View source for Sigar

{{Short description|People in Scandinavian mythology}}
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The name '''Sigar''' can refer to four people in [[Scandinavian mythology]], surrounding the legends of [[Sigurd]] the dragon slayer. One of them only appears as the friend of [[Helgi Hjörvarðsson]] in the [[Poetic Edda|eddic lay]] ''[[Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar]]''. The other two appear as the villainous members of the same [[Norse clans|clan]] in several sources.

==Icelandic sources==
[[Snorri Sturluson]] writes in the ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]'' that two Sigars belong to the same [[Norse clans|clan]], the [[Sikling]]s, and that they are the relatives of [[Siggeir]], the villainous [[Geatish king]] in the ''[[Völsunga saga]]''.

{{cquote|[...] the ninth, Sigarr, whence come the Siklings: that is the house of [[Siggeir]]r, who was son-in-law of [[Völsung]]r,--and the house of Sigarr, who hanged [[Hagbard]]r.<ref>[http://www.cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/ProseEdda/ContentsEnglish.htm#skaldse CyberSamurai Encyclopedia of Norse Mythology: Prose Edda - Skáldskaparmál (English)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006035037/http://www.cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/ProseEdda/ContentsEnglish.htm |date=2006-10-06 }}</ref>}}

In ''[[Hversu Noregr byggðist]]'', it is given in more detail that Sigar the elder had two sons, Sigmund and Siggeir who killed [[Völsung]]. Sigmund had the son Sigar the younger, who killed Hagbard.

It is told in the ''[[Völsunga saga]]'' that Sigar the younger was in a feud with [[Hagbard]] and [[Haki]] and his sons. He had kidnapped one of Haki's daughters and murdered a second:

{{cquote|"Good talk," says [[Gudrun]], "let us do even so; what kings deemest thou to have been the first of all men?" [[Brynhild]] says, "The sons of Haki, and Hagbard withal; they brought to pass many a deed of fame in the warfare." Gudrun answers, "Great men certes, and of noble fame! Yet Sigar took their one sister, and burned the other, house and all; and they may be called slow to revenge the deed; why didst thou not name my brethren who are held to be the first of men as at this time?"<ref>[http://mcllibrary.org/Volsunga/chapter25.html The ''Völsunga saga''], translated by [[William Morris]] and [[Eirikr Magnusson]].</ref>}}

Sigar the younger is also mentioned in ''[[Háleygjatal]]'' (as quoted in ''[[Ynglinga saga]]''), where a gallows is referred to as "Sigar's steed" (''Sigars jó''):

{|
|
:En Guðlaugr 
:grimman tamdi 
:við ofrkapp
:austrkonunga 
:Sigars jó,
:er synir Yngva 
:menglötuð
:við meið reiddu. 
:Og náreiðr
:á nesi drúpir 
:vingameiðr, 
:þar er víkur deilir, 
:þar er fjölkunnt 
:um fylkis hreyr 
:steini merkt, 
:Straumeyjarnes.<ref>[http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/eyvhlt.html ''Háleygjatal'']</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heimskringla.no/original/heimskringla/ynglingasaga.php |title=''Ynglinga saga'' at ''Norrøne Tekster og Kvad'' |access-date=2006-12-04 |archive-date=2005-12-31 |archive-url=http://web.archive.bibalex.org/web/20051231070651/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/heimskringla/ynglingasaga.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|
:By the fierce [[Jorund|East-king]]s' cruel pride,
:Gudlog must on the wild horse ride --
:The wildest horse you e'er did see:
:'Tis Sigur's steed -- the gallows tree.
:At Stromones the tree did grow,
:Where Gudlog's corpse waves on the bough.
:A high stone stands on Stromo's heath,
:To tell the gallant hero's death.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/02ynglga.htm Laing's translation at the Internet Sacred Text Archive]</ref><ref>[http://www.northvegr.org/lore/heim/001_05.php Laing's translation at Northvegr] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311071027/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/heim/001_05.php |date=2007-03-11 }}</ref>
|
|}

==''Gesta Danorum''==
In ''[[Gesta Danorum]]'' (book 7), Saxo tells that Sigar had a daughter named [[Signy]]. Sigar was in a feud with Haki's brother [[Hagbard]], but was informed by Signy's handmaid, that Hagbard had a secret love affair with Signy. Sigar decided to hang Hagbard, who, however, managed to inform Signy of this. Signy set her house on fire and succumbed in the flames while Hagbard executed himself in the gallows. Sigar tried in vain to save both Hagbard and Signy but failed. His only consolation was to bury the treacherous maid alive.

''Gesta Danorum'' disagrees with the other sources by presenting Sigar as the son of [[Sywaldus]], who was the son of [[Yngwin]], a [[Geatish king]] who became the king of Denmark.

==References==
<references/>

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg | leg }}
{{s-bef | before = [[Sywaldus I]] }}
{{s-ttl | title  = [[List of legendary kings of Denmark|King of Denmark]] }}
{{s-aft | after  = [[Harald Wartooth|Haraldus Hyldetan]] }}
{{s-end}}

[[Category:Legendary Norsemen]]
[[Category:Kings of the Geats]]