December 2019 – Icelandic Sagas and Norse Mythology
The session:
Completed the Saga of Gisli and started Norse Mythology.
1/. The Saga of Gisli
In the final part of the story Gisli became a warrior hero, honourable and true. He would have been seen as a popular hero at the time the story originated. Not all his killings would have been seen as good now but when he was found guilty of a crime magic had been used to prevent people from speaking for him. His actions would have fitted the social conventions of the time.
In his final confrontation Gisli took a warrior hero’s last stand. Eyjolf who had been paid to find Gisli discovered his hiding place. Gisli challenged Eyjolf to attack him. Eyjolf is portrayed to be a coward in this part of the tale and orders Helgi to attack Gisli first. Helgi agrees knowing he will certainly die but also tells Eyjolf he must follow him. Aud (Gisli’s wife), who is portrayed as being strong and brave, attacks Eyjolf injuring him. Gisli cuts Helgi in two and Eyjolf behaves in a cowardly manner by hiding behind a rock. Gisli fights valiantly against Eyjolf’s men, killing many of them, but is eventually overcome by his grievous wounds. The wounds were so bad those there did not know how he fought for so long.
We looked at Gisli’s warrior hero qualities and had a discussion around how he fitted the criteria. He was a northern hero, existing in an extended family, with family ties and loyalties. The tale’s scale is more domestic, involving family feuds.
2/. Norse Mythology
This covers Germanic and Scandinavian mythology
This would have been brought to Britain in the 500’s by the Angles and Saxons and in the 800’s by the Danes, Vikings and Norwegians so the stories would have been familiar to the people of Britain.
We had a quick recap of the Creation Myths which generally start with chaos and darkness in a fluid unformed state which had existed for all time. There was a Sky God who was the father of the gods, he formed the universe and imposed order on the chaos.
In the Germanic and Scandinavian myths little of the original mythology survived. The Germanic god of winds and storms Woden and Odin the Scandivanian god over time took on the characteristics of the old sky god and the original faded away.
In January we shall continue Norse Mythology
November 2019 – Icelandic Sagas
The session:
Looked at Icelandic Sagas
1/. Around 700 survived in manuscript form. Some are based on family history, others covered leaders and battles, early Viking exploration and heroes. A mix of fact with storytelling.
2/. The Saga of Gisli – this is a settler saga based on historical records from around 800-1000 AD. It was written sometime in the C13th.
It is a story with a large cast of characters, a number of whom start with THOR as the first four letters, and is not an easy tale to relate in a few words. If you enter ‘Saga of Gisli’ in your search engine a number of sites will give you the story in full.
It is interesting to see that the settler story based on the facts produces a cracking story with family honour, conflicting loyalties, revenge, oaths, prophecies, heroes and daring deeds. It is also a good example of how stories grow and are embellished over time. It is about a settler society involving families, kinship groups, protection and defence, family honour and reputation. The society rules were there to protect the good order of society. Oaths were very important and were seen as a call to the gods. At the time it was believed that Odin created the universe and natural laws. Once an oath was broken fate will have its way.
In December we shall conclude the Saga of Gisli and start looking at Scandanavian Mythology
September 2019 – Siegfried
The session:
Covered the Siegfried legend featured in the epic poem the Nibelungenlied (the “Song of the Nibelungs”) that was written in the High German language c1200 AD.
1/. The Nibelungs were a Germanic tribe who lived along the northern reaches of the River Rhine, who possessed a fabulous treasure that was guarded by a dragon.
2/. It is basically a rewriting of the legend of Sigurd which we covered in earlier sessions, with the same characters under different names, but the writer of the poem has set the story firmly in the early thirteenth century. There are castles, knights in armour, fair damsels, medieval style battles and so on. Siegfried and Kremhild (Sigurd and Gudrun from the earlier legend) conduct their love affair according to the rules of “courtly love”. Otherwise it is the same tale of heroic deeds, and the treasure, and the bickering between Kremhild and Gunther’s wife Brunhild (Gunnar and Brynhild) that leads to Siegfried’s treacherous murder at the hands of Gunther’s follower Hagen.
August 2019 – No session
July 2019 – Sigurd continued
The Session:
Continued the legend of Sigurd the Volsung
1/. Sigurd disguised himself as his blood brother Gunnar, rode through the magic fire surrounding Brnyhild’s tower, and claimed Brynhild as Gunnar’s wife. Back in King Gjuki’s kingdom, a fierce rivalry grew up between Brynhild and Sigurd’s wife Gudrun, over the question of hierarchy and which of them had the better husband. In the end, Gudrun told Brynhild that Gunnar had not been brave enough to ride through the flames to claim her, and that Sigurd had done it for him. Brynhild was determined to avenge herself on Sigurd for his deceit. She told Gunnar, falsely, that Sigurd had betrayed him by sleeping with her, knowing that Gunnar would be obliged to kill Sigurd to safeguard his own honour. Gunnar and Hogni ambushed Sigurd and killed him. Brynhild did not wish to carry on living, given her humiliating circumstance, and she killed herself. She was laid next to Sigurd on his funeral pyre and they went into the next world together.
2/. In this version of the legend, Brynhild and Gudrun’s actions are seen as justifiable. However, a thirteenth century re-working lays the blame for Sigurd’s death on the female characters – Brnyhild, Gudrun, and a new character, King Gjuki’s queen Grimhild, who was an evil sorceress. This re-working possibly reflecting the prevailing mediaeval attitude to women.
3/. We concluded that Sigurd comes across as less principled than the other heroes that we have met. The people listening to the stories seem to have been happy with that. They wanted their hero to win; how he did that was less important. In that respect, Sigurd seems to have had a lot in common with the Greek heroes.
4/. After Sigurd’s death, the story continues with Gudrun and her brothers, and a long trail of revenge and bloodletting to protect family honour and reputation; this is another prominent theme in the Germanic and Scandinavian hero legends.
June 2019 – Sigurd
The session:
Looked at Sigurd and compared him with Beowulf the ideal Germanic Hero.
1/. The legend of Sigurd started with the Franks in Eastern Germany and by the Rhine and by the late C5th had moved across Europe and would have been in Britain. By C8th it was in Scandinavia and the Vikings would have brought it in too so it would have been well known. Like many legends the story is added to over time.
2/. There are several source materials for the legend –The Elder Edda which are thirty four mythical and heroic poems, the Scaldic poems, the writings of Snorri Sturrluson, the Gesta Danorum, the Icelandic Sagas and the works by known historians such as Tacitus, Ibn Fadlan, Adam of Bremen. There is a lot of further information available in books and on the internet. J R R Tolkien has written a book about ‘The Legend Of Sigurd and Gudrun’ and you can see the influences of these legends on his works of fiction.
3/. Das Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs)
Like many heroes Sigurd had strange parentage and links to the gods. He was in the warrior elite of society and a favourite of the gods who granted him favours and privileges. The Song of the Nibelungs covers his parentage, his father was Sigmund a favourite of Odin and his mother was Signy. Signy and Sigmund were children of Odin. There is also a splendid sword which was given to Sigmund, he was the only one who could remove the sword from a tree. After Sigmund died in battle Odin shattered the sword and the pieces were later retrieved and re-forged for Sigurd. The warrior elite went to Valhalla after death and spent their time eating pork stew, drinking mead and fighting each day, waiting for Ragnarök the final battle.
4/. The Legend of Otter’s Ransom
In this tale Hoenir, Loki and Odin crossed a bridge into Midgard the world of men. There they saw an otter with a sizable salmon it had just caught. Loki threw a large stone at the otter and killed it. They were very happy as they had a good meal.
They sought accommodation for the night at the farmhouse of Hreidmar, this was not freely given. This is a breach of the usual rules of hospitality. They told the farmer they had provisions for all so they were allowed to stay. The farmer was horrified when he was shown the otter and the salmon. The family were sorcerers/magicians who could shape-shift and the otter was the farmer’s now dead son.
The family plotted to take their revenge. By using magic to stupefy the gods they were able to tie them up. Odin asked what was happening and having been told they had killed the farmer’s son asked to pay a ransom, blood money for it. After their explanation of what had happened Hreidmar agreed. The ransom was set at the amount of gold which would fill and completely cover the skin of the dead otter.
Leaving the other two gods as hostages Loki went to the underground world of the Dark Elves, borrowing a drowning net from Ran a sea goddess. In a big pool in the centre he caught an enormous pike with the net. This was actually Andvari the Dwarf who was a skilful smith. Andvari had a hoard of gold which Loki took from him in return for his life. Andvari tried to keep a ring but Loki took it from him and put it on his own finger. The dwarf cursed the ring and the gold, so that it would destroy whoever owned it. Loki took the gold and the ring back to the farmhouse, where Odin took the ring and wore it. They covered the skin with the gold but Hreidmar saw a whisker was still showing and insisted the ring was put on it. The gods then left.
This is where the original tale ended. In later versions the full effect of the curse took effect, the family quarrelled over the gold, one son Fafnir became a dragon and killed his father. He drove his other brother Regin away. Regin became a smith in Jutland. Fafnir the dragon went to live in the wilds.
5/. The Legend of Sigurd the Volsung
Following on from the previous story Regin was bent on revenge on his brother the dragon Fafnir. He looked for a hero to do it for him. He offered to foster Sigurd and his mother Signy agreed. Sigurd had been given some pieces of Sigmunds’s sword. Regin, a skilled smith, re-forged them into a sword for Sigurd. Regin trained Sigurd and eventually persuaded Sigurd to kill the dragon for him.
Regin told Sigurd to dig a pit and hide in it to attack the dragon from below, not the usual honourable approach for a hero. Once the dragon was dead Regin told Sigurd the dragon was his brother and that he wanted compensation/blood money and his share of the hoard of gold. Sigurd roasted the dragon’s heart for Regin but burnt and licked his fingers whilst cooking it. Instantly he could hear and understand the birds, who were talking about a plan that Regin had to kill Sigurd and the birds advised Sigurd to kill Regin.
Sigurd took the still cursed gold and set off on his horse Grani, a gift from Odin. He travelled a long way and ended up in the kingdom of King Gjuki, who had two sons (Gunnar and Hogni) and a beautiful daughter Gudrun. King Gjuki wanted to keep Sigurd and his gold so plied him with drink and persuaded him to marry Gudrun. Sigurd and the king’s sons became blood brothers. King Gjuki’s kingdom grew in success.
The story moved on to involve Brynhild who may have been the sister of Atli (Attila) King of the Huns or a Valkyrie daughter of Odin. This will be continued in July.
May 2019 – Beowolf
The session:
Started a new topic considering some of the heroes who belonged to the Germanic and Scandinavian people who lived in Britain alongside the Celts. This will include Beowulf, Sigurd, Siegfried and some of the characters from the Icelandic sagas.
1/ Beowulf as the model for the Germanic warrior hero. Beowulf, the young warrior from Sweden is eager for adventure so that he can win fame and fortune. He travels to Denmark where Hrothgar and his followers are being terrorised by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel and also Grendel’s Mother, and returns to Sweden in triumph.
2/. In the fullness of time, Beowulf becomes the leader of his people, the Geats and we learn that he proved to be the model king- generous, fair, just, honourable and the unfailing guardian of his people.
3/. He was finally killed while fighting and killing a dragon to protect his people. Beowulf the warrior hero without a flaw; courageous and honourable to the end.
April 2019 – Merlin completing the topic
The session:
Completed the loose ends from the Arthurian Legends looking at Merlin
1/. We finished off the story of how Merlin brought the stones of Stonehenge to Salisbury Plain from Ireland, to act as Aurelius’ war memorial to the British warriors who died fighting against the Saxons. When Aurelius was killed, Merlin transferred his services to Uther Pendragon; and the rest of Merlin’s story we already know.
2/. For the rest of the session, we discussed the poem “Gawain and the Green Knight” in which Arthur’s knight Gawain is tested by the Green Knight, passes the test and is declared to be a true and honourable man.
March 2019 – King Arthur – Tying up the loose ends
The session:
Started tying up the loose ends from the Arthurian Legends by looking at the origins of Merlin
1/. Merlin seems to be a composite figure whose story was added to over time. We covered Llallogen/Lailoken, Merlin/Myrddin, Ambros/Emrys and Merlin Ambrosius.
2/. In the North of England, Llallogen/Lailoken, was the bard poet to the King of Carlisle and was driven mad by the events at the Battle of Arfderydd. At the time it was thought mad people could see the future.
This story seems to be combined with the Welsh legends which have Merlin/Myrddin as a wild man and prophet who lived by the River Conwy.
People moved from the North to Wales so it is feasible that these characters could become combined.
The records which exist such as the Welsh Annals and Welsh Genealogy match up with the timelines and geography generally attributed to Arthur.
Merlin is the Latin name for Myrddin. Myrddin has more than one version of his tale. Each tale has some mystery for his birth as a boy with no father to the issue of a nun and an incubus. The progeny of a spirit father would have gifts. There are different versions for his end in a cave or in a house of glass.
3/. Nennius has Ambros/Emrys as a boy with no father. Selected for sacrifice for a fortress which would not stand he talked his way out of it by explaining this was due to a pool underneath and two dragons on red and one white and giving predictions for the future.
4/. Finally we looked at Geoffrey of Monmouth’s version which brought together a number of different sources. The sources for Merlin are similar to those for Arthur and include Gildas, The Venerable Bede, Nennius, The Welsh Annals and then added to by Geoffrey. Geoffrey was the one who really made the connection between Merlin and Arthur. His Merlin was called Merlin Ambrosius
5/. We looked at the Prophecies of Merlin which were translated by Geoffrey of Monmouth from the Ancient Welsh long after the time of Merlin.
February 2019 – King Arthur building the legend contd
The session:
Continued Sir Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte D’Arthur”
1/. Despite previous events the relationship between Guinevere and Lancelot developed and Arthur heard that Guinevere had committed adultery with Lancelot. Arthur was bound to sentence Guinevere to death and condemned her to be burnt at the stake. Lancelot got to hear of this and rescued Guinevere just as the fire was being lit. He took her to his castle Joyous Garde at Bamburgh, Northumberland. This split the knights between Arthur and Lancelot. Arthur laid siege to the castle, there were many casualties and eventually the Pope had to intervene. Lancelot was given safe passage to Brittany and Arthur reclaimed his queen. Sir Gawain persuaded Arthur to follow Lancelot to Brittany to attack Lancelot whilst leaving Mordred in charge.
2/. Mordred forged documents to show that Arthur had been killed. Mordred tried to force Guinevere to marry him. Guinevere locked herself in the Tower of London and Mordred received news that Arthur was returning from Brittany. A number of knights were loyal to Mordred and there was the battle of Camlann where 100,000 men were killed. During the battle Mordred inflicted a fatal wound on Arthur who then managed to kill Mordred.
3/. The Death of Arthur – Arthur knew that he was mortally wounded and asked Sir Bedivere to take Excalibur and return it to the lake. Twice he hid Excalibur and pretended to return it to the Lady of the Lake. On his third attempt he returned the sword to the Lady of the Lake. Arthur then asked Sir Bedivere to carry him to the water’s edge where a barge arrived to take Arthur’s body. On the barge were 3 ladies, one of whom was Morgan Le Fay, and they carried off Arthur’s body to the other world to heal his wounds.
Malory tells us that the next day Sir Bedivere came across a hermit at a small chapel near Glastonbury. He was beside a recent grave and said that a group of women had brought the body of a knight for burial (thought to be Arthur). Sir Bedivere changed his life and devoted himself to fasting, prayer and penance. Guinevere entered a Benedictine convent and Lancelot joined Sir Bedivere in his life of prayer. 6 years later Lancelot became a priest and after Guinevere’s death he took her body to the chapel at Glastonbury and buried her next to Arthur. After Guinevere’s death Lancelot wasted away and died.
4/. Sir Constantine became king after Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table were disbanded.
January 2019 – King Arthur building the legend contd
The session:
Continued Sir Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte D’Arthur”
1/. The story continued and it was interesting to see the impact on the story of the life and times of Malory, there was a bitter civil war. Although he used the existing stories as sources he added in his own interpretation and elements to the story. One particular character “improved” upon by Malory was Morgan Le Fay who in earlier stories was a loving sister to Arthur became an almost James Bond-like villain in her attempts to remove/kill him in his version.
2/. The concept of Camelot was introduced by Chretien de Troyes and included by Malory. Malory first suggested that Camelot was Winchester however later in the story writes as if Camelot and Winchester were different places. The Round Table was also introduced as a wedding present to Arthur and Guinevere and was big enough to seat 150 knights. Malory set out the rules of Knightly Conduct.
3/. Merlin was introduced as a magician who could see the future along with his nemesis a water sprite called Nenive/Nimue/Vivienne who was one of the handmaidens of the Lady of the Lake. She tried to manipulate Merlin, wheedling knowledge from him. Merlin knew what was going on because he knew everything but was powerless to do anything about it. Merlin knew his time with Arthur was limited and tried to give Arthur as much information as possible. He told Arthur to look after his sword as a woman would try to take it. Once Nenive had gained as much information from Merlin as she could, she trapped him for eternity in a cavern.
4/. Arthur went on a hunting trip with Sir Accolon and King Uriens of Gore. They got lost in the forest and found themselves in the other world. Arthur was faced with having to fight to rescue the others but Accolon gets a secret message from Morgan Le Fay telling him he has to fight a battle to the death with an unknown knight. She gave him Excalibur which was taken from Arthur while he slept. Arthur, the unknown knight, agreed to fight and Morgan Le Fay manoeuvred it so that Accolon and Arthur fought each other. During the fight Arthur realized that his sword wasn’t Excalibur and Nenive took pity on Arthur and made Accolon drop Excalibur so that Arthur could pick it up. Arthur revealed who he was and Accolon spared him and crossed Morgan Le Fay. Morgan Le Fay stole the scabbard of Excalibur and threw it into a lake. Morgan couldn’t resist one final attempt to kill Arthur so sent him a special cloak. Nenive advised Arthur not to try the cloak on and had it put on a handmaid who instantly dropped dead and then burst into flames. Arthur then left Morgan Le Fay in the Land of Gore.
Arthur gathered an army and set off to Gaul to kill a giant and then went on to conquer Rome. Rome had insisted that Arthur should pay taxes to them.
5/. We considered the story of Lancelot du Lake. Lancelot became Queen Guinevere’s champion and bound by the conventions of courtly love. However the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere moved beyond courtly love and gossip soon started to spread. To protect Guinevere Lancelot tried to distance himself but Guinevere was unhappy with this. Lancelot faced many trials.
Guinevere and her party of knights and ladies were kidnapped by Sir Meleagant. Guinevere managed to smuggle out a message to Lancelot to rescue her. After the rescue Guinevere released Sir Lancelot.