Helgi Hundingsbane/Hundingsbani was a hero in the Norse sagas. He is attributed to two different genealogies in the sagas. He is described as an Ylfing (the Wylfings of Beowulf) in several places, but also as a Völsung since he is described as the son of Sigmund and Borghild and the brother of Sinfjotle and Sigurd. This is probably due to a merger between the legend of the Völsungs and an earlier legend of Helgi Hundingsbane.

In the first poem (Helgakviða Hundingsbana I), Sinfjotle has his residence on the Bravellir (the plain west of Bråviken in East Götaland, see Battle of Bråvalla) and Helgi resides at Hringstaðir (probably modern Ringstad, an old royal estate on the same plain).

Helgi kills a king called Hunding and his sons and is given the cognomen Hundingsbane. Then he meets Sigrun, the daughter of a competing king of East Götaland, Högne, who has been promised against her will to Hothbrodd, the son of king Granmar of Södermanland.

Helgi collects a force at Brandey (probably modern Brändholmen, until 1813 named Brandö, the modern Swedish form of Brandey) in the bay of Bråviken and goes to Granmarr's kingdom. It is retold in detail about the gathering of the forces and of how Helge kills Hothbrodd and his brothers Gudmund and Starkad (all of Granmarr's sons).

Högni and one of his sons, Bragi, die in the battle. Only Dag survives and he later slays Helge.

Comments

Both Högne and Helgi are described as kings of East Götaland, which may seem to be a contradiction. However, in the Heimskringla we learn that Högne was the father-in-law of the Ylfing Hjörvard. Since both are Ylfings or married into the clan, the battle between Helgi and Högne was apparently a civil war. The existence of a civil war may explain why Hjörvard was a sea-king, a man without roof, in spite of the fact that he was described by Sögubrot as a former ruler of East Götaland. If so, the legends may be based on a civil war where Högne had usurped the throne from Hjörvard, but was killed by Hjörvard's kinsman Helgi.

The Völsung origin is most likely a later addition, since the legends of Sigurd describe events in the 5th century and those of Helgi describe events in the 7th century. Moreover, in the 7th or 8th century poem Beowulf, the legends of Sigmund were already known.

Locations

In Gesta Danorum, which was written to glorify the past of the Danish nation, Helgi has been made Danish, like other legendary Scandinavian heroes, whereas Hothbrodd was made a Swedish king and given Ohthere's position in the line. Because of this the Danish scholar Bugge tried, in 1896, to connect him to the Skjöldung Helgi.

Due to this modification, Helgi's residence Hringstaðir is occasionally interpreted as the Danish Ringsted. However, in the Norse sagas the Ylfings are never called Danish, and the only territory that they are said to have ruled is East Götaland, where there is an old royal estate named Ringstad (existing well before, and during, the 7th century) and where the Bravellir were located according to the sagas. Moreover, in the sagas, their enemy Granmar (the father of Hothbrodd) was the king of Södermanland, which is adjacent to East Götaland, and not of Sweden.

Primary sources

• Gesta Danorum
• Heimskringla
• Völsunga saga
• Edda

Secondary sources

Nerman, B. Det svenska rikets uppkomst. Stockholm, 1925.