- Hamðismál
The Hamðismál is a poem which ends the heroic poetry of the "
Poetic Edda ", and thereby the whole collection.Gudrun had been the wife of the heroSigurd , whom her brothers had killed. With Sigurd she had had the daughterSvanhild , who had married to the Goth kingErmanaric (Jörmunrekkr). Ermanaric had Svanhild trampled to death by horses, due to which Gudrun wants vengeance, and she agitates her sons (seeJonakr's sons ) from a later marriage to kill Ermanaric, cf. "Guðrúnarhvöt ".The poem is considered to belong to the oldest of the heroic poems, probably from the
9th century . It makes an archaic impression with its bitter and laconic language. Howling with wrath, the brothersHamdir andSörli ride over a misty mountain. The last lines are like carved on a runestone:ources and historic basis
The legend of Jörmunrek appears in the "
Poetic Edda " as "Hamðismál" and "Guðrúnarhvöt ". It also appears inBragi Boddason 's "Ragnarsdrápa ", in the "Völsunga saga " and in "Gesta Danorum ".Jordanes wrote in551 that the Gothic kingErmanaric was upset with the attack of a subordinate king and had his wife Sunilda (i.e. Svanhild) torn to pieces by horses, and as revenge Ermanaric was pierced with spears by her brothers Ammius (Hamdir) and Sarus (Sörli) and died from the wounds. The "Annals of Quedlinburg " (end of the10th century ) relates that the brothers Hemidus (Hamdir), Serila (Sörli) and Adaccar (Erp/Odoacer ) had cut off the hands of Ermanarik.References
*
Nationalencyklopedin
*Nordisk familjebok External links
* [http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/hamdismal.php Hamðismál] in Old Norse from «Kulturformidlingen norrøne tekster og kvad» Norway.
* [http://www.normanniireiks.org/guilds_lore/lore/poetic/hamdismal.htm The text in Old Norse with translation in English]
* [http://www.cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/PoeticEdda/Icelandic/HeroicLays/Hamthesmol.htm Hamðismál (Old Norse)]
* [http://www.cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/PoeticEdda/LaysoftheHeroes/Hamthesmol.htm Hamðismál (English)]
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