<'< '' ' <:':■■; ' , i ';'■:..: • W'-i ^«| ■ ■ vKv Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026360747 The date shows when this volume was taken To renew this book copy the call No. and give to the librarian. HOME All Books subject to Recall All borrowers must regis- tevn the library to borrow books for home use. All books must be re- turned at end of college year for inspection and repairs. Limited books must be re- turned within the four week limit and not renewed. Students must return all books before leaving town. Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted during their absence from town. Volumes of periodicals and of pamphlets are held in the library as much as possible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use their library privileges for the benefit of other persons. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Readers are asked to re- port all cases of books marked or mutilated. Cornell University Library PT 7060.W77 1884 lobo NORSE LITERATURE PUBLISHED BY S. C. GRIGGS & COMPANY, CHICAGO. Anderson — America not Discovered by Columbus Anderson — Norse Mythology Anderson — Viking Tales of the North Anderson — The Younger, Edda Porestier — Echoes prom Mist-Land ; or, The Nibelungen Lay Revealed Holcomb — Tegner's Fridthjof's Saga Janson — The Spell-Bound Fiddler Lie — The Pilot and his Wife Lie — The Barque Future Peterson — Norwegian - Danish Grammar and Reader 1 25 $1 00 2 50 2 00 2 00 1 50 1 50 1 00 1 50 1 00 HISTORY OF THE LITERATURE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH THE MOST ANCIENT TIMES TO THE PRESENT. FREDERIK WINKEL HORN, Ph.D. REVISED BY THE AUTHOR, AND TRANSLATED BY bTa EASMUS BTANDEESON, AUTHOR OP NORSE MYTHOLOGY, AMERICA NOT DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS, VIKING TALES OF THE NORTH, AND OTHER WORKS, WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE IMPORTANT BOOKS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE RELATING TO THE SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES, PREPARED FOR THE TRANSLATOR BY THORVALD _SOLBERG„ OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D. C. CHICAGO: S. C. GEIGGS AND COMPANY. 1884. *HV +-TP ^ORNELl\ UNIVERSITY V Copyright, 1888, Bt S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY. ^ TO MY WIFE, BERTHA KARINA ANDERSON, THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. R. B. ANDERSON. TABLE OF CONTENTS- Introduction, 1 PART I. THE OLD NORSE AND ICELANDIC LITERATURE. Works op Reference, 11 CHAPTER I. Old Norse Literature. Iceland peopled from Norway becomes the original home of the Old Norse Literature. Why the Icelanders became preemi- nently a historical people. The elder and younger Edda and their principal contents. The forms of Old Norse poetry. The Skaldic poetry and its developments from the drapas to the rhymes. The most famous skalds and their drapas. Saga- writings. Icelandic genealogies. Snorre Sturleson's Heims- kringla. Mythic heroic sagas. Romances. Legends. Folk- lore. Laws, . 13 CHAPTER II. Modern Icelandic Literature. Revival of literature in Iceland. Favorable and unfavorable con- ditions. Influence of the Reformation. Translations of the Bible. Psalmists. Collections of sermons. Participation of the Icelanders in the age of learning in the North. Arngrim Jonsson. The study of antiquities. Linguistic investigations. Aids to the study of manuscripts. Torfeus. Arne Mag- nusson. Vidalin. Finn Magnusson. Patriotic movement. Jon Sigurdsson. Revival of poetry. Rhymes. Modern ' poets, . 74 VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART II. DENMARK AND NORWAY. Works op Reference, 93 CHAPTER I. The Middle Age. The conditions under which the literature of the middle age began. Influence of the clergy. Latin literature. Theological writings. Suneson's Hexaihneron. Archbishop Absalon. Svend Aageson. Saxo GrfShmaticus and his great work. Works in the Danish language. Provincial laws. Popular ballads; their origin, character and forms. Different kinds of ballads. Suppression of the Latin by the Danish language. Translations of theological works. Religious poems. Ascen- dancy of German influence, 95 CHAPTER II. The Age of the Reformation. Introduction of the Reformation and the literary activity it pro- duced. Christian Pederson, the founder of Danish litera- ture. Translations of the Bible. Peder Plade. Hans Tausen and his conflict with the Catholic clergy. Paul Eliesen. Religious, satirical and dramatic productions, . 136 CHAPTER III. The Period of Learning. Characteristics of the Age. The vernacular gives way to the Latin. Supreme influence of the Orthodox Theology. Niels Hemmingsen. Jesper Brochmand. Works for edification. Tyge Brahe. Ole ROmer. Kaspar and Thomas Bartholin and Ole Borch. Polyhistors. Neils Stensen. Bergitte Thott. Leonora ITlfeldt. Anders Vedel. Huitfeldt. Lyskarider. The beginning of antiquarian research. Ole Worm. The service of the Icelanders to the study of Old Norse. Danish philology. Peder Syv. Poetical attempts, 156, TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vll CHAPTER IV. HOLBERG AND HlS TlME (1700-1750). Holberg's youth. His studies and journeys. First appointment as professor. Historical works. Publication of Peder Paars. Opening of the Danish theatre. Holberg's comedies. Inter- ruption of his poetical activity. Travels abroad. Greater historical works. Continued dramatic composition. Niels Klim. Last works. Bequests to the Soro Academy. Hol- berg's importance and influence considered. Christian Palster. JOrgen Sorterup. Ambrorius Stub. Hans Brorson. Fred- erik Bilschow. Erik Pontoppidan. Hans Gram. Jakob Langebek. Peter Suhm, 183 CHAPTER V. The Age of Enlightenment (1750-1800). The struggle between orthodoxy and rationalism. Victory of the latter and its consequences. Reaction against foreign influ- ence. Sneedorf, Pram, Rahbek, Heiberg, Bruun, Society for the advancement of sciences. Klopstock and his influence on Danish literature. Stenersen. Tullin. Ewald, his works and his importance. Wessel and his poems. The Danish and Norwegian society of literature. Baggesen, . . 205 CHAPTER VI. Modern Danish Literature (after 1800). Oehlenschlager. His acquaintance with Steffens and the lat- ter's influence on him. First works. Oehlensehlager's great productiveness. His relations to the Old Norse. War with Baggesen. Oehlensehlager's great importance. Staffeldt. Grundtvig and his works. His importance as poet and dog- matician. Ingemann, Hauch, Bredahl, Blicher, Moller, Whi- ther, Andersen, J. L. Heiberg, Hertz, Paludan-Miiller, Mrs. Gyllembourg and Carl Bemhard. Aarestrup, Bagger, Bodtcher and others. Ploug, Hostrup, Richardt, Kaalund, Bogh, Mol- bech, Carit Etlar, Goldschmidt, H. P. Ewald. Poets of the present. Science in Denmark in the nineteenth century, 228 VUl TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Norwegian Literature since 1814. Unfavorable conditions for the foundation of an independent Norwegian literature, and efforts to improve these conditions. Wergeland and Welhaven, their respective positions, their feuds and their significance. Munch, Asbjornsen, Moe, BjSrn- son, Ibsen, Lie and others. Contributions in the various de- partments of science, 293 PART III. SWEDEN. Works op Reference, - 313 CHAPTER I. The Middle Age (until 1520). Beginnings of Swedish literature. Religious works. Popular songs. Rhymed chronicles. Romances of chivalry, . 317 CHAPTER II. Period op the Reformation (1520-1640). Introduction of the Reformation. Translations of the Bible. Historical works. Mesmerism. Dramatical works. Reli- gious literature, . 322 CHAPTER III. The Stjernhjelm Period (1640-1740). Sweden's golden age, founded and advanced by great kings. Stjernhjelm as polyhistor and poet. His influence and his successors. Dahlstjerna. Poets of minor importance. Char- acteristics of Swedish historiography. Verelius. Rudbek. Werwing. Widekindi. Pufendorf . PeringskjOld and others. The other scientific branches, 331 TABLE OF CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER IV. The Dalin Age (1740-80). The invasion of French elements. Dalin and his importance. Madame Nordenflycht and her influence. Creutz. Gyllen- borg. M8rk. Wallenberg. Linne. Lagerbring. Botin. HSpken. Tessin. Ihre, 345 CHAPTER V. The Gustavian Period (1780-1809). The influence of King Gustav III on Swedish literature. Founda- tion of the Academy. The two main tendencies in Swedish literature. Kellgren. Leopold. Oxenstjerna. Adlerbeth. Bellman, Hallmann, Kexel and others. Lidner. Thorild. Anna Lenngren, 354 i CHAPTER VI. The Nineteenth Century. Franzen. Wallin. Introduction of the new romanticism in Sweden. Phosphorists, HammarskOld, Atterbom, Palmblad and others. Gothic school. Geijer. Ling. Tegner. Beskow. Meander. TegneVs successors, Lindeblad and others. Novel literature. Almquist. Mrs. Bremer. Mrs. Flygare-Carlen. Gumalius. Crusenstolpe. Rydberg. MalmstrSm. BSttiger and other poets. Runeberg and his imitators. Topelius Recent poets. Historiography. Other sciences, 373 Bibliography of Scandinavia, . . 413 rNTKODTJOTIOK rT^HE Scandinavian nations constitute together a branch that in early times became detached from the great folk-tree which we usually call the Gothic-Germanic (or Teutonic) race. This branch embraces the inhabitants of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. The latter be- longs, though merely in a political sense, to Denmark. In the following review of the intellectual life of these nations, as it has, in the course of time, found expression in litera- ture, we propose to consider the inhabitants of the four countries named collectively, although they at the present time, not only in politics, but also in many other respects, possess strongly marked national individualities, and differ one from the other in many things. We feel justified in so doing for the reason that they, in spite of differences, and in spite of all the feuds and conflicts that have divided them in the past, still in reality constitute a unity, which, quite unlike the other European peoples, even those which are most nearly related to one another, has acquired to the close observer a common physiognomy. They are sister- nations, which, with the changes that time has wrought, have in some respects been developed each in her own peculiar manner. They have frequently met as foes, but in spite of this, they have preserved the mark of kin- ship, that became their common inheritance when they separated from the great race whence they sprang, to shift 2 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIA!* NORTH. for themselves. In all essential respects they have given the world an intellectual product differing from all others, both in character and form, though of course continually influenced by the other streams of European culture. The fact that the northern peoples, from an intellectual stand- point, formed a national unity, that they were imbued and influenced by one and the same national spirit, was never for a moment lost' sight of by the ancient inhabitants of the North; later it was somewhat obscured, though it was never utterly forgotten; and in our time the Scandinavian peoples have again become thoroughly conscious of their intimate kinship. " The age of sundering is past," said one of Sweden's greatest poets half a century ago, and in spite of the political separation, the sentiment that " we are one people, Scandinavians we are called," as a Danish poet has sung, has during the past fifty years been growing continually stronger. This unity has found its most natural expression in the language of the peoples of the North. Not only in an- tiquity, but also far down into the middle ages, they all employed, absolutely, one and the same tongue, and even now the differences between the three principal languages, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, are very insignificant. The written languages in Denmark and Norway are very nearly identical, though the Norwegians have recently, to a greater extent than ever before, enriched their tongue by the adop- tion of words from the dialects which have been preserved by the peasants, and which in many respects are closely re- lated to the ancient common Scandinavian tongue. And of the written language in Sweden it may be said that it has been developed out of the original, by the side of the Dan- INTRODUCTION. 3 ish-Norwegian tongue, in such a manner that it is not, in reality, to be regarded as a separate speech; the facts are more adequately expressed when we say that the Danish- Norwegian on the one hand and the Swedish on the other are two important dialects of the same language. A thor- ough investigation shows that there is less difference be- tween Danish-Norwegian and Swedish, as we find these tongues in literature, than between the different dialects of each of the three languages. Educated Danes and Swedes, for instance, mutually understand each other more easily than they do one of their own countrymen in the narrower sense of the word, who speaks a popular dialect of the same language, and the difficulties that a Dane has to overcome in order to be able to appropriate the treasures of Swedish literature, or the obstacles that stand in the way of the Swede in reference to Danish books, are very slight indeed. With the language spoken in' Iceland the ca,se is a very different one. In this distant island the tongue in which the most ancient literary products of the national spirit of the North are preserved, and in which the most vigorous and remarkable literary activity was continued far down into the middle ages, has been preserved almost wholly unchanged, while so decided linguistic changes have been wrought in the other northern lands that the Old Norse and modern Icelandic literature can be read only by those persons on the Scandinavian mainland who have made a special study of the Icelandic language,— a study which not only leads to a keen appreciation of the original kin- ship, but also enables us to realize more thoroughly the es- sential unity of the tongues spoken at present in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. 4 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. In the same manner as in the Scandinavian languages, we can trace a national unity in the literature of the North from the most ancient times down to the present. A very natural division is one into two literary epochs, that of ancient, and that of modern times. The latter ex- tends of course a good way back, and among its products are found many works which are really older than much of what we are accustomed to class with the ancient litera- ture. The truth is that there is not only a wide differ- ence in time, but also a great difference in the character of these two literary epochs. That part of the Scandinavian literature which we call the ancient epoch is a pure un- adulterated expression of the northern popular spirit, while the modern epoch is more or less influenced by streams of culture from the rest of Europe. This fact becomes sin- gularly apparent in the circumstance that the ancient lit- erature, having its root in oral tradition, extending back to the most hoary antiquity, and losing in force and vigor exactly in proportion to the strength of foreign, ex- ternal influences upon it — employs the mother tongue as its organ, and thus becomes in the truest sense of the word a popular literature, while the literature of modern times developed out of the Eoman culture, which was intro- duced with Christianity, and in the beginning made use of the Latin language as the vehicle of its thought. In a history of the modern literature of the northern nations it is therefore necessary to show how the national and popu- lar element exerted itself to cast off the foreign yoke which the foreign culture had put upon it, until it at length gained the necessary strength to establish a truly national literature which from its energy and fulness is able to INTRODUCTION. 5 produce flowers and fruits that owe their peculiar fra- grance and color to the soil out of which they grew. In accordance with the above statements, the old Norse literature will in this work be treated in a separate part (Part I), and the modern Icelandic literature, being not only written in the same tongue, but having also many other points in common with it, will be described in a second chapter of the same part of the volume. The lit- erature of the modern peoples of the North — including the Icelanders — might easily have been described collec- tively, and certainly an author might be tempted to follow this plan, since by that method the important idea of the essential unity of the intellectual products of the northern peoples could be far more clearly expressed and vindicated than when each literary field is considered by itself. Mean- while we have decided to adopt the latter method, thus making it, as it seems to us, easier for the foreign reader to get a general view of the literary materials and of the various stages of development which, it will be seen, do not always perfectly correspond in the different countries. The modern literature will also be treated under two heads only, instead of three, since Denmark and Norway may in fact be said to have a common literature until the political sep- aration of these countries in 1814. Toward the close of the eighteenth century we find the first signs of efforts on the part of the Norwegians to build up a separate litera- ture, and not before the nineteenth century can it be said of them that they have developed an important literary activity which has contributed something new in form and character to the literary life of the North. We mentioned the foreign influence which made itself 6 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. felt in northern literature as soon as the North became converted to Christianity, and thus drawn into the current of European civilization. It prevented the continuation of an absolutely independent and distinct intellectual life. This influence'-was in its nature, and in a general sense, a European one, but inasmuch as it had to come to the North by way of Germany, we usually find it to be of a specific German character. Considering the important part acted by Germany in the history of European civilization, this was necessary and unavoidable. Christianity came by way of Germany, and so did the Eeformation, the Eenaissance, the enlightenment of the eighteenth century, etc., in short, for every material intellectual advancement, the North is indebted to Germany, since the impulse to every movement of great importance in the northern lands came from that country. This was both natural and beneficial, and upon the whole the foreign materials, which this influence brought . into Scandinavia, were appropriated and remod- eled in an independent manner by the peoples of the North. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the German influence occasionally, and sometimes through long periods, assumed such a character and became so decided that it must be said of it that it was injurious and obstructed an independent national development. There have been times when the independent intellectual life of the North has become nearly smothered by a too strong and one-sided influence from the leading nation of the Teutonic race, and this is especially true of Denmark, because this country has stood and still stands in so near a relation to Germany. And yet in the midst of all the severe trials to which the Scandinavian North has been exposed in this respect in the INTRODUCTION. 7 course of time, its peculiar national life has preserved its germinating power, which has frequently given startling signs of life, and which finally in the fulness of time devel- oped a surprising wealth of flowers that from the begin- ning of this century to the present day give the people in all the Scandinavian lands a literary individuality in the strictest sense their own. If the question be asked, of what interest it can be to foreign readers to make a special study of the literary history of the Scandinavian peoples, the first answer must be that this literature occupies a respectable and impor- tant position by the side of the literatures of the other civilized peoples. It deserves recognition not only as the intellectual product of a race to which has been assigned a prominent part in the world's history, but also on ac- count of its own peculiar merits. The northern mind has both in the past and in modern times produced a consid- erable number of works of great intrinsic value. Poets like Holberg and Bellmann, like Oelenschlager and Teg- ner, like Paludan-Mtiller and Euneberg, like Andersen and Almquist, BjOrnson and Ibsen, and many others, to say nothing of a large number of writers in other branches of literature, would be an ornament to any country, and there can be no doubt that the fact that not a much larger number of Scandinavian authors than the few whose works are partially translated into foreign tongues, are known abroad, must be accounted for by the paucity of the Scandinavian peoples, the difficulty of their lan- guages, and the modest position they hold, especially in the history of our own time. The names mentioned are taken almost at random, and the list could easily be increased 8 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. with a large number of other writers who are eminent in the modern literature of the North. But the old Norse literature also deserves to he known outside of the circle of scholars, to whom alone it has hitherto been really accessible. An account of the historical development of this ancient and modern literature, not merely a nomen- clature, but a description, combined with the necessary bibliography, of the literary phenomena, independently, as well as in connection with those streams of culture in foreign lands with which they are more or less interwoven, will therefore be both interesting and useful. By the fre- quent use of side-lights we shall strive to distinguish what is original and what is borrowed or imitative. PAET I. THE OLD NORSE AND ICELANDIC LITERATURE. PART I. WORKS OP REFERENCE. K. Weinhold: Altnordisehes Leben. Berlin, 1856. C. F. Koeppen : Literarische Binleitung in die nordische Mythologie. Berlin, 1837. C. Rosenberg: Nordboernes Aandsliv fra Oldtiden til vore Dage. Copenhagen, 1877-78. N. M. Petersen : Samlede Afhandlinger I-IV. Copenhagen, 1870-74. P. A. Munch: Samlede Afhandlinger I-IV. Christiania, 1872-76. E. Keyser: Efterladte Skrifter I-II. Christiania, 1866. R. B. Anderson : Norse Mythology. Chicago, 1879. R. B. Anderson: Viking Tales of the North. Chicago, 1882. R. B. Anderson: The Younger Edda. Chicago, 1880. R. B. Anderson: America not discovered by Columbus. Chicago, 1883. P. A. Munch: Det norske Folks Historie I-VIII. Christiania, 1852-63. J. B. Sars: TJdsigt over den norske Historie I-II. Christiania, 1873-77. N. M. Petersen : Danmarks Historie i Hedenold I-III. Copenhagen, 1854-55. K. Hildebrand: Svenska Folket under Hednatiden. Stockholm. A. M. Strinholm : Wikingzilge, Staatsverfassung und Sitten der alten Skandinaven, aus dem Schwedischen von E. F. Frisch. Ham- burg, 1839-41. K. Maurer: Island von seiner ersten Entdeckung bis zum Unter- gange des Freistaats. Mtinehen, 1874. H. Hildebrand : Livet pa Island under Sagotiden. Stockholm, 1867. C. Rosenberg: Trcek af Livet pa Island i Fristatstiden. Copenha- gen, 1871. P. E. K. Kalund : Bidrag til en historisk topografisk Beskrivelse af Island. Copenhagen, 1877-79. Th. Mobius: Ueber die altnordisehe Sprache. Halle, 1872. H. Einarsen : Historia literaria Islandiae. Copenhagen and Leipsic, 1786 (Sciagraphia his. lit. Islandiae. Copenhagen, 1777). Th. Mobius: Catalogus librorum Islandicorum et Norvegicorum aetatis mediiB. Leipsic. 1856. 12 WORKS OF REFERENCE. Th. Mobius: Verzeichniss der auf dem Gebiete der altnordischen Spraohe und Literatur von 1855 bis 1879 erschienenen Sehriften. Leipsio, 1880. E. E. C. Dietrich : Altnordisohes Lesebuch. 1864. B. Rosselet: Islandische Literatur (Algemeine Encyclopaedie der Wissenschaften und Kilnste von Ersch und Gruber. 1855). N. M. Petersen: Bidrag til den oldnordiske Literature Historie. Co- penhagen, 1866. R. Keyser : Nordmsendenes Videnskabelighed og Literatur i Middel- alderen. Christiania, 1866. HISTORY LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. CHAPTER I. OLD NORSE LITERATURE. iceland peopled from norway becomes the original home of the old Norse literature. Why the Icelanders became preeminently a historical people. the elder and younger edda, and their prin- CIPAL contents. The forms of Old Norse poetry. The Skaldic POETRY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT FROM THE DRAPAS TO THE RHYMES. The most famous skalds and their drapas. saga-whiting, icelandic Genealogies. Kings' Sagas. Snorre Sturlason's Heimskringla. Mythic-heroic Sagas. Romances, legends, folk-lore, laws. IT cannot be stated with certainty at what time that branch of the Teutonic race, from which the present inhabi- tants of the North are descended, immigrated to the Scan- dinavian countries, but we are not far from the truth, when we assume that the event took place near the time of the birth of Christ. About this time the bronze v age seems to be succeeded by the iron age in the North, and in all proba- bility the ancestors of the present inhabitants of Scandinavia brought the use of iron with them, though they may pos- sibly on their arrival have found kindred peoples who had come there still earlier. Not until some time after the be- ginning of the iron age, that is to say, a few centuries after the birth of Christ, do we find in the North the art of pho- netic writing, the runes, which according to the most recent investigations* are derived from the Latin alphabet, and *L. F. A. Wimmer: Runeskriftens Oprindelse og Udvikling i Norden. Co- penhagen, 1874. 13 14 LITERATURE 01? THE SCANDINAVIAN NOKTH. were in their older form known to the whole Teutonic race, while the later runes, which first appear in the younger iron age (that is from the beginning of the eighth century), and which, in spite of the essential differences between these and the older ones, must have developed out of the latter, are never found outside of the Scandinavian countries.* Not until after the introduction of Christianity do we find a writ- ten literature in the North, and before that time the written monuments consist exclusively in rune-stones and other ob- jects carved with runes, such as weapons, ornaments, etc. Despite the scarcity of these inscriptions, the excellent phi- lologists who in later times have devoted themselves with in- defatigable zeal to the study of runes, and of whom we would particularly mention the Norwegian, Sophus Bugge, and the Dane, L. Wimmer, have secured important results; they have gradually succeeded in interpreting them, and thus they have laid a firm foundation for investigating the origin and development of the ancient language of the North. It may now be assumed as an established principle that there was an uninterrupted linguistic development throughout the whole iron age, and that the Old Norse tongue, on its first appearance as such, was intimately related to the languages spoken by the Goths, Germans and Scandinavians. In the course of the development, as can be demonstrated by the runic inscriptions, the Norse language (anciently styled " d5nsk tunga ") took a decided direction of its own, and became separated from the kindred Teutonic tongues, and finally differences arose within that language itself, which can easily be discerned as soon as we enter the field of literature proper; for here we find Old Norwegian, Old Swedish, and Old Danish distinctly separated, though the differences are but slight in the beginning. The history of the. Scandinavian countries does not really begin before the time when Christianity, with steadily in- *The most elaborate work on the old runes is "The Old Northern Runic Monuments," by George Stephens, in two folio volumes, profusely illustrated. London, 1866-68. OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 15 creasing power, found its way beyond the borders of the North, that is to say, about the beginning of the ninth cen- tury. Of the prevailing culture before that time, our esti- mate must be based on merely general outlines. Meanwhile the zealous and successful studies which have been carried on during the past fifty years by eminent scholars in all the three Scandinavian lands, in every branch of antiquities, have produced results which have constantly increased the sharpness of those general outlines, and long since greatly modified the old theory that the ancient inhabitants of the North were nothing but rude barbarians. We now know that they were not only a warlike race, whose male members toward the end of the olden time, in the capacity of dreaded vikings, undertook expeditions in the North and far beyond its borders, seeking battle and booty, but that same mythol- ogy, which gives us so vivid a picture of this side of their character, also ascribes to them a high rank in intelligence and morality, and reveals a most weird and profound inter- pretation of the world and the things about them; and, more- over, the countless finds from the iron age which have turned up in every part of the whole North testify not only that they appreciated feats of arms, but also that they knew in their way how to make life beautiful. In short, we know that throughout the whole iron age, in spite of all influences un- like those operating in the South, there prevailed a high state of culture, and the many traditions and songs from the vari- ous districts of the North, which, although they were not committed to writing until after the introduction of Chris- tianity, still belong to a hoary antiquity, afford ample testi- mony that the spirit was wide awake in the ancestors of the present inhabitants of the North, and that they were not merely cruel vikings. The Old Norse literature found its real home in Iceland. In Norway, too, some beautiful buds were produced, but, however important these may be in other respects, they have but little value in a literary point of view as compared with 16 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. the splendid blossoms that unfolded themselves in that distant island, whose inhabitants even to this day have preserved with loving tenderness the memory of their forefathers. The reason why Iceland, which was destitute of inhabitants at the time of its discovery, about the middle of the ninth century, became so rapidly settled and secured so eminent a position in the world's history' and literature, must be sought in the events which took place in Norway at the time when Harald Harfagri (Fairhair), after a long and obstinate resistance, succeeded in usurping the monarchical power. Many of the powerful men, who hitherto had lived as independent kinglets at their courts, could not and would not submit to the new order of things which the monarch introduced with unre- lenting severity. They would rather leave their country than voluntarily recognize him as their superior. They could the more easily accommodate themselves to the seeking of a new fatherland, since the bonds that tied them to the old had already been made more and more loose by the viking expeditions ; for these expeditions, which were originally limited to excursions for the purpose of bringing home fee and fame, had gradually assumed a new character. The vikings went abroad to settle in foreign lands, and there they exercised an important influence upon the whole culture of the middle ages, supplying the enfeebled peoples of western Europe with new elements of strength. They became the leaders in all directions, not only in war and politics, but also in art and literature. A general spirit of migration had taken possession of the inhabitants of the North. While the Danes especially directed their expeditions to England and France, where they at once founded cities and kingdoms, the Nor- wegians went chiefly to Ireland, Scotland, and to the islands north of Great Britain. But the country, which above all attracted them, when they abandoned Norway to found new homes, was Iceland. In the course of sixty years, from 874 to 934, that is, dur- OLD NOESE LITEEATUEE. 17 ing the so-called "land-taking period,* the island became so densely settled, that it never since has had a larger popula- tion. The people who emigrated to Iceland were for the most part the flower of the nation. They went especially jfrom the west coast of Norway, where the peculiar Norse spirit had been most perfectly developed. Men of the noblest birth in Norway set out with their families and followers to find a home where they might be as free and independent as their fathers had been before them. No wonder then that they took with them the cream of the ancient culture of the fatherland. In the beginning the circumstances naturally led to the formation of a number of small, perfectly independent com- munities. Each chief could take land wherever he found it unoccupied. He could divide it among his subjects as he saw fit, and he could upon the whole arrange his matters as he pleased. Out of this patriarchal condition of society there was soon, however, developed a system of laws and institu- tions that were adopted and approved by all, and therefore binding throughout the country. These laws and institu- tions were somewhat strict in regard to forms and technical- ities, but still they secured to the individual a large measure of freedom. The small communities, which originally were isolated and absolutely independent of one another, soon found it necessary to unite themselves into colonies, with common seats of justice. Then again several colonies would unite in establishing a higher court, and finally in the year 930 the Althing was organized. This was a common parlia- ment for the whole island, and it became the heart and cen- tre of the Icelandic republic. These political institutions were admirably calculated to preserve the love of individual liberty and the sense of personal dignity, which noble-born settlers from Norway had brought with them, but they also contained in them the germs of the fall of the republic, since they afforded no protection against the constantly increasing * LandnamBtid, the time of land-taking, from the Old Norse nema land. 18 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. efforts on the part of a few powerful and influential families to get the management of affairs into their own hands. The result was that the country wasted its strength in bloody feuds, so that the kings of Norway, who already in the begin- ning of the republic had contemplated the subjugation of the island, at length succeeded in accomplishing their purpose, and in 1263 Iceland was conquered and made tributary to the crown of Norway. At the time of the first settlement of the island, and for a long time subsequently, the asa-faith nourished almost wholly unmolested throughout the North. To be sure, Chris- tianity had been preached in Denmark and Sweden, espe- cially by Ansgar, the " apostle of the North," who died in 865, and, in Norway, Hakon, Harold Eairhair's youngest son, the foster-child of Athelstan in England, had tried to introduce it, but still it took a long time to root out the old faith. The Christian religion cannot be said to have been established in Denmark before the reign of Knut the Great (1018-1035), and still later in Sweden, in the rule of Saint Erik (about 1150), while in Norway the founders of Christianity were Olaf Trygvason (995-1000) and Saint Olaf (1015-1028). In Iceland the introduction of Christianity was comparatively easy, it being preached there by natives, although the island had previously been visited by foreign missionaries, such as Bishop Frederick from Saxony and Priest Thangbrand from Bremen. In the year 1000 Christianity was formally adopted at the Althing. It did not take long for it to become tolerably well rooted in the country, and this was accom- plished without those unfortunate results which almost every- where else attended the introduction of the new doctrine and the corresponding changes in customs and beliefs. There did not spring up in Iceland as elsewhere, indifference toward, or what is worse, a fanatical hatred of, the monuments which the intellectual life of their ancestors had reared. To these circumstances we are indebted for the countless treasures of OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 19 antiquity preserved to us by the Icelanders, and these treas- ures we are now prepared to examine. "What in other countries contributed most to repress the popular and national element in connection with the intro- duction of Christianity, was the circumstance that all work pertaining to the culture, education and spiritual welfare of the people was left largely, nay we might say exclusively, to the priest. In the eyes of the monks and the priests every- thing that suggested the heathen faith came as a rule from the devil's workshop,, and even that which did not bear the stamp of heathenism was of but slight importance to them, as compared with that which monopolized their attention — the faith and the establishment of the church. In Iceland, where the priests also secured a considerable, though by no means a decisive, influence on the development of literature, many things contributed toward giving matters a different direction. Here there was no wall separating the priests from the people, or at least it was not so apparent. For a wide-awake people, occupying at the time of the introduction of Christianity a high place in culture, it was not necessary to look to foreigners for the nucleus of a national priesthood. The sons of the island were capable of filling the sacerdotal offices, though bishops of foreign birth were at first appointed to superintend the affairs of the church. In heathen times the position of chief and that of priest were intimately asso- ciated, and this system continued to prevail after the adoption of Christianity. Just as the chief had formerly been at the same time arbiter of all disputes and priest of Odin at the temple which he himself or his ancestors had built on his homestead, and around which his followers gath- ered, so he now erected a church and received ordina- tion. And even after this relation ceased to exist, the bond between the ecclesiastical and civil government was not broken, for the chief retained the patronage of his own church. But not only the priests were chosen from among the people. Natives soon became bishops also, whose worldly 20 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. influence already in those early days was of great importance, since they were not only prelates, but at the same time highly esteemed and powerful chiefs. The first native-born bishop of Iceland, Isleif, who had received his education and priestly ordination in the convent school at Herford in Westphalia, and who, at the instigation of his countrymen, complaining that they did not have a bishop of their own, in the fiftieth year of his age, A.D. 10 56, accepted this office, also retained his position as peasant and chief, and of his son and successor, Gissur, it is expressly stated that he was at once bishop and king. Bishop Gissur completed the task of organizing the eccle- siastical affairs in Iceland. The tithe was introduced, and as it is characteristic of the general condition of affairs under his management, it deserves to be especially pointed out that this tax, which usually has been so unpopular, was collected by him without the least opposition. Theological schools and cloisters were established. In short, none of the ecclesiastical institutions were wanting in Iceland — with the exception, indeed, of one very important one, that of celibacy — but they were all of a character wholly different from that of the cor- responding institutions in other countries, and the priestly spirit of caste was never developed. In regard to the literature of Iceland, it must be ad- mitted that the priests took a conspicuous part in the intel- lectual development of the people and that they were in possession of no inconsiderable amount of culture for that time, but they were not the only people of culture. Toward the end of the eleventh century it is expressly stated that many of the chiefs were so learned that they with perfect propriety might have been ordained to the priesthood, and in the twelfth century there were, in addition to those to be found in the cloisters, several private libraries in the island. On the other hand, secular culture, knowledge of law and history, and of the skaldic art were, so to speak, common prop- erty. And thus, when the means for committing a literature OLD NOKSB LITEEATURB. 21 to writing were at hand, the highly developed popular taste for history gave the literature the direction which it after- ward maintained. The fact is, there really existed a whole literature, which was merely waiting to be put in writing. There existed a choice collection of unwritten books, which partly had accumulated since the first settlement of the island, and partly had been brought over the sea from the mother-country, and of which the contents, so far as every important feature is concerned, were faithfully preserved by oral tradition, while doubtless the form had undergone many changes, as is natural when anything is handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. Many causes contributed toward making the Icelanders preeminently a historical people. The settlers were men of noble birth, who were proud to trace their descent from kings and heroes of antiquity, nay, even from the gods them- selves, and we do not therefore wonder that they assidu- ously preserved the memory of the deeds of their forefathers. But in their minds was developed not only a taste for the sagas of the past; the present also received its full share of attention. The many small, isolated communities, in which life presented so much of common interest and welfare; the many mutual contests and feuds, which of necessity soon sprang up between these proud, ambitious and warlike men, and which rapidly spread from the individual to the family, naturally enough led to the preservation of the memory both of the events and of the persons concerned. Furthermore, as life was necessarily very monotonous in those isolated valleys of Iceland, people would be eagerly inquiring for news, when they met at the courts, at banquets, at merry-makings, etc. The news gathered was preserved, and whatever was recited as song or saga tenaciously retained its original form and was related by one generation to the other, either dur- ing the long winter evenings or whenever the proper op- portunity presented itself. Nor did they interest themselves for and remember the events that took place in Iceland 22 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. only. Reports from foreign lands also found a most hearty welcome, and the Icelanders had abundant opportunity of satisfying their thirst for knowledge in this direction. As vikings, as merchants, as courtiers and especially as skalds acompanying kings and other distinguished persons, and also as varagians in Constantinople, many of them found splendid opportunities of visiting foreign countries. They took ac- tive part in many things, and gained information in regard to others of which we would now know little or nothing, had not the tales which they told on their return to Iceland to their eagerly listening countrymen been faithfully remem- bered and later committed to writing. Such were then the conditions and circumstances which produced that remarkable development of the historical taste with which the people were endowed, and made Iceland the home of the saga. We are now prepared to consider this remarkable litera- ture itself, and shall give our first attention to the old poetry, the origin of which must doubtless be sought far back in the prehistoric times, and which therefore we must especially regard as a common inheritance of the North. The poems to which we here refer are preserved in the collection well known by the name of the Elder Edda * or Ssemund's Edda (Edda Saemundar hins froSa). The old parchment (Codex Eegius) of the Elder Edda appears to have been written about the year 1300, and came to Denmark in the middle of the seventeenth century as a present from the Icelandic bishop Brynjulf Sveinsson to King Frederick the Third. At that time, and for a long time afterward, it was be- *Edda means great-grandmother — the word occurs in thiB sense in the old poem Mgsmal and elsewhere — and this name of the old collection of poems from the past was suggested by their venerable age. Meanwhile the word has an- other signification, meaning also that which is excellent or rejnakably good. Jacob Grimm derives Edda from the root iz, azd, wsd(Mo3sogothic izdan, azd, plur. uzdun) from which we have Mcesogothic azd, genus nobile, Old High German art (Latin ars, art-is), Anglo-Saxon 6rd, Icelandic oddr, Danish odd, meaning point. Ac- cording to this derivation Edda is the feminine form of the Icelanic oddr, signi- fying that which is at the point (at the highest point) and is analogous to the poetic expression in Icelandic aldar oddr, princeps virorum. OLD NORSE LITEBATUKE. 23 lieved that the author of the work was the Icelander Seemund, who, on account of his learning, was surnamed hinn frdSi, that is the wise or learned, and from him it took its name. The fact that Sssmund, however, has had nothing to do with the work is evident for many reasons, and the most hasty- glance at it shows that it is not the production of a single author, but that several persons must have had a share in its composition. The collection of poems was ascribed to'Sae- mund simply for the reason that it was impossible to think of any other person to whom could be traced the authorship of this book, the great value of which was early recognized and which contained in itself no clue to its origin, than that Icelander, who was celebrated for his knowledge of an- tiquities, to whom both his contemporaries and posterity looked up with superstitious awe, and with whose name they connected so many wonderful tales, for instance that he had studied the black art, etc. The lays of the Elder Edda, in reference to the form of which we shall return later, naturally divide themselves into two groups, a mythic and a heroic, into poems that treat of an- cient gods and poems on the heroes of antiquity. In the first group, the Vbluspd (The Prophecy of the Vala, vala — prophet- ess) is especially to be noted. It is a series of majestic, grand and poetic pictures of the cardinal features of Norse mythol- ogy, beginning with the creation and ending with the destruc- tion and regeneration of the world. It is a great pity that only fragments of this remarkable poem have been preserved. Important sources of knowledge in regard to the details of the mythology are also Vafthrudnismdl, Grimnism&l and Alvis- mdl, which seem to have been composed more particularly for the purpose of aiding the memory in retaining the mythological facts, while their poetic merit is of secondary importance. In a remarkably successful manner both these features are united in the very ironical poem called Loka- senna, the song on Mger^s banquet, where Loke, the represen- tative of the evil principle among the asas, enters into a dis- 24 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. eussion with all the gods and goddesses and says many hard things to them and about them. Very satirical is also the poem H&rbarftsljcfi, a dialogue between Thor and Odin, who disguised persuades Thor to describe his achivements in such a manner that he puts himself in a very comical light as a vain and boasting fool. In contrast with these two poems, which evidently owe their origin to an age when the faith in the older gods had been changed into contempt, we must call attention to the gem among all the humorous lays in the Elder Edda, the splendid poem about Thrym. This magnifi- cent and humorous poem about Thrym describes in vivid colors and in a most amusing manner how Thor gets back his hammer Mjolner, which the giant Thrym had stolen and concealed deep in the earth. Only on the condition that Freyja becomes his bride, will the giant give back the ham- mer, and the goddess refusing to consent to this, Thor him- self disguised as a woman with Loke as his maid servant, proceeds to the land of the giants, where Thor as Thrym's bride recovers his hammer and with it destroys him and all his race. As a poem remarkable for its great lyric beauty and glowingly passionate style we may mention the lay of Skirner, Frey's servant, who rides to Jotunheim and brings the beloved Gerd back as hisjmaster's bride. A pecu- liar position in the Elder Edda is occupied by the poem Hdvamdl (The song of the high one). It is a didactic poem or rather fragments of a series of such poems, in which in terse, vigorous sentences a number of maxims of life and rules of conduct are presented, which furnish us a most interesting glimpse of the moral code and ethical principles of the ancient inhabitants of the North. The remarkable poem, Rigsmdl, on Heimdal, in which this divinity is described as the originator of the different classes of society, is not found in the manuscripts of the Elder Edda (it is preserved in the so-called Codex Wormianus of the Younger or Snorre's Edda), but its whole character shows that it belongs there, and the same is true of another OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 25 poem which is not found in the manuscripts of the Elder Edda, namely, the mythic-genealogical lay called Hyndluljoft. Both of these occupy a position about midway between the mythic and the heroic -poems. To the heroic group belongs the beautiful poem on the skilful Smith, Volund (VSlundar- kviSa), the Dsedalos of the North ; the Grottasbngr found in Snorre's Edda, telling of the giant women Penja and Menja, who ground gold for King Erode ; and a series of poems for which the material has been taken from the traditions about the Volsungs. Here we find a number of characters described with remarkable vigor; men like Helge, the slayer of Hund- ing, and Sigurd, the slayer of Pafner; women like Sigrun, Brynhild and Gudrun ; and many of these poems will always rank among the noblest contributions ever made to the literature of the world. We may mention as examples the second song of Helge, the slayer of Hunding, and the first song of Gudrun. These poems are based on the same tradi- tions as the Niebelungen Lay. While the latter, however, has been materially modified as to form and contents by the later Christian culture, whereby its poetical merit has been greatly damaged, the story has in the Old Norse poetical version pre- served all its original grandeur and heathen spirit.* In ad- dition to the heroic songs which we find in the Edda, there doubtless existed many others of a similar character. A few of these, like the Krdkumdl on the achievements of Ragnar Lodbrok, which belong to a considerably later date, have come down to us in their original form, while others, like for example the old Bjarkam&l, have been preserved only in fragments, while still others have been remodelled into prose stories, which, however, contain more or less extended frag- ments of the original poems. Finally there are some, which have been preserved only in the form of ancient traditions, as for instance in Saxo's Chronicle of Denmark. *The last and best critical edition of Elder Edda is Sophus Bugge's, Christiania, 1867. For a fuller acconnt of the contents of the Eddas, the reader is referred to Anderson's Norse Mythology. 26 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. Like their kinsmen, the Germans, the inhabitants of the North have doubtless at an early age practised the art of poetry, and given expression to their memories of the past, and to that which moved the hearts of the people, in songs, which we presume were particularly heard in the courts of the kings and in the halls of the nobles. At the dawn of historical times we find the skalds practising their art every- where in the North. Wherever the " donsk tunga" was spoken, they were received with great friendship and honor. Many ancient traditions, in regard to which there can be no doubt that they formed the subject of songs in remote prehis- toric times, have been rediscovered not only in Iceland, or in Norway, but also in other parts of the North. Thus we have, for instance, distinct evidence that Volsung traditions were known in Sweden, in the deeply interesting pictorial repre- sentations of it on two characteristic Swedish runic monu- ments, which date from the close of the tenth or from the first half of the eleventh century.* Many traditions of this kind are also preserved by Saxo in his Chronicle of Denmark, some of which are purely Danish, connected with Danish localities, and found only in that country; while others differ in the manner in which they are related from the form in which they have been recorded in Iceland. But in this con- nection we must bear in-- mind, that since many Icelandic manuscripts have doubtless been lost, and as those which we possess frequently have numerous discrepancies, there is a possibility that old traditions, which now are found only in Saxo, or which have been preserved in his chronicle in a special variation, may have been recorded in Iceland in manuscripts which have been lost, and even in the same form in which we read them in Saxo's work. Though it can not be demonstrated with absolute certainty that Saxo knew and used especially old Danish songs, still the probability of this *Cari Save: Sigurds-riBtningarna a Ramsunds-Berget och GOks-Stenen, tvanne f omsvenska minnesmarken om Sigurd Faf nesbane. Kg]. Vitterhets HiBtoria och Antiqiiitets Akademiens Handlingar XXVI. Stockholm, 1869. OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 27 is -very great. It is also more than probable, that the poetry of which we have fragments in the Elder Edda, was not con- fined to Norway and Iceland, but also known in Denmark and Sweden, where we find it, precisely as in Norway, crop- ping out in the popular literature of the middle ages, in a Christian and romantic garb it is true, but with unmis- takable marks of its heathen origin. The oldest Norse poets, of whom we have tolerably satisfactory knowledge, display in their productions much of that simple but grand spirit which is so conspicuous in the songs of the Edda, a character quite the opposite of the peculiar affectation, which the later development of skaldship assumed. When we, therefore, consider that within the group of Edda-poems itself it is easy to point out, relatively speaking, older and younger lays, poems, on the one hand, which by their very spirit and accent betray the fact that they belong to the restless, bloody age of the vikings, and poems, on the other hand, which bear testi- mony of an earlier and more refined culture; then all this seems to indicate that in these old songs we have only a few remnants of a poetry, which in an early age resounded throughout the North, and that we do not with, perhaps, the single exception of the V51uspa, know all these glorious songs that have come down to us, as they were in the period of their full bloom, but only from the time when they had begun to decay. It is difficult at present to form any conception of how extensive in quantity this poetic literature must have been. The fact is, that this whole countless number of Norse traditions are the themes of so many separate songs. Of these traditions, a part have come down to us in a tolerably well- preserved condition; others we are able to recognize only from faint outlines; and of others again scarcely more than the name remains. It would lead us too far away from our purpose if we should undertake to prove that all the myths and traditions of the North are based on ancient poems, but the correctness of the statement is admitted by all scholars, and this being granted, it follows that Old Norse poetry must 28 LITEEATUEE OF THE SCAKDIN"AVIAK NOETH. ' have been extraordinarily extensive in quantity. By way of example we may mention that in that old book on the art of poetry, the work generally known 'as the Younger or Snorre's Edda, and in regard to which we shall have something to say later, there is found a long series of stanzas which contains a catalogue of names and other words employed in poetry. Concerning the names of sea-kings here enumerated, the learned Norwegian linguist and antiquarian Sophus Bugge remarks: " When we look at this multitude of names of old sea-kings, they seem to us like a field thickly covered with monuments. In regard to some of them, we have songs and traditions, and this must once have been the case with all of them. History seems now to have forgotten the most of them, and the empty names remain to bear witness of the multitude of the songs that have ceased to speak.' 7 Of such groups, and also of isolated "memorial stones," there, how- ever, are a great number, and we can only say of them, that they are so many insulated evidences of ancient poems that have been lost. There has been much dispute in regard to the literary title to what remains of the Edda. On the basis of the fact that the Edda-poems were recorded in Iceland, that is to say in a country settled from Norway, the claim has been set up that they are especially a Norwegian inheritance. Against this view no real objection can be made, when it is understood that the statement is to be applied chiefly to the form in which the poems were recorded in the thirteenth century. But the question becomes a widely different one, when we, as we of necessity must, look upon them as a link of a great chain. Then the form in which they were written down, becomes a merely accidental circumstance, while the main fact remains, that the songs, of which the Edda-poems give us a few frag- ments, are the true expression of the popular spirit of the North, which revealed itself around the lakes of Sweden and OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 29 on the flat fields of Denmark, in the same manner as among the mountains of Norway.* If any single country is to be claimed as the special home of these poems, Denmark would seem to be chiefly entitled to this honor, where Saxo in all probability reaped his richest harvest of myths, traditions, and poems, the original charac- ter of which is clearly noticeable in his elegant Latin trans- lation, and which to a great extent treat of the same subjects as the poems recorded by the Icelanders, while the majority of them relate to Denmark. This assumption is also sup- ported by the fact that according to the incontrovertible testimony of Northern antiquities, there existed in the middle iron age a rich and varied culture in Denmark, in that very time to which doubtless the bloom of Norse poetry is to be referred. Denmark is, upon the whole, throughout antiquity the one of northern countries, which seems to have acted the most conspicuous part at least in the field of culture, since the waves and movements that passed over the North pro- ceeded from Denmark, or at least reached this country first. The looking for a definite spot in the North as the original home of these mythic-heroic poems is, however, very unprofitable work. We get a far more attractive and inter- esting picture when we turn our eyes beyond the borders of Scandinavia and consider the Elder Edda in connection with the poetry of kindred nations. It then becomes evident that the Edda-literature in its nature and origin belongs to the whole Teutonic race. In Germany we recognize it in com- paratively modern and greatly degenerated forms, especially in the Niebelungen Lay. Among the Anglo-Saxons we * K. Maurer: TTeber die Ausdriicke: altnordische, altnorwegische und alt- isl&ndische Sprache. Munchen, 1867. S. Grundtvig: TJdsigt over den nordiske Oidtids heroiske Digtning. Copenhagen, 1867. Om Nordens gamle Literatur. Copenhagen, 1867. Er Nordens gamle Literatur norsk, eller er den dels islandsk og dels nordisk? Copenhagen, 1869. G. Storm : Om den gamle norrone Literatur. Christiania, 1869. M. B. Rickert : Om nordisk bildning och f ornnordisk literatnr. Lund, 1869. P. E. Muller: TJntersuchungen fiber die Geschichte und das Verhalt- niss der nordishen nnd deutschen Heldensage, mit Hinzufiigung erklarender, berichtigender und erganzender Anmarkungen und Excuree, iibers. und krit. bearbeitet von G. Lange. Frankfurt a. M. 1882. 30 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. hear its accents in the Beowulf poem and in the oldest Christian songs. In the North, where we, in connection with various peculiarly Norse conceptions, find in part the same themes as among the Germans and Anglo-Saxons, the Edda- poetry has preserved a far more original character, and here it appears in a specifically Norse dress. In its common basis, however, it points back to a time when no difference had been developed between Scandinavians and Germans. While the Edda-poems, therefore, originated in prehistoric times, and while their authors are unknown, we have from a later period, reaching far down into the mediseval times, knowledge of a number of poets, of which the oldest are of Norwegian, and the later ones chiefly of Icelandic descent; but the productions of these are widely different from the songs of the Edda. The oldest Norwegian skalds, like Starkad and Brage the Old, are enveloped in mythic darkness, but already, in the time of Harald Fairhair (872-930), the song-smiths of the Scandinavian North appear as thoroughly historical person- ages. In Iceland the art of poetry was held in high honor, and it was cultivated not only by the professional skalds, but also by others when the occasion presented itself, and many a passage is preserved, which owes its existence to the inspira- tion of the moment. The art of improvising was the more easy, since more stress was laid on skill and practice than on real poetic merit. The themes of the poems were of course of great variety. They would treat of love, of the sorrow over the death of a relative or friend, and of events of every other description; but the most of them are composed in glorification of some distinguished individual, in whose pres- ence the skald himself, as a rule, recited his poem, or they were hymns in praise of some departed king or chieftain. All poems and songs of this class were distinguished by the name drapa* * There were two kinds of hymns of praise, namely the drapa (Icelandic plur. drapur) and the flok; the former was the longer, and upon the whole the more esteemed, and it usually had a sort of refrain (Stef). OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 31 When the Icelander had arrived at the age of maturity, he longed to travel in foreign lands. As a skald he would then visit foreign kings and other noblemen, where he would receive a most hearty welcome. He became their follower, and was liberally rewarded for the songs which he sang in their praise. The skalds especially resorted to Norway, but they also came to Denmark and Sweden; and, even to Eng- land; nay, to wherever the "dOnsk tunga" was understood, and they everywhere found a cordial welcome and attentive ears. These Icelandic skalds became a very significant factor in the literary development of the North during the greater part of the middle ages. For the skald it was necessary to possess a full knowledge of the achievements of the chief- tains who were to be celebrated in his songs. Not unfre- frequently he had himself had a share in the deeds, but at all events he was obliged to secure reliable information, for, as Are Thorgilsson says in his preface * to his Book of Kings (Konanga-b6k) in defence of the authority of the poems as sources of history: " We admit that it was customary for the skalds to praise him in whose presence they recited their poems, but no one would venture to ascribe to him to his face the honor of deeds performed, if those present, and espe- cially himself, knew it to be mere falsehood and flattery. This would be mockery and not praise." The most of the sagas accordingly give frequent quotations from the skalds in support of the narration, and doubtless many facts owe their preservation solely to the circumstance that the memory had the aid of such poems. And thus the step from the skald to the saga-teller was a short one. When these Icelanders, who were at once poets and warriors, and who had visited so many foreign lands, returned to their native island again, what stories must they not have had to tell! And with what eagerness must not their recitals of their own experi- * It is found attached to Heimskringla, and was formerly ascribed to Snorre. The Kings 1 Book itself is lost. 32 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. enees, and of what they had heard abroad, have been listened to by their attentive hearers, of whom many knew the persons and circumstances described! The new reports were faith- fully stored away in their memories, and thus the skalds contributed much to increase the historical materials which gradually were collected and embodied in the written sagas. In another respect, also, the skalds are entitled to our gratitude. Without their aid the major part of that which the songs and sagas tell of the real antiquities of the North would scarcely have come down to us. The art of the skalds was a very difficult one, even though it could be practised with considerable success by persons who were not born poets, and if the best effect was to be produced, a vast amount of special education was necessary. Now it fortun- ately so happened that the principal part of their education consisted in a knowledge of the old mythology, and of the old heroic traditions. Among the many rules which fettered the poetry in the skaldic age was one which called for the use of artificial paraphrases, and the material for these was to a great extent taken from the old heathen sagas and songs. Christianity wrought no change in this respect, for the skaldic art was so to speak perfectly developed, before the former was introduced, and had to that degree become a part of the whole culture of the people, that the idea of giving it up or changing its form and character could not be thought of. Hence we see the skalds to the very last applying meta- phors and figures borrowed from heathen fields of thought, even to Christian productions, and it was, therefore, absolutely necessary to preserve the memory of the heathen traditions. It is not at all improbable that the Elder Edda was collected in part for this purpose, and of the Younger Edda, which furnishes important contributions especially to the knowledge of mythology, this can be affirmed with certainty. The Younger Edda, or Snorre's Edda (Edda Snorra Stur- lasonar), as it is also called, because its authorship has been ascribed to Snorre Sturlason, is a work composed at different OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 33 times by different persons, for the purpose of serving as a hand-book for skalds. It contains in the first place a general synopsis of the asa- faith in two parts; one greater, called Gtjlfaginning (The Tooling of Gylfe); and one lesser, called Bragarcedur (Brage's Speech). Then follows Skdldskaparm&l (the art of poetry), in which we find a collection of the vari- ous kinds of characteristic paraphrases, etc., used by the skalds, with stanzas of poems quoted by way of illustration. How much of these three divisions owe their origin to Snorre has not been determined. On the other hand, it is quite cer- tain that he is the author of the fourth division of the work, the so-called Hattatal (Enumeration of Metres, a sort of Clavis Metrica), which is a treatise on the various metres employed in Old Norse poetry. To these four divisions there are added as an appendix four additional chapters on grammatical and rhetorical subjects. The author of the first grammatical work ever produced in Iceland, was as is generally and not without reason supposed, one Thorodd, surnamed Eunemas- ter, i.e., the Grammarian, who lived in about the middle of the twelfth century, and the third chapter of the appendix is doubtless written by the Icelander, Olaf Thordsson Hvita- skald (the white-haired skald), the nephew of Snorre, a scholar, who spent some time at the court of Valdemar the Victorious, who ruled Denmark from 1202 to 1241.* It may not be improper to dwell for a few moments on the form of Old Norse poetry. A leading characteristic, and one which the Edda lays possess in common with the later poems, and which we find in all the oldest remnants of the poetry of the Teutonic race, is the use of alliteration (stave- rhyme). The strophe or song as it is called generally con- tains eight verses or lines, four of which are so united that every half of the strophe contains an independent thought, * The best edition of The Younger Edda is that published by The Arna- Magnean Commission : Edda Snorra Sturlasonar or Edda Snorkonis Stur- ljei, I-II : Hefniae^ 1848-52. A smaller, more handy edition was edited by Thor- leif J6nsson, Copenhagen, 1875. The Younger Edda, translated by R. B. Ander- son, Chicago, 1879. Wilkin: Untersuchungen zur Snorra-Edda, Paderborn, 1878. 34 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. and each of these halves is again divided into two parts, which form a fourth part of the whole strophe, and contain two lines belonging together and united by alliteration. The nature of this alliteration, which also occurs frequently in prose far down in the middle ages, especially when something is to be fixed in the memory, as for instance laws, proverbs and the like, when applied to poetry, is this, that in the two lines belonging together, three words occur (in the oldest poems frequently only two), beginning with the same letters, two of which must be in the first, while the third is usually at the beginning of the second line. The third and last of these letters is called the chief letter (hdfwSstafr, head- stave), because it is regarded as ruling over the two others, which depend on it, and have the name sub-letters (studlar, supporters). The lines are metrically divided into accented and unaccented syllables. These simple rules of versification govern the lays of the Edda. The principal metre is the so- called FornyrSalag, with two feet or accents in each of the eight verses or lines. Still we also find exceptions to this rule in the Edda, some of the poems being written in the so- called Lj6Sahattr, a strophe of six lines, of which the third and sixth are alliterated independently, while the first and second, and the fourth and fifth, belong together.* In the age of the skaids there is a much greater variety * An example of Fornyrdalag : -Heioi hana he"tu Seid hon hvars hon kunni, Hvara til Aiisa kom Seid hon hugleikin, 7olu »e]spa jE var hon angan Fittihonganda; 711rar bruSar. Elder Edda. Veluspa, 22. In this it is to be noted that the alliterations in the seventh and eighth lines are in every way perfect, for according to the rules of Old Norse poetry, it was only necessary that the consonants should be the same. This applies also to the double consonants st, sk, and sp. If the alliterated words on the other hand began with a vowel, it was thought most elegant to vary the vowels, as in the ex- ample given above. The following is an example of Lj6dahattr* Deyr /e\ ^k veit einn Deyja /rsendr At aldri deyr Deyr sjalfr it sama Z>6mr um cfauoan hvern Elder Edda . Havamal, 77. OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 35 in the form. The verses become longer with three and four, and even more feet, and the most common metre, the so-called Dr6ttkvaeSi has three feet in each of the eight lines. And now we find not only alliteration, but also syllable rhymes, and indeed the lines alternate with perfect and half-rhymes. A perfect rhyme requires that two of the syllables in the same verse correspond perfectly, and a half rhyme that they have different vowels before the same consonant or combina- tion of consonants. More seldom do we find our modern masculine and feminine rhymes. Still they occur and that in a very early period (e.g. in Egil Skallagrimsson), and sometimes we even find that the four or eight verses of a strophe have the same rhyme.* These are the most common metres, but their different elements were combined and varied in many ways. Snorre's Hattatal in the Younger Edda presents no less than one hun- dred and two different kinds of verses. Of course the varia- tions are frequently very insignificant, but we occasionally find a stanza that is a perfect work of art, and furnishes proofs of the richness of the language.! The old skalds, therefore, had difficulties enough to over- come in respect to the form of their poetry, and this espe- cially since they were not permitted to transgress the estab- lished laws. The poetic rules must be observed with the * An example of a DrGttkvasol : iframani skein bruna. Brims of ljtisum himni Hrist&v AOrvi glaesirar JSaukf xaxin a mik lau£a En sa geisli syslir SffiEin gullmens Frioar .ffvarma tungls oy kringa. Hlinar othurft mina. The italics show alliteration, perfect and half rhymes. tThis is a good example: Haki Kraki hamdi framdi geiruni eirum gotna flotna That is to say: Hake hamdi geirum gotna— Hake conquered the men with weapons; Krake framdi eirum flotna — Krake strengthened the men with peace. 36 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. utmost minuteness. To the rules of metre, alliteration and rhyme, was added the elaborate apparatus of figurative para- phrases. The Edda-songs are as a rule noble and simple in style, but even here, especially in the youngest of them, those artificial tendencies begin to show themselves, which are so conspicuous and common in the compositions of the skalds, that they, considered as a whole, constitute one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of literature. The fundamental principle of this abnormity is found in all poetry. The poets of all lands and ages have striven to ornament and elevate their style by the use of figurative expressions ; but the old Norse skalds carried the use of fig- ures of speech to the extreme. Nothing is called by its right name, and the result is an obscurity and a distortion of lan- guage which, as a rule, make the skaldic verses unintelligi- ble, except to those who possess the key to the metaphors. Indeed, the best Old Norse scholars would be unable to inter- pret many of the passages in the skaldic lays, if we did not fortunately have the Skdldskaparmdl of the Younger Edda which gives us the key to many of these enigmas. The sim- plest metaphors used are those which, without being genu- ine paraphrases, express the thought in words that do not occur in common prose, or at least not in the sense in which they are used in poetry. Thus we find in the skaldic lays on the one hand a number of obsolete words, and, on the other, words used in their original sense, just as is the practice of poets in our time. Frequently a quality or effect is substituted for the name of an object, as when splendor is used instead of gold, etc. In this early skaldic poetry we find many ideas and phrases taken from the realm of mythology and legends of heroes, as when a spear is called Gungner after Odin's spear, or a horse Grane after the horse . of Sigurd, the slayer of Pafner. But these figures of speech, and, of course, also, such as are borrowed from battle and' war with which this whole poetry is so extensively interwoven, occur especially among the so-called Kenningar OLD J5TORSE LITERATURE. 37 (metaphors) which must have at least two, but may have more members. Thus we find for instance that gold is called Freyjas's tears (referring to the myth in which Freyja is said to have wept golden tears when she was deserted by her hus- band Od) ; that the gallows are called Hagbard's steed (refer- ring to the legend according to which the young Norwegian hero, the lover of the Danish princess, was hung); that a warrior is called the wielder of the sword; a sword, the fire of the shield; a shield, the war-roof; so that, instead of war- rior, we may say, the wielder of the fire of the war-roof. The interpretation becomes still more difficult from the fact that when two things have the same name, then a metaphor that stands for the one can represent the other as well. Thus the word lind means both a ship and a shield, and conse- quently every metaphor used for a shield may be applied to a ship, and vice versa. How far this may be carried is illus- trated by a skald who, instead of the word flake (fioki — snow- flake), used the word tree (tr&). His right to do so appears from the following analysis : Instead of floki one may say sky (cloud) ; instead of sky, hrafn (raven) ; instead of hrafn, hestr (steed) ; instead of hestr, marr (mare) ; instead of marr, saer (sea) ; instead of sasr, viSir (ocean) ; instead of vitiir, viSr (wood) ; instead of viSr, bein (bone) ; instead of bein, teinn (twig) ; and instead of teinn, tre\* *In order to convey a more distinct idea of how these metaphors appeared in the verses of the skalds, we refer our readers to the example of a Dr6ttkvsefji, which wc gave on page 36. The stanza is taken from the Icelandic skald Gnnlaug Ormstunga (the serpent-tongued). We here append a literal translation, with notes on the metaphors : " The moon of the eye-brows 1 of the white-clad goddess of the onion soup 2 shone beaming on me as that of a falcon from the clear heaven of the eye-brows, 3 but the beaming splendor from the moon of the eyelids* of the goddess of the gold ring 5 causes since then the unhappiness of me and of the god- dess of the ring.' 16 J The moon of the eye-brows, the eye. 2 The goddess of the onion soup, i.e., the one who prepares the onion soup is a "poetical" (!) metaphor for woman. 3 The heaven of the eye-brows, the forehead. 4 The moon of the eye-lids, the eye. 5 The goddess of the gold ring, and 6 the goddess of the ring, are expressions for woman. In prose this would then mean: "The eye of the white-clad woman shone beaming as that of a falcon on me from her forehead, but the beaming splendor of her eye causes mine and the woman's unhappiness. 38 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. One might suppose that the examples we have given are either exceptional, or at least very striking ones, but this is not the case. On the contrary they illustrate the rules from which even the greatest, the really gifted poets, were unable to free themselves, though they did, now and then, break the fetters and express themselves in the simple and natural style of the ancients. In their most inspired moments they evinced much talent and taste in the choice and invention of their metaphors. The examples quoted rather fall short of repre- senting the whole artificial character of the skaldic poetry, nor does even a literal translation like the one we have given in the foot note do the subject full justice; for if a transla- tion should perfectly reflect the original, the rhythm, the allit- eration and the assonance would have to be reproduced. It should also be added that, as a compensation for the manifold difficulties of versification, the skalds had a well-nigh unlimited liberty in the arrangement of the words in each half of the stanza. The words might be given in almost any order the poet saw fit, so that a metaphor already obscure on account of its many members might be broken asunder and the sepa- rate members scattered here and there between words be- longing to other metaphors. Thus it is evident that it was no easy matter to understand these verses, and in spite of the fact that the figures consisted to a great extent of often repeated, standard and familiar phrases, there can be no doubt that the listeners, as a rule, received but a very superficial impression of the contents of the lay, and if they really desired to comprehend it, they would have to make a careful study of it. Still while these rugged phrases sounded in their ears only as the roar of a waterfall, the listeners did not lose much; for what has once been said of one of these songs, that it is almost without a parallel in bold metaphors, but that this array of words has no great significance, can safely be said of them as a class, although it is true, as stated above, that a lay can here and there be found, which is full OLD NOESE LITEEATUEE. ' 39 of poetic sentiment and in which the thought is not wholly smothered by a superabundance of artificial figures of speech.* The skaldic poetry, which, as already stated, extends back into the mythic or at least into prehistoric time, preserved the character above described until the close of the four- teenth century, although the genuine drapa or song of praise with its mythic or heroic contents terminated a century earlier. By the side of this poetry there gradually grew up poems on religious themes — drapas on Christ, the Virgin Mary and the Saints — and these eventually monopolized the field. Still these religious poems also preserved the compli- cated form of the old versifications even long after the drapas praising kings and heroes had ceased to be heard. About the middle of the fifteenth century a simpler form of poetry first makes its appearance, namely, the so-called rima (Icelandic pi. rimur) a kind of ballad which continued to flourish in Iceland and the Faroe Islands until the beginning of the seventeenth century, and even later. The ballads are especially intended to be sung, and thus we find them used as tunes for dancing. In regard to form they have much in common with the popular ballads of mediaeval Scan- dinavia. Their contents are based partly on the religious stories, partly on faiiy tales, and. partly on history; in the last case they were frequently paraphrases of the sagas. The oldest specimen of a Eima preserved (the Olafsrima) dates from about the middle of the fourteenth century and treats of St. Olaf. We know the names of several hundred skalds, and a very large number of their lays are preserved either complete or in fragments. As genuine historical persons we do not, as above indicated, find them before the time of the Norwe- gian king Hakald Paikhaik in the end of the ninth and in the beginning of the tenth century. This king, who was *E. Kr. Eask; Die Verslehre der Islander, Verdeutscht von G. Chr. F. Mohnike, Berlin, 1830. Fr. Chr. Dietrich: Ueber LjoShatter (Haupts Zeitschrift f. deutsches Alterth. Ill), J. Olafsen: Om Nordens gamle Digtekunst, Copen- gan, 1788. Buhs: Ueber die Ursprnng des isl. Poeeie, Berlin, 1873. 40 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. himself a skald, gathered round him the most famous poets of his time, and in his great deeds they found ample materi- als for their songs. The most celebrated among them are Thjodolf of Hvin and Thorbjorn Hornklofe. From the former we have, besides an important historical-genealogical poem, the so-called " Tnglingatal," which furnished the basis of the Tnglingasaga in Snorre's Heimskringla, also fragments of a mythic drapa called " HaustlOng," which treats of the god Thor. In him we find the preference for obscure meta- phors, and also that complicated and heavy versification already fully developed. From the latter, Thorbjorn, we have a few important fragments and some songs on Harald Fairhair's achievements, and on the life at his court. These songs give evidence of genuine poetic talent; one of them is especially noteworthy on account of its poetical arrangement and for breathing a spirit not unlike that of the poems in the Elder Edda. Of still greater importance was Etvind Finnson, called Skaldapillir (obscurer of skalds), unques- tionably one of the most excellent Norwegian skalds, who lived in the time of King Hakon, the foster son of King Athelstane, of England. The poet celebrated Hakon's mem- ory in his lay called Hakonarjmal, one of the finest songs handed down from the past. In it he describes the last battle of the valiant king, his death and reception in Valhal, in glowing yet simple and noble passages. It is composed in the simple form of the old poetry, in which both the Forn- yrftalag* and LjoSahattrf alternate in harmony with the thought with splendid effect. In the same simple and elevated style is composed the somewhat older Eiriksmal, which at the request of queen Gunhild was chanted at the funeral of her husband, Erik Bloodaxe, and which Eyvind seems to have taken as a model for his lay on Hakon. X * Fomyrdalag, a bind of old metre, also called kviou-hattr. t Ljooahattr, the kind of metre used in the Havamal. t Gudbrand Vigfusson explains Skaldapillir to mean u skaldspoiler," that is as a nickname equivalent to poetaster or plagiarist. He thinks this nickname was OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 41 All the skalds hitherto mentioned were Norwegians; but henceforth the poetic calling was transferred to the Icelanders, who also sang in the halls of the Norwegian kings. From this time the Norwegians produced only short unimportant lays, and even some of their kings like St. Olaf and Harald the Severe occupied themselves with writing little songs. One of the most celebrated Icelandic poets was Egil Skalla- geimsson. He came from a family that, on account of the troubles with Harald Fairhair, had found it necessary to emi- grate to Iceland, where they soon became very eminent. Egil was himself the most prominent Icelander of his time, a magnificent type, not less of the intellectual vigor than of the indomitable spirit which characterized the life of the viking. He was a great poet, and, in truth, a mighty war- rior. One of the best Icelandic sagas treats of him, and gives a most interesting picture of his restless life at home and abroad, now sailing from shore to shore on viking-expe- ditions, or visiting kings and princes, and taking part in their wars and feuds, now enthroned as a king on his gard, never recognizing any other law than his own sweet will. Besides a number of songs, we have from Egil three long poems, or at least important fragments of them. By one of them "Hofudlausn" (The Redemption of the Head), a splendid, exceedingly pompous drapa, composed in honor of Erik Blood- axe, he . saved his life, when circumstances had brought him into the power of this marked enemy of his whom he had deeply insulted. The second is a drapa composed in honor of his friend Arinbjorn (Arinbjarnardrapa). Both poems are very characteristic, and especially the former was widely celebrated. But the best evidence of his great talent as a poet he furnished by his magnificent, strange poem " Sonar- torrek" (The Loss of the Son), which he produced, when in his old age he lost his youngest and most beloved son, who given to Eyvind Finuson because two of his chief poems were modelled after other works of contemporary fioets, the Haleygjatal after the Ynglirjgatal and the Hako- narmal after the Eiriksmal. Translator. 42 LITEBATUKE OE THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. drowned in the Borgarfjord. Bowed down by grief, the father was about to put an end to his life by hunger, but his daughter persuaded him to give up this purpose, representing to him that no lay would be composed to commemorate his son unless it was done by the father himself. Thus Egil was induced to compose his famous poem, which glows through and through with fierceness and ungovernable defiance, but is at the same Jjime _tuned to the tenderest tones of genuine poetry. The sorrow of this poet does not resemble the sorrow of other people. There is no trace of weakness, but it contains a defiant expression of wrath and indignation that his proud race is approaching its extinction, and a bitter regret that he is not able to revenge himself on the gods as he would have done on men, had they caused him this loss. It is not so much pater- nal love as it is family pride that finds expression in this poem, and intimately connected therewith, and forming as it were the background to the whole poem, we see Egil's con- sciousness of his strength and his determination to vindicate his own personality. The latter is especially apparent in his words on Odin, whom he looks upon as the real cause of his affliction. Toward this god he assumes the attitude of one freeman toward another. Heretofore their mutual relations have been friendly; henceforth they are hostile; but when he remembers that Odin, how much so ever he has taken from him, still has bestowed on him a choice gift, that of poetry, the most magnificent of all human blessings, " and a mind with which I am able quietly to turn a false friend into an open enemy," he is reconciled; he resolves to live, and proudly takes the high seat again. Among the Icelandic poets should also be mentioned Kokmak and Gunlaug Oemstunga (Serpent-tongue, so called on account of his stinging satire). We have the lives of both told in sagas, in which a large number of their poems are preserved, especially of Kormak's love songs, a kind of poetry which has a very strange look when presented in the rigid versification of the skalds, and loaded down with the meta- OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 43 phoric garments of that age. H Alfred, nicknamed Vandb^b- daskald (the troublesome poet), who sang at the court of the Norwegian ruler Jarl Hakon and of King Olaf Trygva- son (toward the end of the tenth century), is of particular interest on account of the struggle between heathendom and Christianity, which continues through his whole life, and is reflected in many of his poems. At the request of Olaf he was baptized, and his acceptance of the Christian religion seems to have been a serious matter with him, and yet he frequently returns in his memory to the old heathen gods in whose faith he was really happy and content. His last poem is, however, the genuine Christian prayer of a dying man, and his " Uppreistardrapa " (Poem of Eesurrection), which is now wholly lost, became widely celebrated. Of St. Olaf 's skalds, Sighvat Thobdarson deserves special mention. The king preferred him to all others, and in con- sequence the poet was attached to him with a tender love and devotion, which are frequently expressed in a dignified man- ner in his poems. His poems are also written in the usual style of the skalds, still they are less loaded down with arti- ficial metaphors than the most of the skaldic lays, and hence they contain more genuine poetic sentiment. There is noth- ing strikingly original to be found in his poetry, but he pos- sessed a decided talent for grasping the poetic thought in an act or scene, and for expressing it in a vivid and descriptive manner, though he did not always succeed in rising above a certain common, dull style. His technical skill was so great, that it is said of him that he could express his thoughts in verse more readily than in prose, and we have from his muse a very considerable number of poems. He served King Olaf fifteen years, and took part in nearly all his expeditions and battles. In Olaf 's last decisive struggle, the battle of Stikle- stad, in the year 1030, where the king found his death, Sighvat was, however, not present, as he was then on a pil- grimage to Rome. Among the finest and most original of Sighvat's lays belong the songs in which he gives utterance to 44 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN' NORTH. his grief at the death of the beloved king, and expresses his regret that he was not permitted to die at his side. There is in these songs a tenderness which is seldom found in. the many similar ones by other skalds. After his return from Eome he entered the service of Magnus, the son of St. Olaf, whose chief counsellor he became, and to this epoch of his career belong the celebrated " BersOglisvisur " (songs of free speech), which he composed when the king began to be tyran- nical toward the peasants, and in which he in powerful strains brings the complaints of the people to the ears of the king. Another of the many Icelandic skalds who gathered around St. Olaf was Thormod Kolbexjnakskaid, so called because he composed a laudatory poem on Thorbjorg Kolbrun (the lady with the black eye-brows). He was also one of those who were particularly intimate with the king, but unlike Sighvat, he was a man of firm and unyielding temperament. He was present at the battles of Stiklestad, where the king had ap- pointed a place for him and a few other skalds near his standard, in order that they might have a good opportunity of watching the progress of the battle, and afterward describe the events faithfully in their songs. But Thormod fell in the battle. We have no long poems from him, but only a few short lays produced on various occasions. One of the most beautiful and spirited ones he sang on the evening before the battle, when each one of the king's skalds com- posed a song for the encouragement of the army. The wild enthusiasm for the battle finds a peculiarly strong expression in Thormod's verses, and the clashing of the swords is heard throughout the song in spite of the rigid form to which he was limited. Abator Jarlaskald (Earl-skald) was so called because he had lived with the jarls on the Orkneys, before he came to Norway, where he entered the service .of Magnus the Good and Harald the Stern (HardraSi). The numerous poems by him which have been preserved give evidence of considerable talent, and are especially remarkable for easy style, for a more sparing and judicious use of metaphors, for OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 45 rare euphony, and for their truly poetic sentiment. Einar Skulason, who belonged to the followers of King Eystein, made himself particularly famous by his great religious . poem, "Geisli" (The Sunbeam) or Olafsdrapa, which he com- posed in honor of St. Olaf, and declaimed in the Christ Church at Nidaros (Throndhjem). It celebrated the merits of the king and the saints in behalf of Christianity, and especially the miracles worked by Olaf after his death. The saga very characteristically tells " that the church during the declama- tion of the poem was filled with the most exquisite fragrance, a token that the poem had received the approval of the saint." It is the oldest religious drapa which has been pre- served in perfect condition. Finally we must mention the celebrated historian Snorre Sttjrlason, who besides other poems composed the above-mentioned Hattatal, and his nephews (sons of his brother), Olaf Hvitaskald, and Sttjela Thordarson. Sturla is the last poet who is known to have composed drapas in honor of Norwegian kings. That drapas celebrating kings and princes ceased to be produced was a natural result of the change of the times. A more peaceful political and social life had taken the place of continual warfare, and consequently there was no more use for the rigid forms in which the productions of the skalds were moulded. Poetry therefore sought another field, that of religion, for its materials. To be sure religious poems had already been written in the preceding epoch by some of the skalds. Such a poem is extant, namely, the S61arlj6S (Song of the Sun), which is written in the LjoShattr style, and is largely based on the heathen myths. It belongs unmistakably to the oldest Christian age, and Halfred Van- draedaskald's drapa on the resurrection is perhaps still older. But yet the epoch of the religious drapa cannot properly be said to begin before the close of the heroic age. The most celebrated of the religious poems is the Lilja (The Lily) by the monk Eystein, a kind of Messiad, written in an original metre which henceforth was called the Lily metre. It 46 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. belongs to the second half of the fourteenth century, and contains many passages of great beauty.* With Eystein the harp of the skald ceased to reverberate, and Lilja forms a really dignified finale. A more brilliant close of the skaldic epoch could scarcely be desired. It is true that echoes of the skaldic harp were heard even in the fifteenth century, as, for instance, Lopt G-uttormson's "Hattalykill" (Key to Metres), an erotic poem, which in form is an imitation of Snorre Sturlason's Hattatal (Enumeration of Metres), but they were mere echoes, and the fact remains that Eystein's Lilja marks the close of the skaldic epoch and the beginning of the Bima (ballad). In the production of sagas f the popular spirit of the North, reared for itself a literary monument of no less im- portance than are the Eddas and the skaldic lays. The saga, too, had its principal home in Iceland. We have already indicated how circumstances naturally brought it about that valuable historical materials were collected there, which not only concerned events in Iceland, but also on account of the many threads by which the Icelanders felt themselves tied to Norway, embraced the most remarkable events of this coun- try as well as the memory of what had happened in other lands with which the Icelanders had had intercourse. Like the poetry, these materials were handed down from genera- tion to generation by word of mouth, and when at length the conditions for a real literary activity were at hand a most remarkable literature was produced out of these traditions. The first book of which we have any knowledge was, accord- ing to the unanimous testimony of all authorities, the his- tory of Iceland, written by Aee Thorgilsson about the year 1120, that is to say about 250 years after the settlement of Iceland. The greatest bloom of saga writing is during the first half of the thirteenth century, and about the close of that century the saga-epoch ended. *The original, with an introduction and metrical translation by Eirikr Magnuason, appeared a few years ago in England.— Tb. t The word saga (Icl. pi., Sogur) means a saying, telling. OLD NOBSE LITERATUKE. 47 The production of sagas thus extends through two centu- ries, and it hardly needs to be stated that with the progress of time there took place corresponding changes in the style of the saga and in the manner of utilizing the materials. For no matter how deeply the verbal tradition might have im- pressed itself on the popular memory, the written form could not help gradually improving with the growing experi- ence and continued practice in writing. And so we find when we compare one of the oldest documents with a saga from the golden period of Icelandic literature, that there has been great progress made in the use of the language and in the grouping and arrangement of the materials. The literature begins with annals or chronicles similar to the contemporary historical records of other countries, but it does not take long before it has developed sufficient skill to produce genuine works of art. Certain peculiarities were, however, preserved through all the periods of the develop- ment of the saga, excepting, of course, the mythic-heroic stories and the mediaeval romances, where the saga spirit is almost wholly wanting. Among these peculiarities are the follow- ing: a vividness and directness in the telling although the events described generally belong to a distant past; a per- fectly objective and unimpassioned manner, leaving the author, who as a rule is not even mentioned, wholly in the back- ground, and letting the events speak for themselves; a mi- nute presentation of chronological and genealogical data, a matter of great moment to the Icelanders, who were well informed in regard to the blood ties existing between the various families ; and finally a frequent quotation of authori- ties and of all other evidences that might tend to strengthen the trustworthiness of the narrative. We just mentioned the father of Icelandic history, Are Thorgilsson, like Saemund surnamed frofti, on account of his great learning. The Younger Edda indicates him as the per- son, who with Thorodd Runemaster, adapted the Roman (Anglo-Saxon) alphabet to the wants and comprehension of 48 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. his countrymen. He was born in the year 1067 and belonged to a family that boasted a descent from Eagnar Lodbrok in Denmark, and from the royal race of Ynglings in Upsala, Sweden. Prom his seventh to his twenty-first year he lived with the noted chieftain Hall of Hawkdale, where he found an opportunity of being fully informed of what had happened in old days in Iceland, while he at the same time heard much about the condition and history of Norway. Thus he acquired a rich treasure of historical knowledge, which he afterward made use of in his books, and which has made his name so famous. Are was also a priest and a chief (GoSi) and died in the year 1148*. Of his works we possess only his " Ice- lendingab6k " (The Book of the Icelanders), a brief, somewhat dry account of the first settlement of Iceland, and a history of the island down to the time of bishop Gissur, who died in the year 1118. It is of great importance on account of the ample and reliable genealogical data which it contains. It is, however, in fact only an abstract or a revision of a greater Islendingab6k also written by him, and which in turn served as the basis for the production of the Landnamab6k (Land taking book). This work, unique in the whole field of lit- erature, treats of the discovery and settlement of Iceland. In its present form it is the work of various writers at differ- ent times, and tells of the settlers and their families with such fulness and detail, that no less than 3,000 persons and 1,400 places are named.f Are's greater Islendingab6k also contains a history of the kings of Norway, Denmark and England, the Konungab6k (Book of Kings) which later writers frequently cite as authority, especially on account of its excellent chronological materials. The particulars in re- gard to this work are not known, but Keyser is doubtless *P. E. Miiller: Ueber den Ursprung, die Bliithe und den Untergang der island. Geschichtsschreibung, iibers. von G. Mohnike. Th. MObius : Ueber die altere islandische Saga, Leipzig, 1852. K. Maurer : Ueber Ari Tborgilsson nnd sein Islanderbuch (Pfeiffier's GermaniaXV). E. Cbr. Worlauff: De Ario Multi- scio, Hafnise, 1808. + The Landnamab6k has frequently been published. The last and best edi- tion appeared in Copenhagen in 1843. OLD NOBSE LITEBATUBE. 49 right when he says: "When we take into consideration his (lesser) Islendingab6k and the probable character of his Landnamab6k (in its original form) we are forced to the con- clusion that this work on the kings of Norway was a brief one, and that its chief purpose was to present a chronologi- cal table of events, in order that it in the same manner as his (lesser) Islendingab6k for the Icelandic sagas might serve as a guide to a critical study of the history of the Norwegian kings." To the same original greater Islendingab6k belonged also a third historical work, namely, the " Kristnisaga," on the introduction of Christianity in Iceland, and on later his- torical events in that island down to the year 1121. But this work is now extant in a form quite different from the original, the matter pertaining to church history, which in Are's work was mixed up with facts of general or secular history, having been separated, remodelled and having re- ceived various additions that are not from Are.* A some- what older contemporary of Are, the priest Ssemund Sig- fusson (born 1056, died 1133), the same person who without a scrap of evidence has been called the author and compiler of the Elder Edda, contributed much toward giving a firm foundation to history by fixing the chronology of each reign of the rulers of Norway from Harald Pairhair to Magnus the Good (850-1047), and in the sagas he is frequently mentioned as authority in this respect. Saemund does not appear to have written any great work himself, at least there is none extant. Through his great grandson, Jon Loptsson, his learning was handed down to Snorre Sturleson, and the bulk of what this greatest of all old sagamen has preserved for us doubt- less comes by way of Jon Loptsson from Saemund. Worthy of mention here is also Biskttpa S6gur (Sagas of the Bishops), a series of narratives of the lives and works of the first Icelandic bishops, to which are added various col- lections of legends. * Islendingab6k in Islendinga s6gur I. Copenhagen, 1843. Kristnisaga cum interpretatione Lat. Hafniae, 1773. O. Brenner: TJeber die Kristni-Saga, Miinchen, 1878. 50 LITERATURE OP THE SCANDINAVIAN - NORTH. The chronological foundation having thus been laid, so that the materials at hand might be arranged in a systematic manner, the latter began to be put in writing on a more extensive scale. The Icelandic sagas proper, that is to say, the narratives which have the description of Icelandic affairs for their object, extend from the time of the first settlement of the island to about the year 1030, a period which, on account of struggles arising from the further colonization of Iceland and from the introduction and establishment of the new faith, necessarily awakened the greatest interest and furnished the richest materials for tradition. What hap- pened after that period receives but slight attention in the sagas. Only the Sttjrlunga Saga tells the most memorable events from the first settlement to the downfall of the repub- lic, wherefore it is usually called the " great Islendinga Saga." The rest of the Icelandic sagas find their materials in other lands, and confine themselves, so . far as Iceland is concerned, to meagre chronicles or annals. To the most striking and interesting productions that are to be found in literature belong the Icelandic family sagas. A saga of this kind is generally the story of the life of a single Icelandic gentleman, but it invariably sketches him in relation to his kin, going back to the first settler from whom he sprang, and especially giving a full account of all his rela- tives who have lived during the epoch embraced in. the saga. The term family saga is therefore eminently appropriate. These sagas also contain many valuable contributions to the history of Iceland and of other countries with which the Icelanders had a more or less lively intercourse, and, as a matter of course, to that of Norway; but their chief value lies in their high literary form and in the materials they furnish for a history of the culture of their time. In an earnest, clear, dramatic, straightforward manner they give us a multitude of richly colored pictures of mediaeval life and customs, and of striking and grandly endowed natures, which are frequently described with a surprisingly OLD NOESE LITEBATUEB. 51 profound psychological insight and with an unerring appre- ciation of the distinctive traits of a person's character and of the most important facts in every scene and event. It is difficult to draw the line between fact and fiction; for, though there can be no doubt that all these descriptions are based on actual occurrences (and this must be said of them not only as a whole and in general, bnt also of a great majority of the details) ; still it is evident that some fiction has been blended with the facts. This appears not so much from the aptly interwoven verses or epistles as from the masterly and artistic manner in which the materials are arranged, while the creative talent of the artist is present either consciously or unconsciously, especially in the repro- duction of the dialogues, which in many instances are worthy of a dramatic poet. This arbitrary element, which lends a peculiar charm to the descriptions akin to that which we find in the works of great poets, is not equally prominent in all the sagas. Those in which this poetic charm is most easily discovered are in all respects the best ones. Not of a single one of them do we know with certainty in what man- ner or by whom it received its present form; not a single one appears as the work of this or that " author," and this is in one sense as it should be, since a large part of the work must unquestionably be ascribed to tradition which preceded the writing. Frequent efforts have been made to trace the most important sagas to well-known Icelanders like Are and Saemund, but wholly without reason, since the form in which we now have them cannot be ascribed to distinct individuals. Generally speaking, no chronological disposition can be made of the Icelandic saga. The evidences of age that may be gathered from the style, the language, etc., are so uncer- tain that it is not possible to draw conclusions from them in regard to the different kinds of writing. In the enu- meration which we are now about to make of the most important ones we have nothing else to guide us as to the 52 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. order in which we give them than external circumstances. We give them in groups, according to the locality they describe, passing from one district to the other along the Icelandic coast. Beginning in the South of Iceland or on the south coast we at once meet with the foremost and most interesting of all, the Njal's Saga, which abounds in characters drawn with masterly skill, and in entertaining descriptions of life and customs. Among these we will mention: the shrewd Njal skilled in law and his magnanimous wife Bergthora ; their sons, of whom Skarphedin especially is a most original character, excellently drawn ; Njal's friend, the noble Gunnar, of Lithend ; and the latter's cold, hard-hearted wife Hallgerd. This saga contains interesting descriptions of feuds, lawsuits, revenge for bloodshed, etc., and is very important to any one study- ing the history of civilization, on account of the key which it gives to Icelandic law. The events described by Njal's Saga took place between 960 and 1016. This saga is told in beau- tiful and noble language, and what is true of so many other sagas can be said with peculiar emphasis of this one, that the admirable style bears evidence of an artistic and skilful hand. To Saemund has been attributed the original authorship, but there is little probability in this supposition. In the West of Iceland we find Egil's Saga, which tells of the above-mentioned skald Egil Skallagrimsson. It covers the period from 860 to 1000, and is like the Njala one of the foremost of the family sagas. It is clear and vivid in style, and is especially interesting on account of its descrip- tion of the conflict between Egil's family and Harald Pair- hair, which led to the emigration to Iceland, and of Egil's restless life as viking and skald. It contains many of Egil's songs, some of which are among the best produced in the skaldic age. In certain respects the saga of the skald Gttn- laug Okmstunga (Serpent-tongue) is a continuation of Egil's Saga. It is a short but very charming love story. Gunlaug and another skald, by name Hrafn, are rival lovers of Helga OLD NOKSE LITERATURE. 53 the Pair, the granddaughter of Egil, and both fall in the holm- gang or judicial combat. Helga's true love for Gunlaug, his recklessness, which makes him forget the appointed time at which he was to fetch his bride, and Hrafn's treason are set forth in bold and vivid colors. Similar in theme to the Gun- laug's Saga is that of BjOrn Hitd^elakappi (the hero of Hit- dale) belonging to the southwest of Iceland (1000-1025). This, too, tells of rivalry in love, hatred, and song, but it is not so full of dramatic life and interest as the former. It is the third and last in the series of sagas of the Moor-men, that is to say, of Egil Skallagrimsson and his family. The west of Iceland was upon the whole the soil upon which saga writing developed most luxuriously, but our limits do not permit us to do more than mention some of the most important ones. A graphic description of the events between 880 and 1030 is found in the Eyrbyggja Saga, a work which is also interest- ing on account of the numerous notices it preserves of the institutions and manners of the heathen times and on account of the ghost stories it tells from heathen superstition. The Viga-Sttb's Saga ok HeiSarviga (the Saga of Viga-Styr and of the Battle of the Heath) is only a fragment, the original be- ginning having been lost and afterward written down from memory. Its events begin in 990 and end in 1015, and it tells the exploits of Viga-Styr, of Snorre's foray in Borgorfjord and of the slaying in Norway of Hall Gudmundson which led to the battle on the Heath (the Heath connecting the north and. west of Iceland). This saga has a fine plot, and its antique style marks it as one of the oldest saga specimens to be found. The Laxd^la Saga likewise describes events from 886 to 1030. It is one of the longest sagas, and is remarkable for its skilful delineation of character (Kjartan and G-udrun), and in general for its vivid and attractive style. The G-isla Saga Suessostae (Saga of Gisle Sursson) is a splendid story of an outlawed skald (950-980). Havaedar Saga Isfibdings, the Saga of Havard of Icefirth (997-1002) tells how the old skald Havard avenged the death of his son. The Postbr^edka 54 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN' NORTH. Saga, Saga of the Foster-brothers (1010-1030) tells of Thor- mod Kolbrunarskald and Thorgeir Havarsson. Finally, we must mention H.s;nsathoeis Saga, the story of Hen-Thore (about 960) and the saga of H5ed Gbimkalsson' and Geib (950-990). In the Noeth of Iceland we find Koemak's Saga (930- 984) of the above-mentioned skald of that name. His love is the chief topic, wherefore it contains a number of love- songs. Fine descriptions of Icelandic customs are found in Halfeed Vande^edaskald's Saga (988-1008) and in Vatzd^la Saga, the story of the Waterdale Men (870-1000), which espe- cially throw light upon the conditions as shaped by the trans- ition to Christianity. Geettis Saga, the story of Grette the Strong (872-1033), is a saga adorned with mythic exaggerations and fables, but still abounding in interest, excellently told, and giving the history of the outlaw Grette the Strong, celebrated for his courage and strength and regarded by the Icelanders as a national hero. Viga-Glum's Saga (920-1000) dis- tinguished for its graphic and attractive descriptions, and Ljosvetntnga Saga, the story of the Lightwater Men (990- 1050), in the latter of which the chieftain Gudmund the Mighty is the hero, also belong to the north of Iceland. Of the sagas relating to the East of Iceland the Vapn- fiedinga Saga (970-990) telling of the feuds between the men of Hof in Weapenfirth (whence the name of the saga) and the men of Crosswick, and the Heafnkel's Saga Feeys- goda (about 950), the ,saga of the Hrafnkel, Priest of Frey, are the most important. The latter especially gives a characteristic picture of social conditions together with inter- esting sketches of the worship of the heathen gods, of the administration of law and of political institutions of Ice- land.* *Sturlunga Saga edited with Prolegomena, Appendices, Tables, Indices and Maps, by Gudbrand Vigfusson, I-II, Oxford, 1878. Njala I (Text), Copenhagen, 18T5. II, Copenhagen, 1879. Sagan af Agli Skallagrimssyni, Reykjavik, 1856. Egils Saga cum interpretatione latina, Hafnise, 1809. E. Jessen, Glaubwurdigkeit der Egils-Saga und anderer Islander Sagas. (Hist. Zeitschr. XIV 1872.) Gunn- OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 55 We have frequently alluded to tlie fact that Icelandic traditions began in an early day to be concerned with the history of Norway. Are Thorgilsson made ^Norwegian his- tory one of his chief studies, the results of which he put in writing, and after him others carried the work in this direc- tion forward on a grand scale. The results are embodied in various sagas of Norwegian kings, some giving an account of only one, others of several kings. Olaf Trygvason and St. Olaf being the most prominent characters among the rulers of Norway, receive special attention from the saga-writers, but there is no lack of works giving the history of other Nor- wegian kings, and efforts were soon made to present continu- ous sketches of the lives of several kings as the preparation for a genuine history of Norway. By far the greater number of these sagas were produced in Iceland, though, as a matter of course, the materials on which they are based came mostly from Norway, or in other words were communicated by Nor- wegians. It is also known that Norwegians took part in the composition of sagas, though it cannot be determined how much of the work was done by them. Among the first efforts to treat the history of Norway connectedly, excepting, of course, the above-mentioned work laugs Saga ormstungu ok Hrafns cum interpretatione latina, Hafniae, 1775. Gunn- laugs Saga ormstungu ved Ole Rygh, Christiania, 1862. It is also published in the Islendinga SOgur, II, Copenhagen, 1847. Eyrbyggja Saga cum versione latina, Hafniae, 1787. Eyrbyggja Saga, edited by Gudbrand Vigfusson, Leipzig, 1864. Laxdaela Saga cum interpretatione latina, Hafnice, 1826. Kormaks Saga cum in- terpretatione latina, Hafniae, 1832. In TTobdiske Oldskeifter, edited by Det nordiske Literatursamfund, the following sagas are found in the original, and with Danish translations : Sagan af Hrafnkeli FreysgoSa, Copenhagen, 1847. Sa- gan af Birni Hitdselakappa, Copenhagen, 1847. Vapnnrdinga Saga, Copenhagen, 1858. Tvser sogur af Gisla Stirssyni, Copenhagen, 1849. Eostbraedra Saga, Copen- hagen, 1852. Grettis Saga, Copenhagen, 1853. HavarSar Saga Isfiroing, Copen- hagen, 1860. In the Islendinga Sogue, I-II, Copenhagen, 1829-30 are found the following: Ljosvetninga Saga and Vigaglums Saga. In the Islendinga Sogue, I-II, Copenhagen, 1843-47, are found : HarfSar Saga Grimkelssonar ok Geirs ; Sagan af Viga Styr ok Heifjarvigum; Haensathoris Saga, and Sagan af Hrafni ok Gunn- langi ormstungu. In the Foensogur, edited by G. Vigfusson and Th. Mobius, Leipzig, 1860, are found: Vatnsdaela Saga, HallfreSar Saga and Floamanna Saga. Iu Abhdlg. der kgl. bayr. Akademie der Wissenschaften for 1871 is found an ar- ticle by Dr. Konrad Maurer, entitled : TJeber die Hamsathoris Saga. 56 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. by Are Thorgilsson, are a chronicle based on oral tradition and written in the Latin tongue* by the Norwegian monk Thjodbek about the year 1179, and a " Historia Norvagia " also apparently written by a Norwegian in the twelfth cen- tury. Mention should also be made in this connection of AgbIp (i.e. abridgement or epitome) af Noeegs KontjngasS- gitm, a short and upon the whole imperfect history of the Nor- wegian kings from Halfdan, the Swarthy, to Sigard Jossala- far, which probably was written in Iceland toward the end of the twelfth century. Par superior to that work is the Fageskinna (the magnificent parchment). To be sure the sources from which it is compiled are used with but little criticism, but the style is clear and dramatic, and the lan- guage though terse, is vivid and fluent. In this work is found a number of skaldic poems, for instance the Eiriksmal on Erik Bloodyaxe. But the crown of Icelandic historiography is Snoeee Stue- leson's Heimsk^ingla, which towers above all other Icelandic histories like a splendid tree above the low brushwood. Snorre was born in the year 1178 and belonged to one of the most celebrated families of Iceland. In his fourth year he became domiciled at Odde in the abode of Jon Loptsson, great-grandson of Saemund, where he had the very best opportunities, for acquiring a thorough education. His foster father, himself one of the most learned men of his time, took pains to transmit to him the great fund of historical knowledge which he had inherited from his grandfather. By a wealthy marriage and by means of various prudent enter- prises Snorre acquired great riches, and became one of the most influential men of the country. He possessed sixteen farms and was able to appear at the Thing with a following of eight hundred men. But his power and insolence made * These attempts to make Latin the literary language of Norway stand alone. A similar one was made in Iceland, where the monks, Odd Snorrason (died 1200) and Gunlaug Leifsson (died 1218), in the Thingeyra Cloister produced works on Olaf Trygvason in the Latin language. The originals are lost and the works are known only through Icelandic translations and adaptations. OLD NORSE LITERATURE. 57 him many enemies, and he was - constantly engaged in liti- gation with other prominent men, mostly his own kinsfolk. In the year 1218 Snorre came for the first time to Nor- way, where the young Hakon Hakonson was then reigning under the protection of Jarl Skule. Snorre was received with great distinction, Gomposed ishe poem Hattatal in honor of the king and jarl, and was made a courtier. The next year a serious trouble arose between the Norwegians and the Icelanders, and Skule even contemplated an expedition to Iceland in order to avenge an outrage which one of the chiefs there had inflicted on some Norwegian merchants. Snorre, it is true, succeeded in persuading the jarl to abandon his project, but he had to pledge himself to work for the realiza- tion of a plan long cherished by the Norwegian king, of subjugating Iceland to the throne of Norway, a promise which Snorre does not, however, seem to have kept. After his return to Iceland he increased his fortune and influence, but on the other hand he became more and more entangled in hostilities, and his enemies, headed by his own nephew, Sturla Sighvatson, made use of the feud between King Hakon and Jarl Skule to turn the former againt Snorre, whose position was thus greatly imperilled. He therefore be- took himself to Norway to seek help from the jarl. Then he returned to Iceland, where his nephew in the meantime had fallen in a struggle with Snorre's son-in-law, Gissur. But in Gissur he found a no less dangerous enemy than his nephew had been, and at the behest of king Hakon Gissur murdered his father-in-law, September 22, 1241. Despite this restless life, which constitutes but a single, though a prominent episode in this stormy time by which Iceland was visited before the fall of the republic, and which necessarily weakened and shattered all social and political ties and made the country a sure prey of the Norwegian king, we say despite this restless life, Snorre found time to develop a literary activity which marks the zenith of the production of historical sagas. His sagas of the kings of 58 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. Norway, the Heimskringla, — so called from the first two words of one of the manuscripts (kringla heimsins, the earth's circle) — begins with the saga of the royal family of the Ynglings, who were descended from the gods and ruled at Upsala, and then tells the history of Norway,' carrying it forward to the year 1177. The short Ynglinga Saga, based on the old " Ynglingatal," the poem composed by the skald Thjodolf of Hvin, is throughout mythic and heroic, and is peculiarly interesting as an effort to present the ancient gods as historical persons; but in the saga of Halfdan the Swarthy the light of history dawns, and we soon enter the broad daylight of facts. Snorre's sources were, besides the traditions and songs that still existed in his. time, a whole cycle of written sagas. Without doubt he consulted all the historical works which we have already mentioned and many others which have not been preserved, and his activity was not confined simply to copying and compiling from his predecessors, but he reproduced them with a care and criti- cism which his forerunners in the saga field had not fully learned to apply. He makes extensive use of the songs of the skalds of former ages and of his own time, and adds in his descriptions a number of new facts that were unknown to the earlier writers. All these things together, in connection with his classic language and style and the unity and com- prehensiveness that distinguish his work, not only raise him above all other saga writers, but make him a truly great his- torian. That Snorre closes his work with the year 1117 must doubtless be accounted for by the fact that the Saga of King Swerre, who ascended the throne of Norway in 1184, was already written ' by one of Swerre's contemporaries, the Ab- bot Karl Jonsson of the Thingeyra monastery in the north of Iceland. Karl Jonsson visited Norway and produced his saga under the supervision and with the cooperation of the king himself. Already before this attempts had been made at writing contemporary history. Thus the " Hryggjar- OLD 2JORSE LITERATURE. 59 stykki," by the Icelander Eirik Oddsson, treats of his eon- temporary kings Harald Gille, Magnus the Blind, and Sigurd the Severe. The book is not now extant, but was in its time consulted by later authors. Probably it is also preserved in the so-called " Morkinskinna" (Rottenskin) , which describes the period from Magnus the Good (1035) to 1157, and which, although in its present form coming from a later hand, is apparently originally the work of Snorre. Among docu- ments, which served as Snorre's sources, must also be men- tioned the so-called legendary saga of St. Olaf, which tells especially of Olaf's miracles and is in this respect based on older miracle books and collections of legends relating to this king. The continuation of the Heimskringla, which various authors have contributed, embraces in addition to Swerre's saga the history of the later kings down to Magnus Laga- bseter (Law-mender). Of the saga of this king, which, like that of Hakon Hakonson, was written by one of Snorre's relatives, Sttjrla Thordsson, we now possess only a frag- ment, which forms the last link in the long chain of histor- ical works produced by Icelanders and Norwegians in the middle ages. Worthy of mention are also the so-called great or historical saga of St. Olaf and the great Olaf Trygva- son's Saga, which was written in the fourteenth century and is a compilation of all earlier sources into a history of this king.* *A. Gjessing: Undersogelse om Kongesagaens Premvaext I„ Christiania, 1873. P. E. Mttller: Kritisk UndersOgelse af Danmarks og Gorges Sagnhistorie (on the sources of Saxo and Snorre), Copenhagen, 1833. G, Storm: Snorre Stur- lasons Historieskrivning, Copenhagen, 1873. Th. Mobius: Ueber die Heims- kringla (in Zeitschrift fur dentsche Philologie V, 1874). Rosselet: De Snorrone Sturlsei, Berlin, 1853. Heimskringla cller Xorges Kongesagaer af Snorre Sturla- son, edited by C. R. linger, Christiania, 1868. P. Wachter: Snorre Stnrlasons Weltkreis (Heimskringla), ttbersetzt und erlautert, Leipzig, 1835-36. Konunga Sogur, Sagaer om Sverre og haus Efterfolgere, edited by C. R. Unger, Christiania, 1873. Fagrskinna, edited by P. A. Munch and C. R. Unger, Christiania, 1847. Morkinskinna, edited by C. R. Unger, Christiania, 1867. Fornmanna Sogur eptir gOmlum handritum ritgefnar a'5 tilhlutum hins Konungsiiga Norrsena Fornfraffa Mags I-IX, Copenhagen, 1825-37, with Latin translations: Scripta historicals- landorum de rebus gestis veterum Borealium I-XII, Copenhagen, 1828-46. 60 LITERATURE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH. A collection of sagas which also deserves special mention is the Flateyarbok (the book of Flat Isle), so called because it was found on the small island Flatey in Broadforth. The book is written toward the end of the fourteenth century by two Icelandic priests, and contains in strange confusion and wholly without criticism a large number of sagas (Olaf Tryg- vason's Saga, St. Olaf 's Saga, Swerre's Saga, Hakon Hakon- son's Saga, etc.), of poems (Einar Skulason's " G-eisli," Einar Gilsson's " Olafsrima," etc.) and of shorter stories; but it is important, because much is found there which otherwise would have been lost. The Flatey-book is not, however, the only old Icelandic manuscript in which a variety of matters are collected, but none other confuses things on so vast a scale. The Flatey-book naturally leads us to discuss the sagas which speak of other countries than Iceland and Norway, as it contains sagas of the Fareys and the Orkneys. The F.