Burgundians- Germanic GroupCollective
Also known as: Burgonden and Nibelungs
Description
They rode east to Etzel's court carrying a curse in their saddlebags, and not one of them rode home. The Burgundian kings of Worms, who became the Nibelungs when they claimed the hoard, brought every warrior in their host to destruction in the bloodiest feast hall in Germanic legend.
Mythology & Lore
The Court at Worms
The Nibelungenlied presents the Burgundians as the royal house ruling from Worms on the Rhine, led by King Gunther and his brothers Gernot and Giselher, with the mighty warrior Hagen von Tronje as their chief vassal and counselor. Their court is wealthy, powerful, and confident, a model of medieval courtly society at its height. The early stanzas depict feasting, tournament, and the ordered splendor of the Rhenish kingdom.
The court's trajectory changes with two events: the arrival of Siegfried and the wooing of Brünhild. Siegfried's superhuman strength helps Gunther win the warrior-queen Brünhild through deception, but the lies sown in the bridal chamber generate the quarrel between Kriemhild and Brünhild that ultimately destroys everyone. When Hagen murders Siegfried and seizes the Nibelung treasure, sinking it in the Rhine, the Burgundians inherit both the cursed hoard and the name "Nibelungs" that comes with it.
The Journey East and the Destruction
Years later, Kriemhild, now married to the Hunnish king Etzel (Attila), invites her brothers to visit. Hagen suspects a trap and warns against going, but Gunther insists on accepting. The journey east is shadowed by omens: river mermaids prophesy that none will return, and Hagen's crossing of the Danube confirms the doom when he destroys the ferryboat behind them, cutting off any retreat.
At Etzel's court, Kriemhild's vengeance unfolds. What begins as courtly hospitality erupts into battle when Kriemhild orders an attack on the Burgundian retainers. The fighting escalates through the great hall, corridor by corridor, until the Burgundians are trapped inside and the hall is set ablaze around them. They survive the fire by drinking the blood of the fallen, but their numbers dwindle. Gernot and Giselher are killed in the fighting. Gunther and Hagen are the last to stand.
Hagen is captured alive and brought before Kriemhild, who demands to know where the Nibelung treasure lies hidden. Hagen refuses. Gunther is executed, and Hagen tells Kriemhild that now only God and he know where the hoard lies, and she will never find it. Kriemhild kills Hagen with Siegfried's own sword, and is herself struck down by Hildebrand moments later. The entire Burgundian host has been annihilated. The historical destruction of the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns in 437 CE provides the distant historical nucleus around which the epic was shaped.