Politically Motivated Violence in the Nibelungenlied
We encounter a remarkable case of a criminal form of violence in the heroic epic of the Nibelungenlied (c. 1200), which is deeply determined by violence on a large scale in any case.
Siegfried appears at the court of Worms, violently demanding that they all submit to him, and then Hagen informs the Burgundian kings of Siegfried's heroic actions against the dwarfs and the dragon, which ought to give them all pause for thought about this dangerous figure. Subsequently, Siegfried is integrated into the court after all and assists them in the war against the Saxons. Later he helps King Gunther to gain the hand of the Icelandic Queen Brünhild by employing his cloak of invisibility and hence by substituting for Gunther in the athletic though almost mortal competition. But after the queen has arrived in Worms, she continues to question Gunther's true ability and rejects him on the wedding night. This calls Siegfried into action again, who, upon the king's urging, stealthily assumes the other's identity by means of his invisibility cloak and can finally crush Brünhild, a scene which could, or rather should be interpreted as 29rape.
If that were not already rather terrible and frightening, this heroic epic turns further into an abyss of violence and transforms into a veritable Armageddon when at the end the Burgundians visit their sister Kriemhild, by then married to the Hunnish King Etzel/Attila. Since she is entirely bent on avenging the death of her first husband, this ‘court festival' turns into a brutal and deadly battle in which virtually everyone dies, including the Burgundian kings, their entire army, all of Etzel's men, and many other warriors. The cause celebre consists of Hagen's murder of Siegfried, which constitutes the next example for our investigation.
While the entire epic poem is deeply marked by military aggression, violence as a form of transgression against the basic norms of society erupts only at that point when Hagen has finally identified an opportunity to murder his opponent, Siegfried, a true nemesis, whom he regards with the greatest suspicion, fear and envy, and probably a feeling of inferiority.
Kriemhild, upon her visit at the Worms court after ten years of marriage with Siegfried, publicly insists on her higher social status than Brünhild because of her husband, who had, as she now reveals in front of everyone, slept with Gunther's wife and had subdued this warrior-like woman for her husband.Even though it is entirely clear that Hagen does not intend to face Siegfried in an open and honourable confrontation, and explicitly plans on murdering him, the three royal brothers only faintly protest and in reality acquiesce with this strategy. Young Giselher tries to object, emphasising that ‘Siegfried has never in any way deserved such hatred that he should die for it' (117). Yet Hagen controls their debate and decisively proceeds with his plan to kill their opponent who has always provoked them through his super strength and his boisterous performance, ridiculing each one of them by displaying his absolute superiority. Gunther pretends to protest against the plot: ‘Siegfried was born for our honour and good fortune' (117); but at the end the narrator simply informs us: ‘The King followed his vassal Hagen's advice, to evil
29 Das Nibelungenlied: Mittelhochdeutsch / Neuhochdeutsch, nach dem Text von Karl Bartsch und Helmut de Boor ins Neuhochdeutsche übersetzt und kommentiert von Siegfried Grosse. For the standard English translation, see The Nibelungenlied: A New Translation byA. T. Hatto (London: Penguin, 1979); cf. Winder McConnell (ed.), A Companion to the Nibelungenlied (Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1998). See also Joachim Heinzle, Laus Klein and Ute Obhof (eds.), Die Nibelungen: Sage - Epos - Mythos (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2003). effect, and those rare knights began to set afoot the great betrayal before any might discover it' (118).
Siegfried is then murdered by Hagen, who thrusts a spear into his back, at the very spot where he is vulnerable (like an Achilles’ heel), which then sets in motion a long sequence of events, at the end of which everyone involved has died.
For the poet, this murder is one of the worst deeds anyone could commit: ‘Never should a man practise such monstrous treachery’ (123); and he subsequently outlines in great detail how Hagen proceeds with his plan and carries out the slaughter, which he comments on in most negative terms: ‘No warrior will ever do a darker deed’ (130). Even though the battle between the Burgundians and King Etzel’s men appears as the darkest moment in the entire epic, and perhaps in world history, the murder proves to be worse than anything else. Kriemhild’s hatred and desire for revenge, Hagen’s utmost efforts to defend himself and the Burgundians, the desperation by Rüdiger and many other vassals who are forced to get involved in the fighting because of their obligations to the Hunnish king, and even the final execution of Hagen and Gunther could be understood as consequences of a warrior society in which killing the opponent almost represents the common modus operandi. However, Hagen’s murder of Siegfried emerges as true violence in the sense as defined above, a breaking of all norms and standards, not to mention any laws, and as such this murder unleashes a torrent of subsequent violence that ultimately engulfs both the world of the Burgundians and all of the Huns under Etzel’s rule.While the conflicts between Siegfried and Hagen in the first part of the epic represent almost expected conflicts between heroes, and while the struggle at the end for survival represents a valid attempt by the Burgundian guests to defend themselves, Hagen’s murder proves to be a heinous act, which characterises him significantly as a liminal, devastating, almost devilish figure who thus causes the collapse and total destruction of two kingdoms and their people.
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