1,99 €
Niedrigster Preis in 30 Tagen: 1,99 €
Niedrigster Preis in 30 Tagen: 1,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
In "The Danish History, Books I-IX," Saxo Grammaticus meticulously chronicles the history and mythology of Denmark, weaving together narrative threads of legendary kings, social customs, and historic events from the Viking Age. Written in the 12th century, this prose work combines a distinct blend of historical accuracy and imaginative storytelling, reflective of the medieval scholarly tradition influenced by classical authors. With suggestions of oral tradition resonating through its verses, Saxo's work not only serves as a historical document but also as a literary artifact rich in symbolism and moral lessons, exploring the interplay between fate and free will within the Danish ethos. Saxo Grammaticus, a cleric in medieval Denmark, was deeply rooted in the cultural renaissance of his time, drawing inspiration from classical Latin and local folklore. Straddling the worlds of his Norse heritage and Christian doctrine, his endeavors were fuelled by a desire to compile Denmark's past and cultivate national identity during a period marked by political upheaval and the transition to Christianity. His eloquence and scholarly rigor position him as a key figure in the establishment of the historiographical tradition in Scandinavia. This work is not merely a historical account; it is a journey through the rich tapestry of Scandinavian culture and identity. Recommended for readers with an interest in history, mythology, and literature, "The Danish History" offers invaluable insights into the formation of Denmark's national narrative, making it an essential read for those eager to explore the interconnectedness of history and folklore. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes. - The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists. - A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing. - A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings. - Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Ähnliche
The Danish History, Books I-IX
Table of Contents
Introduction
Charting how a scattered tapestry of legend hardens into the lineage of a nation, The Danish History, Books I–IX traces the passage from mythic origins to ordered kingship, where heroic fame, Christian conscience, and the politics of remembrance contend for Denmark’s past, as battles remembered and laws proclaimed become exemplary lessons, power seeks legitimacy and memory demands meaning, and the ancient North is refashioned in Latin to anchor a living people within a coherent history that reads as both celebration and caution, an argument about identity staged as a sequence of deeds and judgments, binding glory to responsibility.
Composed in Latin by Saxo Grammaticus in the late twelfth to early thirteenth century, this work occupies a central place in medieval Scandinavian historiography. The Danish History, commonly known as part of the larger Gesta Danorum of sixteen books, situates Denmark within the wider world of the North and beyond. Written in an ecclesiastical milieu and associated with the patronage of Archbishop Absalon of Lund, it frames the past through a learned, classical lens. Books I–IX encompass the legendary prehistory and early monarchy, where inherited tales are shaped into an account of rulers, laws, conflicts, and the emergence of enduring institutions.
Readers encounter a sweeping chronicle that blends saga-like vigor with the formal cadence of Latin rhetoric. In Books I–IX, Saxo arranges stories of founders, warriors, and lawmakers into a continuous narrative aimed at explaining how authority takes root and why memory matters. The voice is elevated and oratorical, often pausing for speeches, moral reflections, and digressions that contextualize events within broad ethical and political concerns. The mood ranges from triumphant to elegiac, attentive to both the spectacle of battle and the sober accounting of consequences. The result is an immersive, ceremonious reading experience attentive to style as well as substance.
Central themes include the testing of kingship, the duties of counsel, the rewards and limits of martial courage, and the instability of fortune. Saxo measures fame against responsibility, insisting that victory and rule acquire meaning only when tethered to law, prudence, and the common good. He also stages the encounter between pagan memory and Christian interpretation, recasting ancient tales within a moral frame without effacing their dramatic vitality. The tension between personal glory and public order animates episode after episode, turning the past into a forum where deeds are weighed, reputations are made and unmade, and enduring norms take shape.
As a historian shaped by classical models, Saxo adapts techniques familiar from Latin literature—set speeches, exempla, genealogies, and sharply drawn character types—to organize Scandinavian materials. He engages oral traditions and legendary lore while subjecting them to learned arrangement, often rationalizing marvels into human action. Geography matters: seas, straits, and coasts structure movement and conflict, and neighboring peoples frame Danish self-understanding. Throughout, the narrative is purposeful, using praise and censure to instruct. Books I–IX thus read not as a mere anthology of stories but as a crafted argument about origins, continuity, and the cultural capital of remembered deeds.
For contemporary readers, this portion of The Danish History offers insight into how communities transform memory into history and history into identity. It raises questions about the uses of the past, the ethics of leadership, and the stories nations tell to justify power and reform. Students of medieval literature and history will find a case study in the negotiation between legend and record, and those drawn to epic storytelling will recognize the energy of larger-than-life actions tempered by reflection. The work’s concerns—law, counsel, legitimacy, fame, and the hazards of fortune—remain intelligible and pressing across time.
Approached with an ear for rhetoric and an eye for purpose, Books I–IX reward patient reading that distinguishes between narrative spectacle and moral architecture. The legendary complexion does not diminish their historical value; rather, it illuminates a medieval method of making sense of the remote past in service of present order. This opening half of the larger chronicle establishes patterns and ideals that inform what follows, laying foundations without foreclosing later developments. It invites readers to engage both emotionally and critically, to admire achievement while considering its costs, and to watch a national story take durable shape from the pliable substance of memory.
Synopsis (Selection)
The Danish History, Books I-IX, by Saxo Grammaticus, is a Latin chronicle that gathers Denmark’s legendary past from mythic origins to the threshold of documented history. Drawing on oral tradition and poetic sources, Saxo arranges narratives around a succession of rulers, recounting wars, alliances, and exemplary deeds. These nine books intertwine euhemerized gods, ancestral heroes, and early kings to explain political institutions, lineages, and customs. The account progresses from foundational figures to renowned champions, culminating with Viking-age leaders whose exploits reach far beyond Denmark. Across this span, Saxo emphasizes valor, counsel, and fortune’s changeability as enduring themes shaping Denmark’s formative centuries.
The opening movement establishes origins and authority. Eponymous ancestors Dan and Angul give their names to peoples and set a frame for Danish kingship. Early rulers contend with neighboring tribes and shape the realm’s laws and rites. Figures like Skiold, often associated with the Skjoldung line, anchor dynastic continuity, while rulers such as Lother illustrate how tyranny invites resistance and correction. Conflicts with Swedes, Norwegians, and Saxons define the geopolitical setting. Through battles, maritime ventures, and negotiated settlements, the narrative presents the consolidation of rule, the regulation of tribute, and the recognition of Denmark among rival powers in the Baltic and beyond.
A prominent early cycle follows Hading, a hero whose life ranges across seas and continents. Raised with supernatural aid, he undertakes arduous campaigns, endures exile, and returns to claim authority. His story combines duels, stratagems, and feuds that span multiple courts. Hading’s adversaries include foreign kings and pirates, and his alliances extend through marriage and fosterage. Saxo uses these episodes to illustrate how prudence and steadfastness can steady a kingdom after disorder. The Hading narrative also introduces motifs of prophecy, uncanny encounters, and the fragility of fortune, which recur throughout the legendary portion of the history and shape subsequent reigns.
As power consolidates, Saxo credits several kings named Frotho with establishing wide dominion and internal order. A culminating figure, often styled Frotho the Great, secures peace through disciplined rule, rewarding merit and repressing brigandage. This era’s prosperity encourages commerce, fosters legal codification, and strengthens royal authority while maintaining the loyalty of jarls and champions. Campaigns proceed with calculated restraint, emphasizing strategy and just recompense over plunder. The depiction of Frotho’s peace highlights the linkage between civic virtue and military success, presenting administrative reform and judicious governance as the foundation for enduring stability in Denmark and its subject territories.
Interwoven with royal annals is the tale of Amleth, a prince whose survival depends on concealment and craft. After the killing of his father, Amleth feigns madness to evade suspicion, confounding observers while patiently gathering means to act. Tested by elaborate trials and sent abroad, he turns plots to his advantage, later confronting the source of his misfortune. Saxo presents the episode as a study in dissimulation, endurance, and timing within the constraints of court politics. The narrative proceeds through exchanges of riddles, cunning countermeasures, and calculated speeches, culminating in changes of rule and treaties that realign power without halting the larger dynastic sequence.
Further legendary material recasts divine conflict as human rivalry. Hotherus and Balderus contend for Nanna and for preeminence, drawing in champions and war-bands from across Scandinavia. The struggle involves enchanted weapons, prophetic warnings, and the counsel of figures identified with the old gods. Despite Balderus’s seeming invulnerability, fate is turned by a weapon exempt from his protections, leading to far-reaching consequences. Saxo describes these events without suspending the chronicle’s human frame, integrating mythic elements into dynastic history. The outcome resonates through later reigns, reinforcing themes of destiny’s limits, the costs of rivalry, and the precariousness of martial glory.
The narrative then centers on the Skjoldung court under Rolf Kraki, renowned for liberality and the loyalty of his champions. Notable retainers, including Bjarki, personify courage and battlefield prowess. Saxo recounts feuds, reconciliations, and tests of fidelity that bind and strain the comitatus. Rivalry within kin, including a confrontation with Rolf’s kinswoman Skuld, exposes tensions between inheritance and merit. Sieges and set-piece battles display tactical ingenuity and personal valor. The cycle underscores the social economy of gifts and honor, tracing how the distribution of wealth, measured speech, and mutual obligation sustain a king’s authority amid shifting alliances and mounting external pressure.
Heroic careers cross reigns, with Starkad exemplifying the warrior whose gifts are balanced by burdens. He serves successive kings, undertakes hard missions, and embodies the ambiguity of fame when duty conflicts with conscience. Other episodes include the duel of Uffo, who restores Danish prestige by facing two Saxon champions, and the rise of Harald War-tooth, whose ambitions culminate in the great Battle of Brávellir against Sigurd Ring. Saxo details musters, formations, and stratagems, portraying a climactic contest that marks the passing of an older heroic order. The aftermath resets regional hierarchies and prepares the stage for new maritime leaders.
Book IX gathers the exploits of Ragnar Lothbrok, whose feats link Denmark to distant shores. Winning a bride by overcoming a serpent and later uniting with Kraka, Ragnar expands influence through raids and alliances. Campaigns range across the Baltic, Frisia, and England, managed through swift assaults and negotiated compacts. His sons, including Ivar, Bjorn Ironside, and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, extend these ventures, responding decisively when fortunes turn. Their operations alter power balances in Britain and Scandinavia. With Ragnar’s line, the legendary section reaches figures recognizable from wider northern tradition, closing the prehistory and pointing toward the more documentary narratives of the later books.
Historical Context
Saxo Grammaticus’s The Danish History, Books I–IX, situates its action in a deep Nordic past that stretches from mythic prehistory to the early medieval centuries, ranging across Jutland, Zealand, Scania, and the islands of the western Baltic, with frequent forays to Norway, Sweden, the British Isles, and the Slavic south Baltic. Although set in earlier ages, the work was composed in Latin in Lund (then in Denmark) between roughly the 1180s and early 13th century, under the patronage of Archbishop Absalon and within the Valdemarian monarchy. Its geographic canvas mirrors Denmark’s maritime world: the Kattegat straits, the Skagerrak, the Danish sounds, Lejre and other royal seats, and the trade routes binding the Baltic and North Sea.
The Viking Age (c. 790–1066) forms the most decisive historical backdrop. Raiding began with the sack of Lindisfarne in 793 and spread to the Frankish coast (Noirmoutier, 799), Ireland (Dublin founded c. 841), and the British mainland. In 865 the Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia; York fell in 866; Northumbrian king Ælla was killed in 867; and by the Treaty of Wedmore (878) Alfred and the Danish leader Guthrum delimited the Danelaw. Scandinavian settlement reshaped the North Atlantic—Orkney, Shetland, the Faroes, and Iceland (settled c. 874)—and the Frankish treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte (911) created Normandy under Rollo. Renewed Danish pressure culminated in Sweyn Forkbeard’s invasion (1013) and Cnut’s rule of England (1016–1035). Concurrently, the southern Baltic saw Scandinavian–Slavic warfare and piracy along the Pomeranian and Rügen coasts. Books I–IX encode this expansionist world through legendary figures and narratives: Saxo’s Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons, the campaigns against Northumbrian rulers such as Ælla, and Amleth’s movements between Jutland and Britain epitomize raiding, vengeance, and the forging of transmarine lordship. Even where chronology is telescoped or legendary, Saxo preserves concrete memories of fleets, wintering in enemy lands, tribute-taking, and shifting overlordship, translating the lived experience of the 9th–10th centuries into exemplary stories that explain Danish power and maritime identity.
Early state formation and kingship are central. From loosely allied chieftaincies and regional things (assemblies) at sites such as Viborg and Isøre, power coalesced under royal houses associated with Lejre and Zealand. Saxo credits rulers like Frotho with imposing order, codifying justice, and establishing the discipline of the war-band (hird). He recounts “Frotho’s peace” as an era of secure travel and enforced law, an idealized memory of stabilization after inter-tribal warfare. In Books I–IX, legal episodes, oath-rituals, and the rewarding or punishment of magnates serve to present a genealogy of Danish royal authority that legitimizes later, stronger monarchy.
The Christianization of Denmark, though reaching its decisive phase in the 10th century, frames Saxo’s moral universe. Missionary Ansgar worked at Hedeby and Ribe from 826 onward; Hamburg-Bremen’s jurisdiction expanded over Danish lands, with bishoprics at Ribe, Århus, and Schleswig founded in 948. Harald Bluetooth’s conversion and the Jelling stone (c. 965) proclaimed a Christian kingdom. Books I–IX largely depict a pagan past, yet Saxo judges it through Christian ethics: condemnations of sacrilege, praise of marital fidelity, and denunciations of divination and cults foreshadow the Church’s triumph, integrating political consolidation with religious reform.
Inter-Scandinavian rivalries shaped the region. Saxo’s narrative includes Ivar Vidfamne’s reputed hegemony across Scania and Zealand and culminates in the legendary Battle of Bråvalla (Brávellir), often dated by tradition to the mid-8th century in Östergötland. There, Harald Hildetand faced Sigurd Ring with vast levies of Danes, Swedes, Geats, and allied contingents, while the champion Starkad’s deeds embodied heroic ethics and tragic costs. These stories mirror shifting overlordships between Denmark and Sweden over borderlands like Scania and Blekinge. In Books I–IX, Bråvalla functions as a constitutional drama of federated rule, loyalty, and succession, projecting contemporary concerns back onto an ancestral battlefield.
Danish–Slavic conflict in the southern Baltic provides a persistent horizon. The Wends—Obodrites, Veleti, and the Rani of Rügen—controlled key emporia such as Wolin (Jomsborg) and maintained sanctuaries like Arkona, dedicated to Svantevit. Historically, Danish power advanced with the destruction of Arkona in 1168 by King Valdemar I and Absalon, and with campaigns along Pomerania. While these victories are narrated in later books, Books I–IX already frame the Slavic shore as the testing ground for Danish kings, stressing piracy suppression, tribute extraction, and temple-plundering as signs of rightful hegemony. Saxo thus connects legendary forays to a 12th-century program of Baltic conquest.
Trade, fortification, and military organization underlie the society Saxo describes. Hedeby (near modern Schleswig), founded in the late 8th century, linked Baltic and North Sea routes until its destruction in the mid-11th century; Ribe flourished from the early 700s; and dirham inflows show wide exchange networks. The Danevirke earthworks, begun c. 737 and expanded in the 10th century, and the ring-forts—Trelleborg, Aggersborg, Fyrkat—built c. 978–980, signal centralized logistics. Books I–IX repeatedly stage ship musters, coastal defenses, and disciplined retinues. By retrojecting organized fleets and provisioning into earlier reigns, Saxo aligns legendary Denmark with the infrastructural state he knew, making war-making capacity the yardstick of legitimacy.
As social and political critique, the book exposes the perils of faction, luxury, and unjust rule. Saxo condemns tyrants who levy predatory tribute, nobles who betray oaths, and kings who neglect martial and judicial duties—exemplified by episodes like King Ingellus’s effeminacy until rebuked by Starkad. He highlights class tensions between magnates and free farmers, arguing for law-bound hierarchy over arbitrary violence, and scrutinizes dynastic marriages as instruments of both alliance and moral corruption, as in the Amleth cycle. By praising disciplined, meritocratic war-bands and castigating pagan excess, Books I–IX advance a Valdemarian ideal: a Christian, centralized monarchy correcting the injustices of the heroic age.
The Danish History, Books I-IX
INTRODUCTION.
SAXO'S POSITION.
Saxo Grammaticus, or "The Lettered", one of the notable historians of the Middle Ages, may fairly be called not only the earliest chronicler of Denmark, but her earliest writer. In the latter half of the twelfth century, when Iceland was in the flush of literary production, Denmark lingered behind. No literature in her vernacular, save a few Runic inscriptions, has survived. Monkish annals, devotional works, and lives were written in Latin; but the chronicle of Roskild, the necrology of Lund, the register of gifts to the cloister of Sora, are not literature. Neither are the half-mythological genealogies of kings; and besides, the mass of these, though doubtless based on older verses that are lost, are not proved to be, as they stand, prior to Saxo. One man only, Saxo's elder contemporary, Sueno Aggonis, or Sweyn (Svend) Aageson, who wrote about 1185, shares or anticipates the credit of attempting a connected record. His brief draft of annals is written in rough mediocre Latin. It names but a few of the kings recorded by Saxo, and tells little that Saxo does not. Yet there is a certain link between the two writers. Sweyn speaks of Saxo with respect; he not obscurely leaves him the task of filling up his omissions. Both writers, servants of the brilliant Bishop Absalon, and probably set by him upon their task, proceed, like Geoffrey of Monmouth, by gathering and editing mythical matter. This they more or less embroider, and arrive in due course insensibly at actual history. Both, again, thread their stories upon a genealogy of kings in part legendary. Both write at the spur of patriotism, both to let Denmark linger in the race for light and learning, and desirous to save her glories, as other nations have saved theirs, by a record. But while Sweyn only made a skeleton chronicle, Saxo leaves a memorial in which historian and philologist find their account. His seven later books are the chief Danish authority for the times which they relate; his first nine, here translated, are a treasure of myth and folk-lore. Of the songs and stories which Denmark possessed from the common Scandinavian stock, often her only native record is in Saxo's Latin. Thus, as a chronicler both of truth and fiction, he had in his own land no predecessor, nor had he any literary tradition behind him. Single-handed, therefore, he may be said to have lifted the dead-weight against him, and given Denmark a writer. The nature of his work will be discussed presently.
LIFE OF SAXO.
Of Saxo little is known but what he himself indicates, though much doubtful supposition has gathered round his name.
That he was born a Dane his whole language implies; it is full of a glow of aggressive patriotism. He also often praises the Zealanders at the expense of other Danes, and Zealand as the centre of Denmark; but that is the whole contemporary evidence for the statement that he was a Zealander. This statement is freely taken for granted three centuries afterwards by Urne in the first edition of the book (1514), but is not traced further back than an epitomator, who wrote more than 200 years after Saxo's death. Saxo tells us that his father and grandfather fought for Waldemar the First of Denmark, who reigned from 1157 to 1182. Of these men we know nothing further, unless the Saxo whom he names as one of Waldemar's admirals be his grandfather, in which case his family was one of some distinction and his father and grandfather probably "King's men". But Saxo was a very common name, and we shall see the licence of hypothesis to which this fact has given rise. The notice, however, helps us approximately towards Saxo's birth-year. His grandfather, if he fought for Waldemar, who began to reign in 1157, can hardly have been born before 1100, nor can Saxo himself have been born before 1145 or 1150. But he was undoubtedly born before 1158, since he speaks of the death of Bishop Asker, which took place in that year, as occurring "in our time". His life therefore covers and overlaps the last half of the twelfth century.
His calling and station in life are debated. Except by the anonymous Zealand chronicler, who calls him Saxo "the Long", thus giving us the one personal detail we have, he has been universally known as Saxo "Grammaticus" ever since the epitomator of 1431 headed his compilation with the words, "A certain notable man of letters ("grammaticus"), a Zealander by birth, named Saxo, wrote," etc. It is almost certain that this general term, given only to men of signal gifts and learning, became thus for the first time, and for good, attached to Saxo's name. Such a title, in the Middle Ages, usually implied that its owner was a churchman, and Saxo's whole tone is devout, though not conspicuously professional.
But a number of Saxos present themselves in the same surroundings with whom he has been from time to time identified. All he tells us himself is, that Absalon, Archbishop of Lund from 1179 to 1201, pressed him, who was "the least of his companions, since all the rest refused the task", to write the history of Denmark, so that it might record its glories like other nations. Absalon was previously, and also after his promotion, Bishop of Roskild, and this is the first circumstance giving colour to the theory—which lacks real evidence—that Saxo the historian was the same as a certain Saxo, Provost of the Chapter of Roskild, whose death is chronicled in a contemporary hand without any mark of distinction. It is unlikely that so eminent a man would be thus barely named; and the appended eulogy and verses identifying the Provost and the historian are of later date. Moreover, the Provost Saxo went on a mission to Paris in 1165, and was thus much too old for the theory. Nevertheless, the good Bishop of Roskild, Lave Urne, took this identity for granted in the first edition, and fostered the assumption. Saxo was a cleric; and could such a man be of less than canonical rank? He was (it was assumed) a Zealander; he was known to be a friend of Absalon, Bishop of Roskild. What more natural than that he should have been the Provost Saxo? Accordingly this latter worthy had an inscription in gold letters, written by Lave Urne himself, affixed to the wall opposite his tomb.
Even less evidence exists for identifying our Saxo with the scribe of that name—a comparative menial—who is named in the will of Bishop Absalon; and hardly more warranted is the theory that he was a member, perhaps a subdeacon, of the monastery of St. Laurence, whose secular canons formed part of the Chapter of Lund. It is true that Sweyn Aageson, Saxo's senior by about twenty years, speaks (writing about 1185) of Saxo as his "contubernalis". Sweyn Aageson is known to have had strong family connections with the monastery of St. Laurence; but there is only a tolerably strong probability that he, and therefore that Saxo, was actually a member of it. ("Contubernalis" may only imply comradeship in military service.) Equally doubtful is the consequence that since Saxo calls himself "one of the least" of Absalon's "followers" ("comitum"), he was probably, if not the inferior officer, who is called an "acolitus", at most a sub-deacon, who also did the work of a superior "acolitus". This is too poor a place for the chief writer of Denmark, high in Absalon's favor, nor is there any direct testimony that Saxo held it.
His education is unknown, but must have been careful. Of his training and culture we only know what his book betrays. Possibly, like other learned Danes, then and afterwards, he acquired his training and knowledge at some foreign University. Perhaps, like his contemporary Anders Suneson, he went to Paris; but we cannot tell. It is not even certain that he had a degree; for there is really little to identify him with the "M(agister) Saxo" who witnessed the deed of Absalon founding the monastery at Sora.
THE HISTORY.
How he was induced to write his book has been mentioned. The expressions of modesty Saxo uses, saying that he was "the least" of Absalon's "followers", and that "all the rest refused the task", are not to be taken to the letter. A man of his parts would hardly be either the least in rank, or the last to be solicited. The words, however, enable us to guess an upward limit for the date of the inception of the work. Absalon became Archbishop in 1179, and the language of the Preface (written, as we shall see, last) implies that he was already Archbishop when he suggested the History to Saxo. But about 1185 we find Sweyn Aageson complimenting Saxo, and saying that Saxo "had `determined' to set forth all the deeds" of Sweyn Estridson, in his eleventh book, "at greater length in a more elegant style". The exact bearing of this notice on the date of Saxo's History is doubtful. It certainly need not imply that Saxo had already written ten books, or indeed that he had written any, of his History. All we call say is, that by 1185 a portion of the history was planned. The order in which its several parts were composed, and the date of its completion, are not certainly known, as Absalon died in 1201. But the work was not then finished; for, at the end of Bk. XI, one Birger, who died in 1202, is mentioned as still alive.
We have, however, a yet later notice. In the Preface, which, as its whole language implies, was written last, Saxo speaks of Waldemar II having "encompassed (`complexus') the ebbing and flowing waves of Elbe." This language, though a little vague, can hardly refer to anything but an expedition of Waldemar to Bremen in 1208. The whole History was in that case probably finished by about 1208. As to the order in which its parts were composed, it is likely that Absalon's original instruction was to write a history of Absalon's own doings. The fourteenth and succeeding books deal with these at disproportionate length, and Absalon, at the expense even of Waldemar, is the protagonist. Now Saxo states in his Preface that he "has taken care to follow the statements ("asserta") of Absalon, and with obedient mind and pen to include both his own doings and other men's doings of which he learnt."
The latter books are, therefore, to a great extent, Absalon's personally communicated memoirs. But we have seen that Absalon died in 1201, and that Bk. xi, at any rate, was not written after 1202. It almost certainly follows that the latter books were written in Absalon's life; but the Preface, written after them, refers to events in 1208. Therefore, unless we suppose that the issue was for some reason delayed, or that Saxo spent seven years in polishing—which is not impossible—there is some reason to surmise that he began with that portion of his work which was nearest to his own time, and added the previous (especially the first nine, or mythical) books, as a completion, and possibly as an afterthought. But this is a point which there is no real means of settling. We do not know how late the Preface was written, except that it must have been some time between 1208 and 1223, when Anders Suneson ceased to be Archbishop; nor do we know when Saxo died.
HISTORY OF THE WORK.
Nothing is stranger than that a work of such force and genius, unique in Danish letters, should have been forgotten for three hundred years, and have survived only in an epitome and in exceedingly few manuscripts. The history of the book is worth recording. Doubtless its very merits, its "marvellous vocabulary, thickly-studded maxims, and excellent variety of images," which Erasmus admired long afterwards, sealed it to the vulgar. A man needed some Latin to appreciate it, and Erasmus' natural wonder "how a Dane at that day could have such a force of eloquence" is a measure of the rarity both of the gift and of a public that could appraise it. The epitome (made about 1430) shows that Saxo was felt to be difficult, its author saying: "Since Saxo's work is in many places diffuse, and many things are said more for ornament than for historical truth, and moreover his style is too obscure on account of the number of terms ("plurima vocabula") and sundry poems, which are unfamiliar to modern times, this opuscle puts in clear words the more notable of the deeds there related, with the addition of some that happened after Saxo's death." A Low-German version of this epitome, which appeared in 1485, had a considerable vogue, and the two together "helped to drive the history out of our libraries, and explains why the annalists and geographers of the Middle Ages so seldom quoted it." This neglect appears to have been greatest of all in Denmark, and to have lasted until the appearance of the "First Edition" in 1511.
The first impulse towards this work by which Saxo was saved, is found in a letter from the Bishop of Roskild, Lave Urne, dated May 1512, to Christian Pederson, Canon of Lund, whom he compliments as a lover of letters, antiquary, and patriot, and urges to edit and publish "tam divinum latinae eruditionis culmen et splendorem Saxonem nostrum". Nearly two years afterwards Christian Pederson sent Lave Urne a copy of the first edition, now all printed, with an account of its history. "I do not think that any mortal was more inclined and ready for" the task. "When living at Paris, and paying heed to good literature, I twice sent a messenger at my own charges to buy a faithful copy at any cost, and bring it back to me. Effecting nothing thus, I went back to my country for this purpose; I visited and turned over all the libraries, but still could not pull out a Saxo, even covered with beetles, bookworms, mould, and dust. So stubbornly had all the owners locked it away." A worthy prior, in compassion offered to get a copy and transcribe it with his own hand, but Christian, in respect for the prior's rank, absurdly declined. At last Birger, the Archbishop of Lund, by some strategy, got a copy, which King Christian the Second allowed to be taken to Paris on condition of its being wrought at "by an instructed and skilled graver (printer)." Such a person was found in Jodocus Badius Ascenshls, who adds a third letter written by himself to Bishop Urne, vindicating his application to Saxo of the title Grammaticus, which he well defines as "one who knows how to speak or write with diligence, acuteness, or knowledge." The beautiful book he produced was worthy of the zeal, and unsparing, unweariable pains, which had been spent on it by the band of enthusiasts, and it was truly a little triumph of humanism. Further editions were reprinted during the sixteenth century at Basic and at Frankfort-on-Main, but they did not improve in any way upon the first; and the next epoch in the study of Saxo was made by the edition and notes of Stephanus Johansen Stephanius, published at Copenhagen in the middle of the seventeenth century (1644). Stephanius, the first commentator on Saxo, still remains the best upon his language. Immense knowledge of Latin, both good and bad (especially of the authors Saxo imitated), infinite and prolix industry, a sharp eye for the text, and continence in emendation, are not his only virtues. His very bulkiness and leisureliness are charming; he writes like a man who had eternity to write in, and who knew enough to fill it, and who expected readers of an equal leisure. He also prints some valuable notes signed with the famous name of Bishop Bryniolf of Skalholt, a man of force and talent, and others by Casper Barth, "corculum Musarum", as Stephanius calls him, whose textual and other comments are sometimes of use, and who worked with a MS. of Saxo. The edition of Klotz, 1771, based on that of Stephanius, I have but seen; however, the first standard commentary is that begun by P. E. Muller, Bishop of Zealand, and finished after his death by Johan Velschow, Professor of History at Copenhagen, where the first part of the work, containing text and notes, was published in 1839; the second, with prolegomena and fuller notes, appearing in 1858. The standard edition, containing bibliography, critical apparatus based on all the editions and MS. fragments, text, and index, is the admirable one of that indefatigable veteran, Alfred Holder, Strasburg, 1886.
Hitherto the translations of Saxo have been into Danish. The first that survives, by Anders Soffrinson Vedel, dates from 1575, some sixty years after the first edition. In such passages as I have examined it is vigorous, but very free, and more like a paraphrase than a translation, Saxo's verses being put into loose prose. Yet it has had a long life, having been modified by Vedel's grandson, John Laverentzen, in 1715, and reissued in 1851. The present version has been much helped by the translation of Seier Schousbolle, published at Copenhagen in 1752. It is true that the verses, often the hardest part, are put into periphrastic verse (by Laurentius Thura, c. 1721), and Schousbolle often does not face a difficulty; but he gives the sense of Saxo simply and concisely. The lusty paraphrase by the enthusiastic Nik. Fred. Sev. Grundtvig, of which there have been several editions, has also been of occasional use. No other translations, save of a scrap here and there into German, seem to be extant.
THE MSS.
It will be understood, from what has been said, that no complete MS. of Saxo's History is known. The epitomator in the fourteenth century, and Krantz in the seventeenth, had MSS. before them; and there was that one which Christian Pedersen found and made the basis of the first edition, but which has disappeared. Barth had two manuscripts, which are said to have been burnt in 1636. Another, possessed by a Swedish parish priest, Aschaneus, in 1630, which Stephenhis unluckily did not know of, disappeared in the Royal Archives of Stockholm after his death. These are practically the only MSS. of which we have sure information, excepting the four fragments that are now preserved. Of these by far the most interesting is the "Angers Fragment."
This was first noticed in 1863, in the Angers Library, where it was found degraded into the binding of a number of devotional works and a treatise on metric, dated 1459, and once the property of a priest at Alencon. In 1877 M. Gaston Paris called the attention of the learned to it, and the result was that the Danish Government received it next year in exchange for a valuable French manuscript which was in the Royal Library at Copenhagen. This little national treasure, the only piece of contemporary writing of the History, has been carefully photographed and edited by that enthusiastic and urbane scholar, Christian Bruun. In the opinion both of Dr. Vigfusson and M. Paris, the writing dates from about 1200; and this date, though difficult to determine, owing to the paucity of Danish MSS. of the 12th and early lath centuries, is confirmed by the character of the contents. For there is little doubt that the Fragment shows us Saxo in the labour of composition. The MSS. looks as if expressly written for interlineation. Besides a marginal gloss by a later, fourteenth century hand, there are two distinct sets of variants, in different writings, interlined and running over into the margin. These variants are much more numerous in the prose than in the verse. The first set are in the same hand as the text, the second in another hand: but both of them have the character, not of variants from some other MSS., but of alternative expressions put down tentatively. If either hand is Saxo's it is probably the second. He may conceivably have dictated both at different times to different scribes. No other man would tinker the style in this fashion. A complete translation of all these changes has been deemed unnecessary in these volumes; there is a full collation in Holder's "Apparatus Criticus". The verdict of the Angers-Fragment, which, for the very reason mentioned, must not be taken as the final form of the text, nor therefore, despite its antiquity, as conclusive against the First Edition where the two differ, is to confirm, so far as it goes, the editing of Ascensius and Pederson. There are no vital differences, and the care of the first editors, as well as the authority of their source, is thus far amply vindicated.
A sufficient account of the other fragments will be found in Holder's list. In 1855 M. Kall-Rasmussen found in the private archives at Kronborg a scrap of fourteenth century MS., containing a short passage from Bk. vii. Five years later G. F. Lassen found, at Copenhagen, a fragment of Bk. vi believed to be written in North Zealand, and in the opinion of Bruun belonging to the same codex as Kall-Rasmussen's fragment. Of another longish piece, found in Copenhagen at the end of the seventeenth century by Johannes Laverentzen, and belonging to a codex burnt in the fire of 1728, a copy still extant in the Copenhagen Museum, was made by Otto Sperling. For fragments, either extant or alluded to, of the later books, the student should consult the carefully collated text of Holder. The whole MS. material, therefore, covers but a little of Saxo's work, which was practically saved for Europe by the perseverance and fervour for culture of a single man, Bishop Urne.
SAXO AS A WRITER.
Saxo's countrymen have praised without stint his remarkable style, for he has a style. It is often very bad; but he writes, he is not in vain called Grammaticus, the man of letters. His style is not merely remarkable considering its author's difficulties; it is capable at need of pungency and of high expressiveness. His Latin is not that of the Golden Age, but neither is it the common Latin of the Middle Ages. There are traces of his having read Virgil and Cicero. But two writers in particular left their mark on him. The first and most influential is Valerius Maximus, the mannered author of the "Memorabilia", who lived in the first half of the first century, and was much relished in the Middle Ages. From him Saxo borrowed a multitude of phrases, sometimes apt but often crabbed and deformed, as well as an exemplary and homiletic turn of narrative. Other idioms, and perhaps the practice of interspersing verses amid prose (though this also was a twelfth century Icelandic practice), Saxo found in a fifth-century writer, Martianus Capella, the pedantic author of the "De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii" Such models may have saved him from a base mediaeval vocabulary; but they were not worthy of him, and they must answer for some of his falsities of style. These are apparent. His accumulation of empty and motley phrase, like a garish bunch of coloured bladders; his joy in platitude and pomposity, his proneness to say a little thing in great words, are only too easy to translate. We shall be well content if our version also gives some inkling of his qualities; not only of what Erasmus called his "wonderful vocabulary, his many pithy sayings, and the excellent variety of his images"; but also of his feeling for grouping, his barbaric sense of colour, and his stateliness. For he moves with resource and strength both in prose and verse, and is often only hindered by his own wealth. With no kind of critical tradition to chasten him, his force is often misguided and his work shapeless; but he stumbles into many splendours.
FOLK LORE INDEX.
The mass of archaic incidents, beliefs, and practices recorded by the 12th-century writer seemed to need some other classification than a bare alphabetic index. The present plan, a subject-index practically, has been adopted with a view to the needs of the anthropologist and folk-lorist. Its details have been largely determined by the bulk and character of the entries themselves. No attempt has been made to supply full parallels from any save the more striking and obvious old Scandinavian sources, the end being to classify material rather than to point out its significance of geographic distribution. With regard to the first three heads, the reader who wishes to see how Saxo compares with the Old Northern poems may be referred to the Grimm Centenary papers, Oxford, 1886, and the Corpus Poeticurn Boreale, Oxford, 1883.
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS.
King—As portrayed by Saxo, the ideal king should be (as in "Beowulf's Lay") generous, brave and just. He should be a man of accomplishments, of unblemished body, presumably of royal kin (peasant-birth is considered a bar to the kingship), usually a son or a nephew, or brother of his foregoer (though no strict rule of succession seems to appear in Saxo), and duly chosen and acknowledged at the proper place of election. In Denmark this was at a stone circle, and the stability of these stones was taken as an omen for the king's reign. There are exceptional instances noted, as the serf-king Eormenric (cf. Guthred-Canute of Northumberland), whose noble birth washed out this blot of his captivity, and there is a curious tradition of a conqueror setting his hound as king over a conquered province in mockery.
The king was of age at twelve. A king of seven years of age has twelve Regents chosen in the Moot, in one case by lot, to bring him up and rule for him till his majority. Regents are all appointed in Denmark, in one case for lack of royal blood, one to Scania, one to Zealand, one to Funen, two to Jutland. Underkings and Earls are appointed by kings, and though the Earl's office is distinctly official, succession is sometimes given to the sons of faithful fathers. The absence of a settled succession law leads (as in Muslim States) to rebellions and plots.
Kings sometimes abdicated, giving up the crown perforce to a rival, or in high age to a kinsman. In heathen times, kings, as Thiodwulf tells us in the case of Domwald and Yngwere, were sometimes sacrificed for better seasons (African fashion), and Wicar of Norway perishes, like Iphigeneia, to procure fair winds. Kings having to lead in war, and sometimes being willing to fight wagers of battle, are short-lived as a rule, and assassination is a continual peril, whether by fire at a time of feast, of which there are numerous examples, besides the classic one on which Biarea-mal is founded and the not less famous one of Hamlet's vengeance, or whether by steel, as with Hiartuar, or by trick, as in Wicar's case above cited. The reward for slaying a king is in one case 120 gold lbs.; 19 "talents" of gold from each ringleader, 1 oz. of gold from each commoner, in the story of Godfred, known as Ref's gild, "i.e., Fox tax". In the case of a great king, Frode, his death is concealed for three years to avoid disturbance within and danger from without. Captive kings were not as a rule well treated. A Slavonic king, Daxo, offers Ragnar's son Whitesark his daughter and half his realm, or death, and the captive strangely desires death by fire. A captive king is exposed, chained to wild beasts, thrown into a serpent-pit, wherein Ragnar is given the fate of the elder Gunnar in the Eddic Lays, Atlakvida. The king is treated with great respect by his people, he is finely clad, and his commands are carried out, however abhorrent or absurd, as long as they do not upset customary or statute law. The king has slaves in his household, men and women, besides his guard of housecarles and his bearsark champions. A king's daughter has thirty slaves with her, and the footmaiden existed exactly as in the stories of the Wicked Waiting Maid. He is not to be awakened in his slumbers (cf. St. Olaf's Life, where the naming of King Magnus is the result of adherence to this etiquette). A champion weds the king's leman.
His thanes are created by the delivery of a sword, which the king bolds by the blade and the thane takes by the hilt. (English earls were created by the girding with a sword. "Taking treasure, and weapons and horses, and feasting in a hall with the king" is synonymous with thane-hood or gesith-ship in "Beowulf's Lay"). A king's thanes must avenge him if he falls, and owe him allegiance. (This was paid in the old English monarchies by kneeling and laying the head down at the lord's knee.)
The trick by which the Mock-king, or King of the Beggars (parallel to our Boy-bishop, and perhaps to that enigmatic churls' King of the "O. E. Chronicle", s.a. 1017, Eadwiceorla-kyning) gets allegiance paid to him, and so secures himself in his attack on the real king, is cleverly devised. The king, besides being a counsel giver himself, and speaking the law, has "counsellors", old and wise men, "sapientes" (like the 0. E. Thyle). The aged warrior counsellor, as Starcad here and Master Hildebrand in the "Nibelungenlied", is one type of these persons, another is the false counsellor, as Woden in guise of Bruni, another the braggart, as Hunferth in "Beowulf's Lay". At "moots" where laws are made, kings and regents chosen, cases judged, resolutions taken of national importance, there are discussions, as in that armed most the host.
The king has, beside his estates up and down the country, sometimes (like Hrothgar with his palace Heorot in "Beowulf's Lay") a great fort and treasure house, as Eormenric, whose palace may well have really existed. There is often a primitive and negroid character about dwellings of formidable personages, heads placed on stakes adorn their exterior, or shields are ranged round the walls.
The provinces are ruled by removable earls appointed by the king, often his own kinsmen, sometimes the heads of old ruling families. The "hundreds" make up the province or subkingdom. They may be granted to king's thanes, who became "hundred-elders". Twelve hundreds are in one case bestowed upon a man.
The "yeoman's" estate is not only honourable but useful, as Starcad generously and truly acknowledges. Agriculture should be fostered and protected by the king, even at the cost of his life.
But gentle birth and birth royal place certain families above the common body of freemen (landed or not); and for a commoner to pretend to a king's daughter is an act of presumption, and generally rigorously resented.
The "smith" was the object of a curious prejudice, probably akin to that expressed in St. Patrick's "Lorica", and derived from the smith's having inherited the functions of the savage weapon-maker with his poisons and charms. The curious attempt to distinguish smiths into good and useful swordsmiths and base and bad goldsmiths seems a merely modern explanation: Weland could both forge swords and make ornaments of metal. Starcad's loathing for a smith recalls the mockery with which the Homeric gods treat Hephaistos.
Slavery.—As noble birth is manifest by fine eyes and personal beauty, courage and endurance, and delicate behaviour, so the slave nature is manifested by cowardice, treachery, unbridled lust, bad manners, falsehood, and low physical traits. Slaves had, of course, no right either of honour, or life, or limb. Captive ladies are sent to a brothel; captive kings cruelly put to death. Born slaves were naturally still less considered, they were flogged; it was disgraceful to kill them with honourable steel; to accept a slight service from a slave-woman was beneath old Starcad's dignity. A man who loved another man's slave-woman, and did base service to her master to obtain her as his consort, was looked down on. Slaves frequently ran away to escape punishment for carelessness, or fault, or to gain liberty.
CUSTOMARY LAW.
The evidence of Saxo to archaic law and customary institutions is pretty much (as we should expect) that to be drawn from the Icelandic Sagas, and even from the later Icelandic rimur and Scandinavian kaempe-viser. But it helps to complete the picture of the older stage of North Teutonic Law, which we are able to piece together out of our various sources, English, Icelandic, and Scandinavian. In the twilight of Yore every glowworm is a helper to the searcher.
There are a few MAXIMS of various times, but all seemingly drawn from custom cited or implied by Saxo as authoritative:—
"It is disgraceful to be ruled by a woman[1q]."—The great men of Teutonic nations held to this maxim. There is no Boudicea or Maidhbh in our own annals till after the accession of the Tudors, when Great Eliza rivals her elder kins-women's glories. Though Tacitus expressly notices one tribe or confederacy, the Sitones, within the compass of his Germania, ruled by a woman, as an exceptional case, it was contrary to the feeling of mediaeval Christendom for a woman to be emperor; it was not till late in the Middle Ages that Spain saw a queen regnant, and France has never yet allowed such rule. It was not till long after Saxo that the great queen of the North, Margaret, wielded a wider sway than that rejected by Gustavus' wayward daughter.
"The suitor ought to urge his own suit."—This, an axiom of the most archaic law, gets evaded bit by bit till the professional advocate takes the place of the plaintiff. "Njal's Saga", in its legal scenes, shows the transition period, when, as at Rome, a great and skilled chief was sought by his client as the supporter of his cause at the Moot. In England, the idea of representation at law is, as is well known, late and largely derived from canon law practice.
"To exact the blood-fine was as honourable as to take vengeance."—This maxim, begotten by Interest upon Legality, established itself both in Scandinavia and Arabia. It marks the first stage in a progress which, if carried out wholly, substitutes law for feud. In the society of the heathen Danes the maxim was a novelty; even in Christian Denmark men sometimes preferred blood to fees.
MARRIAGE.—There are many reminiscences of "archaic marriage customs in Saxo." The capture marriage has left traces in the guarded king's daughters, the challenging of kings to fight or hand over their daughters, in the promises to give a daughter or sister as a reward to a hero who shall accomplish some feat. The existence of polygamy is attested, and it went on till the days of Charles the Great and Harold Fairhair in singular instances, in the case of great kings, and finally disappeared before the strict ecclesiastic regulations.
But there are evidences also of later customs, such as "marriage by purchase", already looked on as archaic in Saxo's day; and the free women in Denmark had clearly long had a veto or refusal of a husband for some time back, and sometimes even free choice. "Go-betweens" negotiate marriages.
Betrothal was of course the usage. For the groom to defile an espoused woman is a foul reproach. Gifts made to father-in-law after bridal by bridegroom seem to denote the old bride-price. Taking the bride home in her car was an important ceremony, and a bride is taken to her future husband's by her father. The wedding-feast, as in France in Rabelais' time, was a noisy and drunken and tumultuous rejoicing, when bone-throwing was in favor, with other rough sports and jokes. The three days after the bridal and their observance in "sword-bed" are noticed below.
A commoner or one of slave-blood could not pretend to wed a high-born lady. A woman would sometimes require some proof of power or courage at her suitor's hands; thus Gywritha, like the famous lady who weds Harold Fairhair, required her husband Siwar to be over-king of the whole land. But in most instances the father or brother betrothed the girl, and she consented to their choice. Unwelcome suitors perish.
The prohibited degrees were, of course, different from those established by the mediaeval church, and brother weds brother's widow in good archaic fashion. Foster-sister and foster-brother may marry, as Saxo notices carefully. The Wolsung incest is not noticed by Saxo. He only knew, apparently, the North-German form of the Niflung story. But the reproachfulness of incest is apparent.
Birth and beauty were looked for in a bride by Saxo's heroes, and chastity was required. The modesty of maidens in old days is eulogised by Saxo, and the penalty for its infraction was severe: sale abroad into slavery to grind the quern in the mud of the yard. One of the tests of virtue is noticed, "lac in ubere".
That favourite "motif", the "Patient Grizzle", occurs, rather, however, in the Border ballad than the Petrarcan form.
"Good wives" die with their husbands as they have vowed, or of grief for their loss, and are wholly devoted to their interests. Among "bad wives" are those that wed their husband's slayer, run away from their husbands, plot against their husbands' lives. The penalty for adultery is death to both, at husband's option—disfigurement by cutting off the nose of the guilty woman, an archaic practice widely spread. In one case the adulterous lady is left the choice of her own death. Married women's Homeric duties are shown.
There is a curious story, which may rest upon fact, and not be merely typical, where a mother who had suffered wrong forced her daughter to suffer the same wrong.
Captive women are reduced to degrading slavery as "harlots" in one case, according to the eleventh century English practice of Gytha.
THE FAMILY AND BLOOD REVENGE.—This duty, one of the strongest links of the family in archaic Teutonic society, has left deep traces in Saxo.
To slay those most close in blood, even by accident, is to incur the guilt of parricide, or kin-killing, a bootless crime, which can only be purged by religious ceremonies; and which involves exile, lest the gods' wrath fall on the land, and brings the curse of childlessness on the offender until he is forgiven.
BOOTLESS CRIMES.—As among the ancient Teutons, botes and were-gilds satisfy the injured who seek redress at law rather than by the steel. But there are certain bootless crimes, or rather sins, that imply "sacratio", devotion to the gods, for the clearing of the community. Such are treason, which is punishable by hanging; by drowning in sea.
Rebellion is still more harshly treated by death and forfeiture; the rebels' heels are bored and thonged under the sinew, as Hector's feet were, and they are then fastened by the thongs to wild bulls, hunted by hounds, till they are dashed to pieces (for which there are classic parallels), or their feet are fastened with thongs to horses driven apart, so that they are torn asunder.
For "parricide", i.e., killing within near degrees, the criminal is hung up, apparently by the heels, with a live wolf (he having acted as a wolf which will slay its fellows). Cunning avoidance of the guilt by trick is shown.
For "arson" the appropriate punishment is the fire.
For "incestuous adultery" of stepson with his stepmother, hanging is awarded to the man. In the same case Swanwhite, the woman, is punished, by treading to death with horses. A woman accomplice in adultery is treated to what Homer calls a "stone coat." Incestuous adultery is a foul slur.
For "witchcraft", the horror of heathens, hanging was the penalty.
"Private revenge" sometimes deliberately inflicts a cruel death for atrocious wrong or insult, as when a king, enraged at the slaying of his son and seduction of his daughter, has the offender hanged, an instance famous in Nathan's story, so that Hagbard's hanging and hempen necklace were proverbial.
For the slayer by a cruel death of their captive father, Ragnar's sons act the blood-eagle on Ella, and salt his flesh. There is an undoubted instance of this act of vengeance (the symbolic meaning of which is not clear as yet) in the "Orkney Saga".
But the story of Daxo and of Ref's gild show that for such wrongs were-gilds were sometimes exacted, and that they were considered highly honourable to the exactor.
Among OFFENCES NOT BOOTLESS, and left to individual pursuit, are:—
"Highway robbery".—There are several stories of a type such as that of Ingemund and Ioknl (see "Landnamaboc") told by Saxo of highwaymen; and an incident of the kind that occurs in the Theseus story (the Bent-tree, which sprung back and slew the wretch bound to it) is given. The romantic trick of the mechanic bed, by which a steel-shod beam is let fall on the sleeping traveller, also occurs. Slain highwaymen are gibbeted as in Christian days.
"Assassination", as distinct from manslaughter in vengeance for a wrong, is not very common. A hidden mail-coat foils a treacherous javelin-cast (cf. the Story of Olaf the Stout and the Blind King, Hrorec); murderers lurk spear-armed at the threshold, sides, as in the Icelandic Sagas; a queen hides a spear-head in her gown, and murders her husband (cf. Olaf Tryggvason's Life). Godfred was murdered by his servant (and Ynglingatal).
"Burglary".—The crafty discovery of the robber of the treasury by Hadding is a variant of the world-old Rhampsinitos tale, but less elaborate, possibly abridged and cut down by Saxo, and reduced to a mere moral example in favour of the goldenness of silence and the danger of letting the tongue feed the gallows.
Among other disgraceful acts, that make the offender infamous, but do not necessarily involve public action:—
"Manslaughter in Breach of Hospitality".—Probably any gross breach of hospitality was disreputable and highly abhorred, but "guest-slaughter" is especially mentioned. The ethical question as to whether a man should slay his guest or forego his just vengeance was often a "probleme du jour" in the archaic times to which these traditions witness. Ingeld prefers his vengeance, but Thuriswend, in the Lay cited by Paul the Deacon, chooses to protect his guest. Heremod slew his messmates in his wrath, and went forth alone into exile. ("Beowulf's Lay".)
"Suicide".—This was more honourable than what Earl Siward of Northumberland called a "cow-death." Hadding resolves to commit suicide at his friend's death. Wermund resolves to commit suicide if his son be slain (in hopelessness of being able to avenge him, cf. "Njal's Saga", where the hero, a Christian, prefers to perish in his burning house than live dishonoured, "for I am an old man and little fitted to avenge my sons, but I will not live in shame"). Persons commit suicide by slaying each other in time of famine; while in England (so Baeda tells) they "decliffed" themselves in companies, and, as in the comic little Icelandic tale Gautrec's birth, a Tarpeian death is noted as the customary method of relieving folks from the hateful starvation death. It is probable that the violent death relieved the ghost or the survivors of some inconveniences which a "straw death" would have brought about.
"Procedure by Wager of Battle".—This archaic process pervades Saxo's whole narrative. It is the main incident of many of the sagas from which he drew. It is one of the chief characteristics of early Teutonic custom-law, and along with "Cormac's Saga", "Landnamaboc", and the Walter Saga, our author has furnished us with most of the information we have upon its principles and practice.
Steps in the process are the Challenge, the Acceptance and Settlement of Conditions, the Engagement, the Treatment of the vanquished, the Reward of the conqueror, and there are rules touching each of these, enough almost to furnish a kind of "Galway code".
A challenge could not, either to war or wager of battle, be refused with honor, though a superior was not bound to fight an inferior in rank. An ally might accept for his principal, or a father for a son, but it was not honourable for a man unless helpless to send a champion instead of himself.
Men were bound to fight one to one, and one man might decline to fight two at once. Great champions sometimes fought against odds.
The challenged man chose the place of battle, and possibly fixed the time. This was usually an island in the river.
