In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith (Old English: Wēland; Old Norse: Vǫlundr [ˈvɔlundr̩], Velent [ˈvelent]; Old Frisian: Wela(n)du; German: Wieland der Schmied; Old High German: Wiolant; Galans (Galant) in Old French;[1] Proto-Germanic: *Wēlandaz from *Wilą-ndz, lit. "crafting one"[2]) is a master blacksmith originating in Germanic heroic legend, described by Jessie Weston as "the weird and malicious craftsman, Weyland".[3]
Wayland's story is most clearly told in the Old Norse sources Völundarkviða (a poem in the Poetic Edda) and Þiðreks saga.[4] In them, Wayland is a smith who is enslaved by a king. Wayland takes revenge by killing the king's sons and then escapes by crafting a winged cloak and flying away. A number of other visual and textual sources clearly allude to similar stories, most prominently the Old English poem Deor and the Franks Casket.
Wayland is also mentioned in passing in a wide range of texts, such as the Old English Waldere and Beowulf, as the maker of weapons and armour. He is mentioned in the German poems about Theoderic the Great as the father of Witige.[3] He is also attributed to have made various swords for Charlemagne and his paladins, namely Curtana, Durendal and Joyeuse.[5]
- ^ Gillespie 1973, pp. 142–143.
- ^ Gillespie, George T. A Catalogue of Persons Named in Germanic Heroic Literature,[full citation needed]
- ^ a b Weston, J. (1929). 'Legendary Cycles of the Middle Age', in Tanner, J.R. (ed.), The Cambridge Medieval History Vol. VI, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 841f.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wayland the Smith". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 431–432.
- ^ Swords with Names
