Editing Gudrun (section)

==Scandinavian traditions and attestations==
===''Gesta Danorum''===
The Danish historian [[Saxo Grammaticus]] records a version of the story of Jorumrek ([[Ermanaric]])'s death that includes Gudrun (as Guthruna) in Latin in his ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'' .{{sfn|Glauser|1999|p=474}} In this version, in which "Jarmericus" is a Danish king, Gudrun appears as a powerful sorceress who casts spells on the weapons of the brothers coming to avenge Svanhild's death that make them invincible.{{sfn|Sprenger|1992|p=125}}

Saxo probably completed his history before 1208,{{sfn|Friis-Jensen|2004|p=555}} making this the earliest version of the Scandinavian tradition to have survived and roughly contemporary with the ''Nibelungenlied''. Victor Millet nevertheless believes that Saxo is of little value as a source for authentic heroic traditions, as he appears to have thoroughly altered whatever sources he used.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=138}}

===''Prose Edda''===
[[File:Brynhild och Gudrun by Anders Zorn.jpg|thumb|''Brynhild och Gudrun'' by [[Anders Zorn]], 1893.]]

The so-called [[Prose Edda]] of [[Snorri Sturluson]] is the earliest attestation of the full Scandinavian version of Gudrun's life, dating to around 1220.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=291}} Snorri tells the story of Gudrun in several chapters of the section of the poem called ''Skáldskaparsmál''.{{sfn|Gentry|McConnell|Müller|Wunderlich|2011|p=12}} His presentation of the story is very similar to that found in the ''Völsunga saga'' (see below), but is considerably shorter.{{sfn|Haymes|Samples|1996|p=127}}

Gudrun is introduced as the daughter of Gjúki and Grimhild, full sister to Gunnar and Högni, and half-sister to Guthorm. Gudrun marries Sigurd when he comes to Gjúki's kingdom. When Sigurd returns from aiding Gunnar in his wooing of Brunhild, Sigurd and Gudrun have two children, a son named Sigmund and a daughter named Svanhild.{{sfn|Sturluson|2005|pp=98–99}} Some time later, Gudrun and Brunhild have a quarrel while washing their hair in a river: Brunhild says that she cannot have the water that touched Gudrun's hair touch hers, for she is married to the braver husband. The fight leads Gudrun to reveal that it was Sigurd in Gunnar's shape who rode through the flames to woo Brunhild, producing a ring that Sigurd had taken from Brunhild as proof. This knowledge leads Brunhild to agitate for Sigurd's murder, which is performed by Gudrun's half-brother Guthorm, who also kills the young Sigmund.{{sfn|Sturluson|2005|pp=99–100}}

Following this, Gudrun is married to king Atli ([[Attila]]). When Atli invites Gudrun's brothers and kills them for their gold, Gudrun kills her two sons by Atli. She makes their skulls into drinking goblets and cooks their hearts, giving them to Atli to eat. She then tells Atli what she has done, and later kills Atli together with Högni's son. She then burns down the hall.{{sfn|Sturluson|2005|pp=100–101}}

Afterwards, Gudrun tries to drown herself in the sea, but she washes ashore in the land of King Jonak. Jonak marries her and has three sons with her, Sorli, Hamdir, and Erp. Svanhild, Sigurd's daughter, is also raised there, before being married to king Jormunrek. When Jormunrek kills Svanhild for adultery, Gudrun tells her sons to kill him, giving them special weapons that could not be pierced by iron. The sons die in the attempt, leading to the extinction of Gjúki's line.{{sfn|Sturluson|2005|pp=101–102}}

===''Poetic Edda''===
The ''[[Poetic Edda]]'', a collection of heroic and mythological Nordic poems, appears to have been compiled around 1270 in Iceland, and assembles mythological and heroic songs of various ages.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=288}} As elsewhere in the Scandinavian tradition, Gudrun is portrayed as the sister of Gunnar and Högni. Depending on the poem Guthorm is either her full brother, step-brother, or half-brother.{{sfn|Gillespie|1973|p=50}} A sister Gullrönd also appears in one poem.{{sfn|Gentry|McConnell|Müller|Wunderlich|2011|p=75}}

Generally, none of the poems in the collection is thought to be older than 900 and some appear to have been written in the thirteenth century.{{sfn|Haymes|Samples|1996|p=119}} It is also possible that apparently old poems have been written in an archaicizing style and that apparently recent poems are reworkings of older material, so that reliable dating is impossible.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=294}}

====''Grípisspá''====
In ''[[Grípisspá]]'', a prophecy that Sigurd receives about his future life and deeds, it is mentioned that Gudrun will be his wife, and that Brunhild will feel insulted by this.{{sfn|Larrington|2014|p=145}} The prophecy ends shortly after describing Gudrun's grief and blaming her mother Grimhild for the whole debacle.{{sfn|Larrington|2014|p=146}}

The poem is probably not very old.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=301}}

====''Brot af Sigurðarkviðu''====
''[[Brot af Sigurðarkviðu]]'' is only preserved fragmentarily: the surviving part of the poem tells the story of Sigurd's murder. The poem briefly shows Gudrun's surprise and grief at Sigurd's death, as well as her hostility to Brunhild.{{sfn|McKinnell|2014|p=257}} She is portrayed as a less important character than Brunhild.{{sfn|McKinnell|2014|p=252}} The lost part of the poem probably shows Gudrun to reveal Sigurd and Gunnar's deception in the wooing.{{sfn|McKinnell|2014|p=257}}

====''Guðrúnarkviða I''====
In ''[[Guðrúnarkviða I]]'', Gudrun lies besides Sigurd's corpse but is unable to weep. Two other women attempt to comfort her by telling of their own grief, but it is only when Gudrun's sister Gullrönd uncovers Sigurd's body and tells her to kiss it that she is able to weep. Gudrun now accuses Gunnar of the murder and denies him any right to Sigurd's treasure. She warns that she will avenge her husband.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=297}} It is implied that if Gudrun had been unable to weep, she may have died.{{sfn|McKinnell|2014|p=259}}

The poem focuses entirely on Gudrun's grief at the death of Sigurd, omitting almost all details surrounding his death.{{sfn|McKinnell|2014|pp=258-259}} The three women, including Gudrun's sister Gullrönd, are probably inventions of the poet.{{sfn|McKinnell|2014|p=259}}

====''Sigurðarkviða hin skamma''====
''[[Sigurðarkviða hin skamma]]'' retells the story of Sigurd's life from his arrival at Gunnar's court to his murder.
Gudrun plays a passive role in the poem.{{sfn|McKinnell|2014|p=257}} She is shown to wake up in a pool of blood from the dying Sigurd, who then makes a short speech to her blaming Brunhild, predicting the murder of their son, assuring her that he has not slept with Brunhild, and noting that he brothers still live. After this, she disappears from the poem and is only mentioned by Brunhild.{{sfn|McKinnell|2014|p=257}}

====''Dráp Niflunga''====
The ''[[Dráp Niflunga]]'' is a short prose section connecting the death of Sigurd to the following poems about the Burgundians (Niflungs) and Atli (Attila). Atli, who is Brunhild's brother, blames Gunnar for Brunhild's death, and in order to placate him Gunnar marries Gudrun to Atli. Gudrun must be given a magic potion to make her forget about Sigurd first. Some time later Atli invites Gunnar and Högni intending to betray them and take their gold. Gudrun attempts to warn her brothers, but they come anyway. After they are taken prisoner by Atli, she asks her sons to intervene with their father on Gunnar and Högni's behalf, but they refuse.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=298}}

====''Guðrúnarkviða II''====
In ''[[Guðrúnarkviða II]]'', Gudrun is at Atli's court. She laments of her fate to Thiodrek (Þjódrekr, i.e. [[Dietrich von Bern]] and tells the story of her tribulations leading to her marriage to Atli. She recounts how Sigurd was killed and how she then wandered to Denmark, where she stayed with King Half for three and a half years. Then her family came for her, and her mother Grimhild gave her a potion to forget her sorrow. Then she was forced to marry Atli. One night, Atli awoke and told Gudrun that he had had a dream that she would kill him and cause him to eat his sons.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=298}} Gudrun interprets the dream in a way that makes it seem harmless.{{sfn|Sprenger|1999|p=151}}

The poem is probably one of the most recent in the ''Poetic Edda''.{{sfn|Sprenger|1999|p=152}} Its account of Sigurd's death generally follow the account in ''Brot af Sigurðarkviðu'', but ignores Brunhild and includes the detail that Gudrun went into the woods to mourn over Sigurd's body.{{sfn|McKinnell|2014|pp=257-258}} The inclusion of the figure of Thiodrek points to continental influence on the poem.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=305}} The last stanza is incomplete, and scholars debate whether the poem originally also included Gudrun's killing of Atli and his sons.{{sfn|Sprenger|1999|p=151}}

Victor Millet notes that the detail of the potion of forgetting helps explain why Gudrun does not seek to avenge Sigurd; he connects this to a possible attempt to discount the continental version of the story, which the poet appears to have known.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=305}} The use of the name Grimhild for her mother, the cognate name for Kriemhild, and that character's manifest wickedness may also derive from the continental tradition.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=306}}

====''Guðrúnarkviða III''====
In ''[[Guðrúnarkviða III]]'', Atli's concubine Herkja accuses Gudrun of sleeping with Thiodrek. Gudrun denies the charges and engages in an [[trial by ordeal|ordeal of hot water]] to prove her innocence. To perform the ordeal, she puts her hand into the kettle of boiling water, and because she is innocent, she is unscathed. Herkja is then forced to perform the same ordeal and burns herself. As a punishment, she is killed by being [[bog body|drowned in a bog]].{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=298}}{{sfn|Sprenger|1999|p=152}}

Like ''Guðrúnarkviða II'', ''Guðrúnarkviða III'' shows knowledge of continental traditions with the figure of Thiodrek.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=305}} In addition, Herkja corresponds to the German Helche (in the ''Thidrekssaga'', Erka), the first wife of Etzel (Atli) in the continental tradition. She only appears here in the ''Poetic Edda''.{{sfn|Haymes|Samples|1996|p=124}} Michael Curschmann argues that the poem is a transformation of a continental Germanic legend in which Dietrich (Thjodrek) is accused of sleeping with Etzel's wife Helche (Herkja), with whom he had a close relationship; an Old Norse poet then made Herkja into a concubine and accuser and made Gudrun into the accused.{{sfn|Curschmann|1988|pp=149-152}}

Although the poem is placed before the poems about Atli's death in the codex, references to Gudrun being without kin seem to indicate that it takes place after the death of the Burgundians.{{sfn|Larrington|2014|p=308 n. 5}}{{sfn|Gentry|McConnell|Müller|Wunderlich|2011|p=76}}

====''Atlakviða''====
In ''[[Atlakviða]]'', Atli invites Gudrun's brothers Högni and Gunnar to his hall with the intent of killing them. The brothers come, although Gudrun has sent them a warning. Once Gunnar and Högni are dead, Gudrun offers Atli a drink and invites him and the Huns to a feast. After all are drunk, she reveals that Atli has eaten his sons, kills him, then sets the hall on fire, killing everyone within, including herself.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=299, 307}}{{sfn|Beck|1973|p=165}}

''Atlakviða'' is commonly supposedly to be one of the oldest poems in the ''Poetic Edda'', possibly dating from the ninth century.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=48, 51}} Gudrun feeding Atli his sons may derive from the antique story of [[Tereus]] and [[Procne]], however.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=55}} The poem is particularly notable in that Sigurd is not mentioned at all.{{sfn|Beck|1973|p=466-467}}

====''Atlamál hin groenlenzku''====
''[[Atlamál hin groenlenzku]]'' tells the same story as ''Atlakviða'' with several important differences. Gudrun tries to warn her brothers of Atli's betrayal, but they decide to come anyway. Gudrun greets her brothers when they arrive and tries to negotiate between them and Atli, but when she sees that this is not possible she fights together with them until she is captured. Gudrun and Atli then accuse each other of causing the slaughter. Atli kills Gunnar and Högni and then tells Gudrun. She curses him, and he offers her some form of compensation, which she refuses. Gudrun pretends to have reconciled herself with the situation, but secretly kills her sons and feeds them to Atli. She tells Atli what he has eaten then kills Atli with the help of Högni's son Hniflung. While he dies, Atli claims to have treated Gudrun well and accuses her of being cruel. Gudrun defends herself and promises to bury Atli appropriately, and tries to kill herself.{{sfn|Millet|2008|pp=299-300}}

This version of the poem makes the destruction of the Burgundians look like the result of a feud between Atli and Gudrun; Atli is even said to execute Gunnar and Högni to hurt his wife.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=307}}

====''Guðrúnarhvöt''====
[[File:Gudrun agitating her sons.jpg|thumb|Gudrun agitating her sons.]]
''Guðrúnarhvöt'' is proceeded by a brief prose interlude that explains that tried to drown herself in the sea after killing Atli, but was instead taken to the land of King Jonak, who married her and with whom she had three sons, Hamdir, Sorli, and Erp, and where she also raises Svanhild, her daughter with Sigurd. Svanhild is married to Jormunrek, who later kills her on suspicion of jealousy.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=300}}

The poem proper starts after Gudrun has learned of Svanhild's death: she stirs up her three sons to kill Jormunrek and avenge their sister. The brothers agree, warning her, however, they will surely die. This leads Gudrun to tell them of her own woes in life.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=300}} Once she is left alone, Gudrun calls for death and hopes that Sigurd will ride back from [[Hel (location)|Hel]] to see her. They will then burn together on the same funeral pyre.{{sfn|Gentry|McConnell|Müller|Wunderlich|2011|p=16}}

====''Hamðismál''====
Gudrun appears briefly at the beginning of ''[[Hamðismál]]'': she encourages her sons to avenge Svanhild, which they reluctantly agree to do.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=300}}

This lay is often supposed to be the oldest in the ''Poetic Edda'',{{sfn|Gentry|McConnell|Müller|Wunderlich|2011|p=12}} but more recent scholarship suggests it may actually be fairly recent.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=294}}

===''Völsunga saga''===
The ''[[Völsunga saga]]'' follows the plot given in the ''Poetic Edda'' fairly closely, although there is no indication that the author knew the other text.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=319}} The author appears to have been working in Norway and to have known the ''Thidrekssaga'', and therefore the ''Völsunga Saga'' is dated to sometime in the second half of the thirteenth century.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=313}}

In the saga, Gudrun is the daughter of Gjuki, sister to Gunnar and Högni, and Guthorm. Gudrun is introduced to the saga having a bad dream; she chooses to go to Brunhild to have this dream interpreted. Brunhild explains that Gudrun will marry Sigurd, even though he is betrothed to Brunhild, and that Gudrun will afterwards lose him due to conflict. When Sigurd comes to the court, Gudrun's mother Grimhild gives Sigurd a potion to forget his betrothal to Brunhild, and he marries Gudrun. Sigurd then helps Gunnar woo Brunhild, using a spell taught them by Grimhild, and for a time Brunhild and Gudrun share Gjuki's court.{{sfn|Millet|2008|pp=315-316}}

One day Gudrun and Brunhild quarrel while washing their hair; Brunhild insists that her husband Gunnar is a higher-ranking man than Sigurd. This causes Gudrun to reveal that it was Sigurd in Gunnar's shape who won Brunhild, and she shows Brunhild a ring that Brunhild had given Sigurd as proof. The queens continue their quarrel in the king's hall the next day. Brunhild then persuades Gunnar and Högni to have Sigurd killed, claiming that Sigurd slept with her. The murder is carried out by their younger brother Guthorm. Guthorm attacks Sigurd while he is asleep in bed with Gudrun; Sigurd is mortally wounded, but kills Guthorm. He then assures Gudrun that he never deceived Gunnar and dies. Gudrun then cries out loudly, which Brunhild answers with a loud laugh.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=316}}

Gudrun afterwards flees to the Danish king Half, but is later retrieved by her family. Grimhild gives her daughter a potion to make her forget her anger against her brothers, then convinces a reluctant Gudrun to marry Atli. Atli and Gudrun are not happily married, and Atli soon desires the gold of Gudrun's brothers. He invites them to his hall intending to kill them for the gold. Gudrun warns them, but the warning is ignored. When the brothers arrive, Gudrun first attempts to mediate between the two sides, but afterwards fights with her brothers until they are captured and then killed. During the preparations for the funeral feast for her brothers, Gudrun kills Atli's sons. She feeds their flesh to Atli. Then she kills Atli in his bed with the help of Högni's son Niflung. Finally, they set the palace on fire and kill everyone inside.{{sfn|Millet|2008|pp=316-317}}

Gudrun now attempts to drown herself, but she is instead washed up in the land of king Jonak, who marries her. They have three sons, Hamdir, Sorli, and Erp. Gudrun's daughter with Sigurd, Svanhild, is also raised at Jonak's court. Svanhild marries King Jormunrek, but kills her on suspicion of adultery. Gudrun then rallies her sons to avenge their half-sister, giving them armor that cannot be cut through by iron.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=317}}

===Wild Hunt===
{{main|Wild Hunt}}
In the legend of the [[Wild Hunt]], Gudhrun Gjúkadottir is referred to as Guro Rysserova ("Gudrun Horse-tail").<ref>Kveldulf Hagen Gundarsson, "The Folklore of the Wild Hunt and the Furious Host", from ''Mountain Thunder'', Issue 7, Winter 1992. "In Norway, the oskorei [The Wild Hunt] is led by Sigurd Svein and Guro Rysserova ("Gudrun Horse-tail")—the Sigurdhr Fáfnisbani and Gudhrun Gjúkadottir of the Eddic lays."</ref>