Saxo Grammaticus

Harthgrepa, the daughter of Vagnhofthi, attempted to soften his [Hadingus'] steadfast spirit with unremitting assertations that he was obligated to pay her the first gift of his nuptial bed by marrying her, since she had nurtured him with special care in his infancy and given him his first rattle. Not satisified with exhorting him with plain expressions, she also began to utter a poem thus: Why does life flow by you unsettled, why do you spend your time unmarried, pursuing warfare, thirsting for slaughter, does beauty not awake your desire? You are seized by an extraordinary frenzy, never slipping into tenderness. Caked with carnage and gore, you prefer battle to the bridal bed, stimulation never refresh your spirit. A fierce man never thinks of leisure, play is absent, only savagery occupies his mind. His hand is never free from impiety, but loathes the reverence of Venus. Let this hateful harshness yield, let the pious fire of love arrive and bind yourself to me with the bond of

 "It is the beginning of this saga, that Baldr the Good dreamed great and threatening dreams about his life" (Gylfaginning). The dreams of Baldr preceeding his death are famous. They were important enough to prompt a meeting of the gods, sending Óðinn on his futile quest to the underworld. Baldr and dreams go together, but the contents of his dreams are never revealed in the Icelandic textual corpus - but they are in Gesta Danorum . Balderus and Høtherus It has long been recognized, that Saxo presents a moral realignment of Baldr and Hǫðr, transferring all of Baldr's positive qualities to Hǫðr - and then some! Saxo's Høtherus is the very image of chivalrous ideals, while Balderus functions much like a stereotypical saga berserk, with untamed libido to boot. The core narrative is of the berserk suitor type - blog post to come. Saxo's tale of Balderus and Høtherus is long and convoluted, involving a long series of battles, fantastical quests, Pagan gods, trios of su

The last half of Gesta Danorum 's first book is dedicated to the hero Hadingus. Much ink has been devoted to interpreting to this story. Proposed scholarly interpretations range from an otherwise unknown *Haddingja saga , pure fabrication, dioscuric relic, and finally the frankly ludicrous idea that it's an euhemerized biography of Njǫrdr. Let's spend some time on the most promising interpretation, Axel Olrik's idea of a *Haddingja saga , which has more recently been picked up by Annette Lassen. As with many things Saxo, we immediately descend into a Lovecraftian realm of mad reconstructions, ancient puzzles, weeping and frustrated gnashing of the teeth. If it ever existed, *Haddingja saga has not been transmitted in the existent textual corpus, which is why the title should rightly be marked with an asterisk. True to form, Saxo does not refer to any source, and Olrik's speculations about what Saxo did or did not "get" must be considered pure conjecture. 

          Huggery-muggery           Saxo Grammaticus           - James Michie Scholars dealing with Old Norse subjects rarely have kind words to spare for Saxo Grammaticus. Supposedly enigmatic, hateful and confused, Latinate, lengthy and ecclesiastical, he is in essence the evil version Snorri Sturluson. Unfamiliar with secondary literature and even unfamiliar with the work itself, much scholarly discourse often results in predictable absurdities and bad takes. Haki Antonsson's 2010 article "Traditions of Conversion in Medieval Scandinavia: A Synthetis" from Saga-Book XXXIV , goes the extra mile:           The notion that apostates deserve harsh punishment is naturally not confined to the West Norse           textual corpus. For example, Saxo Grammaticus, in his famous description of the conquest of           Rügen in the late 1140s, maintains that King Sven Forkbeard had donated an exquisite cup to           Arcona’s pagan temple, ‘preferring to cultivate an alien relig

After the fall of Lethra recounted in Saxo's version of Bjarkamál , Hiarthwarus sits triumphant at the victory feast. Reflecting on the loyalty of Roluo's warriors who all chose to die for their lord, he remarks that it is a shame that none of Roluo's retainers remained whose allegiance could be directed to Hiarthwarus. He is overjoyed when Wiggo, one of Roluo's retainers, presents himself to him. This Wiggo had earlier vowed to exact vengeance on the murderers if Roluo should ever be slain. Chekhov's Gun fires, and Wiggo slays Hiarthwarus, turning the banquet into a funeral, before being immediately cut down by Hiarthwarus' men. Thus, Saxo concludes, Fortune takes revenge savagely like this for cunning, underhand achievements. It is a dramatic and well crafted story, widely regarded as a high point of Gesta Danorum . However, some feel that the ending ruins the story and shows Saxo to be a naive and uncritical admirer of the royalty:         "In this way S

Óðinn is the Norse deity who appears most frequently throughout the first nine books of Gesta Danorum. His name is variously rendered as Othinus, Othynus and Othin ,  and readers familiar with the Icelandic corpus will instantly recognize his many characteristics: The one-eyed old man appearing in many guises and under many names, riding a special horse, consulting oracles, granting courage, poetic ability and invulnerability to his chosen champions, ever anxious to have the spirits of the fallen dedicated to him etc., ie. the  Óðinn from poetry and legendary sagas.  Óðinn/ Othinus appearing under strange names is familiar to us - but was he familiar to Saxo? Axel Olrik expressed serious doubt about the cleric's ability to recognize the deity in his source material: "We recognize Odin easily enough; even the names under which he appears do not serve to hide him from us, but to reveal to us his true nature [...] this is not the case for Saxo; only a few times does he know with