Hereward and Siegfried, Separated at Birth?

While I have been reading and not writing my paper on The Nibelungenlied, it occurred to me that Hereward's life story written by Richard of Ely(most likely) from an account written by Hereward's priest Leofric the Deacon, resembles that of Siegfried. Richard states in his introduction that "Huius enim memorati presbiteri erat studium omnes actus gygantum et bellatorum ex fabulis antiquorumaut ex fideli relatione ad edificationem audiencium congregare et ob memoriam Anglie litteris commendare. " Leofric liked to collect stories about giants and heroes from the old days, ostensibly for the edification of his audience, but probably because he liked them and he wrote them down. I think Leofric had been reading one of those early versions of Siegfried's story because Hereward shares many of his adventures.

The one thing Hereward does not do is kill a dragon but then, nobody had seen a dragon around Ely. It would be hard to make that one up. However, Hereward did fight a bear and a giant/ogre, goes on a bridal quest with an Irish prince to obtain a Cornish princess, and wins special items through his battles. He too had all the accouterments of Siegfried: the sword, cloak, corslet, helmet, and a horse. He is missing a ring but he does repudiate his first wife, with whom he has a daughter, and takes a second wife. His singing performances remind me of Volker. Who would not like Volker? Richard of Ely does not say he dies because of an act of treachery but Geoffrey Gaimar does.

Hereward was not felled by one warrior sneaking up from behind but four(mind you it may have taken four Normans to make one Hagen) but, with Hereward unable to reach his sword, he does take up a shield like Sigurd in Volsungsaga and kills a man with the edge of it. Siegfried only wounds Hagen with the shield instead of killing him like Sigurd kills Guttorm. Gaimar has nothing to do with the account in Gesta Herwardi; they are too different but one has to wonder if one of the stories that Leofric was reading while he was composing his history of Hereward was not one of those early versions of The Song of the Nibelungs. It is an intriguing thought.

The Agony of the End of Term Paper

I don't want to leave the blog without an update for too long but my time has been taken up with research. I had no idea there were so many version of the Siegfried tale. I have been looking at so many variations on a theme that I am forgetting which Siegfried did what. Along with that, The Nibelungenlied, which is often and rightly compared to The Iliad, has many elements in common with the story of the siege of Troy which is told in even more variations.

One variant tells that Achilles fell in love with Polyxena, Priam and Hecuba's daughter, having seen her with her brother Troilus, and rather than ask for gold in exchange for Hector's body, he asked for her hand in marriage. In this version, it is she who finds out from the dazzled Achilles that he is vulnerable on his heel, tells her parents, and she lures Achilles to a temple of Apollo so that Paris can kill him. Polyxena is known in every version as the maiden who was sacrificed on Achilles' graves so that the Greeks could raise a wind to get home. Oh, well, the Trojan War got under way with the murder of Iphigenia and ends with the killing of Polyxena. Bad days to be a virgin. Look what happened to Cassandra.

I have not thought much of Theseus' story but he had a relationship in some of the myths with the queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. They met when Theseus helped Heracles obtain the girdle of the queen as part of his twelve labors. Some versions say it was her sister that he was betrothed to. They had a son Hippolytus who lived with his father after Theseus cast his mother aside for the sister of Ariadne, Phaedra. Theseus was a dog. He was punished when his wife Phaedra fell in love with his son, Hippolytus, and killed herself when he would not return her love.

Many of these stories can be found in Ovid's Metamorphoses but some of the alternate versions can be found in the book of Apollodorus, or Pseudo-Apollodorus if you prefer, called the Bibliotheca or Library. Here is a link to a translation by James George Frazer who wrote The Golden Bough. Apollodorus disagrees with Homer in some of the details of the Trojan War and writes that Homer got it wrong. So many myths are crisscrossing and doubling back. I need to figure out what it all means so I can write an amazing paper about it.

Now That Rosimund Is Dead

After they had been thus killed, the prefect Longinus sent Albsuinda with the treasure of the Langobards to Constantinople to the emperor . Some declare that Peredeo equally had come to Ravenna with Helmichis and Rosimund and from there he was sent to Constantinople with Albsuinda. And there, in a spectacle of the people, in the presence of the emperor, he killed a lion of great size. As it is reported, because he was a strong man, by order of the emperor, his eyes were torn out lest he set in motion anything of evil in the royal city. He, after some time had adapted two small knives to himself, which were hidden inside both of his sleeves. He went to the palace and promised to speak about a certain thing useful to the emperor if he was brought into his presence. To whom, the emperor sent two patricians, members of his own household, who would take up his words. When they came to Peredeo, he approached nearer to them as though he wanted to speak something to them more secretly, and he wounded them severely with the swords in both of his hands, which he had hidden. They immediately fell to the ground and died. He avenged his injuries like that very strong Samsom, being not dissimilar to him in other parts, and he killed two men, who were very useful to the emperor, for the loss of his two eyes.

Unfortunately nothing is known of the subsequent fate of Albsuinda so here ends the tale of Alboin.

The Aftermath of Alboin's Death

Therefore, Helmichis, after he had killed Alboin, attempted to invade his kingdom. But he was not at all able, because the Langobards, sorrowing too greatly over the death of Alboin, set out to kill him. Immediately Rosimund sent to Longinus, prefect of Ravenna, that he would quickly send a ship with which he could save them. Longinus, having been made happy by this news, quickly sent a ship on which Helmichis and Rosimund, who was now his wife, boarded fleeing by night. They carried with them the daughter of the king, Albsuinda (not Rosimund's daughter), and all the treasure of the Langobards. They came to Ravenna with all speed. Then Longinus, the prefect, began to urge Rosimund that she kill Helmichis and marry him. She, as she was easily inclined to all wickedness, desired to become mistress of Ravenna, have herself over to thoughts of the deed which must be done. While Helmichis cleansed himself in a bath, she went in to him and brought a cup with poison to the tub. She affirmed it to be safe and he drank it. When he felt himself to have drank a cup of death, he drew his sword upon Rosemund so that he could compel her to drink the rest. And thus, by the judgement of allpowerful God, the most wicked killers perished at the same time.

tomorrow. the fate of Longinus since he has the treasure now.......