“Сага про пішого Грольва” та Русь в епоху вікінгів: історична пам’ять та історіографія

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyse the Eastern European episodes in the Göngu-Hrólfs saga. Analyse it through the prism of collective memory and the cultural environment of their creators. Identify their sources and historical context. Also, highlight story patterns and literary constructions that were used in Rus’ descriptions. The novelty of the work is in an attempt to look at the sources from a different perspective. We took into account intellectual tendentious and collective conceptions of medieval Icelanders and based on the results of the research, we have proposed new ideas for the controversial questions. This article is one of the first attempts to analyse Eastern European episodes in the context of collective memory in Legendary sagas. A detailed study of the Göngu-Hrólfs saga showed that authors of the texts used some story patterns associated with Eastern Europe. First of all, the character of king Hreggvid: the description of this person is similar to the Hergeir, king of Aldeigjuborg from Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar. One more stereotyped persona is an Ingegerd, Hreggvid’s daughter, who can be identified with Igegerd, from Hálfdanar saga. Also, oikonym Holmardr was a cultural stereotype. In our opinion, it was not always identified with Novgorod as is customary in historiography. It was an element of collective memory that could have changed within cultural and political context. In general, Rus’ was described as a peripheral area bordering the Eastern world, which was perceived as a magical space, inhabited by fantastic beasts and folks. This idea appears under the influence of chroniclers from continental Europe. That was the reason for the dualism in the perception of these territories in the sagas.