Famous Men of the Middle Ages | Page 9

she would not leave Worms. There, too, stayed one thousand
knights who had followed Siegfried from the Nibelung land.
Soon after Siegfried's death Kriemhilda begged her younger brother to
bring the Nibelung treasure from the mountain cave to Worms.
When it arrived Kriemhilda gave gold and jewels to rich and poor in
Burgundy, and Hagen feared that soon she would win the love of all the
people and turn them against him. So, one day, he took the treasure and
hid it in the Rhine. He hoped some day to enjoy it himself.
As Hagen now possessed the Nibelung treasure the name "Nibelungs"

was given to him and his companions.
V
Etzel, or as we call him, Attila, king of the Huns, heard of the beauty of
Kriemhilda and sent one of his knights to ask the queen to become his
wife.
At first she refused. However, when she remembered that Etzel carried
the sword of Tiew, she changed her mind, because, if she became his
wife, she might persuade him to take vengeance upon Gunther and
Hagen.
And so it came to pass.
Shortly after their marriage Etzel and Kriemhilda invited Gunther and
all his court to a grand midsummer festival in the land of the Huns.
Hagen was afraid to go, for he felt sure that Kriemhilda had not
forgiven the murder of Siegfried. However, it was decided that the
invitation should be accepted, but that ten thousand knights should go
with Gunther as a body-guard.
Shortly after Gunther and his followers arrived at Attila's court a
banquet was prepared. Nine thousand Burgundians were seated at the
board when Attila's brother came into the banquet hall with a thousand
well-armed knights. A quarrel arose and a fight followed.
Thousands of the Burgundians were slain. The struggle continued for
days. At last, of all the knights of Burgundy, Gunther and Hagen alone
were left alive. Then one of Kriemhilda's friends fought with them and
overpowered both. He bound them and delivered them to Kriemhilda.
The queen ordered one of her knights to cut off Gunther's head, and she
herself cut off the head of Hagen with "Balmung," Siegfried's
wonderful sword. A friend of Hagen then avenged his death by killing
Kriemhilda herself.

Of all the Nibelungs who entered the land of the Huns one only ever
returned to Burgundy.

Alaric the Visigoth

King from 394-410 A.D.
I
Long before the beginning of the period known as the Middle Ages a
tribe of barbarians called the Goths lived north of the River Danube in
the country which is now known as Roumania. It was then a part of the
great Roman Empire, which at that time had two capitals,
Constantinople--the new city of Constantine--and Rome. The Goths
had come from the shores of the Baltic Sea and settled on this Roman
territory, and the Romans had not driven them back.
During the reign of the Roman Emperor Valens some of the Goths
joined a conspiracy against him. Valens punished them for this by
crossing the Danube and laying waste their country. At last the Goths
had to beg for mercy. The Gothic chief was afraid to set foot on Roman
soil, so he and Valens met on their boats in the middle of the Danube
and made a treaty of peace.
For a long time the Goths were at war with another tribe of barbarians
called Huns. Sometimes the Huns defeated the Goths and drove them to
their camps in the mountains. Sometimes the Goths came down to the
plains again and defeated the Huns.
At last the Goths grew tired of such constant fighting and thought they
would look for new settlements. They sent some of their leading men to
the Emperor Valens to ask permission to settle in some country
belonging to Rome. The messengers said to the emperor:
"If you will allow us to make homes in the country south of the Danube

we will be friends of Rome and fight for her when she needs our help."
The emperor at once granted this request. He said to the Gothic chiefs:
"Rome always needs good soldiers. Your people may cross the Danube
and settle on our land. As long as you remain true to Rome we will
protect you against your enemies."
These Goths were known as Visigoths, or Western Goths. Other tribes
of Goths who had settled in southern Russia, were called Ostrogoths, or
Eastern Goths.
After getting permission from the Emperor Valens a large number of
the Visigoths crossed the Danube with their families and their cattle
and settled in the country now called Bulgaria.
In course of time they became a very powerful nation, and in the year
394 they chose as their king one of the chiefs named Alaric. He was a
brave man