Epic
The Saga of the Volsungs
Völsunga saga
Anonymous · 1270
Synopsis
The story of a lineage descended from Odin: Sigi, said to be the god's son, is banished for killing a slave, and his descendants pass through Rerir and Völsungr. Sigmundr, son of Völsungr, pulls out the sword that Odin has planted in the tree Barnstokkr, and his twin sister Signý, married to Siggeir, prepares with him and their son Sinfjötli a vengeance against her husband. Sigurðr, son of Sigmundr, raised by Reginn, kills the dragon Fáfnir and wins the cursed ring Andvaranaut, then his fate crosses that of Brynhildr and the Gjúkungar.
Context
Written around 1270, the saga is the first of the legendary sagas to be set down in writing; it puts into prose the heroic poems of the Poetic Edda, preserving some that are otherwise lost, and gives the Norse version of the story also told in the Song of the Nibelungs. The material is much older: it preserves the memory of the destruction of the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns in the fifth century, and the Ramsund carving in Sweden, around the year one thousand, is its oldest depiction. The only medieval manuscript, copied around 1400 and kept in the Royal Library in Copenhagen, continues straight on into the saga of Ragnarr Hairy-Breeches.
Who it is for
A prose narrative of medium length, available in French; the first generations call for attention.
Prizes and reception
One of the sources of Wagner's Ring, Reyer's Sigurd, Ibsen's Guerriers à Helgeland and William Morris's poem.