The Saga of Burnt Njal; The Spiraling Blood Feud

It's so hot! I'm writing this in the middle of a heat wave. it will be March before this posts but right now, it's a scorcher. We had 32 degrees yesterday and it's 30, so far, today. Because of this, I am hiding out in the local library. Air conditioning is a lovely invention.

Story
The Burnt Njal starts off with a small squabble between a pair of best friend's wives. This squabble leads to the first killing. This killing starts a slowly intensifying blood feud. This feud first consumes the living moments of Gunnar, who is one of the major players of the book (his wife is one of the original arguers), and eventually is his death. After every killing, the perpetrators and the family of the slain meet at the Thing, which is some kind of clan meeting, and is where the law court was held. At the Thing, both sides agree to a blood price for each person killed and pledge their peace to each other. Though this is meant to stop blood feuds, in this case the fight is taken up again and again, often by someone more tangential to the giving of peace. This feud, after the death of Gunnar, spreads to Njal's sons, and eventually to Njal himself. A large group of men come to his house and burn it with him and his household inside. One man escapes, Kari, the rest of the work then describes his revenge on those who did the burning. Eventual peace with the leader of the group  is achieved but only after all other perpetrators have been killed.

Reflections
The most interesting side track, to me, was the arrival and adoption of Christianity to the Icelandic shores and people. A group of men return from overseas in Norway that have converted. They, in turn, convert about half the island. It eventually comes to the hill of laws that they cannot have two laws for the land, so it is eventually decided that they should all become Christian. While this is an interesting addition to the life and times of the Icelandic people, it has little influence on the law proceedings themselves. Though it does change the priesthood and who had those honours.
It is notable just how broad the scope of the work is, starting right back with the original rivalry and fight between the two wives and not ending until the final man who did the burning was atoned for. I spent a lot of the work wondering where the burnt came from in the title as Njal was no more than a side character for much of the work and the burning itself is within the last 10% of the book.

Comparisons
Both The Burnt Njal and Beowulf are full of daring heroes doing daring things. The thing that sets them apart is that, in the Burnt Njal these heroes are fighting each other, not monsters. The Burnt Njal also gives more insight to the little day to day life things than Beowulf, or even than The Neibenlungenlied.
As a saga, the Burnt Njal, like the Iliad, is set mainly in one place; though we do occasionally see people traveling out of Iceland. The Iliad is also an epic that focuses on hero versus hero but it focuses on one action in a war, compared to the many individual actions in the Burnt Njal.

Have you read The Burnt Njal? If so what did you think of it?

Want to read The Burnt Njal but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of  The Burnt Njal.

The Nibelungenlied: A good husband requires bloody revenge

I ordered new books today, this always seems to make me excited even though they will take a couple of weeks to show up, but what do you expect when you order from the UK. I ordered three of the five works by Dante and they will be the only three I can actually read. For the other two I could not easily find an English translation, so I have chosen to remove them from my list.
In other news, my husband just landed a new job and is going to be working weekdays and standardised hours, which will be a nice change after working night shift, or rotating shifts, the last few years.

The Story
The first half of the Nibelungenlied is about Siegfried and how he obtains Kriemhild's hand in marriage by helping her brother Gunther win Brunhild's hand in marriage. After they are married, Siegfried and Kriemhild return to Siegfrieds native Denmark. They are persuaded to come back to Worms, Kriemhilds family seat, for a festival. The two queens get into an argument and Brunhild is greatly embarrassed. Brunhild enlists her kinsman, Hagen, to deal with Siegfried. Hagan then, during a hunt, slays Seigfried; and Kriemhild spends the rest of the first half of the book mourning.

The second half of the Nibelungenlied deals with Kriemhilds second marriage to Etzel, King of Hungary and the surrounds. At first she lives with him and his people and seems happy enough, until a plot for revenge stirs in her heart. She persuades Etzel to invite her brothers, the kings at Worms, and the family to come and visit for a festival. During that festival, she sends troops after troops to slay the visiting party, especially Hagen. The Burgundians from Worms make a good accounting of themselves, but are eventually killed by one of the many forces the Queen sends against them.

Reflections
It takes a bit to get your head around the change in meaning of Nibelung. In the first half of the text it refers to Siegfried's men, from somewhere north of Denmark, while in the second half it refers to the Burgundian, from Worms. This change is noted in the translation notes but it still feels a little odd. It does reinforce the translator's idea that the second half is borrowed from a much older poem.
Kriemhild never takes any responsibility for how she embarrassed Brunhild, which was the catalyst for Siegfrieds death; rather, she continues to set the full blame to rest on Hagens shoulders. Hagen is the one who did the killing but there is more to the story than that.
The fact that Hagen takes Siegfried's sword seems like salt in the wound for Kriemhild and is a demonstration of his absolute lack or remorse and just how justified he believes Siegfried's death was.
The shear amount of troops Kriemhild sends against the Burgundians is preposterous. Etzel seems to be unwilling to stop her at the cost of many of the lives of his men and vassals. The Burgundians strength is impressive,g as they repel wave after wave, only slowly losing the more important men. Eventually, quantity beats quality.

Comparisons
While the tone and understanding of vassalage is comparable with the Song of Roland and our main character is trying to do everything for the kings good; in the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried is actually a king in his own right from another land rather than a vassal to the local King Gunthar. Also the Nibelungenlied deals with far more homeward focused issues: marriages and festivals. Also, the deaths involved are not in war, but rather in treachery. Both Siegfried's death, by a family member of his wife, and the Burgundian party's attack after they were offered hospitality, are treacherous by the standards of the time and of the setting.
The name Siegfried is in common with Beowulf, both do amazing feats of strength and courage, though their deaths are very different. In the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried is kill by a treacherous uncle. While in Beowulf, he is killed by a dragon, while trying to keep his people safe.

Have you read The Nibelungenlied? If so what did you think of it?

Want to read The Nibelungenlied but haven't? Hopefully this inspires you to take the time to do so.
Get a copy of Nibelungenlied.