Brunhilde: Tragic Germanic Warrior Queen
- Sylvia Rose
- Oct 15, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 7
Brunhilde is the Queen of Isenland in German mythology. Her tale is written in the Middle Ages and centers on her tragic deception by Siegfried of Xanten and her husband to be, Gunter of the Burgundians.
The Burgundians of the fifth century appear in the Nibelungenlied, a German epic of 1200 AD. King of Burgundy, Gunter, refuses to let Siegfried wed the lovely princess Kriemhild until Gunter himself is married.
Tales of a warrior Queen of Isenland come to the ears of the King. Isenland is often equated with Iceland. Proud and beautiful, she's a perfect woman for him, so he thinks. Brunhilde beats all her suitors in feats of strength.
Translated from the Nibelungenlied:
"There was a queen who resided over the sea
Whose like no one knew of anywhere.
She was exceedingly beautiful and great in physical strength.
She shot the shaft with bold knights – love was the prize."
She competes with them in a spear throwing contest, a long jump competition and boulder hurling. With her amazing strength she wins every time, and retains her position of Queen of the winter lands.
Kings and warriors go away drooping with humiliation. She keeps their presents of treasure, weapons and animals.
King Gunter of the Burgundians knows the tales, so he requests help of Siegfried before he allows the hero to marry the princess. Siegfried hies off to the northern realms to steal the Tarnkappe.
This cloak or hat of invisibility gives its wearer superhuman strength. It's owned by Alberich, the King of the Mountain Dwarfs. He tricks the Dwarf King and runs back to Borbetomagus (Worms) with his prize.
Gunter's eager to set sail. He loads several ships with weapons, gold, white bulls and other presents. After a long difficult journey they finally arrive in the winter lands. Queen Brunhilde comes to meet them, an amazing figure of statuesque beauty with fiery red hair.
She gets a glimpse of Siegfried as the boats unload, and wonders if it's he who came to woo her, for he has the most lordly bearing of all the men. Then he abruptly vanishes. King Gunter greets Brunhilde and her party.
Brunhilde gazes at Gunter with disdain and he cannot look her in the eye. She's certain she can win the challenges. She's beaten better men. They have a fine feast, then the games begin.
Spear-throwing is the first challenge. Brunhilde throws hers so far it strikes a tree in a distant forest.
Gunter looks dubious as he picks up his spear, and throws with the strength of a sick fish - yet for some reason his spear flies far into the distant forest, even further than hers.
Brunhilde is puzzled, but they continue to the next feat. With a running start the competitors have to jump as far as possible. Brunhilde goes first. She runs then leaps high, over the trees to the other side of the forest.
She's amazed to witness Gunter sail through the air to leap even further. It barely seems an effort for him. She has no idea the invisible super-strong Siegfried carries him all the way.
Now Brunhilde feels she has sorely underestimated this man. She has to beat him in the next challenge or submit to him as a wife. The third challenge is the boulder hurl and the boulders are bigger than Gunter.
Brunhilde picks up a massive rock like it's papier mâché, steadies herself and throws with all her strength. The rock flies so far it strikes a mountain and shatters.
Yet the rock Gunter hurls travels through the air and all the way to the sea behind the mountain, as witnessed by two fishermen. Queen Brunhilde has to cede the contest to Gunter, although she's very suspicious.
He has neither the constitution nor the attitude of a great warrior. He drinks so much at the celebration feast he has to be carried to his bedchamber.
Meanwhile, Brunhilde silently bewails her fate, though her expression gives nothing away. She wonders what happened to the warrior she saw when the ships came to shore, and thinks more of him than of Gunter.
She's also missing a jeweled ring from her finger. Though her warriors and ladies look everywhere, it's not to be found.
The next day they set sail back to the lands of the Burgundians. Gunter can't wait to get his hands on Brunhilde, but when he tries to jump her, she ties him up and hangs him on a hook for the night.
The second night the same thing happens, and finally Gunter goes to Siegfried for help. Siegfried is a firm believer in women knowing their place.
So, he dons the Tarnkappe once more, and restrains Brunhilde while Gunter has his way. Siegfried takes Brunhilde's girdle as a prize, just as he took her ring.
Now Brunhilde is well and truly deceived, and has no choice but to give herself willingly as a wife to Gunter. Siegfried marries Princess Kriemhild and takes her to Xanten, his northerly home.
Brunhilde becomes Queen of the Burgundians. Yet, try as she might, she has a hard time being an obedient subservient wife.
She cannot see him as an equal, let along a lord or king. Nonetheless Brunhilde fulfills her womanly duties on personal and social levels. Fortunately for her (or him), Gunter is often away at war.
He harries Roman settlements and encampments along the east side of the Rhine. When he's away it's Siegfried she thinks of, not him, and her bitterness gnaws inside her. She will soon enough learn the terrible truth.
She lays her strategy well. Casually she mentions to Gunter that his vassal Siegfried should be sending warriors to help Gunter's cause. Siegfried is rich enough, having possession of the never-ending Nibelungen treasure.
Brunhilde convinces Gunter she's lonely for the company of Kriemhild, her sister in law. At first resistant, Gunter finally agrees to ask Siegfried and Kriemhild to attend the midsummer's feast in June.
When they arrive, Kriemhild and Brunhilde embrace as sisters. Yet, while the men are off hunting, antagonisms flare between the women.
Each argues her husband is the strongest, most courageous and heroic. Brunhilde wants Kriemhild to admit her husband's vassal status, but the proud Queen of Xanten laughs.
She shows Brunhilde the ring on her finger and the girdle around her waist. Brunhilde gasps when she recognizes the ornaments Siegfried stole from her while wearing the Tarnkappe.
Her world comes crashing down as she realizes how she's been tricked. She has given up her lands, pride and maidenhood to a pair of conniving weasels.
Little does Brunhilde know she will never see Siegfried alive again. While on the hunt, Gunter and his advisor Hagen trick and murder him, and bring the body back to Worms, claiming he was killed by a wild boar.
Brunhilde's fate differs but is always tragic. In one version, she flees to her chambers and falls upon her sword after learning the truth. In another, she throws herself on the funeral pyre of Siegfried, in love with him despite his heinous treachery.
The Poetic Edda, a collection of mythological and heroic poems composed c. 800 -1100 AD, portrays Brunhilde as a Valkyrie and daughter of Odin. She will marry only a man without fear.
She lives surrounded by a wall of flame. Siegfried in true hero form arrives to rescue her, and she teaches him ancient wisdom and the runes. She's associated with teaching the runes in more than one tale.
The Poetic Edda precedes the Nibelungenlied (c. 1200 AD) in which Brunhilde is betrayed. The romantic relation between Brunhilde and Siegfried goes back further than the popular legend and may explain part of her passion.
In another tale, Brunhild is behind a wall of fire, tricked by Siegfried who poses as Gunter. Later, she and Kriemhild argue about who gets to wash her hair further upstream, and Gunter and Siegfried's deceit emerges.
In yet another account Brunhilde dies by the hand of Hagen, one of the conspirators in Siegfried's murder. Or she fades away, a tragic heroine whose part in the story is done.
Over the centuries her legend lives on.
Non-Fiction Books:
Fiction Books:
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