Sigemund the Wælsing

Sigemund the Wælsing is a character in a story within a story found in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, connected to the Sigmund figure of Germanic mythology. The earliest form of the Germanic dragonslayer story, the story includes Sigemund slaying an unnamed wyrm guarding a hoard of treasure, foreshadowing the hoard-guarding dragon found later in the poem. The Old Norse word Volsungr appears as a 'back-formation' from Wælsing.

Sigemund the Wælsing and his story appear in lines 874-900, with the tale being shared in the form of a song sung in Heorot, the mead hall of Hrothgar, following the slaying of Grendel, with mention of Sigemund’s prior slaughter of eoten (Jötunn) alongside his nephew, Fitela. In the tale, Sigemund slays the worm with a sword and takes its trove of treasure, hauling it away by ship while the dragon melts. The tale ends with praise to Sigemund as a hero and mentions Heremod, a legendary Danish king.^[1]

The dragon is often associated with Fáfnir, though the Beowulf episode differs from the Old Norse version as found in the Fáfnismál and Völsunga saga, where the monster is slain by Sigurd, not Sigmund.^[2] This difference is interpreted by scholars as either a mistake by the anonymous Beowulf poet, or a suggestion of parallel traditions regarding the dragonslayer story.^[3] German philologist Gustav Neckel speculates that the Beowulf version of the story derives from a Frankish pagan lay, historically linked to Sigismund of Burgundy, finally localized and mythologized once it reached Scandinavia.^[4]

See also

• Sigmund
• Fáfnir
• Beowulf
• Fáfnismál
• Völsunga saga