TheHamðismál is a poem which ends theheroic poetry of thePoetic Edda, and thereby the whole collection.
Gudrun had been the wife of the heroSigurd, whom her brothers had killed. With Sigurd she had had the daughterSvanhild, who had married to theGoth kingErmanaric (Jörmunrekkr). Ermanaric had Svanhild trampled to death by horses, due to which Gudrun wants vengeance, and she agitates her sons (seeJonakr's sons) from a later marriage to kill Ermanaric, cf.Guðrúnarhvöt.
The poem is considered to belong to the oldest of the heroic poems, probably from the 9th century. It makes an archaic impression with its bitter and laconic language. Howling with wrath, the brothersHamdir andSörli ride over a misty mountain. The last lines are like carved on a runestone:
Þar fell Sa/rli
at salar gafli,
enn Hamþir hne
at hvsbaki.
At the hall's gable-end
Fell Sorli to earth,
But Hamdir lay low
At the back of the houses.
The legend of Jörmunrek appears in thePoetic Edda asHamðismál andGuðrúnarhvöt. It also appears inBragi Boddason'sRagnarsdrápa, in theVölsunga saga and inGesta Danorum.
Jordanes wrote in 551 that the Gothic kingErmanaric was upset with the attack of a subordinate king and had his wife Sunilda (i.e. Svanhild) torn to pieces by horses, and as revenge Ermanaric was pierced with spears by her brothersAmmius (Hamdir) andSarus (Sörli) and died from the wounds. TheAnnals of Quedlinburg (end of the 10th century) relates that the brothersHemidus (Hamdir),Serila (Sörli) andAdaccar (Erp/Odoacer) had cut off the hands of Ermanarik.