The Poetic Edda on Kriemhild

The > part in a few of the Eddic poems.

• relationship: Kriemhild is identified as the offspring of Buthli.

  "Such, briefly, appears to have been the development of the legend before it came into Norway. Here it underwent many changes, though the clear marks of its southern origin were never obliterated. The names"

The > part in a few of the Eddic poems. > Introductory Note

• attestation: Kriemhild is characterized by age in the verse.

  "The First Lay of Guthrun, entitled in the Codex Regius simply Guthrunarkvitha, immediately follows the remaining fragment of the "long" Sigurth lay in that manuscript. Unlike the poems dealing with"

The > part in a few of the Eddic poems. > Notes

• attestation: In the Nibelungenlied, Kriemhild has the hall set on fire and the Burgundians fight amid the flames

  "The fire: in the Nibelungenlied Kriemhild has the hall set on fire, and the Burgundians fight amid the flames."

• comparison: Kriemhild was famed for cruelty and fierceness, which inspired the Atlamol poet to make Guthrun into a warrior outdoing Brynhild

  "Kriemhild, although she did no actual fighting in the Nibelungenlied, was famed from early times for her cruelty and fierceness of heart, and this seems to have inspired the poet of the Atlamol to make his Guthrun into a warrior outdoing Brynhild herself."

• comparison: In the German tradition, Kriemhild's ferocity was directed against Gunther and especially Hagene, whereas in the Norse version Guthrun fights to defend her brothers

  "Kriemhild's ferocity, of course, was directed against Gunther and especially Hagene, for whose slaying she rather than Etzel was responsible; here, on the other hand, Guthrun's is devoted to the defense of her brothers."