SIGURD (Sigur5r) or SIEGFRIED (M.H.G. Sifrit), the hero of the Nibelungenlied, and of a series of poems of an earlier date in the Elder Edda, as well as of the prose V olsunga Saga, which is based, in great part, upon the latter. According to both the Scandinavian and German versions of his legend, he was the son of a certain Sigmundr (Siegmund), a king in the Netherlands, or the "land of the Franks." The exploits of this Sigmundr and his elder sons Sinfjotli and Helgi form the subject of the earlier parts of Volsunga Saga, and Siegmund and (his nephew) Fitela (i.e. Sinfjotli) are also mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beo wulf. According to the Scandinavian story Sigmundr was slain in battle before the birth of Sigurd, but the German story makes him survive his son. Sigurd acquired great fame and riches by slaying the dragon Fafnir, but the chief interest of the story centres in his connection with the court of the Burgundian king Gunnar (Gun ther). He married Gubrun (Kriemhild), the sister of that king, and won for him by a stratagem the hand of the Valkyrie Bryn hild, with whom he had himself previously exchanged vows of love. A quarrel arose between Brynhild and Gubrun, in the course of which the former learnt of the deception which had been prac tised upon her and this led eventually to the murder of Sigurd. According to the Scandinavian version he was slain by his brother in-law, Guttorm, according to the German version by the knight Hagen. Gunnar's brothers were subsequently slain while visiting Atli (Etzel), or Attila, king of the Huns, who married Gubrun after Sigurd's death. According to the German story they were killed at the instigation of Kriemhild in revenge for Siegfried. The Scandinavian version attributes the deed to Atli's lust for gold.
The story of Sigurd is of German rather than Scandinavian origin, and has given rise to more discussion than any other sub ject connected with the Teutonic heroic age. Like Achilles he is represented as the perfect embodiment of the ideals of the race, and, as in the case of the Greek hero, it is customary to regard his personality and exploits as mythical. There is no question, how ever, that the Burgundian king who is said to have been his brother-in-law was an historical person who was slain by the Huns, at the time when the Burgundian kingdom was overthrown by the latter. Sigurd himself is not mentioned by any contem porary writer ; but, apart from the dragon incident, there is noth ing in the story which affords sufficient justification for regarding his personality as mythical. Opinions, however, vary widely as to the precise proportions of history and fiction which the story con tains. The story of Siegfried in Richard Wagner's famous opera cycle Der Ring der Nibelungen is mainly taken from the northern version; but many features, especially the characterization of Hagen, are borrowed from the German story, as is also the episode of Siegfried's murder in the forest.
See NIBELUNGENLIED and also R. Heinzel, "Uber die Nibelungen sage," in Sitzungsberichte der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften (1885) ; H. Lichtenberger, Le poeme et la legende des Nibelungen (1891) ; B. Symons, "Heldensage" in H. Paul's Grundriss der germ. Philologie, vol. iii. (Strasbourg, 190o) ; and R. C. Boer, Untersuchungen fiber den Ursprung and die Entwicklung der Nibelungensage (Halle, 1906). Also Th. Abeling, Des Nibelungenlied and seine Literatur (1907).