Norse Legend Of Hero Sigmund And The Magical Sword In The Branstock Tree

Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com - Sigmund was a Norse hero famous for being the only one to pull out the enchanted sword from the ever-so-mighty Branstock tree mentioned in the Sigurdsaga that is part of the Volsunga Saga (Völsunga Saga).

"Sigmund's Sword" (1889) by Johannes Gehrts. Credit: Public Domain

The Branstock (Barnstokkr) tree was a large oak growing inside Volsungs great hall.

Sigmund had nine brothers and a twin sister named Signy, and he enjoyed their close relationship. Their parents were Völsung and Hljod.

One day, Siggeir, king of Gothland, came and asked for Völsung, his daughter's hand in marriage. Signy unsuccessfully tried to persuade her father not to marry her to the king. Völsung agreed though Signy did not want to marry Siggeir, knowing he was a treacherous and murderous king.

Branstock Tree  - Guerber, Hélène Adeline (1895). Myths of the Northern Lands: Narrated with Special Reference to Literature and Art. American Book Company. Credit: Public Domain

At the wedding, a blue-cloaked man with one eye plunged a sword into the Branstock, an ancient oak. The man declared that the sword would be his gift to the person who could draw it out of the great oak tree. Then he left the great hall. This sword was said to have been placed there by the great god Odin himself.

Several warriors, including Signy's father, Volsung, tried to draw the weapon and failed. Sigmund, the tenth and youngest son, however, succeeded. It was said that Volund (or Wayland the Smith) made the sword, and the magic sword was later called Gram (Balmung or Mimung in German myth). The sword had the power to make the owner win all his battles.

There is also a tale of a magical sword named Grim in the Edda, which means "enemy."

The Gram sword is depicted on an old runestone standing on a hill just outside the Swedish city of Eskilstuna. According to a Norse legend, a dwarf named Fafner killed his father so he could steal a huge, valuable gold treasure.

Now, when Sigmund owned the magical sword, Siggeir was determined to get his hands on this weapon. He offered to buy Sigmund's sword. Sigmund scornfully rejected Siggeir's offer of gold. Furious and offended by the young man's reply, Siggeir was determined to destroy Volsung's family.

With the help of his shape-shifting mother, Siggeir managed to kill Völsung and his nine sons, but not Sigmund, because his twin sister Signy helped him escape.

The old man (Odin) places a sword into the tree Barnstokkr after entering the hall of the Völsungs. Credit: Emil Doepler, 1905 - Public Domain

To avenge their family's death, Sigmund and Signy then became allies. Sigmund hid in the deep dark woods, and Signy sent him whatever he needed from the palace. However, they both knew they could not defeat Siggeir on their own. With the help of a witch, Signy disguised herself as a völva, a female shaman and seer in Norse mythology. She managed to sleep with Sigmund and conceive a child named Singjötli. With Singjötli by his side, Sigmund avenged his family's death. They set fire to the palace and killed Siggeir and everyone except for Signy. Sigmund then returned to his homeland with Singjötli and became king. Later, he married Borghild and had two children with her, Helgi and Hamund. However, the marriage did not last long because Borghild poisoned Singjötli.

Sigmund married Hjordis, the daughter of King Eylimi, but that, too, turned into a disaster.

Hjordis had another suitor, King Lyngi, and when she married Sigmund, he became jealous and sought revenge.

King Lyngi waged war against Sigmund and his father-in-law Eylimi. In this battle, Eylimi was killed, and Odin, in disguise as an old beggar, fought Sigmund and shattered the sword to pieces, which left him vulnerable to his enemy's attacks. Sigmund was severely wounded, and on his deathbed, he asked his pregnant wife, Hjordis, to collect the shattered sword and give it to their son when he grew up. Their son was the famous dragon-slaying warrior Sigurd.

The Völsunga Saga is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Volsung clan (including the story of Sigurd and Brynhild and the destruction of the Burgundians). It is largely based on epic poetry. The earliest known representation of this tradition is in pictoral form as the Ramsund carving, Sweden, which was created c. 1000 AD. The origins of the material are considerably older, however, and it echoes real events in Central Europe during the fifth and sixth centuries. In this manuscript, the saga leads straight into Ragnars saga loðbrókar. The Middle High German epic poem Nibelungenlied is based largely on the old stories, which were commonly known in all of the Germanic lands from the early Middle Ages on, but reworks the material into a courtly medieval setting. Read more

The Völsunga Saga is a story about love and betrayal, adventure and tragedy, expanding over several generations. An unknown author wrote it from Iceland in the thirteenth century.

Updated on August 18, 2024

Written by - Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com

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