Saxo Grammaticus Research Articles

The motif of «imitation of ancestors» in Saxo Grammaticus's «Deeds of the Danes» as a means of reconstructing the author's idea

This article is intended to contribute to the research of the political pragmatics of Saxo Grammaticus’ «Deeds of the Danes» (c. 1208/1216). In modern historiography, the opinion has strengthened that the «Deeds of the Danes» expressed the interests of the customer of the historical work – archbishop Absalon of Lund (1177-1201), as well as the aristocratic family of Hvide, to which the prelate belonged. According to this point of view, the main purpose of the work was to preserve the influence of the Hvide family at court, which was to be achieved by demonstrating the dependence of royal power on the archbishop and his relatives. Therefore, the work of Saxo Grammaticus contains numerous examples of criticism of the rulers of the Valdemar dynasty (1157-1241), Valdemar I (1157-1182) and his son, Canute VI (1182-1202), cited to encourage the sovereigns to listen to the advice of magnates. The article presents arguments in favor of the opposite interpretation of the text of the «Deeds of the Danes»: the historical work was used to legitimize the royal power. Textual analysis and study of the motif of «imitation of ancestors» – a method of representing power in a narrative based on the tradition of name-giving – have shown that Saxo's contemporary, Danish king Canute VI, is compared in the work with his namesake ancestors. These comparisons serve to glorify the ruler and find correspondence in the official privilege of the Lund Cathedral (1186), thus being elements of the «court ideology». The fact that the «Deeds of the Danes» contains criticism of Canute VI is explained by the later editing of the text. Hypothetically, the reworking of the text could have been caused by the death of Absalon and Canute VI, to whom the work was intended.

Lo scontro verbale e fisico tra padre e figlio nel mondo germanico

The archetypal tale of the fight between father and son, which is variously modulated in numerous cultural areas, has its lesser-known manifestation in the Germanic traditions: it is a narrative complex which moves across centuries, bound-aries and communicative codes, taking on different – even contrasting – characteristics. A nonlinear narrative, then, but a rhizomatic one, which this essay aims to examine through some of its major attestations from the 9th to the 20th cen-tury: the Old German Lay of Hildebrand, the Gesta Danorumof the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, the Icelandic Ás-mundar saga kappabana and the Norwegian Þiðreks saga af Bern, the Early New High German ballad Jüngeres Hilde-brandslied with images accompanying some witnesses, and the tragedy Hildebrand und Hadubrand staged in 1944.

Two (Postmodern) Czech Shakespearean Adaptations: Claudius and Gertrude and Emodrink of Elsinore

In her book on adaptation theory, Linda Hutcheon1 argues that “[n]either the product nor the process of adaptation exists in a vacuum: they all have a context - a time and a place, a society, and a culture.” Texts travel from their locus originis to other destinations, times, and contexts, crossing geographical, language, and genre borders, and creating their own palimpsestic identity. As Hutcheon2 states, “an adaptation is a derivation that is not derivative - a work that is second without being secondary.” The objective of the article is to examine two Czech adaptations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Claudius and Gertrude (2007) by Jiří Stránský and Jakub Špalek, which was inspired by Saxo Grammaticus and John Updike’s novel Gertrude and Claudius (2000), and Emodrink of Elsinore (2009) by Josef Prokeš. The two plays differ significantly. Stránský and Špalek retell the story that precedes the well-known events at Elsinore and remade the remake. Prokeš, on the other hand, transfers the action to an obscure nightclub, turning Hamlet into a bartender accompanied by a faithful dog (albeit embodied by a human) and incorporating some Czech allusions. The paper focuses on the intertextual aspects of the Czech plays and their vertical rather than horizontal existence.

CULTURAL AMBIGUITY AS IRRECONCILABLE ANTAGONISM IN SHAKESPEARE’S MAJOR TRAGEDIES

This paper aims at exploring the cultural ambiguity which William Shakespeare remarkably extracts from the sources of his major plays, turning it into an essential instrument of the tragic and the tragedy, i.e. into a form of irreconcilable conflict, antagonism. Therefore, what in normal/modern circumstances would appear as “plagiarism” becomes here a token of artistic genius and brilliant creation, the very nucleus of the tragic construction. We approach, from this angle, the four outstanding tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, intending to clearly define each one’s cultural (that is, tragic) conflict. Likewise, the sources of these masterpieces, Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum, François de Belleforest’s Histoires Tragiques (for Hamlet), Cinthio’s Un Capitano Moro (for Othello), the Celtic legend Leir of Britain (for King Lear) and Holinshed’s Chronicles… (for Macbeth), are compared to their Shakespearean “avatars”, with the purpose of displaying the way in which the asserted antagonism manifests itself at the level of the “prototype”. The outcome of the critical investigation reveals that the so-called cultural ambiguity takes various forms in Shakespeare’s plays, going from the clash of civilizations (Hamlet and Othello) to the crisis of identity (King Lear and Macbeth).

Nizarorustu: A Textual Analysis of the Battle of Niså

Nizarorustu: A Textual Analysis of the Battle of Niså

Saxo Grammaticus's Account of the Viking Age Site on the Danish Island of Hjarnø in Gesta Danorum

Saxo Grammaticus's Account of the Viking Age Site on the Danish Island of Hjarnø in <i>Gesta Danorum</i>

Þistil, mistil, kistil: Plants of Death, Rebirth, and Magic in Medieval Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions

<i>Þistil, mistil, kistil</i>: Plants of Death, Rebirth, and Magic in Medieval Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions

WODEN AND MAXIMS I

This paper reconsiders the passage in Maxims I in which Woden is said to have constructed wēos, a word that can be understood to mean “idols” or “pagan shrines.” It compares the passage to various euhemeristic narratives concerning Woden (or Óðinn) preserved by authors such as Ælfric, Æthelweard, Saxo Grammaticus, and Snorri Sturluson, and it argues that the Maxims I passage has more in common with ideas expressed in the later Scandinavian sources than in the earlier homiletic or insular historiographical sources. This exercise in comparative euhemerism suggests that the Woden passage in Maxims I is indebted to a narrative that resembled either the story of Óðinn's misadventure with an idol (preserved in Gesta Danorum) or the story of Óðinn as the builder of temples and founder of pagan religion (preserved in Ynglinga saga). In either case, it appears that a euhemeristic narrative of the sort preserved by Snorri and Saxo circulated centuries earlier in England. Toponymic evidence lends support to this conclusion, as place-names such as Wōdnes dīc and Grīmes dīc bear witness to the early circulation of otherwise unrecorded ideas about Woden as a supernatural builder. Finally, the presence of the Woden passage in Maxims I is viewed as a manifestation of the poem's indebtedness to the tradition of the wisdom contest, a genre associated with Óðinn in Old Norse sapiential literature.

Saxo Grammaticus and His Russian Information

The paper traces the life path of the medieval Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus and for the first time in historiography examines the information about Russia and Russians (Rus), which are contained in his work “Deeds of the Danes” (“Gesta Danorum”). The author of the paper explores the origin of these news in connection with other sources and facts of Saxo&amp;apos;s biography. At the same time, attention is drawn to the methods of work of the Danish historian in different parts of his work. On the whole, it is concluded that the Russian facts of Saxo Grammaticus is an important source regarding the concepts of Russians (Rus) and Russia, which at the turn of the 12—13th centuries were established in Den-mark. At the same time, these concepts indicated their close connection with the oral literature of the northern Germans and with the literary tradition and, in general, with the spiritual trends of the Roma-no-Germanic cultural and historical world.

Ethnogenesis and Stranger-Kings in Old Scandinavian Literature

Ethnogenesis and Stranger-Kings in Old Scandinavian Literature

Review: Women and Weapons in the Viking World: Amazons of the North, by Leszek Gardeła

Review: <i>Women and Weapons in the Viking World: Amazons of the North</i>, by Leszek Gardeła

Christianity and War in Medieval East Central Europe and Scandinavia

<i>Christianity and War in Medieval East Central Europe and Scandinavia</i>

Gods and Humans in Medieval Scandinavia. Retying the Bonds by Jonas Wellendorf

Reviewed by: Gods and Humans in Medieval Scandinavia. Retying the Bonds by Jonas Wellendorf Łukasz Hajdrych Medieval Scandinavia, Norse Paganism, old Norse religion, old Scandinavian religion, Christianization, demonology, mythology, the Eddas jonas wellendorf. Gods and Humans in Medieval Scandinavia. Retying the Bonds, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. x + 206. The study of the mythology and religious practice of pre-Christian Scandinavia poses many problems for contemporary scholars: incompatibility of terminology, lack of extended sources, and their contamination by later Christian tradition. Jonas Wellendorff's recent Gods and Humans deals with these issues in a highly interesting way. Over the five chapters of the monograph, Wellendorf discusses pagan Scandinavian religion and its transition towards Christianity through the perspective [End Page 120] of ancient and medieval Latin and Scandinavian texts. Wellendorff devotes Chapter 1 to the process of Christianization of Scandinavian lands and the attempts of missionaries to reduce the old Norse gods to the ranks of Christian demons. In Chapters 2 and 3, Wellendorf discusses the issue of anti-pagan texts in their relation to the old Scandinavian religion, showing the attempts by bards and other indigenous authors to preserve the memory of the old gods in a new way, acceptable to Christianity. However, by far the most interesting issues Wellendorf discusses are treated in the final two chapters, in which he analyses how Saxo Grammaticus and Snorri Sturluson deployed new methods of thinking about pre-Christian beliefs. Both thirteenth-century authors reinterpreted the old Norse gods as humans who had traveled to the Scandinavian lands from western Asia to found the various dynasties of these lands, and claimed that, because of their extensive knowledge and skills, they were eventually mistakenly worshipped as gods. Wellendorf shows that through this euhemerizing strategy, those authors secured the memory of the old gods among the Scandinavian peoples, protecting them from oblivion in the new Christian conditions. The great value of this work lies in its principles of interpretation and the perspective that Wellendorf uses to show us what kind of religion the pre-Christian Norse actually practiced. By using Augustine's and Varro's tripartite theological classification of religion into the mythological, the civil, and the natural, Wellendorf demonstrates that the Scandinavian cultus indeed involved very different forms of "religion" than what we are accustomed to denote by that term today. Although his analysis deploys categories from classical Latin works, in every moment of the study Wellendorf remains aware of more recent methodological problems, especially the issue of the definition of "religion." Indeed, Wellendorf devotes a considerable part of Chapter 1 to discussions of the problem of the modern creation of the category "religion" and the issues raised by applying this term to pre-Christian religions (or "beliefs," or "faiths," or "traditions," or whatever term we use to describe old Norse "religious" practices and mythology). But Wellendorf's book is more than just a brilliant study devoted to medieval Scandinavian culture. It is also an invaluable work for anyone interested in early modern Scandinavian historiography. In the final sections of the book (Chapter 5 and the Epilogue), Wellendorf describes an important transition from Scandinavian pagan mythology to the fully Christianized historiography of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. During the Christianization era, the old Norse gods were, as elsewhere, reduced to the rank of demons. However, there is a notable contrast to what happened for example in eastern Europe, where old beliefs were slowly but systematically eradicated and incorporated into Christian religion or eventually died out, in the process losing [End Page 121] almost every aspect of their former identity., In the Scandinavian culture, the memory of old gods survived into an era when they could be drawn upon without fear of being accused of practicing paganism or witchcraft: they were thus available to be incorporated anew into the culture. The discovery of the manuscript of the Poetic Edda in 1640 was one of the inspirations for early modern Scandinavian scholars to rewrite their old mythology, debunk it, and link it directly to the classical Greco-Roman mythology. Wellendorf shows the sincere will of the seventeenth-century scholars and bards to preserve ancient culture by proving that what had been rejected in recent centuries...

Danish King Knut V (1146—1157), Son of Magnus, Son of Niels, in the Old Islandic “Knýtlinga Saga” and in Its Danish and West European Sources

The story of the Danish king Knut Magnusson (1146—1157) is covered in the Old Icelandic “Knýtlinga saga” of the mid-13th century and is based on a number of sources used by its author, Óláfr Þórðarson, nicknamed the White Skald. The comparison of Óláfr’s text with the chronicles of Helmold of Bosau and Saxo Grammaticus, as well as with the Danish annals, makes it possible to reveal errors and inaccuracies in the work of the Icelandic author. At the same time, consideration of the aggregate material of the listed sources against the background of indirect information contained not only in the “Knýtlinga saga” but also in a large number of other Icelandic sagas makes it possible to clarify some historical circumstances that were not reflected in Helmold’s and Saxo’s texts but were laconically recorded by the Danish annals, namely — for what purpose and to which prince Knut went to Rus’ in 1151 or 1152.

Relacja o słowiańskich Rugianach w średniowiecznych kronikach Helmolda i Saxo Gramatyka

Rugianie, zachodniosłowiańskie plemię zamieszkujące wyspę Rugię, utrzymali znaczącą, niezależną od ekspansywnych Niemiec i Danii pozycję aż do XII w. Wówczas Rugia została podbita przez duńskiego króla Waldemara, co nieodłącznie wiązało się z przyjęciem przez pogańskich Rugian chrześcijaństwa. Kroniki Helmolda i Saxo Gramatyka są powszechnie cytowanymi źródłami w rozważaniach dotyczących słowiańskiego pogaństwa i procesu chrystianizacji plemion słowiańskich. To, co stanowi o dużej wartości obu kronik, mimo subiektywnych ocen dokonywanych przez samych autorów, to zakres ich wiedzy na temat połabskich plemion, w tym Rugian – ich znaczenia wśród innych Słowian, roli kapłanów, wyglądu czczonego wśród nich bóstwa. Przede wszystkim jednak kronikarze szczegółowo opisali podbój Rugii przez Duńczyków, co skutkowało przeorganizowaniem władzy na wyspie i umożliwiło rozwój chrześcijaństwa. Jak dotąd tytułowe kroniki pozostają głównymi świadectwami tych wydarzeń.

Automated Compositional Change Detection in Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum

Saxo Grammaticus’ medieval source Gesta Danorum (“Deeds of the Danes”) represents the beginning of the modern historical research in Denmark. The bipartite composition of Gesta Danorum has however been subject to much academic debate. In particular the nature and location of a transition between early Pre-Christian and late Christian content have given rise to two competing accounts. In this paper, we argue that the debate can be represented as a problem of intratextual dynamics and we combine models from Information Retrieval and Natural Language Processing with techniques for time series analysis in order to reevaluate the debate. Results indicate that the transition is gradual, starting in book eight and ending in book ten, but that a point-like interpretation is possible in book nine. We argue that the approach exemplifies scalable “automated close reading”, which has multiple applications in text-based historical research.

Visna of Egill Skallagrimsson

Considering the changes in moral principles, human behavior and behavioral values through the ages, in Egill Skallagrimsson's Saga, Egill presents us with altered mental status. This is in terms of what at present is considered symptoms of an anti-social personality, and bipolar affective disorder. Egill Skallagrimsson is considered one of the most famous Vikings in the Icelandic Sagas. Archaeological findings mentioned in Egill's Saga indicate disfigurement of his skull, which has led many authors to suggest that Egill suffered from skeletal dysplasia. The primary assumption in the literature is that Egill Skallagrimsson was affected by Paget's disease of bone. This consideration is additionally based on the scholar's interpretation of the Saga text. The unique storytelling style in the Saga of Egill Skallagrimsson is evident; however, the question of the story's truthfulness remains open. In this article, we investigate Egill Skallagrimsson's assumed Paget's disease of bone, based on the physical and mental symptoms disclosed in the Saga of Egill Skallagrimsson. Associated with the assumption, the author's hermeneutics of Egill's Saga in the context of modern-day knowledge of Paget's disease of bone, brings forward the probability estimate to the range of permille. In Scandinavian folklore and mythology, a tale by Saxo Grammaticus of a notorious shield-maiden named Visna, reminds of Egill, as noted by Snorri Sturluson. Hence, in reference to Egill Skallagrimsson's mental status and physical appearance as listed in Egill's Saga, the authors recommend the name for his condition to be "Visna of Egill Skallagrimsson".

THE ALLEGED MURDER OF HRETHRIC IN BEOWULF

A scenario well known to Beowulf scholars alleges that after Beowulf has slain the monsters and gone home, Hrothulf, nephew of the Danish king Hrothgar, will murder prince Hrethric to gain the throne when the old king dies. This story, that many Anglo-Saxonists assume is integral to the ancient legend of these kings, is a modern misreading of the poet's allusions to events associated with the Scylding dynasty — a legendary history that the poet arguably takes care to follow. The present essay, in two parts, first shows how the idea of Hrothulf's treachery arose and became canonical under the influence of prestigious English and American scholars, then finds fault with this idea, refuting its “proof” from Saxo Grammaticus and showing how some Anglo-Saxonists have doubted that Beowulf supports an interpretation making Hrothulf a murderer. But when the poet's allusions to future treachery are ambiguous, at least for modern readers, in order to exonerate Hrothulf fully one must go to traditions about the Scylding dynasty outside the poem. Scandinavian regnal lists (including one that Saxo himself incorporates) consistently contradict the event the Saxo passage has been used to prove, as they agree on a sequence of Scylding rulers with names corresponding to those of persons in Beowulf. Attention to this traditional sequence exposes Hrothulf's murder of Hrethric as a logical impossibility. Moreover, the early medieval method of selecting rulers suggests that neither did Hrothulf usurp the throne of Denmark. In sum, careful scrutiny of the best Scandinavian evidence and rejection of the worst reveals Beowulf's “treacherous Hrothulf” to be a scholarly fantasy.

Lords and Lordship in Saxo Grammaticus’sGesta Danorum

Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum (‘History of the Danes’), completed in the early thirteenth century, form the most celebrated Latin chronicle of the Scandinavian Middle Ages. This article investigates Saxo’s terminology of lord-man relationships, and how it relates to his conceptualization of political and social structures more broadly. It begins with a semantic analysis of Saxo’s concepts of social power, continues with extended comparisons with his classical Roman models and his Scandinavian contemporaries, and, in the two final sections, broadens its perspective to situate the text within recent debates about political ritual and ‘feudo-vassalic’ institutions in the central Middle Ages. It argues that the addition of a Scandinavian element to the broader European debates about medieval lordship can be an occasion to reflect on how those debates were framed in the first place, and to reassess critically notions of knighthood, political ritual, and feudalism.

Danish Medieval Annals on Old Rus’: Texts, Translation, Commentary

The article is conceived as an addition to the anthology “Old Rus’ in the light of foreign sources” (2009). It contains excerpts from the Danish medieval annals preserving information about Old Rus´ in the original and their Russian translations with introduction and commentary. In the introduction the author presents a brief overview of Danish annalistics, describes the information about Old Rus’, explains the reasons for its inclusion in the Danish annals and discusses the realities behind these reports. The author claims that the information on Old Rus’ in the legendary part of the ‘Annales Ryenses’ is the result of the annalist’s rethinking of Saxo Grammaticus’ work ‘Gesta Danorum’. Many annals mention that the Danish king Knut V travelled to Rus’ in 1152. In the author’s opinion, the reason for that travel was that Knut tried to find support from his Russian relatives in the struggle for the Danish throne. In the article the unusual interest of the Danish annalists towards the fate of the “Russian princess” Sophia is noted. It could be explained by the fact that she was the sister of Knut V, the wife of Valdemar the Great and the mother of Knut VI. The article demonstrates that these short reports of the Danish annals could be used as additional sources in the study of the Russian-Scandinavian interactions during the Middle Ages.