The Gesta Danorum (Books I-IX) on Hagbard

The Danish History, > Books I-Ix > Customary Law.

• attestation: Hagbard's execution by hanging became proverbial in Danish tradition.

  "Hagbard's hanging and hempen necklace were proverbial"

The Danish History, > Book Seven.

• attestation: Hagbard secretly visited Denmark with the sons of Sigar and induced Signe to become his mistress

  "Hagbard, going to Denmark with the sons of Sigar, gained speech of their sister without their knowledge, and in the end induced her to pledge her word to him that she would secretly become his mistress"

• attestation: Hagbard returned with fresh forces, avenged his brothers by killing Alf and Alger in battle

  "Hagbard then came up with fresh forces to avenge his brothers, and destroyed them in battle"

• attestation: Hagbard disguised himself as a woman and returned alone to Signe, posing as a fighting-maid of Hakon carrying an embassy to Sigar

  "Hagbard dressed himself in woman's attire, and, as though he had not wronged Sigar's daughter by slaying her brothers, went back to her alone"

• attestation: When servants noticed Hagbard's hairy legs and rough hands, he explained these as natural effects of a warrior maiden's life

  "when he was taken to bed at night among the handmaids, and the woman who washed his feet were wiping them, they asked him why he had such hairy legs, and why his hands were not at all soft to touch"

• attestation: Hagbard was received as Signe's bedfellow under pretext of being given the couch of honour

  "Hagbard received her as his bedfellow, under plea that he was to have the couch of honour"

• attribution: Hagbard asked Signe whether she would remarry or remain faithful if he were executed by her father

  "If thy father takes me and gives me to bitter death, wilt thou ever, when I am dead, forget so strong a troth, and again seek the marriage-plight?"

• attribution: Hagbard acknowledged that he had slain Signe's brothers and expected no pardon from her father

  "For I stripped thy brothers of their power on the sea and slew them; and now, unknown to thy father, as though I had done naught before counter to his will, I hold thee in the couch we share"

• attestation: Serving-women betrayed Hagbard's identity, and he fought Sigar's men stubbornly at the doorway before being captured

  "The serving-women betrayed him; and when Sigar's men-at-arms attacked him, he defended himself long and stubbornly, and slew many of them in the doorway. But at last he was taken"

• attestation: The assembly condemned Hagbard to death by hanging after the majority sided with Bolwis

  "The greater part of the assembly voted for this opinion; Hagbard was condemned, and a gallows-tree planted to receive him"

• attribution: The queen offered Hagbard a horn cup and mockingly told him to drink before descending to the realm of Dis and Orcus

  "thou mayst presently land by the dwellings of those below, passing into the sequestered palace of stern Dis, giving thy body to the gibbet and thy spirit to Orcus"

• attribution: Hagbard taunted the queen by reminding her he had killed her twin sons and sent them to Tartarus

  "With this hand, wherewith I cut off thy twin sons, I will take my last taste, yea the draught of the last drink"

• attestation: Hagbard flung the cup back at the queen, drenching her face with wine

  "flinging back the cup at her, drenched her face with the sprinkled wine"

• attestation: Hagbard was led to a hill for execution and tested Signe's loyalty by having his mantle hung first

  "Hagbard was led to the hill, which afterwards took its name from him, to be hanged. Then, to test the loyalty of his true love, he told the executioners to hang up his mantle"

• attestation: A watcher mistook the hung mantle for Hagbard's execution and reported to the maidens, who set fire to the palace and hanged themselves

  "the watcher on the outlook, thinking that the thing was being done to Hagbard, reported what she saw to the maidens who were shut within the palace. They quickly fired the house, and thrusting away the wooden support under their feet, gave their necks to the noose"

• attribution: Hagbard saw the palace burning and said he felt more joy from his mistress's loyalty than sorrow at his death

  "Hagbard, when he saw the palace wrapped in fire, and the familiar chamber blazing, said that he felt more joy from the loyalty of his mistress than sorrow at his approaching death"

• attribution: Hagbard's death-song celebrated their shared fate, declaring love persists even among the shades

  "not even among the shades does very love suffer the embrace of its partner to perish"

• attestation: The execution hill took its name from Hagbard, and a mound near the town of Sigar marks the site

  "the killing of Hagbard gave his name to the stead; and not far from the town of Sigar there is a place to be seen, where a mound a little above the level"

• attribution: Hagbard sang that he and Signe would share one end and one bond, and their love would live on

  "We shall have one end, one bond after our troth, and somewhere our first love will live on"

• attestation: The executioners strangled Hagbard after he finished his death-song

  "as he spoke the executioners strangled him"