Scandinavian history in the Viking age - Department of Anglo-Saxon ...

Scandinavian History in the Viking Age
Other genres
[B470] Although (sometimes) of great literary interest, the other genres that flourished in the West Norse
area, particularly Iceland, are of little historical value for the study of Viking-age Scandinavia; these
include the romances (riddarasögur) and the fantastic or legendary tales that (to judge from manuscript
transmission) were so popular (such as lygisögur ‘lying sagas’ or fornaldarsögur ‘tales of the ancient
past’). Among this body of material can be included some accounts of the legendary kings of Denmark in
particular (B335) but also a couple of sagas about Viking expeditions into the East.
[B471] Yngvars saga ins víðf²rla ‘the saga of Yngvar the widely travelled’ is part fornaldarsaga, but its
tale of a disastrous Swedish expedition into the mysterious east finds some confirmation, at least in the
more prosaic essentials, in a large number of runestones from the eleventh century that refer to it, the
‘Ingvar’ stones (J70 ff.). Text: E. Olson, Yngvars saga víðf²rla jämte ett bihang om Ingvarsinskrifterna,
SUGNL 39 (1912) [UL 752:01.d.2.38]. Transl.: H. Pálsson and P. Edwards, Vikings in Russia: Yngvar’s
saga and Eymund’s saga (1989) [UL 752:34.d.95.23]
[B472] Eymundar saga is a further example of this genre, but one of even less historical value (if that is
possible). Transl.: H. Pálsson and P. Edwards, Vikings in Russia: Yngvar’s saga and Eymund’s saga
(1989) [UL 752:34.d.95.23]. Commentary: R. Cook, ‘Russian history, Icelandic story, and Byzantine
strategy in Eymundar þáttr Hringssonar’, Viator 17 (1986), 65-89
Annals
No annals are preserved from before the late thirteenth century, and although some scholars have argued
that composition began in Iceland (as elsewhere in Scandinavia) in the twelfth century, they lack any
independent value for the Viking age.
[B475] Text: G. Storm, Islandske Annaler indtil 1578 (1888) [UL 593:01.b.1.26]. Commentary:
(B240):293-326; J. Kristjánsson, ‘Annálar og íslendingasögur’, Gripla 4, SÁMÍ rit 19 (1980), 295-319
[UL 752:1.c.5.23]; E. Haug, ‘The Icelandic annals as historical sources’, SJH 22 (1997), 263-74
IV. OLD NORSE VERSE
Old Norse verse is conventionally divided into two genres, although the boundaries are often blurred. On
the one hand, skaldic verse refers to poetry composed (usually) by named poets in defined contexts;
much of it, especially the most useful historical material, is panegyric in content and fiendishly complex
in metre and style. On the other hand, Eddaic verse is (again usually) anonymous, timeless, and deals
with mythological or ancient heroic material. Since large amounts of Old Norse poetry are found
embedded in sagas of various kinds, many of the general works (B230 ff.) are most useful, but for verse
particularly, see also:
[B480] P. Hallberg, Old Icelandic poetry: Eddic lay and skaldic verse (1975) [UL 752:21.d.95.2]
[B481] B. Fidjestøl, ‘Norse-Icelandic composition in the oral period’, (O10):303-32
[B482] K.E. Gade, ‘Poetry and its changing importance in medieval Icelandic culture’, (B235):61-95
Skaldic verse
The poetry of the skalds can again be divided (however crudely) into two groups; the lausavísur ‘loose
stanzas’ attributed to various characters in the sagas, and the longer praise poems of the court poets of
various kings or other rulers. For bibliographical guidance to earlier research, see:
[B483] L.M. Hollander, A bibliography of skaldic studies (1958) [UL 857.c.752.2]
[B484] E.O.G. Turville-Petre, ‘Scaldic poetry: history and literature’, BONIS 1969, 7-20
General guides
[B485] E.O.G. Turville-Petre, Scaldic poetry (1976) [UL 752:2.c.95.7]
[B486] G. Kreutzer, Die Dichtungslehre der Skalden: Poetologische Terminologie und
Autorenkommentare als Grundlage einer Gattungspoetik, Hochschulschriften: Literaturwissenschaft 1,
2nd edn (1977) [UL 752:21.d.95.3]
[B487] R. Frank, Old Norse court poetry: the dróttkvætt stanza, Islandica 42 (1978) [UL 752:21.c.95.8,
752:4.c.1.41]
[B488] K. von See, Skaldendichtung (1980) [UL 9752.d.722]
35