Kriemhild- Germanic HeroHero"Queen of the Huns"

The Beautiful Princess

The Nibelungenlied opens with Kriemhild in Worms, the Burgundian capital, living with her three brothers, Kings Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher, and the fierce warrior Hagen. She dreams of a falcon she loves, which is torn apart by two eagles. Her mother interprets this as prophecy: the falcon is a noble man Kriemhild will love and lose to violence. Kriemhild responds that she will never love, to avoid such grief.

Kriemhild's beauty is legendary; men compare her to the dawn. When Siegfried, the dragon-slayer prince of the Netherlands, hears of her, he comes to Worms to woo her. He serves the Burgundians for a year before even seeing her face. When he finally does, at a festival after the Saxon war, both are overwhelmed.

Marriage to Siegfried

Kriemhild marries Siegfried in a double wedding: Siegfried gains Kriemhild, while Gunther gains the warrior-queen Brunhild. But Siegfried won Brunhild through deception, wearing a cloak of invisibility to perform the courtship feats that Gunther claimed. This lie, unknown to Kriemhild, will destroy her happiness. Siegfried was presented to Brunhild as Gunther's vassal, not his equal, a humiliation that will fuel the fatal quarrel between the two queens.

For ten years, Kriemhild lives happily as Siegfried's queen in Xanten, bearing him a son named Gunther after her brother. When Brunhild, still uneasy about Siegfried's presence at Gunther's court, engineers a visit that brings the two couples together at Worms, the unraveling begins.

The Fatal Quarrel

When Kriemhild and Brunhild reunite at Worms, they quarrel over whose husband ranks higher. Kriemhild, stung by Brunhild's arrogance, reveals everything: that Siegfried, not Gunther, subdued Brunhild on her wedding night. As proof, she shows the ring and belt that Siegfried took from Brunhild and gave to his wife.

This public humiliation is more than Brunhild can bear. She demands vengeance. Hagen, ever loyal to his Burgundian lords, determines that Siegfried must die. He tricks Kriemhild into revealing Siegfried's one vulnerable spot, the place between his shoulder blades where a linden leaf blocked the dragon's blood when he bathed in it. Under pretense of protecting Siegfried, Hagen learns exactly where to strike.

Hagen carried out the murder with cold deliberation. He organized a hunting expedition and arranged for the water to be moved so that Siegfried, made thirsty by a race, would bend unarmed to drink from a distant spring. Hagen drove the spear into his back between the shoulder blades. The dying hero lived long enough to know who killed him and to curse the Burgundians. His body was laid at Kriemhild's door.

Thirteen Years of Grief

Kriemhild refuses to leave Worms after Siegfried's death, though his father begs her to return to the Netherlands. She stays, she says, to be near Siegfried's grave. But she also stays near his murderers.

The Nibelung treasure, Siegfried's inheritance, is brought to Worms. Kriemhild uses it to win followers, giving gifts so generously that Hagen fears she will gain more power than the kings. He seizes the treasure and sinks it in the Rhine, swearing never to reveal its location while any of the Burgundian kings live.

Thirteen years pass. Kriemhild weeps at Siegfried's grave every day. When Attila (Etzel in the German text), king of the Huns, sends emissaries seeking her hand, she at first refuses. But Margrave Rüdeger of Bechlaren promises that if she marries Etzel, his warriors will avenge any wrong done to her. This promise seals her decision.

Queen of the Huns

Kriemhild marries Etzel and becomes queen of the most powerful kingdom in the world. She bears him a son, Ortlieb. She lives in splendor. But she never forgets. After many years, she persuades Etzel to invite her brothers and the Burgundian court to a great festival in Hungary.

Hagen advises against attending. He knows Kriemhild has not forgiven. But the Burgundians are too proud to show fear. They ride to the Hunnic court, thousands strong, bringing the flower of Burgundian nobility into the trap Kriemhild has prepared. Along the way, they are hosted by the loyal Rüdiger at Bechlaren, who gives his daughter in marriage to Giselher.

The Destruction of Nations

The festival begins in uneasy courtesy, but Kriemhild moves quickly to force the confrontation. She has her young son Ortlieb brought before the Burgundians at the feast. Hagen strikes the child's head from his shoulders at the table. From that moment, there is no return. The hall erupts into slaughter.

Kriemhild offers Hunnic warriors gold to attack the Burgundians. When her brothers will not hand over Hagen, she orders the hall set on fire. The Burgundians fight with superhuman valor, killing thousands, but are slowly worn down. Rüdiger's dilemma is the cruelest in the poem: bound by oath to Kriemhild and by kinship to the Burgundians through his daughter's marriage to Giselher, he cannot honor one loyalty without betraying the other. He chooses to fight for Kriemhild, weeping as he goes, and is killed by the very men he had befriended.

At last, only Hagen and Gunther remain alive among the Burgundians. Kriemhild has them bound and brought before her. She demands that Hagen reveal where he sank the Nibelung treasure. Hagen refuses, saying he swore not to tell while any of his lords lived. Kriemhild has Gunther beheaded and brings his head to Hagen. Hagen says now only he and God know, and he will never tell.

Kriemhild takes up Siegfried's sword, Balmung, and beheads Hagen with her own hand. The old warrior Hildebrand, appalled that a woman has killed so great a warrior, strikes Kriemhild down. The dead number in the tens of thousands. Etzel is left weeping over the carnage.