Editing Gudrun (section)

==Theories about the development of the Gudrun figure==
Based on ''Atlakviða'', most scholars believe that the destruction of the Burgundians and the murder of Sigurd were originally separate traditions.{{sfn|Millet|2008|pp=51–52}} Gudrun's two names may result from the merging of two different figures, one who was the wife of Sigurd, and one who was the brother of the Burgundians killed by Attila.{{sfn|Gillespie|1973|p=21}}

The first attestation of Kriemhild or Gudrun, however, is the ''Nibelungenlied''.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=195}} This is also the first secure attestation of a combined legend of the death of Sigurd and the destruction of the Burgundians.{{sfn|Millet|2008|pp=195–196}}

===Role in the destruction of Burgundians===
The destruction of the Burgundian kingdom derives from the destruction of a historical Burgundian kingdom, ruled by king [[Gundicharius]] (Gunther) and located on the Rhine, by the Roman general [[Flavius Aetius]] in 436/437, possibly with the help of Hunnish mercenaries.{{sfn|Müller|2009|pp=19-20}} The downfall of this kingdom was blamed on Attila and combined with his death at the hands of his wife at some early point in the development of the legend.{{sfn|Millet|2008|pp=52–53}}{{sfn|Heinzle|2013|pp=1008-1009}}

Scholars are generally in agreement that Gudrun's original role in the destruction of Burgundians was that of the Scandinavian tradition, in which she avenges her brothers.{{sfn|Lienert|2015|p=35}}{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=198}}{{sfn|Gentry|McConnell|Müller|Wunderlich|2011|p=76}} Her role then altered in the continental tradition once the story of the destruction of the Burgundians became attached to the story of Sigurd's murder. These changes occurred sometime before the composition of the ''Nibelungenlied'' (c. 1200), the first text to securely attest either development.{{sfn|Heinzle|2013|pp=1009–1010}}{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=198}}

Jan-Dirk Müller, however, argues that we cannot know for sure which version of Gudrun's role is more original, as neither resembles the actual historical destruction of the Burgundians or the end of Etzel's kingdom. He suggests that the change in roles may be because of the continental tradition's more favorable view of Attila.{{sfn|Müller|2009|pp=32–33}}

===Attachment to the legend of Ermanaric and Svanhild===
The attachment of Gudrun's legend to that of [[Ermanaric]] (Jǫrmunrek) and [[Svanhildr|Svanhild]] is a Scandinavian innovation that brings this legend into direct contact with the more famous legend of Sigurd.{{sfn|Millet|2008|pp=307–38}} Edward Haymes and Susan Samples believe that it is a relatively late development.{{sfn|Haymes|Samples|1996|p=126}} Other scholars date it to the tenth century, however, on the basis of a version of the story cited in the [[Skaldic poem]] ''[[Ragnarsdrápa]]'': the narrator there refers to Ermanaric's killers as descendants of Gjúki, Gudrun's father.{{sfn|Glauser|1999|p=475}} This poem is attributed to the poet [[Bragi Boddason]], who lived in the tenth century, although other scholars date it instead to around 1000 and believe that the attribution to Bragi is incorrect.{{sfn|McTurk|2003|p=115}}