Edda

290 Pages·1995·8.01 MB·English

by  Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson
EDDA
Translated and edited by
ANTHONY FAULKES
University of Birmingham
EVERYMAN
J. M. DENT • LONDON
CHARLES E. TUTTLE
VERMONT

CONTENTS
Note on the Author and Editor vi
Chronology of Early Icelandic Literature viii
Introduction xi
Select Bibliography xxiv
PROLOGUE i
GYLFAGINNING 7
SKALDSKAPARMAL 59
HATTATAL 165
Text Summaries zzi
Annotated Index of Names zz$
Index of Metrical Terms z6o
NOTE ON THE AUTHOR AND EDITOR
Snorri sturluson, historian, poet and politician, was bom at
Hvamm in western Iceland in 1179. He belonged to an aristo­
cratic family, the Sturlungar, who gave their name to the period
of violence and turmoil in the early thirteenth century which led
to the loss of Icelandic independence to the king of Norway in
1262-4. Snorri acquired great wealth and power and was twice
lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament (Althingi), and twice
visited Norway where he became embroiled in the politics of
King Hakon Hakonarson and the king’s father-in-law, Earl
Skuli. The latter rebelled against the king and was killed in
1240, and Snorri also became subject to the king’s displeasure
and in 1241 was killed in his own cellar at Skalholt.
As he is depicted in contemporary records, Snorri was not an
attractive character, but he is acknowledged to be one of
Iceland’s greatest writers, and appears in his books as urbane,
intelligent and sensitive. His Heimskringla is the best account of
medieval Scandinavian history, and his Edda is a masterpiece of
organization, wit and irony. He may also be the author of one
of the finest of the Sagas of Icelanders, Egils saga. He was a man
of great learning, and in spite of belonging to a society that had
been fully Christian for two centuries, was deeply immersed in
the traditions of his pagan Viking ancestors.
Anthony faulkes is Professor of Old Icelandic at The Univer­
sity of Birmingham. He studied Old Icelandic and Medieval
English at Balliol College, Oxford, and was lecturer for ten years
at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has travelled
widely in Iceland, and took his doctorate at the University in
Reykjavik in 1981. He has carried out extensive research on
Icelandic texts, including various versions of Snorri Sturluson’s
Edda. He was President of the Viking Society for Northern
VI
Note on the Author and Editor
Research from 1986-8 and is now joint editor of the Society’s
Saga-Book and Text Series. In 1992 he was awarded the knight’s
cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon for services to
Icelandic scholarship.
Vll
CHRONOLOGY OF EARLY ICELANDIC LITERATURE
Year (ad) Historical and Literary Context Norse poets ft.
c. 715 Beowulf written
793 First viking raid on Northumbria
c. 850 Beginning of viking settlement in Bragi the old
England
c. 870 Beginning of viking settlement in
Iceland
871 Alfred the Great becomes king of
England
c. 885 Harald finehair becomes king of all Thiodolf of Hvinir
Norway Thorbiom Homklofi
93° Foundation of Althingi
948-54 Eirik Bloodaxe king at York
963 Division of Iceland into quarters Eyvind Skaldaspillir
981 Beginning of settlement of Greenland Egil Skallagrimsson
986 Discovery of America by Vikings Kormak
995 Olaf Tryggvason becomes king of Einar Skalaglamm
Norway
999-1000 Christianity accepted in Iceland Hallfrod
C. IOOJ Fifth court established
IOIO Burning of Nial
1014 Battle of Clontarf Sigvat
1030 Fall of St Olaf Amor jarlaskald
1056 First bishop at Skalholt. Thiodolf Arnorsson
Sæmund the wise born
1066 Fall of Harald Hardradi in England.
Battle of Hastings
1067 Birth of Ari the wise
1096 Tithe laws introduced into Iceland
1x06 First bishop at Holar
1117-18 Icelandic laws first written down
c. 1130 Islendingabok compiled
H33 First monastery founded (at
Thingeyrar)
Vlll
Chronology of Early Icelandic Literature
Year (ad) Historical and Literary Context Norse poets fl.
c. 1150 Earliest Icelandic manuscript
fragments
” 53 Archbishopric established at Einar Skulason
Nidaros in Norway
c. 1170 First Grammatical Treatise.
Hryggjarstykki.
1179 Birth of Snorri Sturluson
c. 1190 Sverris saga
1197 Death of Jon Loptsson
1199 Thorlak declared saint
1214 Birth of Sturla Thordarson
1215-18 Snorri Lawspeaker
1217 Hakon Hakonarson becomes king of
Norway
1218-20 Snorri’s first visit to Norway
C. 1220 The Prose Edda
1222-31 Snorri Lawspeaker again
1226 Tristrams saga
” 37-9 Snorri’s second visit to Norway
1240 Earl Skuli killed
1241 Snorri Sturluson killed 23 September
c. 1250 Oldest surviving manuscript of a
saga of Icelanders (Egils saga)
1262 Iceland ceded to king of Norway
1263 Death of King Hakon
c. 1275 Codex Regius of eddic poems.
Morkinskinna
c. 1280 Nials saga. Hrafnkels saga
1284 Death of Sturla Thordarson
c. 1320 Grettis saga
1321 Death of Dante
c. 1340 Birth of Chaucer
c. 1350 Modruvallabok written Eystein Asgrimsson
1382 Flateyiarbok begun
15J0 Reformation in Iceland
1944 Iceland regains complete
independence
lx