Volsunga saga

Volsunga Saga

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Volsunga saga

The Völsunga saga is a legendary saga

Legendary saga

A Legendary saga or Fornaldarsaga is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the colonization of Iceland....
, a late 13th century

13th century in poetry

Europe...
Icelandic

Iceland

Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland , is an island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean between mainland Europe and Greenland....
prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Volsung

Volsung

In Norse mythology, V?lsung was murdered by the Geatish king Siggeir and avenged by one of his sons, Sigmund and his daughter Signy who was married to Siggeir....
clan (including the story of Sigurd

Sigurd

Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Volsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving and the G?k Runestone ....
and Brynhild and destruction of the Burgundians

Burgundians

File:Roman Empire 125.svgThe Burgundians were an East Germanic language Germanic tribes which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe....
). It is largely based on epic poetry. The earliest known representation of this tradition is in pictoral form as the Ramsund carving, Sweden

Sweden

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The Völsunga saga is a legendary saga

Legendary saga

A Legendary saga or Fornaldarsaga is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the colonization of Iceland....
, a late 13th century

13th century in poetry

Europe...
Icelandic

Iceland

Volsung

Sigurd

Burgundians

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
, which was created c. 1000 AD.

The origins of the material are considerably older, however, and it echoes real events in Central Europe during the fifth and sixth centuries. On the other hand, the only manuscript of the saga, Ny kgl. Saml. 1824 b 4to, dates to about 1400. In this manuscript, the saga leads straight in to Ragnars saga loðbrókar
Ragnar Lodbrok

Ragnar Lodbrok was a Norsemen legendary hero from the Viking Age who was thoroughly reshaped in Old Norse poetry and legendary sagas.The namesake and subject of ?Ragnar?s Saga?, and one of the most popular Viking heroes among the Norse themselves, Ragnar was a great Viking commander and the scourge of France....
.

The Middle High German

Middle High German

Middle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German....
epic poem

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation....
Nibelungenlied
Nibelungenlied

The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poetry in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Sigurd at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Gudrun's revenge....
is based largely on the old stories, which were commonly known in all of the Germanic lands from the early Middle Ages on, but reworks the material into a courtly medieval setting.

One of the most notable adaptations of this text is Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, Conducting, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas . Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote both the scenario and libretto for his works....
's operatic suite, the Ring Cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen is a literature cycle of four epic poetry music dramas by the Germany composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Sagas and the Nibelungenlied....
.

External links

R. G. Finch (ed. and trans.), The Saga of the Volsungs (London: Nelson, 1965), available at . A fine translation with facing page Old Icelandic text and a good (if dated) introduction.
and in Old Norse from «Kulturformidlingen norrøne tekster og kvad» Norway.
, translated by William Morris
William Morris

William Morris was an English architect, furniture and textile designer, artist, writer, and Socialism associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement....
and Eirikr Magnusson.
. The Volsunga Saga retold by Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang was a prolific Scotland man of letters. He was a poet, novelist, and literary critic, and contributor to anthropology. He now is best known as the folkloristics of folklore and fairy tales....
.