#guthrun

[wendelsae]

it is very important that the holy Lady Guthrun Guðrún was literally & explicitly a martyr of psychiatry.

[wendelsae]

Among the most interesting documents from the late period of the heroic tradition in Germany is the aforementioned "Heldenbuch Prose." It appears in the manuscript of Diebolt von Hanowe and in the 1590 printed edition as a preface, whereas in the first five printed editions it serves as a concluding piece (in some copies of the first edition, it was erroneously bound at the front). Consequently, older scholarship features the designations "Appendix" and "Preface to the Heldenbuch" side by side. An excerpt is provided in two additional printed editions of Dietrich epics dating from around 1555 and 1560/65 (see pp. 129 f., 150). This short text—which fills just under eleven pages in the first printed edition—offers nothing less than a comprehensive account of the heroic age. It begins with the advent of the first hero, King Orendel of Trier, and concludes with the passing of the last hero, Dietrich of Bern. The existence of the heroes is grounded in a kind of herogony; their downfall takes place in a massive battle fought outside Bern. The events occurring between this herogony and the "twilight of the heroes" are recounted partly in the form of name catalogs—accompanied by more or less detailed notes regarding the history of each named figure—and partly in the form of longer narratives. Genealogy and geography serve as structuring and integrating elements: specifically, the intricate web of kinship ties connecting the heroes and their association with three distinct spheres of origin and activity: the Ripuarian Rhineland surrounding Cologne and Aachen, the Hungarian realm of the Huns, and the Burgundian Kingdom centered on Worms. Central to the entire work is the story of Dietrich of Bern. If one pieces together the scattered and somewhat disjointed details, a veritable biography of Dietrich emerges: Dietrich is the grandson of Wolfdietrich and the son of Dietmar. When Dietmar’s wife is pregnant with Dietrich, she dreams that her husband is lying beside her; yet upon awakening, she finds a "hollow" spirit—the evil spirit Machmet (that is, Mohammed!)—at her side. He prophesies to her that the child will be the mightiest spirit (!) ever born, and that fire will shoot from his mouth whenever he is angry. Thereupon, the Devil (that very Machmet?) builds the mighty fortress (city) of Bern in the span of three nights. Dietmar has three brothers: Ermenrich, Harlung, and the young Dietrich. Ermenrich rapes the wife of his marshal, Sibeche, who exacts his revenge through treacherous counsel. Thus, he advises Ermenrich to strip his nephews—Harlung’s sons—of the lands their father had bequeathed to them. Ermenrich has them hanged. Their tutor and guardian, the loyal Eckhart of Breisach, notifies Dietrich, and the two wage war against Ermenrich. Dietrich succeeds in capturing Ermenrich’s son, while Ermenrich captures eight of Dietrich’s men. Dietrich offers to exchange the prisoners, but Ermenrich refuses: Dietrich may do whatever he pleases with his son. To ransom his men, Dietrich is forced to surrender his land to Ermenrich. He departs on foot with his followers and arrives in Bechelaren, at the court of Margrave Rüdiger. Through Rüdiger’s mediation, King Etzel grants him asylum. Etzel’s wife, Herche, gives him her niece, Herrat, as a bride. (At this time, Dietrich is a widower. His first wife was Hertlin, the daughter of a King of Portugal, whom he had rescued from the clutches of Goldemar, who had abducted her; cf. p. 106.) Etzel places a large army at Dietrich’s disposal, with the aid of which he reclaims his land. Dietrich had once slain Kriemhild’s husband, Siegfried, in the Rose Garden at Worms. To exact her revenge, Kriemhild—following Herche’s death—becomes Etzel’s wife; she invites all the heroes of the world to a feast at his court and provokes a massacre. Dietrich overpowers two of Kriemhild’s brothers and binds them. Kriemhild strikes off their heads, and for this act, Dietrich cleaves her in two. Later, a renewed battle takes place outside Bern, bringing about the end of the Age of Heroes:

And there they fought one another in single combat until they were all slain. All the heroes that existed in the entire world were killed at that time—save only the Berner [Dietrich]. Then a little dwarf approached him and said: "Berner, Berner, you must come with me." The Berner asked: "Where am I to go?" The dwarf replied: "You must come with me. Your kingdom is no longer of this world." So the Berner departed, and no one knows where he went; whether he is still alive or dead, no one can say with certainty.

(thanks to @1337in7h357r337n337in7h35h3375)

[wendelsae]

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.

omg

can one of you girls change your username to tumblr user guro-rysserova. and then let me marry you

[bimbogollum]

So in this bit of Atlamál, Guðrún is pretending to be okay with Atli having murdered her family because that's "just how things are for women", but i feel like this is also her turning to the metaphorical camera and saying "i have been treated this way because i am a woman and I recognise that women everywhere face oppression. I am about to take revenge for the murder of my brothers, but I am also explicitly taking revenge for the misogyny I have faced", and well that's pretty sexy

[bimbogollum]

I do find it extremely interesting that Guðrúnarkviða II is spoken directly and specifically to Þjóðrekr. Guðrúnarkviða II didn’t have to be addressed to anyone at all. The second half of Guðrúnarhvöt is likewise Guðrún lamenting her misfortunes aloud and she’s speaking to herself there -- there’s no reason she couldn’t have been speaking to herself in Guðrúnarkviða II, but she wasn’t. On one hand, the address to Þjóðrekr is specified in the prose and that could have just been the compiler’s way of tying in Guðrúnarkviða III with the other poems considering it absolutely does not fit whatsoever, but on the other hand I feel like it might speak to an importance that Þjóðrekr held in this legend at some point that is not immediately obvious in the texts that we have.

I don’t want to be that bitch who argues for and reconstructs a bullshit “lost poem” because that’s not what I’m saying, but if Þjóðrekr’s presence in Guðrúnarkviða II is not a rationalisation by the compiler, then I think his relationship with Guðrún is clearly something which held a lot of emotional significance to Medieval and Viking Age Scandinavians which does not fully come through in the texts that we have. If I were to guess, I’d say that there probably were stories about them in whatever form that did not make it to the present day, but I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole. I just think it’s interesting that the Poetic Edda points to an unexplained fascination with Guðrún and Þjóðrekr’s relationship (in my opinion even to the detriment of the Edda’s quality).

[bimbogollum]

Absolutely fascinated by Guðrún’s friendship/romance(?) with Þjóðrekr. I want to know more!!

[bimbogollum]

[bimbogollum]

Everyone: Guðrún is not the only character in the Nibelung/Volsung/whatever legend who matters. At the very least Sigurd is just as important as her

Me: