The Saga of the Volsungs. The Volsunga saga is a legendary saga, a late 13th
century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Volsung clan
(including the story of Sigurd and Brynhild and destruction of the Burgundians).
It is largely based on epic poetry. The earliest known representation of this
tradition is in pictoral form as the Ramsund carving, Sweden, which was created
c. 1000 AD. The origins of the material are considerably older, however, and it
echoes real events in Central Europe during the fifth and sixth centuries. On
the other hand, the only manuscript of the saga, dates to about 1400. In this
manuscript, the saga leads straight in to Ragnars saga. The Middle High German
epic poem Nibelungenlied is based largely on the old stories, which were
commonly known in all of the Germanic lands from the early Middle Ages on, but
reworks the material into a courtly medieval setting. A story based on the
Volsunga Saga was written by Melvin Burgess, called Bloodtide. Many of the
features in the original saga make an appearance, with a few differences in
characters, settings and story. In fact, there are many fantasy books that have
drawn from this material and many that have retold the original story in a
romantic adaptation. One of the most notable adaptations is Richard Wagner's
operatic suite, the Ring Cycle.
� Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
