Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history. It is also one of the oldest known written documents about the history of Estonia and Livonia.
Consisting of sixteen books written in Latin on the invitation of Archbishop Absalon, Gesta Danorum describes Danish history and to some degree Scandinavian history in general, from prehistory to the late 12th century. In addition, Gesta Danorum offers singular reflections on European affairs in the High Middle Ages from a unique Scandinavian perspective, supplementing what has been handed down by historians from Western and Southern Europe.
Books
The sixteen books, in prose with an occasional excursion into poetry, can be categorized into two parts: Books 1-9, which deal with Norse mythology, and Books 10-16, which deal with medieval history. Book 9 ends with Gorm the Old, the first factual documented King of Denmark. The last three books (14-16), describe Danish conquests on the south shore of the Baltic Sea and wars against Slavic peoples (the Northern Crusades), are very valuable for the history of West Slavic tribes (Polabian Slavs, Pomeranians) and Slavic paganism. Book 14 contains a unique description of the temple at Rügen Island.
Chronology
When exactly Gesta Danorum was written is the subject of numerous works; however, it is generally agreed that Gesta Danorum was not finished before 1208. The last event described in the last book (Book 16) is King Canute VI of Denmark subduing Pomerania under Duke Bogislaw I, in 1186. However the preface of the work, dictated to Archbishop Anders Sunesen, mentions the Danish conquest of the areas north of the Elbe river in 1208.
Book 14, comprising nearly one-quarter of the text of the entire work, ends with Absalon's appointment to Archbishop in 1178. Since this book is so large and Absalon has greater importance than King Valdemar I, this book may have been written first and comprised a work on its own. It is possible that Saxo then enlarged it with Books 15 and 16, telling the story of King Valdemar I's last years and King Canute VI's first years.
It is believed that Saxo then wrote Books 11, 12, and 13. Svend Aagesen's history of Denmark, Brevis Historia Regum Dacie (circa 1186), states that Saxo had decided to write about "The king-father and his sons," which would be King Sweyn Estridson, in Books 11, 12, and 13. He would later add the first ten books. This would also explain the 22 years between the last event described in the last book (Book 16) and the 1208 event described in the preface.
Manuscripts
The original manuscripts of the work are lost, except for four fragments: the Angers Fragment, Lassen Fragment, Kall-Rasmussen Fragment and Plesner Fragment. The Angers Fragment is the biggest fragment, and the only one attested to be in Saxo’s own handwriting. The other ones are copies from ca. 1275. All four fragments are in the collection of the Danish Royal Library in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The text has, however, survived. In 1510-1512, Christiern Pedersen, a Danish translator working in Paris, searched Denmark high and low for an existing copy of Saxo’s works, which by that time was nearly all but lost. By that time most knowledge of Saxo’s work came from a summary located in Chronica Jutensis, from around 1342, called Compendium Saxonis. It is also in this summary that the name Gesta Danorum is found. The title Saxo himself used for his work is unknown.
Christiern Pedersen finally found a copy in the collection of Archbishop Birger Gunnersen of Lund, modern Sweden, which he gladly lent him. With the help of printer Jodocus Badius, Gesta Danorum was refined and printed.
Printing
The first printed press publication and the oldest known complete text of Saxo’s works is Christiern Pedersen's Latin edition, printed and published by Jodocus Badius in Paris, France, March 15, 1514 under the title of Danorum Regum heroumque Historiae ("History of the Kings and heroes of the Danes"). The edition features the following colophon: ...impressit in inclyta Parrhisorum academia Iodocus Badius Ascensius Idibus Martiis. MDXIIII. Supputatione Romana. (the Ides of March, 1514).
The full front page reads (with abbreviations expanded) in Latin:
Danorum Regum heroumque Historiae stilo eleganti a Saxone Grammatico natione Zialandico necnon Roskildensis ecclesiae praeposito, abhinc supra trecentos annos conscriptae et nunc primum literaria serie illustratae tersissimeque impressae.
Danish language:
De danske Kongers og Heltes Historie, skrevet I pyntelig Stil for over 300 Aar siden af Saxo Grammaticus, en Sjællandsfar og Provst ved Kirken I Roskilde, og nu for første Gang oplyst ved et Register og omhyggeligt trykt.
English language:
Histories of the Kings and heroes of the Danes, composed in elegant style by Saxo Grammaticus, a Sjællander and also provost of the church of Roskilde, over three hundred years ago, and now for the first time illustrated and printed correctly in a learned compilation.
Latin versions
The source of all existing translations and new editions is Christiern Pedersen's Latin Danorum Regum heroumque Historiae. There exist a number different translations today, some complete, some partial:
Christiern Pedersen, published 1514, title: Danorum Regum heroumque Historiae
Johannes Oporinus, published 1534, title: Saxonis Grammatici Danorum Historiae Libri XVI
Philip Lonicer, published 1576, title: Danica Historia Libris XVI
Stephan Hansen Stephanius, published 1645, title: Saxonis Grammatici Historiæ Danicæ Libri XVI
Christian Adolph Klotz, published 1771, title: Saxonis Grammatici Historiae Danicae libri XVI
Peter Erasmus Müller, published 1839, title: Saxonis Grammatici Historia Danica
Alfred Holder, published 1886, title: Saxonis Grammatici Gesta Danorum
Jørgen Olrik & Hans Ræder, published 1931, title: Saxonis Gesta Danorum
Karsten Friis-Jensen, published 2005, title: Gesta Danorum ISBN 978-87-12-04025-5, ISBN 87-12-04025-8
Danish translations
Christiern Pedersen, never published ca. 1540, Lost
Jon Tursons, never published ca. 1555, Lost
Anders Sørensen Vedel, published 1575, title: Den Danske Krønicke
Sejer Schousbölle, published 1752, title: Saxonis Grammatici Historia Danica
Nicolai Grundtvig, published 1818-1822, title: Danmarks Krønike af Saxo Grammaticus
Frederik Winkel Horn, published 1898, title: Saxo Grammaticus: Danmarks Krønike
Jørgen Olrik, published 1908-1912, title: Sakses Danesaga
Peter Zeeberg, published 2000, title: Saxos Danmarkshistorie ISBN 87-12-03496-7 (complete) ISBN 87-12-03534-3 (vol 1) ISBN 87-12-03535-1 (vol 2)
English translations
Oliver Elton, published 1894, title: The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus
Peter Fisher and Hilda Ellis Davidson, published 1979-1980, title: Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes
Eric Christiansen, published 1980-1981, title: Saxo Grammaticus: Danorum regum heroumque historia, books X-XVI
William F. Hansen, published 1983, title: Saxo Grammaticus and the life of Hamlet
Other translations
Hermann Jantzen, published 1900, title: Saxo Grammaticus. Die ersten neun Bücher der dänischen Geschichte
Ludovica Koch & Maria Adele Cipolla, published 1993, title: Sassone Grammatico: Gesta dei re e degli eroi danesi
Yukio Taniguchi, published 1993, title: Sakuso Guramatikusu: Denmakujin no jiseki
Santiago Ibáñez Lluch, published 1999, title: Saxo Gramático: Historia Danesa
Gesta Danorum is also translated partially in other English, French and German releases.
Hamlet
Certain aspects of Gesta Danorum formed the basis for William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. It is thought that Shakespeare never read Gesta Danorum, and instead had access to an auxiliary version of the tale describing the downfall of the Prince of Denmark, whose real name - Amleth - was used in anagram by Shakespeare for Hamlet.
Saxo’s version, told of in Book 3 and 4, is very similar to that of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In Saxo's version, two brothers, Orvendil and Fengi are given the rule over Jutland by King Rørik Slyngebond of the Danes. Soon after, Orvendil marries King Rørik’s daughter, Geruth (Gertrude in Hamlet). Amleth is their first and only child.
Fengi becomes resentful of his brother’s marriage, and also wants sole leadership of Jutland, so therefore murders Orvendil. After a very brief period of mourning, Fengi marries Geruth, and declares himself sole leader of Jutland. Eventually, Amleth avenges his father’s murder and plans the murder of his uncle, making him the new and rightful king of Jutland. However, while Hamlet dies in Shakespeare's version just after his uncle's death, in Saxo's version Amleth survives and begins ruling his kingdom, going on to other adventures.
12th-century history books | Ásatrú texts | Danish chronicles | Danish literature | Germanic mythology | Medieval Latin histories | Sources of Norse mythology | Viking Age
Sunday, November 12, 2000
Friday, June 16, 2000
Orpheus and Eurydice
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice, as told by Apollonius of Rhodes, Virgil and Ovid
(and retold by Edith Hamilton in Mythology)
Orpheus: "On his mother's side he was more than mortal. He was the son of one of the Muses and a Tracian prince. His mother gave him the gift of music and Thrace where he grew up fostered it. The Thracians were the most musical of the peoples of Greece. But Orpheus had no rival there or anywhere except the gods alone. There was no limit to his power when he played and sang. No one and nothing could resist him.
In the deep still woods upon the Thracian mountains
Orpheus with his singing lyre led the trees,
Led the wild beasts of the wilderness.
Everything animate and inanimate followed him. He moved the rocks on the hillside and turned the courses of the rivers....
When he first met and how he wooed the maiden he loved, Euridice, we are not told, but it is clear that no maiden he wanted could have resisted the power of his song. They were married, but their joy was brief. Directly after the wedding, as the bride walked in a meadow with her bridesmaids, a viper stung her and she died. Orpheus' grief was overwhelming. He could not endure it. He determined to go down to the world of death and try to bring Eurydice back. He said to himself,
With my song
I will charm Demeter's daughter,
I will charm the Lord of the Dead,
Moving their hearts with my melody.
I will bear her away from Hades.
He dared more than any other man ever dared for his love. He took the fearsome journey to the underworld. There he struck his lyre, and at the sound all that vast multitude were charmed to stillness....
O Gods who rule the dark and silent world,
To you all born of a woman needs must come.
All lovely things at last go down to you.
You are the debtor who is always paid.
A little while we tarry up on earth.
Then we are yours forever and forever.
But I seek one who came to you too soon.
The bud was plucked before the flower bloomed.
I tried to bear my loss. I could not bear it.
Love was too strong a god, O King, you know
If that old tale men tell is true, how once
The flowers saw the rape of Proserpine,
Then weave again for sweet Eurydice
Life's pattern that was taken from the loom
Too quick. See, I ask a little thing,
Only that you will lend, not give, her to me.
She shall be yours when her years' span is full.
No one under the spell of his voice could refuse him anything. He
Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek,
and made Hell grant what Love did seek.
They summoned Eurydice and gave her to him, but upon one condition: that he would not look back at her as she followed him, until they had reached the upper world. So the two passed through the great doors of Hades to the path which would take them out of the darkness, climbing up and up. He knew that she must be just behind him, but he longed unutterably to give one glance to make sure. But now they were almost there, the blackness was turning gray; now he had stepped out joyfully into the daylight. Then he turned to her. It was too soon; she was still in the cavern. He saw her in the dim light, and he held out his arms to clasp her; but on the instant she was gone. She had slipped back into the darkness. All he heard was one faint word, "Farewell."
Desperately he tried to rush after her and follow her down, but he was not allowed. The gods would not consent to his entering the world of the dead a second time, while he was still alive. He was forced to return to the earth alone, in utter desolation. Then he forsook the company of men. He wandered through the wild solitudes of Thrace, comfortless except for his lyre, playing, always playing, and the rocks and the rivers and the trees heard him gladly, his only companions. But at last a band of Maenads [women] came upon him....They slew the gentle musician, tearing him limb from limb, borne along past the river's mouth on to the Lesbian shore; nor had it suffered any change from the sea when the Muses found it and buried it in the sanctuary of the island. His limbs they gathered and placed in a tomb at the foot of Mount Olympus, and there to this day the nightingales sing more sweetly than anywhere else. "
Here is another version, taken from Thomas Bulfinch and retold by Juliana Podd in Encyclopedia Mythica.
Eurydice and Orpheus were young and in love. So deep was their love that they were practically inseparable. So dependent was their love that each felt they could not live without the other. These young lovers were very happy and spent their time frolicking through the meadows. One day Eurdice was gaily running through a meadow with Orpheus when she was bitten by a serpent. The poison of the sting killed her and she descended to Hades immediately.
Orpheus was son of the great Olympian god Apollo. In many ways Apollo was the god of music and Orpheus was blessed with musical talents. Orpheus was so sad about the loss of his love that he composed music to express the terrible emptiness which pervaded his every breath and movement. He was so desperate and found so little else meaningful, that he decided address Hades. As the overseer of the underworld, Hades heart had to be hard as steel, and so it was. Many approached Hades to beg for loved ones back and as many times were refused. But Orpheus' music was so sweet and so moving that it softened the steel hearted heart of Hades himself. Hades gave permission to Orpheus to bring Eurydice back to the surface of the earth to enjoy the light of day. There was only one condition--Orpheus was not to look back as he ascended. He was to trust that Eurydice was immediately behind him. It was a long way back up and just as Orpheus had almost finished that last part of the trek, he looked behind him to make sure Eurydice was still with him. At that very moment, she was snatched back because he did not trust that she was there. When you hear music which mourns lost love, it is Orpheus' spirit who guides the hand of the musicians who play it.
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/eurydice/eurydicemyth.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurydice
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