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

Scandinavian History in the Viking Age
an annotated list of Norwegian kings that refers for its authority to the work of Sæmundr (B252). Text:
(B510):579-89
[B561] Of poems composed in honour of the cult of saint Olaf, Einar Skúlason’s Geisli ‘sunbeam’ stands
out, for text see (B510):459-73
On the maintenance of the skaldic tradition in learned and elite contexts in twelfth- and thirteenth-century
Iceland, see:
[B562] G. Nordal, Tools of literacy: The role of skaldic verse in Icelandic textual culture of the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries (2001) [ASNC]
Eddaic verse
By contrast to skaldic verse, Eddaic poetry is largely anonymous, mythological, and timeless; it is
extraordinarily difficult to pin down when or in what context the various poems that make up the corpus
might have been composed or revised.
Reference
For bibliographical guidance to older material, see:
[B570] H. Hermansson, Bibliography of the Eddas, Islandica 13 (1920), plus suppl. by J.S. Hannesson 37
(1955) [UL 752:4.c.1.13, suppl. 752:4.c.1.36]
Glossaries
The major dictionaries of Old Norse (A90) are often helpful, but see also:
[B571] R. Kellogg, A concordance to Eddic poetry, Medieval texts and studies 2 (1988) [UL R752.50]
[B572] B. la Farge and J. Tucker, Glossary to the Poetic Edda based on Hans Kuhn’s Kurzes
Wörterbuch, Skandinavistische Arbeiten 15 (1992) [UL 752:01.c.10.15]; based on (B587)
General guides
[B574] P. Acker and C. Larrington (edd.), The Poetic Edda: essays on Old Norse mythology (2002)
[B575] R.J. Glendinning and H. Bessason, (edd.), Edda: a collection of essays, University of Manitoba
Icelandic studies 4 (1983) [UL 599:01.c.5.4]
[B576] J. Harris, ‘Eddic poetry’, (B233):68-156
[B577] J. Kristjánsson, Eddas and sagas: Iceland’s medieval literature, transl. P. Foote (1988) [UL
752:16.c.95.32]
On transmission and function in particular, see:
[B578] T. Gunnell, The origins of drama in Scandinavia (1995) [UL 752:05.c.95.55]
[B579] B. Fidjestøl, The dating of Eddic poetry: a historical survey and methodological investigation,
ed. O.E. Haugen, Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 41 (1999) [ASNC]
Eddaic verse and mythology
For more general surveys of Old Norse mythology, see (K1 ff., K20 ff.). A few of the contributions
focussing more specifically (if that were possible) on Eddaic verse are:
[B580] J. Kristjánsson, ‘Heiðin trú í fornkvæðum’, (B261):99-112 (E.s.)
[B581] U. Dronke, ‘Eddic poetry as a source for the history of Germanic religion’, (K12):656-84
[B582] U. Dronke, ‘Pagan beliefs and Christian impact: the contribution of eddic studies’, (O72):121-27
The poetic Edda (or Sæmundar Edda)
The basic body of Eddaic verse is known as the poetic Edda, and is mostly contained in one precious
Icelandic manuscript from the second half of the thirteenth century, the Codex Regius. This manuscript
contains twenty-nine poems; only the first ten are mythological, while the remainder are heroic. For other
similar material, see (B593).
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