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Snorri Sturluson Edda Prologue and Gylfaginning Codex Regius, f. 7v (reduced) (see pp. 26/34–28/1) Snorri Sturluson Edda Prologue and Gylfaginning Edited by ANTHONY FAULKES SECOND EDITION VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON 2005 © Anthony Faulkes 1982/2005 Second Edition 2005 First published by Oxford University Press in 1982 Reissued by Viking Society for Northern Research 1988, 2000 ISBN 978 0 903521 64 2 Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter Contents Codex Regius, fol. 7v ..........................................................Frontispiece Abbreviated references ....................................................................... vii Introduction ..........................................................................................xi Synopsis ..........................................................................................xi The author ..................................................................................... xii The title ....................................................................................... xvii The contents of Snorri’s Edda ................................................... xviii Models and sources ........................................................................ xx Manuscripts .............................................................................. xxviii Bibliography ...............................................................................xxxi Text ........................................................................................................ 3 General notes ....................................................................................... 57 Textual notes ........................................................................................ 73 Glossary ............................................................................................... 77 Index of names ..................................................................................163 Preface The first edition of this book was published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford in hardback 1982. It was reissued in paperback by the Viking Society in 1988, and again, with minor corrections and a lengthy list of corrections, in 2000. This second edition has been fully corrected, revised and reset, and I am very grateful for the care with which proofs have been read by David Ashurst, who has drawn my attention to many inconsistencies, some surviving from the original edition, some introduced in my revision, as well as pointing out a number of errors that crept in during the resetting. It is hoped that the book is now more accurately printed and more reliable than before. Abbreviated references Ágrip: Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum, ed. M. J. Driscoll, London 1995. AH Gudesagn: P. A. Munch, Norrøne gude- og heltesagn, rev. A. Holtsmark, Oslo 1967. AH Studier: A. Holtsmark, Studier i Snorres Mytologi, Oslo 1964. Akv: Atlakvi›a (PE 282–91). Alv: Alvíssmál (PE 129–34). AM 748 I b 4to and 748 II 4to, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, Reykjavík; printed in SnE II 397–494, 573–627 (where the second is referred to as AM 1 e ß fol.); facsimile in Fragments of the Elder and Younger Edda, Copenhagen 1945 (Corpus Codicum Islandicorum Medii Aevi XVII). AM 757 a 4to, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, Reykjavík; printed in SnE II 501–72. Bdr: Baldrs draumar (PE 135–8). Codex Regius of the eddic poems: GkS 2365 4to, Stofnun Árna Magnús- sonar, Reykjavík; printed in PE; facsimile in Codex Regius of the Elder Edda, Copenhagen 1937 (Corpus Codicum Islandicorum Medii Aevi X). Egils saga: ÍF II. Elder Edda: see PE and Codex Regius. Flateyjarbók: GkS 1005 fol., Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, Reykjavík; printed in Flateyjarbok I–III, Christiania 1860–8; facsimile in Corpus Codicum Islandicorum Medii Aevi I, Copenhagen 1930. Fm: Fáfnismál (PE 219–26). Grammatical Treatises: all four are edited in SnE II 2–249. See also Den første og anden grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda, ed. V. Dahlerup and Finnur Jónsson, København 1886; Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda, ed. B. M. Ólsen, København 1884; The First Grammatical Treatise, ed. Hreinn Benediktsson, Reykjavík 1972; First Grammatical Treatise, ed. E. Haugen, London 1972. Grm: Grímnismál (PE 75–89). Gylf: Gylfaginning. Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar, ed. Gu›brandur Vigfússon, London 1887; tr. G. W. Dasent, London 1894 (Rolls Series, Icelandic Sagas II and IV). Háttatal: Snorri Sturluson, Edda: Háttatal, ed. Anthony Faulkes, Oxford 1991. Repr. Viking Society for Northern Research, London 1999. viii Abbreviated references Hauksbók: AM 371, 544, 675 4to, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, Reykjavík, and Arnamagnæan Institute, Copenhagen; ed. E. Jónsson and F. Jónsson, København 1892–6; facsimile in Hauksbók, Copenhagen 1960 (Manuscripta Islandica 5). The text of Vƒluspá is in AM 544 4to, foll. 20–21r. Háv: Hávamál (PE 43–64). Hdl: Hyndluljó› (PE 152–62). Hei›reks saga: The Saga of King Hei›rek the Wise, ed. and tr. C. Tolkien, London 1960. HH: Helgakvi›a Hundingsbana hin fyrri (PE 179–89). HH II: Helgakvi›a Hundingsbana ƒnnur (PE 190–201). Hkr: Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla, ed. Bjarni A›albjarnarson, Reykjavík 1941–51 (ÍF XXVI–XXVIII). Hrbl: Hárbar›sljó› (PE 97–104). Hym: Hymiskvi›a (PE 105–12). ÍF: Íslenzk fornrit I– , Reykjavík 1933– . J: Papp. fol. nr 38, Royal Library, Stockholm. K: AM 755 4to, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, Reykjavík. Ls: Lokasenna (PE 113–23). MRN: E. O. G. Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North, London 1964. N: NkS 1878 b 4to, Royal Library, Copenhagen. Noreen, A., Altisländische und Altnorwegische Grammatik, 4th ed., Halle 1923 (cited by paragraph no.). Od: Oddrúnargrátr (PE 276–81). PE (Poetic Edda): Norrœnn Fornkvæ›i, Sæmundar Edda, ed. S. Bugge, Christiania 1867; see also AM 748 and Codex Regius above. R: Gks 2367 4to, Royal Library, Copenhagen; printed in SnE I and Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, ed. Finnur Jónsson, København 1931; facsimile in Codex Regius of the Younger Edda, Copenhagen 1940 (Corpus Codicum Islandicorum Medii Aevi XIV). Rm: Reginsmál (Sigur›arkvi›a Fáfnisbana ƒnnur, PE 212–8). Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum, ed. J. Olrik, H. Ræder, F. Blatt, Hauniæ 1931–57; see also The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, tr. O. Elton, London 1894, and Saxo Grammaticus, The History of the Danes, tr. P. Fisher, ed. H. E. Davidson, Cambridge 1979–80. Sd: Sigrdrífumál (PE 227–36). SG Kommentar: Die Lieder der Edda, ed. B. Sijmons and H. Gering, III: Kommentar, erste Hälfte: Götterlieder, Halle 1927. Abbreviated references ix Skáld: Snorri Sturluson, Edda: Skáldskaparmál. 1. Introduction, Text and Notes; 2. Glossary and Index of Names, ed. Anthony Faulkes, London 1998. Skj: Den norsk-islandske Skjaldedigtning A I–II, B I–II, ed. Finnur Jónsson, København and Kristiania 1912–15. Skjƒldunga saga: the extant material believed to be derived from the lost Skjƒldunga saga is printed in ÍF XXXV 1–90. Skm: Skírnismál (PE 90–6). SnE: Edda Snorra Sturlusonar I–III, Hafniæ 1848–87. Sturlunga saga I–II, ed. Jón Jóhannesson, Magnús Finnbogason and Kristján Eldjárn, Reykjavík 1946; tr. J. H. McGrew and R. G. Thomas, New York 1970–4. Sƒgubrot af fornkonungum in ÍF XXXV 46–71. T: MS No. 1374, University Library, Utrecht; ed. W. van Eeden, De Codex Trojectinus van de Snorra Edda, Leiden 1913, and Árni Björnsson, Snorra Edda, Reykjavík 1975; facsimile in Codex Trajectinus. The Utrecht Manuscript of the Prose Edda, ed. Anthony Faulkes, Copenhagen 1985 (Early Icelandic Manuscripts in Facsimile XV). Th: Thott 1494 4to, Royal Library, Copenhagen. Tms: Trójumanna saga, ed. J. Louis-Jensen, Copenhagen 1963. U: DG 11, University Library, Uppsala (Codex Upsaliensis); printed in SnE II 250–396; facsimile in Snorre Sturlasons Edda, Uppsala- Handskriften DG 11 I, Stockholm 1962; the second volume of this work (Uppsala 1977) gives a diplomatic text. Vm: Vafflrú›nismál (PE 65–74). Vsp: Vƒluspá (PE 1–42). Vƒlsunga saga: The Saga of the Volsungs, ed. and tr. R. G. Finch, London 1965. W: AM 242 fol., Arnamagnæan Institute, Copenhagen; ed. Finnur Jónsson, Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, Codex Wormianus, København and Kristiania 1924; facsimile in Codex Wormianus, Copenhagen 1931 (Corpus Codicum Islandicorum Medii Aevi II). Ynglinga saga: Hkr I 9–83. firk: firymskvi›a (PE 124–8). Introduction Gylfaginning is the first part of Snorri Sturluson’s Edda, and contains the most extensive and coherent account of Scandinavian mythology that exists from the Middle Ages. The prologue that accompanies it develops a surprisingly rational theory about the origin of heathen religions, which is of great interest for the history of ideas in medieval Scandinavia. It is true that the value of the work for historians of religion is seriously impaired by the fact that the author was a Christian who lived at a time when the myths he describes had long since ceased to be believed in. His sources may have been unreliable, and his attitude to his material was clearly influenced both by his own religious beliefs and by his education and reading, which were largely within the tradition of medieval European Christianity. But Gylfaginning remains a source of primary importance for the study of heathen Scandinavian tradition, without which other sources such as the poems of the Elder Edda and the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus would give a much less comprehensible picture. Moreover the narratives in Gylfaginning are skilfully told and highly entertaining, with occasional touches of subtle humour and irony. The overall structure of the work, both in the ordering
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