Old Norse-Icelandic Literature A Short Introduction Heather O’Donoghue Old Norse-Icelandic Literature Blackwell Introductions to Literature This series sets out to provide concise and stimulating introductions to literary subjects. It offers books on major authors (from John Milton to James Joyce), as well as key periods and movements (from Anglo- Saxon literature to the contemporary). Coverage is also afforded to such specific topics as ‘Arthurian Romance’. While some of the volumes are classed as ‘short’ introductions (under 200 pages), others are slightly longer books (around 250 pages). All are written by outstanding scholars as texts to inspire newcomers and others: non-specialists wishing to revisit a topic, or general readers. The pro- spective overall aim is to ground and prepare students and readers of whatever kind in their pursuit of wider reading. Published 1. John Milton Roy Flannagan 2. James Joyce Michael Seidel 3. Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales John Hirsh 4. Arthurian Romance Derek Pearsall 5. Mark Twain Stephen Railton 6. Old Norse-Icelandic Literature Heather O’Donoghue 7. The Modern Novel Jesse Matz 8. Old English Literature Daniel Donoghue Old Norse-Icelandic Literature A Short Introduction Heather O’Donoghue © 2004 by Heather O’Donoghue 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Heather O’Donoghue to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechani cal, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data O’Donoghue, Heather. Old Norse-Icelandic literature : a short introduction / Heather O’Donoghue. p. cm. – (Blackwell introductions to literature) ISBN 0-631-23625-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) – ISBN 0-631-23626-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Old Norse literature – History and criti cism. 2. English literature – Old Norse influences. I. Title. II. Series. PT7154.O5 2004 839′.609–dc21 2003013335 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 10/13pt Meridian by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com Contents List of Illustrations vii Chronology viii Prefacex 1 Iceland 1 The Beginnings 1 Language 5 Cultural Heritage 9 Discovery and Settlement17 2 The Saga 22 What Is a Saga? 22 Are Family Sagas Medieval Novels?24 Are Family Sagas Chronicles of Time Past? 36 Three Extracts: Egils saga, Vatnsdœla saga and Laxdœla saga 47 3 New Knowledge and Native Traditions 61 Latin Learning61 Eddaic and Skaldic Verse62 Historical Writings 93 Fornaldarsögur 99 Riddarasögur and Rímur 102 4 The Politics of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature 106 Iceland and Scandinavian Nationalism 107 Old Norse-Icelandic as ‘Ancient Poetry’ 110 Bishop Percy’s Translations 111 Gray’s ‘Norse Odes’ 116 The Romantic Viking 120 Our Friends in the North 124 Old Norse-Icelandic Studies in Academia 128 The Debate about Saga Origins 130 Why is Old Norse English Literature? 134 Old Norse-Icelandic and English Medieval Literature 136 5 The Influence of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature 149 Blake 149 Tolkien and Fantasy Literature 154 Scott, Kingsley and Haggard 157 Landor, Arnold and Morris 166 Stevenson, Hardy and Galsworthy 176 MacDiarmid, Mackay Brown, and Auden and MacNeice 184 Heaney and Muldoon 196 Appendix: Hrafnkell’s Saga 202 Glossary 224 Notes 227 Bibliography 229 Index 232 CONTENTS vi List of Illustrations The Karlevi stone, Öland, Sweden 12 The Hørdum stone, Thy, Denmark 14 Detail of manuscript taken from Flateyjarbók 94 Bishop Gubbrandur eórlaksson’s map of Iceland 108 A romantic view of saga reading in an Icelandic farmhouse 141 Norna of the Fitful Head 158 Chronology 793 Vikings sack Lindisfarne – conventional opening of ‘the viking age’ c.850 Composition of the earliest surviving skaldic poetry, attributed to the Norwegian Bragi Boddason 870–930 Settlement of Iceland 871–99 Reign of King Alfred the Great in England 930 First Alling (national assembly) held in Iceland 946–54 Rule of Eiríkr blóbøx (Eric Bloodaxe) in York 978–1016 Reign of Ethelred ‘the Unready’ in England 999/1000 Conversion of Iceland to Christianity 1002 St Brice’s Day Massacre (of Danes living in England) 1016 Accession of the Danish King Canute (Knútr) to the throne of England 1030 Death of King and Saint Óláfr Haraldsson of Norway 1066 William the Conqueror establishes Norman rule in England 1068–1148 Life of Ari eorgilsson, author of Íslendingabók (written between 1122 and 1133) 1117–18 Icelandic law committed to writing 1178/9–1241 Life of Snorri Sturluson, author of the Prose Edda, Heimskringla and perhaps Egils saga c.1200 Family sagas begin to be written c.1220–5 Prose Edda [...]... God And yet in the middle of the ninth century, when a sizeable Danish army ravaged England, and most of the northern and eastern parts fell under Scandinavian control, this area came to be known as the Danelaw – significantly, and perhaps unexpectedly, a name signifying a place where Scandinavian legal custom prevailed, not a wasteland of anarchy and terror The word ‘law’ itself is derived from a borrowing... narrative form they take: poised between history and fiction, they are strongly told stories with vivid characters and dramatic events, yet with one foot firmly in a real historical world These histories herald the family sagas 21 2 THE S AGA The Saga What Is a Saga? Even readers who know very little of Old Norse-Icelandic literature will mostly have heard of the Icelandic sagas, but far fewer have a. .. and defining them But in Icelandic tradition, several more familiar medieval genres are also called sagas: saints’ lives (such as Maríu saga, for instance, or Andreas saga, lives of the Blessed Virgin and St Andrew); clerical biographies (the so-called Byskupa sögur, or lives of the bishops); translations of chansons de geste or French romances (Karlamagnús saga, the story of Charlemagne, or Tristrams... denominator: sagas, fictional or historical, fantastical or naturalistic, native or translated, religious or secular, are all continuous prose narratives about the past Within this huge variety, I want to concentrate on sagas which are native, secular and naturalistic: the family sagas or Íslendingasögur The past in which the family sagas are set – the söguöld, or saga time – is the period leading up to the settlement... designate a wide variety of writing The term saga does not even distinguish between a fictional narrative and an historical account There are thus many kinds of saga in Icelandic literary tradition, but the most celebrated is the so-called ‘family saga’ – the Íslendingasaga, or saga of Icelanders The family sagas constitute a literary genre unique to Iceland, and the major part of this chapter will be devoted... stanza praises and commemorates a Danish ruler who is designated by an elaborate string of epithets – battle-strong chariot-god of the great land of the sea-king This can be decoded as sea captain, since the great land of a sea king is, paradoxically, the sea, and vehiclegod of the sea is one who commands a ship Such circumlocutions are known as kennings, and are the most distinctive feature of Old. .. the early period, and in the viking age, AngloSaxons and Scandinavians would probably have been able to understand one another But this is not evident from contemporary texts, because Old English literature mostly survives in a standard, literary language known as Late West Saxon (we know relatively little about other regional, spoken versions of it), and the standard Old Norse literary language dates... based on such accounts from England, Ireland and the Frankish kingdom But they tell a partial story in both senses of the word The activities of small, savage warbands, and larger-scale conquest and settlement, are obviously very different matters But Anglo-Saxon annalists revile Norwegian raiders and Danish armies in exactly the same terms: they are all unspeakably evil heathen murderers, a scourge sent... Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar, the romance of Tristan and Isolde); historical biographies of Scandinavian kings (Sverris saga, the life of King Sverrir of Norway, amongst many others, or Knytlinga saga, a history of the kings of Denmark, named after their progenitor Knútr); or legendary heroic 22 T HE S AGA sagas (the so-called fornaldarsögur, stories about olden times) There is one common denominator: sagas,... victory 15 ICELAND Runic inscriptions and picture stones are partly textual (and thus historical) and partly material (and thus archaeological) sources for the past Other material remains of viking age culture tend to confirm the picture we have so far, of raiders and traders, pagans and Christians, farmers and craftworkers Ships, swords and helmets (not the horned ones of Victorian fantasy) are evidence . Egils saga, Vatnsdœla saga and Laxdœla saga 47 3 New Knowledge and Native Traditions 61 Latin Learning61 Eddaic and Skaldic Verse62 Historical Writings 93 Fornaldarsögur 99 Riddarasögur and Rímur. control, this area came to be known as the Danelaw – significantly, and perhaps unexpectedly, a name signifying a place where Scandinavian legal custom prevailed, not a wasteland of anarchy and terror Influence of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature 149 Blake 149 Tolkien and Fantasy Literature 154 Scott, Kingsley and Haggard 157 Landor, Arnold and Morris 166 Stevenson, Hardy and Galsworthy 176 MacDiarmid,