Some Medieval Norwegian Stave Churches Decorated Their Portals With Images Of Sigurd The Dragon-Slayer

Sigurd, the mythical slayer of the dragon Fafnir, was a member of the Volsung family. According to the tales, the Volsungs were one of several powerful families started by the archgod of the Norse pantheon—Odin. As if the Volsung line and Sigurd’s act of dragon-slaying were not epic enough, Sigurd’s daughter Aslaug married the legendary Viking, Ragnar Lothbrok, whose sons, most notably Ivar the Boneless, were the alleged leaders of the “Great Heathen Army” that invaded Britain in the year 865.

Carvings of scenes from Sigurd’s adventures have been found dating back to the 10th century. Many of the oldest of such carvings were located on the Isle of Man, a hub for Viking activity in Britain. It took a few more centuries for the tales of the dragon-slayer to be written down into a textual format. It appears that the German version of the tale came first, around 1200, by way of the Nibelungenlied, where the hero was known as Siegfried instead of Sigurd. The Icelandic Saga of the Volsungs, was written around the same time, with the date of its creation ranging anywhere from 1200 to 1270. Even though the 13th-century edition of the saga is the only one that survives, scholars believe that the anonymous author of The Saga of the Volsungs used an earlier (now lost) Volsung-themed saga as a source for his own work.

By the 13th century, when saga writing in Iceland became popular, the Scandinavian world was heavily Christianized. The governing body of Iceland, the Althing, formally announced its conversion to the Christian faith in the year 1,000. Even so, many medieval Scandinavians, especially the Icelanders, never lost interest in their old pagan gods and the stories about the North's greatest warriors and adventurers. The dragon-slayer, Sigurd the Volsung, despite being allegedly descended from Odin, was also able to mesh with surprising ease into the Christianized society of Scandinavia. After all, even the archangel Michael was often depicted as a slayer of dragons. As such, no complaints were made when numerous stave (wooden) churches of 12th- and 13th- century Norway were decorated with carvings not of the angelic Michael, but of mighty Sigurd slaying the dragon Fafnir. In particular, these carvings of Sigurd were frequently located on the doorframes (or portals) to the stave churches, presumably so that the mythical hero would scare off Satan, the greatest of evil serpents, from entering the holy sanctuary.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Image from the Hedalen stave church, c. 1853, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Saga of the Volsungs, by an anonymous 13th-century Icelander, translated by Jesse L. Byock. New York: Penguin Classics, 1990, 1999.

The Mythical Hero, Sigurd The Volsung, Had A Bad Habit Of Cutting His Enemies In Half

Spoken tales of the dragon-slayer, Sigurd, were around long before anyone took the time to write the legend down into a textual format. Even though the oldest surviving written accounts of Sigurd (or Siegfried in Germanic legend) date to the 13th century, carvings that depicted scenes from Sigurd’s adventures were produced as early as the 10th century. The age in which the mythical Sigurd was supposed to have lived was called the Migration Period, an era which has been given an approximate date of being between the years 300 and 700 by modern historians. In particular, the character of Sigurd was set in the late 4th and 5th century, because a character named Atli, inspired by Attila the Hun (d. 453), was said to have been a contemporary of Sigurd.

According to The Saga of the Volsungs (written in 13th-century Iceland), Sigurd was born in Denmark, but descended from the Volsung tribe, which was said to have controlled some land in France. Like the similarly legendary Yngling family, the Volsungs were supposedly able to trace their ancestry back to the high-god of the Norse religion, Odin. As such, Sigurd and other members of his family were often portrayed as having superhuman abilities. Sigurd, himself, was described as being a brown-haired man of unequaled strength and height. Along with his physical prowess, Sigurd also had the gift of foresight, as well as an extensive knowledge of magic, and he even acquired a power that let him understand birds.

In addition to all of these mighty attributes, Sigurd was also equipped with the great sword, Gram, which he had forged from the broken pieces of an ancestral sword handed over to the Volsungs by Odin. When Gram was completed, it was said to have been seven “spans” long and was sturdy enough that Sigurd could chop through an anvil without cracking or denting the blade. The hero’s own natural might, combined with the durability of Gram, turned Sigurd the Volsung into an unstoppable force on the battlefield.

With such power, Sigurd enjoyed dispatching his opponents with a flair of showmanship. In particular, Sigurd had a fondness for cutting people in half. At least three named characters in The Saga of the Volsungs experienced this unpleasant fate. Sigurd’s peculiar habit played a prominent role in his battle against the sons of Hunding, of which, only two sons were named—Hjorvard and his brother, King Lyngvi. During the bloody battle, Sigurd sliced Hjorvard in two and dramatically cut Lyngvi straight down the middle, slicing through the king’s helmet and mail coat. Even in his final death scene, Sigurd had to chop just one more person in half. According to the tale, Sigurd’s brother-in-law, Guttorm, stabbed the hero while he was sleeping. After waking up to find that he was mortally wounded, Sigurd picked up Gram and threw it at his assassin. The sword spun through the air and happened to slice Guttorm across the waist, cutting him in two. Having halved another man, Sigurd died calmly in his bed, his wife in his arms.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Sigurd with the sword, Gram, by Johannes Gehrts (1855–1921), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Saga of the Volsungs, by an anonymous 13th-century Icelander, translated by Jesse L. Byock. New York: Penguin Classics, 1990, 1999.

Battles Of Insults In Icelandic Sagas

Most cultures seem to have a signature element that they like to add to their literature. The ancient Greeks and Romans enjoyed preparing long and elaborate speeches for their historical characters. The ancient Chinese had a fondness for wise parables and witty proverbs. The medieval Icelanders, too, were no exception. Even though writing sagas did not become popular in Iceland until the 13th century, the Icelandic authors were prolific enough with their literature to create one of the most extensive bodies of medieval European texts, preserving for posterity a great deal of folklore, mythology and history. In their writings, the Icelanders introduced several innovative literary techniques and styles, including the saga structure and skaldic verse. Yet, the focus of this article is an element of Icelandic literature that was a bit more coarse—writers of sagas frequently made their characters engage in verbal battles of wits and insults.

Usually, these debates of insults could be divided into two classifications. If characters randomly met and started spitting insults at each other in a field, the exchange would likely be defined as a senna. If the insult slinging occurred in a more organized environment, perhaps with the contestants sitting around a table, the scene could be labeled a mannjafnađr. Not only did these exchanges create fun dialogue between characters, but the participants in the verbal battles could also refer to pieces of mythology and folklore while insulting their opponents.

In the opinion of the medieval Icelanders, who lived in an age very different from our own, charges of unmanliness or homosexuality were the gravest insults a person could spew. The latter accusation was considered so dire in Iceland that anyone who used that insult unjustly could be outlawed. Even so, the heroes of the Icelandic sagas often used such verbal attacks in their arguments. In fact, in only two paragraphs of dialogue, the character Sinfjotli (from the popular Saga of the Volsungs), used both insults in multiple ways during a senna between him and King Granmar.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Loki Taunting Bragi in a meeting of Æsir, by W.G. Collingwood (1854 - 1932), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Saga of the Volsungs, by an anonymous 13th-century Icelander, translated by Jesse L. Byock. New York: Penguin Classics, 1990, 1999.
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/40918297?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents