reginn, roasts Fáfnir's heart and consumes part of it. This gives him the gift of "wisdom" (prophecy).

Sigurðr met Brynhildr, a "shieldmaiden," after killing Fáfnir. She pledges herself to him but also prophesies his doom and marriage to another. (In Vǫlsunga saga, it is not clear that Brynhildr is a valkyrja or in any way supernatural.) Sigurðr went to the court of Heimir, who was married to Bekkhildr, sister of Brynhildr, and then to the court of Gjúki, where he came to live. Gjúki had three sons and one daughter by his wife, Grímhildr. The sons were Gunnarr, Hǫgni and Guttorm, and the daughter was Guðrún. Grímhildr made an "Ale of Forgetfulness" to force Sigurðr to forget Brynhildr, so he could marry Guðrún. Later, Gunnarr wanted to court Brynhildr. Brynhildr's bower was surrounded by flames, and she promised herself only to the man daring enough to go through them. Only Grani, Sigurðr's horse, would do it, and only with Sigurðr on it. Sigurðr exchanged shapes with Gunnarr, rode through the flames, and won Brynhildr for Gunnarr. Some time later, Brynhildr taunted Guðrún for having a better husband, and Guðrún explained all that had passed to Brynhildr and explained the deception. For having been deceived and cheated of the husband she had desired, Brynhildr plots revenge. First, she refuses to speak to anyone and withdraws. Eventually, Sigurðr was sent by Gunnarr to see what was wrong, and Brynhildr accuses Sigurðr of taking liberties with her. Gunnarr and Hǫgni plot Sigurðr's death and enchant their brother, Guttorm, to a frenzy to accomplish the deed. Guttorm kills Sigurðr in bed, and Brynhildr kills Sigurðr's three year old son Sigmund (named for Sigurðr's father). Brynhildr then wills herself to die, and builds a funeral pyre for Sigurðr, Sigurðr's son, Guttorm (killed by Sigurðr) and herself.

Sigurðr and Brynhildr had the daughter Áslaug who married Ragnarr Loðbrók. Sigurðr and Guðrún are parents to the twins Sigmundr (named after Sigurðr's father) and Svanhildr.

Ballads
The Scandinavian Sigurðr tradition lived on in a number of ballads, attested from across the Nordic area. They often have very little in common with the original traditions, only using names found there.

In Denmark and Sweden
Several Danish ballads (Danish folkevise) feature Sigurðr (known as Sivard); some also exist in Swedish variants. These ballads appear to have had both Scandinavian and German sources.

In the ballad Sivard Snarensvend (DgF 2, SMB 204, TSB E 49), Sigurðr kills his stepfather and rides, with great difficulty, the unbroken horse Gramr to his uncle in Bern. In one variant, the ballad ends when Sigurðr falls from the horse and dies after jumping over the city walls.

In the ballad Sivard og Brynild (DgF 3, TSB E 101), Sigurðr wins Brynhildr on the "glass mountain" and then gives her to his friend Hǫgni. Brynhildr then fights with Sigurðr's wife Signild, and Signild shows Brynhildr a ring that Brynhildr had given Sigurd as a love gift. Brynhildr then tells Hǫgni to kill Sigurðr, and Hǫgni does this by first borrowing Sigurðr's sword then killing him with it. He then shows Brynhildr Sigurðr's head and kills her too when she offers him her love.

In the ballad Kong Diderik og hans Kæmper (DgF 7, SMB 198, TSB E 10), Sigurðr fights against Þjóðrekr's warrior Humlung. Sigurðr defeats Humlung, but discovering that Humlung is his relative allows himself to be tied to an oak tree so that Humlung can claim to have defeated him. When Vidrek (Witege) doesn't believe Humlung and goes to check, Sigurðr rips the oak tree from the ground and walks home with it on his back.

In the ballad Kong Diderik og Løven (DgF 9, TSB E 158), Sigurðr (here as Syfred) is said to have been killed by a dragon; Svend Grundtvig suggests that this character corresponds to Ortnit, rather than Sigurðr.

In Norway
The Norwegian ballad of Sigurd Svein (NMB 177, TSB E 50) tells of Sigurðr's selection of the horse Grani and his ride to Grípir. Although the ballad has many archaic features, it is first recorded in the middle of the 19th century.

On the Faroe Islands
On the Faroe Islands, ballads about Sigurðr are known as Sjúrðar kvæði (CCF 1); these ballads contain material from the Þiðrekssaga and the Vǫlsunga saga The original form of the ballads likely dates to the 14th century, though it is clear that many variants have been influenced by the Danish ballads. The Faroese ballads include Regin smiður (Reginn the Smith, TSB E 51), Brynhildar táttur (the song of Brynhildr, TSB E 100), and Høgna táttur (the song of Hǫgni, TSB E 55 and E 38). It is possible that Regin smiður is based on a lost Eddic poem. The Faroese ballads include Sigurðr's slaying of the dragon and acquiring of the hoard, his wooing of Guðrún and Brynhildr, and his death. They were not recorded until the end of the eighteenth century.

Pictorial Depictions
There are a number of proposed or confirmed depictions of Sigurðr's youthful adventures in Scandinavia and on the British Isles in areas under Norse influence or control. Many of the oldest depictions are very unclear however, and their depiction of the Sigurðr legend is often disputed. Attempts to identify depictions of the Sigurðr story in Sangüesa (the "Spanish Sigurðr"), in Naples (the "Norman Sigurðr"), and in northern Germany have all been refuted. There are also no confirmed depictions from Denmark.

Sigurðr's killing of Fáfnir can be iconographically identified by his killing of the dragon from below, in contrast to other depictions of warriors fighting dragons and other monsters.

Surviving depictions of Sigurðr are frequently found in churches or on crosses; this is likely because Sigurðr's defeat of the dragon was seen as prefiguring Christ's defeat of Satan. It is also possible that he was identified with the Archangel Michael, who also defeated a dragon and played an important role in the Christianization of Scandinavia.

In Sweden
The Swedish material consists mostly of runestones which can be tentatively dated to the eleventh century. The earliest of these are from Södermanland, the Ramsund carving and the Gök runestone, which appears to be a copy of the former. The stones depict Sigurðr killing Fáfnir, Reginn's headless body surrounded by his smithing tools, Sigurðr cooking Fáfnir's heart, and the birds advising Sigurðr above Grani.

Two more depictions come from Uppland, the Drävle runestone and a copy of it, the Storja Ramsjö runestone. Both show Sigurðr killing Fáfnir.

Three further depictions come from Gästrikland, the Årsund runestone, the Ockelbo runestone, which has been lost, and the Öster-Färnebo runestone. Sigurðr is depicted stabbing Fáfnir so that his sword takes the appearance of a u-rune. Other scenes on the runestones cannot be identified with the Sigurðr legend securely, and the text on the stones is unrelated.

In the British Isles
Four fragmentary crosses from the Isle of Man, from Kirk Andreas, Malew, Jurby, and Maughold depict Sigurðr stabbing Fáfnir from underneath. The crosses also depict the cooking of Fáfnir's heart, Sigurðr receiving advice from the birds, and potentially his horse Grani. These crosses possibly date to around 1000.

There are also a number of depictions from England, likely dating from the period of Norse rule between 1016 and 1042. In Lancashire, the Heysham hogback may depict Sigurðr stabbing Fáfnir through the belly as well as his horse Grani. It is one of the few monuments on the British Isles that does not appear to have been influenced by Christianity. The nearby Halton cross appears to depict Reginn forging Sigurðr's sword and Sigurðr roasting Fáfnir's heart, sucking his thumb. The iconography of these depictions resembles that found on the Isle of Man.

In Yorkshire, there are at least three further depictions: a cross fragment at Ripon Cathedral, a cross built into a church at Kirby Hill, and a lost fragment from Kirby Hill that is preserved only as a drawing. The first two attestations depict Sigurðr with his finger in his mouth while cooking Fáfnir's heart, while the third may depict Fáfnir with a sword in his heart. There is also a badly worn gravestone from York Minster that appears to show Reginn after having been beheaded and Sigurðr with his thumb in his mouth, along with possibly Grani, the fire, and the slain Fáfnir.

In Norway
Numerous Norwegian churches from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries depict scenes from the Sigurðr story on their front portals. The most famous of these is the Hylestad Stave Church, likely from around 1200. It shows numerous scenes from Sigurðr's legend: Reginn is shown in his smithy, Sigurðr fights against and kills the dragon, cooks its heart and sucks his burnt thumb, receives the advice of the birds, kills Reginn. The most complete sequence is found in the Vegusdal stave church. In some of the depictions, Sigurðr appears beside Old Testament heroes such as Samson (stave churches at Lund and Nes).

There are also two older stone carvings from Norwegian churches depicting Sigurðr killing Fáfnir.

Continental Germanic attestations
Continental Germanic traditions about Siegfried enter writing with the Nibelungelied around 1200. The German tradition strongly associates Siegfried with a kingdom called "Niederland" (Middle High German Niderlant), which, despite its name, is not the same as the modern Netherlands, but describes Siegfried's kingdom around the city of Xanten. The late medieval Heldenbuch-Prosa identifies "Niederland" with the area around Worms but describes it as a separate kingdom from king Gibich's land (i.e. the Burgundian kingdom).

Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied gives two contradictory descriptions of Siegfried's youth. On the level of the main story, Siegfried is given a courtly upbringing in Xanten by his father king Siegmund and mother Sieglind. When he is seen coming to Worms, capital of the Burgundian kingdom to woo the princess Kriemhild, however, the Burgundian vassal Hagen von Tronje narrates a different story of Siegfried's youth: according to Hagen, Siegfried was a wandering warrior (Middle High German recke) who won the hoard of the Nibelungen as well as the sword Balmung and a cloak of invisibility (Tarnkappe) that increases the wearer's strength twelve times. He also tells an unrelated tale about how Siegfried killed a dragon, bathed in its blood, and thereby received skin as hard as horn that makes him invulnerable. Of the features of young Siegfried's adventures, only those that are directly relevant to the rest of the story are mentioned.

In order to win the hand of Kriemhild, Siegfried becomes a friend of the Burgundian kings Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher. When Gunther decides to woo the warlike queen of Iceland, Brünhild, he offers to let Siegfried marry Kriemhild in exchange for Siegfried's help in his wooing of Brünhild. As part of Siegfried's help, they lie to Brünhild and claim that Siegfried is Gunther's vassal. Any wooer of Brünhild's must accomplish various physical tasks, and she will kill any man who fails. Siegfried, using his cloak of invisibility, aids Gunther in each task. Upon their return to Worms, Siegfried marries Kriemhild following Gunther's marriage to Brünhild. On Gunther's wedding night, however, Brünhild prevents him from sleeping with her, tying him up with her belt and hanging him from a hook. The next night, Siegfried uses his cloak of invisibility to overpower Brünhild, allowing Gunther to sleep with her. Although he does not sleep with Brünhild, Siegfried takes her belt and ring, later giving them to Kriemhild.

Siegfried and Kriemhild have a son, whom they name Gunther. Later, Brünhild and Kriemhild begin to fight over which of them should have precedence, with Brünhild believing that Kriemhild is only the wife of a vassal. Finally, in front of the door of the cathedral in Worms, the two queens argue who should enter first. Brünhild openly accuses Kriemhild of being married to a vassal, and Kriemhild claims that Siegfried took Brünhild's virginity, producing the belt and ring as proof. Although Siegfried denies this publicly, Hagen and Brünhild decide to murder Siegfried, and Gunther acquiesces. Hagen tricks Kriemhild into telling him where Siegfried's skin is vulnerable, and Gunther invites Siegfried to take part in a hunt in the Waskenwald (the Vosges). When Siegfried is slaking his thirst at a spring, Hagen stabs him on the vulnerable part of his back with a spear. Siegfried is mortally wounded but still attacks Hagen, before cursing the Burgundians and dying. Hagen arranges to have Siegfried's corpse thrown outside the door to Kriemhild's bedroom. Kriemhild mourns Siegfried greatly and he is buried in Worms.

The redaction of the text known as the Nibelungenlied C makes several small changes to localizations in the text: Siegfried is not killed in the Vosges, but in the Odenwald, with the narrator claiming that one can still visit the spring where he was killed near the village of Odenheim (today part of Östringen). The redactor states the Siegfried was buried at the abbey of Lorsch rather than Worms. It is also mentioned that he was buried in a marble sarcophagus—this may be connected to actual marble sarcophagi that were displayed in the abbey, having been dug up following a fire in 1090.

Rosengarten zu Worms
In the Rosengarten zu Worms (c. 1250), Siegfried is betrothed to Kriemhild and is one of the twelve heroes who defends her rose garden in Worms. Kriemhild decides that she would like to test Siegfried's mettle against the hero Dietrich von Bern, and so she invites him and twelve of his warriors to fight her twelve champions. When the fight is finally meant to begin, Dietrich initially refuses to fight Siegfried on the grounds that the dragon's blood has made Siegfried's skin invulnerable. Dietrich is convinced to fight Siegfried by the false news that his mentor Hildebrand is dead and becomes so enraged that he begins to breathe fire, melting Siegfried's protective layer of horn on his skin. He is thus able to penetrate Siegfried's skin with his sword, and Siegfried becomes so afraid that he flees to Kriemhild's lap. Only the reappearance of Hildebrand prevents Dietrich from killing Siegfried.

Siegfried's role as Kriemhild's fiancé does not accord with the Nibelungenlied, where the two are never formally betrothed. The detail that Kriemhild's father is named Gibich rather than Dancrat, the latter being his name in the Nibelungenlied', shows that the Rosengarten does include some old traditions absent in that poem, although it is still highly dependent on the Nibelungenlied''. Some of the details agree with the Þiðrekssaga. Rosengarten A mentions that Siegfried was raised by a smith named Eckerich.

Þiðrekssaga
Although the Þiðrekssaga (c. 1250) is written in Old Norse, the majority of the material is translated from Low German oral tales, as well as possibly some from German written sources such as the Nibelungenlied. Therefore, it is included here.

The Þiðrekssaga refers to Siegfried both as Sigurðr and an Old Norse approximation of the name Siegfried, Sigfrœð. He is the son of king Sigmundr of Tarlungaland (probably a corruption of Karlungaland, i.e. the land of the Carolingians) and queen Sisibe of Spain. When Sigmund returns from a campaign one day, he discovers his wife is pregnant, and believing her to be unfaithful to him, he exiles her to the "Swabian Forest", where she gives birth to Sigurðr. She dies after some time, and Sigurðr is suckled by a hind before being found by the smith Mímir. Mímir tries to raise the boy, but Sigurðr is so unruly that Mímir sends him to his brother Reginn, who has transformed into a dragon, in the hopes that he will kill the boy. Sigurðr, however, slays the dragon and tastes its flesh, whereby he learns the language of the birds and of Mímir's treachery. He smears himself with dragon's blood, making his skin invulnerable, and returns to Mímir. Mímir gives him weapons to placate him, but Sigurðr kills him. He then encounters Brynhildr (Brünhild), who gives him the horse Grani, and goes to King Isung of Bertangenland.

One day Þiðrekr (Dietrich von Bern) comes to Bertangenland; he fights against Sigurðr for three days. Þiðrekr is unable to wound Sigurðr because of his invulnerable skin, but on the third day, Þiðrekr receives the sword Mimung, which can cut through Sigurðr's skin, and defeats him. Þiðrekr and Sigurðr then ride to King Gunnarr (Gunther), where Sigurðr marries Gunnarr's sister Grimhild (Kriemhild). Sigurðr recommends to Gunnarr that he marry Brynhildr, and the two ride to woo for her. Brynhildr now claims that Sigurðr had earlier said he would marry her (unmentioned before in the text), but eventually she agrees to marry Gunnarr. She will not, however, allow Gunnarr to consummate the marriage, and so with Gunnarr's agreement, Sigurðr takes Gunnarr's shape and deflowers Brynhildr, taking away her strength. The heroes then return with Brynhildr to Gunnarr's court.

Sometime later, Grimhild and Brynhildr fight over who has a higher rank. Brynhildr claims that Sigurðr is not of noble birth, after which Grimhild announces that Sigurðr and not Gunnarr deflowered Brynhildr. Brynhildr convinces Gunnarr and Hǫgni (Hagen) to murder Sigurðr, which Hǫgni does while Sigurðr is drinking from a spring on a hunt. The brothers then place his corpse in Grimhild's bed, and she mourns.

The author of the saga has made a number of changes to create a more or less coherent story out of the many oral and possibly written sources that he used to create the saga. The author mentions alternative Scandinavian versions of many of these same tales, and appears to have changed some details to match the stories known by his Scandinavian audience. This is true in particular for the story of Sigurðr's youth, which combines elements from the Norse and continental traditions attested later in Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid, but also contains an otherwise unattested story of Siegfried's parents.

The Þiðrekssaga makes no mention of how Sigurd won the hoard of the Nibelungen.

Biterolf und Dietleib
The second half of the heroic poem Biterolf und Dietleib (between 1250 and 1300) features a war between the Burgundian heroes of the Nibelungenlied and the heroes of the cycle around Dietrich von Bern, something likely inspired by the Rosengarten zu Worms. In this context, it also features a fight between Siegfried and Dietrich in which Dietrich defeats Siegfried after initially appearing cowardly. The text also features a fight between Siegfried and the hero Heime, in which Siegfried knocks Heime's famous sword Nagelring out of his hand, after which both armies fight for control over the sword.

The text also relates that Dietrich once brought Siegfried to Etzel's court as a hostage, something which is also alluded to in the Nibelungenlied.

Heldenbuch-Prosa
The so-called "Heldenbuch-Prosa", first found in the 1480 Heldenbuch of Diebolt von Hanowe and afterwards contained in printings until 1590, is considered one of the most important attestations of a continued oral tradition outside of the Nibelungenlied, with many details agreeing with the Þiðrekssaga.

The Heldenbuch-Prosa has very little to say about Siegfried: it notes that he was the son of King Siegmund, came from "Niederland", and was married to Kriemhild. Unattested in any other source, however, is that Kriemhild orchestrated the disaster at Etzel's court in order to avenge Siegfried being killed by Dietrich von Bern. According to the Heldenbuch-Prosa, Dietrich killed Siegfried fighting in the rose garden at Worms. This may have been another version of Siegfried's death that was in oral circulation.

Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid
Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid (the song of horn-skinned Siegfried) is a late medieval/early modern heroic ballad that gives an account of Siegfried's adventures in his youth. It agrees in many details with the Þiðrekssaga and other Old Norse accounts over the Nibelungenlied, suggesting that these details existed in an oral tradition about Siegfried in Germany.

According to the Hürnen Seyfrid, Siegfried had to leave his father Siegmund's court for his uncouth behavior and was raised by a smith in the forest. He was so unruly, however, that the smith arranged for him to be killed by a dragon. Siegfried was able to kill the dragon, however, and eventually kills many more by trapping them under logs and setting them on fire. The dragon's skin, described as hard as horn, melts, and Siegfried sticks his finger into it, discovering that his finger is now hard as horn as well. He smears himself with the melted dragon skin everywhere except for one spot. Later, he stumbles upon the trail of another dragon that has kidnapped princess Kriemhild of Worms. With the help of the dwarf Eugel, Siegfried fights the giant Kuperan, who has the key to the mountain Kriemhild has been taken to. He rescues the princess and slays the dragon, finding the treasure of the Nibelungen inside the mountain. Eugel prophesies, however, the Siegfried only has eight years to live. Realizing he will not be able to use the treasure, Siegfried dumps the treasure into the Rhine on his way to Worms. He marries Kriemhild and rules there together with her brothers Gunther, Hagen, and Giselher, but they resent him and have him killed after eight years.

Other traditions and attestations
The Icelandic abbot Nicholaus of Thvera records that while travelling through Westphalia, he was shown the place where Sigurd slew the dragon (called Gnita-Heath in the Norse tradition) between two villages south of Paderborn.

In a song of the mid-thirteenth-century wandering lyric poet Der Marner, "the death of Siegfried" (Sigfrides [...] tôt) is mentioned as a popular story that the German courtly public enjoys hearing, along with "the hoard of the Nibelungs" (der Nibelunge hort).

The chronicles of the city of Worms record that when Emperor Frederick III visited the city in 1488, he learned that the townspeople said that the "giant Siegfried" (gigas [...] Sifridus des Hörnen) was buried in the cemetery of St. Meinhard and St. Cecilia. Frederick ordered the graveyard dug up—according to one Latin source, he found nothing, but a German chronicle reports that he found a skull and some bones that were larger than normal.

Theories about the development of the Sigurðr figure
It is difficult to trace the development of the traditions surrounding Sigurðr. If the theory that he has his origins in Sigebert I is correct, then the earliest part of the tradition would be his murder as the result of a feud between two women, in real life between his wife Brunhild of Austrasia and Fredegund, in the saga then between his wife Guðrún/Kriemhild and Brynhildr/Brünhild. The earliest attested tradition about Sigurd is his slaying of a dragon, however, which supports the notion that he may have a purely mythological origin, or that he represents the combination of a mythological figure with a historical one.

Relationship to Sigmundr and the Vǫlsungar
It is unclear whether Sigurðr's descent from the god Óðinn via Vǫlsungr, described only in the Vǫlsunga saga, represents an old common tradition, or whether it is a development unique to the Scandinavian material. Anglo-Saxon, Frankish, and other West Germanic royal genealogies often begin with Wōdan or some other mythical ancestor such as Gautr, meaning that it is certainly possible that Sigurðr's divine descent is an old tradition. Wolfgang Haubrichs notes that the genealogy of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Deira has a similar prevalence of names beginning with the element Sigi- and that the first ancestor listed is Wōdan.

Sigurðr's relationship to Sigmundr, attested as Sigurðr's father in both the Scandinavian and continental traditions, has been interpreted in various ways. Notably, references to Sigurðr in Scandinavia can only be dated to the eleventh-century, while references to Sigmundr in Scandinavia and England, including in Beowulf, can be dated earlier. It is possible that Sigmundr's parentage is a later development, as the Scandinavian tradition and the German tradition represented by Hürnen Seyfrid locate Sigurðr's childhood in the forest and show him to be unaware of his parentage. Catalin Taranu argues that Sigurðr only became Sigmundr's son to provide the orphan Sigurðr with a suitable heroic past. This may have occurred via the story that Sigurðr has to avenge his father's death at the hands of the sons of Hundingr.

The Old English tradition of Siġemund (Sigmundr) complicates things even more: in Beowulf Sigmundr is said to have slain a dragon and won a hoard. This may be a minor variant of the Sigurðr story, or it is possible that the original dragon slayer was Sigmundr, and the story was transferred from father to son. Alternatively, it is possible that Sigurðr and Sigmundr were originally the same figure, and were only later split into father and son. John McKinnell argues that Sigurðr only became the dragon-slayer in the mid-eleventh century. Hermann Reichert, on the other hand, argues that the two dragon-slayings are originally unrelated: Sigurðr kills one when he is young, which represents a sort of heroic initiation, whereas Sigmundr kills a dragon when he is old, which cannot be interpreted in this way. In his view, this makes an original connection between or identity of the two slayings unlikely.

Sigurðr's youth
The slaying of the dragon is attested on the eleventh-century Ramsund carving in Sweden, and the Gök Runestone, which appears to be a copy of the carving. Both stones depict elements of the story identifiable from the later Norse myths. In both the Scandinavian and the German versions, Sigurðr's slaying of the dragon embues him with superhuman abilities. In the Norse sources, Sigurðr comes to understand the language of the birds after tasting the dragon's blood and then eating its heart. In the German versions, Siegfried bathes in the dragon's blood, developing a skin that is as hard as horn (Middle High German hürnen).

In the continental sources, Sigurðr's winning of the hoard of the Nibelungen and slaying of the dragon are two separate events; the Þiðrekssaga does not even mention Sigurðr's acquiring the hoard. In the Norse tradition, the two events are combined and Sigurðr's awakening of Brynhildr and avenging of his father are also mentioned, though not in all sources. It is likely that the Norse tradition has substantially reworked the events of Sigurðr's youth. Sigurðr's liberation of a virgin woman, Brynhildr/Brünhild, is only told in Scandinavian sources, but may be an original part of the oral tradition along with the slaying of the dragon, since the Nibelungenlied seems to indicate that Siegfried and Brünhild already know each other. This is not entirely clear, however. It is possible that Siegfried's rescue of Kriemhild (rather than Brünhild) in the late-medieval Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid reflects the tradition that Sigurðr liberated a virgin.

The origin of the hoard as a cursed ransom paid by the gods is generally taken to be a late and uniquely Scandinavian development.

Also attested on the Ramsund Carving, and thus at an early date, is that Sigurðr was raised by a smith. While absent in the Nibelungenlied, the Rosengarten and late-medieval Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid show that this tradition was present in Germany as well.

The death of Sigurðr and connection to the Burgundians
On the basis of the poem Atlakviða it is generally believed that Sigurðr was not originally connected to the story of the destruction of the Burgundians by Attila (Old Norse Atli, Middle High German Etzel). The earliest text to make this connection is the Nibelungenlied (c. 1200); the combination appears to be older, but it is difficult to say by how much. In the German tradition, this connection led to the change of the role of Sigurðr's widow from avenger of her brothers to avenger of her husband on her brothers, again, sometime before the composition of the Nibelungenlied.

Modern reception
Siegfried remained a popular figure in Germany via Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid and its prose version, the Historia vom gehörnten Siegfried, the latter of which was still printed in the nineteenth century. The prose version was popular enough that in 1660 a sequel was written about Siegfried's son with "Florigunda" (Kriemhild), Löwhardus. The Nibelungenlied, on the other hand, was forgotten until it was rediscovered in 1755.

The majority of the Scandinavian material about Sigurðr remained better known through the early modern period to the 19th century due to the so-called "Scandinavian Renaissance", which resulted in knowledge of Eddic poems influencing the popular ballads about Sigurðr in Scandinavian folklore.

Originally, modern reception of Siegfried in Germany was dominated by a sentimental view of the figure, shown in the many paintings and images produced in this time depicting Siegfried taking leave from Kriemhild, the first encounter of Siegfried and Kriemhild, their wedding, etc. The Norse tradition about Sigurðr, which was considered to be more "original" and Germanic, in many ways replaced direct engagement with the German Nibelungenlied, and was highly influential in the conception of the Siegfried figure in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1874). Wagner's portrayal of Siegfried was to influence the modern public's view of the figure immensely.

Outside of Germany and Scandinavia, most of the reception of Sigurd has been mediated through, or at least influenced by, his depiction in Wagner's Ring.

According to the footnote from the novel Little Briar Rose by Brothers Grimm, the story of Brynhildr and Sigurðr's encounter is the relevant origin for the literature.

Video games
Sigurðr makes his appearance as a Saber-class servant in Fate/Grand Order since the release of the Götterdämmerung Chapter.

Gallery

 * Image gallery of Sigurðr