Böðvildr

Böðvildr, Beadohild, Bodil or Badhild was a princess, the daughter of the evil king Níðuðr/Niðhad/Niðung who appears in Germanic legends, such as Deor, Völundarkviða and Þiðrekssaga.

Although preceded by the Ardre image stone, the oldest surviving textual source on her is the 10th century Anglo-Saxon poem Deor.

Welund him be wurman / wræces cunnade, anhydig eorl / earfoþa dreag, hæfde him to gesiþþe / sorge ond longaþ, wintercealde wræce; / wean oft onfond, siþþan hine Niðhad / on nede legde, swoncre seonobende / on syllan monn.

The stout-hearted hero endured troubles had sorrow and longing as his companions cruelty cold as winter - he often found woe Once Nithad laid restraints on him, supple sinew-bonds on the better man.

- To Beadohilde, her brothers' death was not so painful to her heart as her own problem which she had readily perceived that she was pregnant; nor could she ever foresee without fear how things would turn out.

Hlæjandi Völundr hófsk at lofti, grátandi Böðvildr gekk ór eyju, tregði för friðils ok föður reiði.

[3] Laughing Völund rose aloft, Weeping Bothvild went from the isle, For her lover's flight and her father's wrath.

The sorrow stricken king asks his thrall to go and fetch his daughter and Böðvildr has to tell her father the gruesome truth mirroring the tragedy told of in Deor:

"Satt er þat, Níðuðr, er sagði þér: Sátum vit Völundr saman í holmi eina ögurstund, æva skyldi; ek vætr hánum vinna kunnak, ek vætr hánum vinna máttak.

At the eve of a battle, Niðung found out that he had forgotten his victory stone and offered Böðvildr and half of his kingdom to the one who would get it before sunset.

In England, a Burial Mound apparently existed on The Berkshire Downs, which according to local legend was Beadohilde's Barrow.