Skjöldunga saga

The lost Skjöldunga saga (c. 1180 – 1200) focused on the Skjöldung rulers of Denmark, analogous to the semi-legendary Scylding kings of the Danes featured in the Old English poem Beowulf. Before it was lost in the 17th century, the Icelandic humanist Arngrímur Jónsson (1568-1648) paraphrased parts of the saga into a Latin abstract, Rerum Danicarum Fragmenta, with an appendix entitled Ad catalogum R.R. Sveciæ, completed in 1596. How close this abstract is to the original saga is open for debate, and several times Arngrímur uses Icelandic traditions to criticize Saxo's account of the history of Danish kings. In addition, parts of the Skjöldunga saga are preserved in other Old Norse sagas, including Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta and Ragnarssona þáttr. It is quoted in the Heimskringla, and the fragmentary Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum í Dana ok Svíaveldi seems to derive from a late version of the saga. While not related to the lost saga itself, striking parallels may be found in other Old Norse sources such as Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks.

Back when I was an undergraduate student studying Latin at the University of Cincinnati in the late ’80s, I became interested in the Arngrímur's Latin abstract of the Skjöldunga saga. At that time, I thought it would be fun to reconstruct and create an English version of the lost saga by translating Arngrímur’s Latin and combining it with fragments of the saga quoted in other surviving Old Norse material. After working on it for several years, the project ballooned out of control and anyway I found that others such as Bjarni Guðnason in Um Skjöldungasögu (Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfa Menningarsjóðs, 1963) had already done great work on this lost saga in Icelandic.

After finishing my orals this last spring (2017), while looking through old hard drives, I found my mess of notes from this project from some 20 years ago, and still find it fun. I have decided to put up a full running narrative, based on fragments of the saga. This will be supplemented by analogues to the saga from Beowulf, Saxo, and other surviving Old Norse writings that can be linked through the magic of the internet. In addition to good stories, another reason I still find this project interesting is the many contradictory versions of the story. Being able to put them all together in one place will, I hope, create a resource that is not only entertaining, but can be used for future research.

Note on transliteration: Even though it seems strange to me translate “Álfhildr var móðir Ragnars loðbrókar” as “Álfhildr was the mother of Ragnarr loðbrók,” I have, following the standard method that I am seeing in the scholarship, transcribed all names in the nominative, even when they are originally in the genitive or dative in those passages. I have used the Latin version of the name in translations from the Latin, but have elsewhere used the Old Norse.

I. Story of the Skjöldungs

II. Biographical Index

III. Skjöldunga saga Analogues (primary sources with translations) including Genealogical Charts and Indices

Notes

1. Flateyjarbók GKS 1005 fol., manuscript dated to 1387-1394
2. Hversu Noregr byggðist and the following seven Ættartölur (only the first five included here) are combined with the Fundinn Noregr and Af Upplendinga konungum and given the title Frá Fornjóti ok hans Ættmönnum (of Fornjótr and his Kinsmen) by Carl Christian Rafn in his Fornaldar sögur Nordrlanda (Kaupmannahöfn: Hardvig Fridrek Popp, 1829). 3. Manuscript dated to 975-1025.
4. Manuscript AM 544 4to Transcribed and possibly written by Hauk Erlendsson, d. 1334.
5. Possibly written by Hauk Erlendsson (late 13th or early 14th century).
6. Ragnars saga loðbrókar ok sona hans (Y version, c. 1250-1300) follows the Völsunga saga (c. 1250) apparently as a sequel in manuscript 1824b (c. 1400), where it also immediately precedes the skaldic poem Krákumál (the Lay of Kraka, c. 1200). There is also the fragmentary X version of the Ragnars saga loðbrókar (c. 1250) found in cod. AM147 4to (c. 1450-1500).
7. AM 1eβ I fol., manuscript written in Iceland ca. 1300.

IV. Link to see only genealogical charts

Some of which are...
1. Flateyjarbók,¹ Hyndluljóð 29 (Family of Auðr in djúpúðga in Lay of Hyndla)*
2. Flateyjarbók, 3. Ættartölur, Ættartala (frá Álfi inum gamla, Lineage from Álfr the Old)
3. Flateyjarbók, 5. Ættartölur, Ættartala (Lineage, the Skjöldungs)
4. Flateyjarbók, 6. Ættartölur, Ættartala Haralds frá Adam (Lineage of Haraldr from Adam, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5)
5. Beowulf,² Genealogy of the Scyldings
6. Beowulf, Genealogy of the Skylfings
7. Beowulf, Genealogy of the Geats
8. Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum (The Skjöldung genealogy in the Sögubrot)
9. Arngrímur Jónsson, Rerum Danicarum fragmenta (1596), (The Skjöldung genealogy in the Fragments of Danish History, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5.
10. Arngrímur Jónsson, Ad Catalogum Regum Sveciae (1596), (The Skjöldung genealogy in the Catalogue of the Kings of Sweden, part 1, part 2).
11. Arngrímur Jónsson, Supplementum Historiae Norvegicae (1597), (The Skjöldung genealogy in A Supplement on the History of Norway, part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4, and Descendents of Fornjótr in A Supplement on the History of Norway part 1, part 2, part3).

Notes

1. Manuscript dated to 1387-1394
2. Manuscript dated to 975-1025.

V. Bibliography

1. Ari Þorgilsson. Íslendingabók. In Íslendingabók, Landnámabók, edited by Jakob Benediktsson, 1-28. Reykjavík, Hið Íslenzka fornritafélag, 1968.
2. Arngrímur Jónsson. Arngrimi Jonae opera latine conscripta volume 1, ed. by Jakob Benediktsson, Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 9, Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1950.
3. Arngrímur Jónsson. Rerum Danicarum Fragmenta. In Arngrimi Jonae opera latine conscripta volume 1, ed. by Jakob Benediktsson, Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 9, 331-456. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1950.
4. Arngrímur Jónsson. Ad catalogum R.R. Sveciæ, a quo Danic. Historiæ Norvegicæ compendium, incipit, annotanda. In Arngrimi Jonae opera latine conscripta volume 1, ed. by Jakob Benediktsson, Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 9, 457-74. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1950.
5. Arngrímur Jónsson. Supplementum Historiæ Norvegicæ. In Arngrimi Jonae opera latine conscripta volume 1, ed. by Jakob Benediktsson, Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 9, 141-316. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1950.
6. Belaiew, N.T. “Rorik of Jutland and Rurik of the Russian Chronicles.” Saga-Book 10 (1928): 267-297.
7. Benediktsson, Jakob. Arngrímur Jónsson and His Works. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard, 1957.
8. Benediktsson, Jakob. “Icelandic Traditions of the Skyldings.” Saga-Book 15.1 (1957): 48-66.
9. Beowulf and Its Analogues. Translated by G. N. Garmonsway and Jacqueline Simpson. New York: Dutton, 1971.
10. Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg. Edited with commentary by Frederick Klaeber. Boston: Heath, 1922.
11. Bjarkarímur. In Hrólfs saga Kraka og Bjarkarímur, ed. by Finnur Jónsson, 109-163. Copenhagen: Møller, 1904.
12. Bjarni Guðnason. Um Skjöldungasögu. Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfa Menningarsjóðs, 1963.
13. Bjarni Guðnason. Danakonunga sögur: Skjöldunga saga, Knýtlinga Ágrip af sogu danakonunga ìslenzk fornrit, 35. Reykjavik: Hioìslenzka Fornritafélag, 1982.
14. Chronicon Lethrense: De Antiquissimis Danie Regibus. In Scriptores minores historiæ Danicæ medii ævi ex codicibus denuo recensuit vol. 1, edited by Martin Clarentius Gertz, 43-53. København, I. Kommission hos G. E. C. Gad, 1917.
15. Flateyjarbók (Codex Flateyensis), edited by Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1930.
16. Flateyjarbók volume I. edited by Sigurður Nordal. Reykjavík: Flateyjarútgáfan, 1944.
17. Fornaldar sögur Nordrlanda. Edited by Carl Christian Rafn. Kaupmannahöfn: Hardvig Fridrek Popp, 1829.
18. The Great Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf the Saint, edited by Ólafur Halldórsson. København: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1982.
19. Mawer, Allen. “Ragnar Lothbrók and his Sons.” Saga-Book 6 (1908-9): 68-89.
20. McTurk, Rory. Studies in Ragnars saga loðbrókar and Its Major Scandinavian Analogues. Oxford: Society for the study of mediæval languages and literature, 1991.
21. Nerman, Berger. “The Foundation of the Swedish Kingdom.” Saga-Book 10 (1928): 113-131.
22. Ólafur Halldórsson, Danish Kings and the Jomsvikings in the Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason. Viking Society for Northern Research, 2000.
23. Olrik, Axel. Skjoldungasaga i Arngrim Jonssons udtog. G.E.C. Gads Forlag, 1894.
24. Olrik, Axel. The Heroic Legends of Denmark. Translated by Lee M. Hollander. New York, American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1919.
25. Saxo Grammaticus. Saxonis Gesta danorum volume 1, edited by J. Olrik and H. Ræder. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1931.
26. Saxo Grammaticus. The History of the Danes: Books I-IX (two volumes), translated by Peter Fisher, edited with commentary by Hilda Ellis Davidson. Cambridge: Brewer, 1979-80.
27. Smith, A.H. “The Sons of Ragnar Lothbrok.” Saga-Book 11 (1935): 173-191.
28. Smyth, Alfred, P. Scandinavian Kings in the British Isles 850-880. Oxford: Oxford Historical Monographs, 1977.
29. Snorri Sturluson. Heimskringla. Edited and Translated by Lee M. Hollander. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991.
30. Snorri Sturluson. Ynglingasaga. Edited by Finnur Jónsson. København: Gad, 1912.
31. Sven Aggeson. A Short History of the Kings of Denmark. In The Works of Sven Aggeson, Twelfth-Century Historian, translated by Eric Christiansen, 48-74, 104-140. Viking Society for Northern Research: Text Series, 9. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1992.
32. Sven Aggesøn. Svenonis Aggonis filii Brevis historia regum Dacie (Brevis Historia Regum Daniae). In Scriptores minores historiæ Danicæ medii ævi ex codicibus denuo recensuit vol. 1, edited by M.Cl. (Martin Clarentius) Gertz, 94–143. København, I. Kommission hos G. E. C. Gad, 1917.
33. Tolkien, Christopher, ed. and trans., The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise, London: Nelson, 1960.
34. Waggoner, Ben. The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok. The Troth, 2009.

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