POETRY AND SAGA OF THE VIKING AGE
Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Bright Horizons 26, August 1-15, 2015
GERMANIC AND NORSE POETRY AND SAGA, ca, 400-1350
ca. 200-100 B.C.
Invention of the Runes Long Fuþark
ca. 375-625
Origins of Poetic Cycle of Volsungs (Sigurd &
Brynhild; Gunnar & Gudrun; Atli)
ca. 400 A.D.
Gallehus Horns
ca. 490-575
Historical Events behind legends of Beowulf &
Hrolf Kraki set at Hleidr (OE Heorot)
ca. 675-725
Composition of Beowulf
ca. 700-800
Transformation of Old Norse
Invention of Short Fuþark
ca. 875-900
Ragnarsdrapa by Bragi the Old
First Skaldic Poem (Drótkvætt)
ca. 880
Hrafsman by Thorbjorn Hotnklofi
GERMANIC AND NORSE POETRY AND SAGA, ca, 400-1350
ca. 900-950
Composition of earliest poems in Poetic Edda, Norway
Composition of Hildebrandslied (OHG)
ca. 904-990
Career of Egill Skallagrimson
1000
Conversion of Iceland to Christianity
Adoption of Roman Alphabet
ca. 1175-1220
Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum
ca. 1200-1204
Nieblungenlied (MHG): South German epic
ca. 1200-1350
Saga Composition in Iceland
ca. 1225
Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241)
ca. 1230
Heimskringla Saga, Snorii Sturluson
ca. 1250-1275
Saga of Volsungs, Iceland
THE RUNIC ALPAHBET
Long Fuþark , Anglo-Saxon
Short Fuþark , Norse
GERMANIC ALLITERATIVE VERSE
Gallehus Horns, ca. 400
x
/x x x/ xx
/x
/xx
ek hlewagastiʀ holtijaʀ || horna tawidō
(I, Hlewagastiʀ [son] of Holt, made the horn.)
NORSE ALLITERATIVE VERSE
Fornyrðislag
(“Past words law”)
Ek veit Hastein
þa Holmstein brœðr
mennr rynasta
á Migarði
settu stein
ok stafa marga
eftir Frøsten
faður sin
I know Hásteinn
and Holmsteinn
the most rune-skilled brothers
in Middle Earth
placed many a stone
and staff in memory
of Freysteinn
their father
Fyrby Runestone. Södermanland
Sweden, ca. 990-1010
BEOWULF, ca, 675-725
Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
Alliterative Verse
.
Sutton Hoo, helmet, ca. 625
Beowulf, Cotton MS
SAXO GRAMMATICUS, ca. 1150-1190
Codex, Gesta Danorum
Valdemar I (1157-1182)
Ringsted Square
POETIC (ELDER) EDDA
Poetic (Elder) Edda,
Regius Codex, ca. 1275
Bynjólfur Sveinsson,
Bishop of Skálholt, 1643
CONTENTS OF POETIC EDDA
1
Völsupá (Prophecy of völva)
2-14
Poems of the gods (Odin, Thor, Loki, Heimdal, Baldr, Freya)
15.
Völsupá hin skarma (Short Prophecy of völva)
15-23
Poems of Heroes (Svipdag, Volund, Helgi Hjorvarthsson,
Helgi Hundingsbana)
24-40
Poems of the Volsung Cycle
ALLITERATIVE VERSE: EDDIC POETRY
Fornyrðislag : (“past words law”)
Patterns of Alliteration
Half Line from Poetic Edda
Geyr nu Garmr mjök
hann sjaldan sitr
vinr veralið
“Garm bays loudly”
“He seldom sits”
“Men’s well wisher”
Stanza from Awakening of Angantyr; quoted in Hervarar saga ok
Heiðreks
Vaki, Angantýr! Vekr þik Hervör
eingadóttir ykkr Tófu!
Selðu ór haugi hvassan moeki
þann’s Svarfrlama slógu dvergar
Awaken Angantyr! Hervor awakens you
Your only daughter by Tofa
Yield up from your grave the mighty sword
that the dwarves forged for Svarlami
ALLITERATIVE VERSE: EDDIC POETRY
Ljóðaháttr (“long meter”)
Stanza from Skírnismál, Poetic Edda
Löng es nótt löng es onnur
hvé mega ek þreyja þrjár
Long is one night, long is the next
how can I bear three?
Opt mér mánaðr minn minni þótt A month has often seemed less to me
en sjá halfa hýnótt
than this half month of longing.
ALLITERATIVE VERSE: SKADLIC POETRY
Bragi Boddason (ca. 850-900
Ragnarsdrapa
= Shield of Ragnar Loðbrok
1.  Hamðir and Sörli attack
King Jörmunrekkr.
2.  Perpetual battle of Heöjun
and Högni
3.  Thor’s fishing for
Miðigarðsormr.
4.  Gefjun ploughing the island
of Zealand (Sjaelland)
Reconstructed Shield
Sutton Hoo, ca. 625
ALLITERATIVE VERSE: SKADLIC POETRY
Egill Skallagrimson (904-995)
Viking Warrior & Skald
Snorri Sturluson, Egill’s Saga
ca. 1235-1240
Manuscript, ca. 1650-1675
ALLITERATIVE VERSE: SKALDIC POETRY
Drótkvætt (“lordly meter”)
Stanza of Harald Hardrada (1047-1066)
Krjúpum vér fyr vápna
valteigs, brökun eigi
svá bauð Hildr, at hjaldri
haldorð, í bug skjaldar.
Hátt bað mik þar’s moettusk
menskorð bera forðum
hlakkar iss ok hausar
hjalmstall í gný malma
“In battle, we do not creep behind the shield before the dim of
weapons, so said the goddess of the hawkland [i.e. Valkyrie], true of
words. She who wore the necklace bade me to bear my high in battle,
when the battle-ice [i.e. gleaming sword] seeks to shatter skulls.
MAMMEN STYLE, 950-1025
Thick, sinuous animals
Elaborate decorative borders
Mammen Burial, Denmark ca. 970
Silver inlaid ax-head
ICELANDIC SAGA WRITING, ca. 1200-1350
1.
Fornaldarsógur , “Sagas of Past” (Volungs, Hrolf Kraki,
Heimskringla Saga )
2.
Family Sagas, set in ca. 870-1050 (Laxdaela Saga, Njal’s
Saga, Saga of Egill Skallagrimsson)
Total of 35 major family sagas
3.
Strulunga Saga, ca. 1180-1240
4.
Sagas of Bishops, ca. 1150-1250; 13 sagas
5.
Sagas based on Romances and Chasons de geste
from Western Europe
SNORRI STURLUSON (1179-1241)
Snorri Sturluson
Norwegian Stamp
1941
Statue, Bergen; Gustav Vigeland, 1938
Snorri Sturluson
Icelandic Stamp
1979
SNORRI STURLUSON (1179-1241)
Hvammur, Skeggi Valley, Iceland
Birthplace of Snorri Sturluson
SNORRI STURLUSON (1179-1241)
Heimskringla Saga
ca, 1230
Icelandic National Museum
CONTENTS OF HEIMSKRINGLA SAGA
1.  Ynglinga Saga (legendary kings of Uppsala, Sweden)
2.  Saga of Halfdan Svarte (“the Black”), died ca. 860
3.
Saga of Harald Hårfagre “Finehair”), ca. 872-930
4.  Saga of Håkon Góði (“the Good”), 930-961
5. Saga of Harald Grafeld (“Greycloak”), 961-970
6.  Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, 1000-1005
7.  Saga of Olaf Haraldson (St. Olaf), 1015-1030
8.  Saga of Magnus Góði (“the Good”), 10 35-1047
9.  Saga of Harald Hardråde (“Ruthless”), 1046-1066
10.  Saga of Olaf Kyrre “the Quiet”), 1067-1093
CONTENTS OF HEIMSKRINGLA SAGA
11. Saga of Magnus Berfætturr (“Barefoot”), 1093-1103
12. Saga of Sigurð Jorsalfar (Jerusalem Farer), 1103-1130
13.  Saga of Harald Blindi “Blind”), 1139-1135
& Harald Gilli, 1130-1136
14.  Saga of Sigurð Munn Haraldsson, 1136-1155,
& Eystein II Haraldsson, 1142-1157
& Inge Haraldsson, 1136-1161
15.  Saga of Håkon Herðibreks (“Broad-Shouldered”), 1157-1162
16. Saga of Magnus Erlingson, 1161-1184
IMAGES FROM OF HEIMSKRINGLA SAGA
Battle of Hafrsfjord, ca. 880; Peter Hanse Ballling
IMAGES FROM OF HEIMSKRINGLA SAGA
Arrival of Olaf Tryggvason, 995; Peter Nikolai Arbo
IMAGES FROM OF HEIMSKRINGLA SAGA
Death of St. Olaf, Stikelstad, 1030, 995; Peter Nikolai Arbo
IMAGES FROM OF HEIMSKRINGLA SAGA
Commemorative Stamps, Norway, 1941
Battle of Svöld, 1000
Harald Finehair, Hafrsfjord
Svipdag storms
Hall of Seven Kings
St. Olaf en route
to Stiklestad, 1030
SNORRI STURLUSON (1179-1241)
Prose Edda, ca. 1225
(Snorra Edda)
1. Gylfaginning
2. Skáldskaparmál
3. Háttatal
Codex Wormianus, ca. 1350
NORSE CREATION & COSMOS IN PROSE EDDA
Ymir & Audumbla
Yggdrasill & Heidrun
NORSE CREATION & COSMOS IN PROSE EDDA
Valhalla
Odin
NORSE CREATION & COSMOS IN PROSE EDDA
Thor & Hymir: Fishing
For Midgard Serpent
Thor downs Giant Thjazii
NORSE CREATION & COSMOS IN PROSE EDDA
Death of Baldr
Heimdal & Gjallaarhorn:
Sounding Ragnarok
Odin seated on Hlidskjaft, 900-950 A.D, Lejre Excavations
Gravestone, Gotland, 800-900
Odin on Sleipnir received into
Vahalla by Valkyrie
Figurines
Hero &
Valkyries
TEXTILE FRAGMENT, OSEBERG SHIP BURIAL, ca. 834 A.D.
Human Sacrifice to Odin
Hammers of Thor, Norway
Grave goods, tenth century
THOR FISHING FOR MIDGARD
SERPENT, Gosforth Cross,
Cumbaria, ca. 950-1000
THE NORTHERN TRADE ARC
Loki, Snaptum Stone, Denmark, ca. 1000
Loki’s lips sewed up by Brokkr the dwarf
Sun Chariot, Trundholm, Denmark, ca. 1550-1100 B.C.
Northern Bronze Age: Sun Chariot, Trundholm
Snorri Sturluson (1179-­‐1241), Prose Edda: Árvakr and Alsviðr THE NORTHERN BRONZE AGE, 2050-1250 B.C.
Bronze Trumpets, Lurer, Denmark
Heimdall & Gjallarhorn
BERSERKERS
HELMET, VAPSGARDE.
SWEDEN, ca. 500-600 A.D.
Warriors in boar helmets;
Plaques, Oland, Sweden
TRANSMITTING A TRADITION: CYCLE OF VOLSUNGS
375
Death & Suicide of Ermanaric (ON Jörmunrekk) ,
King of the Goths
433-452
Reign of Attila, King of the Huns
437
Huns destroy Burgundian Kingdom at Worms
on orders of Aetius, magister militum
ca. 450-475
First poems of Fall of Niflungs (Burgundians)
ca. 550
Jordanes writes Gothic History
Legend of Hamðr and Sörli
561-575
Reign of King Siegbert of Austrasia (561-575)
& Queen Brucehildis (died 613)
ca. 625-650
First poems about Sigurd & Brynhild (Volsungs)
Expanded Cycle of Volsungs & Niflungs
ca. 650-700
Transmission of cycle of Volsungs to Scandinavia
TRANSMITTING A TRADITION: CYCLE OF VOLSUNGS
ca. 800
Hunninge Picture Stone, Gotland
Depiction of Incidents of Volsung Cycle
ca. 900-950
Composition of earliest poems in Poetic Edda, Norway
1000
Conversion of Iceland to Christianity
Adoption of Roman Alphabet
ca. 1030
Ramsund Runestone,Sweden: deeds of Sigurd
ca. 1180-1225
Carvings of Sigurd , Hylestad Church, Norway
ca. 1200-1204
Nieblungenlied (MHG): South German epic
ca. 1200-1350
Saga Composition in Iceland
ca. 1225
Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241)
ca. 1250-1275
Saga of Volsungs, Iceland
LEGEND OF VOLSUNGS
Hunninge Runestone, Gotland, ca. 800
Brynhild greets Sigurd in Valhalla
Gunnar in the snake pit of Atli
Hamdir & Sorli attack Jormunrekk
(Ermanaric)
LEGEND OF THE VOLSUNGS
Ramsund Runestone, ca. 1030
Sigurd slays dragon Fafnir
Sigurd takes gold of Niflungs
HYLESTAD STAVE CHURCH, NORWAY ca. 1180-1225
Sigurd slays
smith Regin
Wooden Panels, Legend of Sigurd
TRANSMITTING A TRADITION: GODS AND HEROES
The Death of Siegfried, Painting by
Julius Schnorr von Carlosfeldt, 1847
Nibelungenlied, ca. 1200-1204
Manuscript C, ca. 1235
TRANSMITTING A TRADITION: GODS AND HEROES
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Amalie Materna, Brünnhilde
Bayreuth, 1876
TRANSMITTING A TRADITION: GODS AND HEROES
Die Nibelungen (German TV Movie, 2004
U.S,. Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King (2005-2006)
NORTHERN TRADE ARC
The Legacy, OsloTHE
Rådhus
(City Hall), 1931-1950
NORTHERN TRADE ARC
The Legacy, OsloTHE
Rådhus
(City Hall), 1931-1950