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Royal Ideology in Fagrskinna
Háskóli Íslands Íslensku- og Menningardeild Medieval Icelandic Studies Royal Ideology in Fagrskinna A Case Study of Magnús inn blindi. Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs Joshua Wright Kt.: 270194-3629 Leiðbeinandi: Sverrir Jakobsson May 2018 Acknowledgements I owe thanks to too many people to list, but I would be remiss if I did not mention Julian Valle, who encouraged and advised me throughout the process, and Jaka Cuk for his company and council at numerous late night meetings. Dr. Sverrir Jakobsson’s supervision and help from Dr. Torfi H. Tulinius were both indispensable help throughout the process. I owe my wife, Simone, a special thanks for her input, and an apology for keeping her up in our small room as I worked at strange hours. I cannot fully express my debt to my father, David Wright, and my uncle Harold Lambdin, whose urging and encouragement pushed me to try academia in the first place. I dedicate this to my mother, Susanne, who would have loved to see it. ii Abstract: When looking at the political thought of the kings’ sagas, scholarship has overwhelmingly focused on Heimskringla, widely regarded as the most well-written compilation, or on the older Morkinskinna because it is more proximal to the ‘original’ sources. An intermediate source, Fagrskinna, is almost always overlooked, mentioned only in passing by scholars that are more interested in other texts. The limited work that has been done on this source, most prominently by Gustav Indrebø, attracts little attention and Indrebø has remained mostly unchallenged nearly a century after his writing. While there have been systemic analyses of the ideology of these sagas (by Bagge and Ármann Jakobsson, among others) they are only tangentially interested in Fagrskinna, with the result that this work and its unique ideology have been largely unexplored, although its subject matter predisposes it towards contributing to the discussion. -
Magnus Barefoot from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Magnus Barefoot From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the second Norwegian king named Magnus Olafsson. For the earlier Norwegian king, see Magnus the Good. Magnus Barefoot Drawing of a coin from the reign of Magnus Barefoot (with confused legend)[1] King of Norway Reign September 1093 – 24 August 1103 Predecessor Olaf III Successor Sigurd I, Eystein I and Olaf Magnusson Co-ruler Haakon Magnusson (until 1095) King of Dublin Reign 1102–1103 Predecessor Domnall Gerrlámhach Successor Domnall Gerrlámhach Born 1073 Norway Died 24 August 1103 (aged 29–30) near River Quoile, Downpatrick Ulster, Ireland Burial near St. Patrick's Church, Downpatrick, Ulster, Ireland Consort Margaret of Sweden Eystein I of Norway Issue Sigurd I of Norway Olaf Magnusson of Norway Ragnild Magnusdotter Tora Magnusdatter Harald IV Gille (claimed) Sigurd Slembe (claimed) Magnus Raude (claimed) Full name Magnús Óláfsson House Hardrada Father Olaf III of Norway Mother Tora?; disputed (see below) Religion Roman Catholicism Magnus Olafsson (Old Norse: Magnús Óláfsson, Norwegian: Magnus Olavsson; 1073 – 24 August 1103), better known as Magnus Barefoot (Old Norse: Magnús berfœttr, Norwegian: Magnus Berrføtt),[2] was King of Norway (as Magnus III) from 1093 until his death in 1103. His reign was marked by aggressive military campaigns and conquest, particularly in the Norse-dominated parts of the British Isles, where he extended his rule to the Kingdom of the Isles and Dublin. His daughter, Ragnhild, was born in 1090. As the only son of King Olaf Kyrre, Magnus was proclaimed king in southeastern Norway shortly after his father's death in 1093. In the north, his claim was contested by his cousin, Haakon Magnusson (son of King Magnus Haraldsson), and the two co-ruled uneasily until Haakon's death in 1095. -
The First Written Sagas of Kings and Chieftains
chapter 3 The First Written Sagas of Kings and Chieftains In his monograph Fyrsta sagan Bjarni Guðnason preempted the title of “fi rst saga” for Eiríkr Oddsson’s *Hryggjarstykki, a lost text referred to and paraphrased in Morkinskinna and Heimskringla and written sometime in the middle of the twelfth century.1 This text is diffi cult to reconstruct even in outline and may have been narrowly focused on the ill-fated pretender Sigurðr slembir (died 1139), as Bjarni Guðnason thought. If he is right, *Hryggjarstykki was a contemporary saga in the style of Sturlu saga or Guðmundar saga dýra rather than a historical narrative with an oral prefi guration. Another saga with a claim to be “fi rst” was the saga of King Sverrir Sigurðarson (died 1202), Sverris saga, which appears to have been begun by Abbot Karl Jónsson of the northwestern Icelandic monastery of Þingeyrar in the late 1180s but may not have been completed until a good many years later.2 It too was a contemporary saga. If we cast about for the “fi rst saga” in the sense of a long traditional narrative with biographical proportions, the choice might well fall on the so-called Oldest Saga of Saint Olaf or on Oddr Snorrason’s (origi- nally Latin) Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar. At one time there was a solid consensus that the former antedated the latter. Gustav Storm dated the Oldest Saga to 1155–1180, and Sigurður Nordal not much later (1160–1185).3 Oddr Snorrason’s saga is most often dated ca. 1190, but the priority is nonetheless diffi cult to resolve. -
Skaldic Slam: Performance Poetry in the Norwegian Royal Court
Lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni trú Félagsvísindasvið Skaldic Slam: Performance Poetry in the Norwegian Royal Court Anna Millward Leiðbeinandi: Terry Gunnell Félags- og mannvísindadeild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands December 2014 Norrænn trú Félags- og mannvísindadeild 1 Anna Millward MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis MA Kennitala: 150690-3749 Winter 2014 DEDICATION AND DISCLAIMER I owe special thanks to Prof. Terry Gunnell for his continued encouragement, help and enthusiasm throughout the process of researching and writing this dissertation. Many of the ideas put forward in this dissertation are borne out of interesting conversations and discussions with Prof. Gunnell, whose own work inspired me to take up this subject in the first place. It is through Prof. Gunnell’s unwavering support that this thesis came into being and, needless to say, any mistakes or errors are mine entirely. Ritgerð þessi er lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni Trú og er óheimilt að afrita ritgerðina á nokkurn hátt nema með leyfi rétthafa. © Anna Millward, 2014 Reykjavík, Ísland 2014 2 Anna Millward MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis MA Kennitala: 150690-3749 Winter 2014 CONTENTS Introduction pp. 5-13 Chapter 1. Skálds, Scholar, and the Problem of the Pen 1.1. What is Skaldic Poetry? pp. 14-15 1.2. Form and Function pp. 15-22 1.3. Preservation Context pp. 22-24 1.4. Scholarly Approaches to Skaldic Verse p. 25 1.5. Skaldic Scholarship: post-1970s pp. 26-31 1.6. Early Skaldic Scholarship: pre-1970s pp. 31-36 1.7. Skaldic as Oral Poetry, Oral Poetry as Performance pp. 36-43 1.8. -
The Succession and Coronation of Magnus Erlingsson
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives UNIVERSITY OF OSLO INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY, CONSERVATION AND HISTORY Dissertation for the degree of Master of Arts: Norwegian Kingship Transformed: the Succession and Coronation of Magnus Erlingsson (Depiction of Magnus Erlingsson, by Gerhard Munthe, 1899) Thomas Malo Tollefsen Spring 2015 1 2 Abstract This dissertation is an exploration of the succession and coronation of Magnus Erlingsson based upon three themes: Norwegian kingship in theory, Norwegian kingship in practise, and Norwegian kingship in context, and a search for points of similarity and contrast with European trends. In the first theme the focus of the analysis will be the coronation of Magnus Erlingsson, exploring this in two parts: the rules of kingmaking and the narration of Snorre in the Saga of Magnus Erlingsson, and motivations behind the coronation. In the second theme the focus will again be on the coronation of Magnus Erlingsson. First, this dissertation attempts to put together a workable timeline from when Magnus is acclaimed king in 1161 to his coronation in either 1163 or 1164. Then the analysis shifts to the coronation itself, before it falls on the coronation oath and the Letter of Privileges to see what they can tell us about Magnus’s kingship, and the Law of Succession and what it meant for the future. In the third theme this dissertation attempts to contextualise Magnus’s kingship and this chapter will focus on two things: acquisition, and by extension how to legitimise your rule once it has been acquired, and succession to kingship. -
ISL 1483738855 51 73 Pdf.Pdf (11.40Mb)
c h a p t e r 3 The Character of Kings Morkinskinna and Fagrskinna “Ahugi a manniysingum hefur ahrif a formgerSi sogunnar; lysing konunganna verSur saga Noregs.” Armann Jakobsson, Stadur t nyjum heimi [2002], 181) (Attention to personal characterization determines the shape of the saga; the characterization of the kings becomes the history of Norway.) Morkinskinna Beginning a little after 1030, Morkinskinna covers the same span of history, at least up to 115 7 , as Heimskringla III, and was in fact the chief source for the last part of Heimskringla.1 It is nonetheless distinctly different because of a series of stories usually referred to as p&ttir (strands). These stories most frequently focus on Icelandic visitors to the Norwegian court and are typically lively and humorous. They are often thought to be later interpolations into the text because they do not recur in the sibling redactions in Fagrskinna and Heims kringla, but Armann Jakobsson has urged us to view them not as separate stories but as integral parts of the narrative as a whole.2 Their placement suggests that they have a summarizing or distilling function. Thus the “ Story of HreiSarr” is positioned near the end of the life of King Magnus the Good and illustrates the king’s common touch, his protectiveness, and his popularity with all classes. Similarly, the “ Story of Halldorr Snorrason” is positioned near the beginning of Haraldr harSraSi’s reign in Norway and pinpoints the striking conrast between King Haraldr and his predecessor King Magnus. Like the “ Story of HreiSarr” it focuses on a king and an Icelander, 51 52 The Sagas of Norwegian Kings (1130-1265) but it is considerably more pointed. -
Kings' Sagas and Norwegian History : Problems and Perspectives
Kings’ Sagas and Norwegian History For use by the Author only | © 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV The Northern World North Europe and the Baltic c. 400–1700 A.D. Peoples, Economies and Cultures Editors Barbara Crawford (St. Andrews) David Kirby (London) Jón Viðar Sigurðsson (Oslo) Ingvild Øye (Bergen) Richard W. Unger (Vancouver) Piotr Gorecki (University of California at Riverside) VOLUME 54 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/nw. For use by the Author only | © 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV Kings’ Sagas and Norwegian History Problems and Perspectives By Shami Ghosh LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 For use by the Author only | © 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV Cover illustration: Copenhagen, Royal Library, GkS 1009 fol. (‘Morkinskinna’). Photo: Arnamagnæan Institute, University of Copenhagen; reproduced with permission. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ghosh, Shami. Kings’ sagas and Norwegian history : problems and perspectives / by Shami Ghosh. p. cm. — (The northern world : North Europe and the Baltic c. 400–1700 A.D. Peoples, economies and cultures, 1569-1462 ; v. 54) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-20989-3 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Sagas—History and criticism. 2. Old Norse literature—History and criticism. 3. Norway— Historiography. 4. Norway—History—To 1030—Sources. 5. Norway—History—1030–1397— Sources. 6. Kings and rulers in literature. 7. Norway—Kings and rulers. 8. Literature and history—Norway. I. Title. II. Series. PT7184.G56 2011 948.1’01072—dc23 2011029158 ISSN 1569-1462 ISBN 978 90 04 20989 3 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. -
The Saint and the Wry-Neck: Norse Crusaders and the Second Crusade
Pål Berg Svenungsen Chapter 6 The Saint and the Wry-Neck: Norse Crusaders and the Second Crusade During the twelfth century, a Norse tradition developed for participating in the dif- ferent campaigns instigated by the papacy, later known as the crusades.1 This tradi- tion centred on the participation in the crusade campaigns to the Middle East, but not exclusively, as it included crusading activities in or near the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean. By the mid-1150s, the tradition was consolidated by the joint crusade of Earl Rognvald Kolsson of Orkney and the Norwegian magnate and later kingmaker, Erling Ormsson, which followed in the footsteps of the earlier cru- sade of King Sigurd the Crusader in the early 1100s. The participation in the cru- sades not only brought Norse crusaders in direct contact with the most holy places in Christendom, but also the transmission of a wide range – political, religious and cultural – of ideas. One of them was to bring back a piece of the holiness of Jerusalem, by various means, in order to create a Jerusalem in the North. In 1152, a fleet of fifteen large ships from Norway, Orkney and Iceland sailed out from Orkney towards the Holy Land.2 The fleet, commanded by the earl and later saint of Orkney, Rognvald Kali Kolsson (r.1136–1158), and the Norwegian “landed man” [lenðir 1 For a general overview of the development of the crusades, see Jonathan Riley-Smith, What Were the Crusades?, fourth ed. (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009); Norman Housley, Fighting for the Cross: Crusading to the Holy Land (New Haven–London: Yale University Press, 2008); Christopher Tyerman, God’s War: A New History of the Crusades (Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006). -
ISL 1483738855 155 162 Pdf.Pdf (3.466Mb)
Conclusion It may be a little late in the narrative to raise the question of whether there really is such a thing as a “ king’s saga” alongside the sagas about early Icelanders, the bishops’ sagas, the legendary sagas, and so forth. The term has not always been in the same common use that prevails today. Peter Erasmus Muller uses it eight times in his compendious Sagabibliothek from 18 17 -2 0 (vol. 3, pp. ix, 14, 16, 19, 2 1-2 3 , 25), but he does not use it to designate a particular type of saga. Finnur Jonsson used it sparingly in his big literary history from 1923 (Danish kongesaga) but not in the matter-of-fact way that is current now.1 It figures for example in Kurt Schier’s tabulation of subgroups (“konunga sogur” “Konigssagas”), in which he tallies up a total of twenty-seven examples.2 He reaches that number, however, only by dint of including texts that are only marginally about Norwe gian kings, for example the sagas about the North Atlantic islanders, Orkneyinga saga and F&reyinga saga. He also includes Jomsvikinga saga, a narrative about an attack on Norway under Hakon jarl by an independent federation of vikings from the Baltic, and a certain number of hypothetical or largely lost texts, under the heading of “ related works,” as well as late compilations. I have limited myself to fifteen texts from the first two centuries of saga writing, Ari’s and Smmundr’s lost lives of the kings, *Hryggjarstykki, the three synoptic histories, Oddr Snorrason’s Olafs saga Tryggvasonar, the Oldest Saga of Saint Olaf, the Legendary Saga of Saint Olaf, the three compendia Morkinskinna, Fagrskinna, and Heimskringla, Sverris saga, Bgglunga sogur and finally Hakonar saga Hakonarsonar. -
Heimskringla I
SNORRI STURLUSON HEIMSKRINGLA VOLUME I The printing of this book is made possible by a gift to the University of Cambridge in memory of Dorothea Coke, Skjæret, 1951 Snorri SturluSon HEiMSKRINGlA VOLUME i tHE BEGINNINGS TO ÓlÁFr TRYGGVASON translated by AliSon FinlAY and AntHonY FAulKES ViKinG SoCiEtY For NORTHErn rESEArCH uniVErSitY CollEGE lonDon 2011 © VIKING SOCIETY 2011 ISBN: 978-0-903521-86-4 The cover illustration is of the ‘Isidorean’ mappamundi (11th century), of unknown origin, diameter 26 cm, in Bayerische Staatsbibliotek, Munich, Clm 10058, f. 154v. It is printed here by permission of Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. East is at the top, Asia fills the top half, Europe is in the bottom left hand quadrant, Africa in the bottom right hand quadrant. The earliest realisations of Isidore’s description of the world have the following schematic form: E ASIA MEDITERRANEUM N TANAIS NILUS S EVROPA AFRICA W Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ vii Authorship ...................................................................................... vii Sources ............................................................................................. ix Manuscripts ....................................................................................xiii Further Reading ............................................................................. xiv This Translation ............................................................................ -
Chapter 1—Early Contacts Between Norway and Iceland 1
Notes Chapter 1—Early Contacts between Norway and Iceland 1. The beginning of chapter i in Ari Torgilsson’s sketch of Icelandic history reads in part as follows: “Iceland was settled first from Norway in the days of Harald Fairhair . and that was 870 years after the birth of Christ.” There have been recent archeological attempts to show that Iceland was settled before 870. See Margret Hermanns-Audardottir, Islands tidiga bosattning (1989) and “Arkeologiska undersokningar av handels-platsen vid Gasir” (1999); Pall Theodorsson, “Upphaf landnams a Islandi 670 a d ” (2009); Gunnar Karlsson, “Upphaf mannaferda a Islandi” (2011). Verena Hofig provides a full discussion of the archeological debate in her unpublished University of California (Berkeley) dissertation, “Finding a Founding Father: Memory, Identity, and the Icelandic landnam” (2014), 8-12. 2 . The text has been published and translated a number of times and may be found in IF i.i. The most recent translation with abundant annotation and discussion is in Sian Gronlie’s Islendingabok; Kristni saga: The Book of the Icelanders; The Story of the Conversion (2006). 3. For a brief introduction to the sagas about early Icelanders (known as “sagas of Icelanders” or “family sagas”) see Margaret Clunies Ross, The Cambridge Introduction to the Old-Norse-Icelandic Saga (2010). A thumbnail overview of the bishops’ sagas is provided by Kurt Schier, Sagaliteratur (1970), 67-71. On the translations from the Latin see Stefanie Wurth, Der “Antikenroman” in der islandischen Literatur des Mittelalters (1998). On the translations from the French see Marianne Kalinke, “Norse Romance (Riddarasogur)” in Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Critical Guide (1985; rpt. -
A Troll, a Bird, and Mother of Kings Magic and Agency in Shapeshifting Origins and Perspectives: Queen Gunnhildur of Norway
Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Medieval Icelandic Studies A Troll, a Bird, and Mother of Kings Magic and agency in shapeshifting origins and perspectives: Queen Gunnhildur of Norway Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs í Medieval Icelandic Studies Cassandra Ruiz Kt.: 180195-4329 Leiðbeinandi: Sif Ríkharðsdóttir January 2020 Abstract The discussion of the Nordic saga corpus has focused mainly on the theoretical analysis of its narrative function, authorship, historical accuracies, and whether they can be viewed as historiographies or not. Until recently, scholars have paid little attention to gender studies and the study of otherness. However, cultural memory remains a pivotal field of study when it comes to sagas. In response, this thesis evaluates how narratives construct gender, otherness, and cultural memory by focusing on a singular character— Queen Gunnhildr. By focusing on family and kings’ sagas, we may gain a different understanding of the cultural views between Icelanders and Norwegians during this time. Nevertheless, it is important to also consider these character depictions to be literary borrowings from the other texts, if they are similar, or that they derive from independent and ultimately oral sources, if they are different. Therefore, I will analyze the different ways Gunnhildr is used as a plot device and how her character morphs in the sagas and is portrayed as either a witch, a sorceress, a woman, an outcast Queen, or other, to shed a light on cultural mentalities of the time they were written; and foreground the uncertainties regarding her origins. Ágrip Umfjöllun um norræna sagnaarfinn hefur einkum lagt áherslu á fræðilega greiningu á frásagnartækni, höfundarétti, sögulegri nákvæmni og hvort hægt séað líta á þær sem sagnfræði.