Heimskringla
Encyclopedia
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas
Kings' sagas
The kings' sagas are Norse sagas which tell of the lives of Scandinavian kings. They were composed in the 12th to 14th centuries in Iceland and Norway....
. It was written in Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
(1178/79–23rd sept. 1241) ca. 1230. The name Heimskringla was first used in the 17th century, derived from the first two words of one of the manuscripts (kringla heimsins - the circle of the world).
Heimskringla is a collection of sagas
Sagàs
Sagàs is a small town and municipality located in Catalonia, in the comarca of Berguedà. It is located in the geographical area of the pre-Pyrenees.-Population:...
about the Norwegian kings, beginning with the saga of the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings, followed by accounts of historical Norwegian rulers from Harald Fairhair
Harald I of Norway
Harald Fairhair or Harald Finehair , , son of Halfdan the Black, was the first king of Norway.-Background:Little is known of the historical Harald...
of the 9th century up to the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla
Eystein Meyla
Eystein Meyla was elected a rival King of Norway during the Norwegian Civil War period.-Biography:Eystein was son of Eysteinn Haraldsson, King Eystein II of Norway. His nickname Møyla means maiden, girl, cute woman. His father was king of Norway from 1142 to 1157, ruling as co-ruler with his...
in 1177. The exact sources of his work are disputed, but included earlier kings' sagas, such as Morkinskinna
Morkinskinna
Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275....
, Fagrskinna
Fagrskinna
Fagrskinna is one of the kings' sagas, written around 1220. It takes its name from one of the manuscripts in which it was preserved, Fagrskinna meaning 'Fair Leather', i.e., 'Fair Parchment'. Fagrskinna proper was destroyed by fire, but copies of it and another vellum have been preserved...
and the twelfth century Norwegian synoptic histories and oral traditions, notably many skald
Skald
The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...
ic poems. Snorri had himself visited Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. For events of mid-12th century, Snorri explicitly names the now lost work Hryggjarstykki
Hryggjarstykki
Hryggjarstykki is a lost kings' saga written in Old Norse in the mid-twelfth century and dealing with near-contemporary events. The author was Eiríkr Oddsson, an Icelander about whom little is known...
as his source. The composition of the sagas is Snorri's.
Manuscript history
The earliest parchment copy of the work is referred to as Kringla. It voyaged from Iceland to BergenBergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and was moved to Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, the University Library. At that time it had lost the first page, but the second (the current beginning of the Ynglinga Saga
Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....
) starts Kringla heimsins, "the Earth's circle" of the Laing translation.
In the 17th century copies were made by Icelanders Jon Eggertson and Asgeir Jonsson. Eggertson's copy went to the Royal Library at Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. The Copenhagen manuscript was among the many valuables destroyed in the Copenhagen Fire of 1728
Copenhagen Fire of 1728
The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen, Denmark. It began on the evening of October 20, 1728, and continued to burn until the morning of October 23. It destroyed approximately 28% of the city , left 20% of the population homeless, and the reconstruction lasted...
. Only one leaf of the manuscript survived and it is now kept in the National and University Library of Iceland
National and University Library of Iceland
Landsbókasafn Íslands — Háskólabókasafn is the national library of Iceland which also functions as the university library of the University of Iceland. The library was established on December 1, 1994 in Reykjavík, Iceland, with the merger of the former national library, Landsbókasafn Íslands...
.
Translations
By the mid-16th century, the Old Norse language was unintelligible to Norwegian or Danish readers. At that time several translations of extracts were made in Norway into the Danish language, which was the literary language of Norway at the time. The first complete translation was made around 1600 by Peder Claussøn Friis, and printed in 1633. This was based on a manuscript known as Jofraskinna.Subsequently the Stockholm manuscript was translated into Swedish and Latin by Johan Peringskiöld
Johan Peringskiöld
Johan Peringskiöld was born in Strängnäs and died in Stockholm .His father was Lars Fredrik Peringer, a senior master at the gymnasium and his mother Anna Maria Mulich. He began his studies at Uppsala University in 1677 and he was an ardent student of the national antiquities...
(by order of Charles XI
Charles XI of Sweden
Charles XI also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period in Swedish history known as the Swedish empire ....
) and published in 1697 at Stockholm under the title Heimskringla, which is the first known use of the name. This edition also included the first printing of the text in Old Norse. A new Danish translation with the text in Old Norse and a Latin translation came out in 1777-1783 (by order of Frederick VI
Frederick VI of Denmark
Frederick VI reigned as King of Denmark , and as king of Norway .-Regent of Denmark:Frederick's parents were King Christian VII and Caroline Matilda of Wales...
as crown prince). An English translation by Samuel Laing
Samuel Laing (travel writer)
Samuel Laing from Papdale in Orkney was a Scottish travel writer. He travelled in Scandinavia and northern Germany and published descriptions of these countries....
was finally published in 1844, with a second edition in 1889. Other English translations followed.
In the 19th century, as Norway was achieving independence after centuries of union with Denmark and Sweden, the stories of the independent Norwegian medieval kingdom won great popularity in Norway. Heimskringla, although written by an Icelander, became an important national symbol for Norway during the period of romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
. In 1900, the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, subsidized the publication of new translations of Heimskringla into both Norwegian written forms, landsmål
Nynorsk
Nynorsk or New Norwegian is one of two official written standards for the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. The standard language was created by Ivar Aasen during the mid-19th century, to provide a Norwegian alternative to the Danish language which was commonly written in Norway at the...
and riksmål
Bokmål
Bokmål is one of two official Norwegian written standard languages, the other being Nynorsk. Bokmål is used by 85–90% of the population in Norway, and is the standard most commonly taught to foreign students of the Norwegian language....
, "in order that the work may achieve wide distribution at a low price".
Scope
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
, described here as a mortal man, and his followers from the East, from Asaland
Asaland
According to Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and Heimskringla, Ásaland corresponds to Asia and is the origin for the Æsir emperors that conquered regions and territories and finally settled down in Northern Europe and brought law and order....
and Asgard
Asgard
In Norse religion, Asgard is one of the Nine Worlds and is the country or capital city of the Norse Gods surrounded by an incomplete wall attributed to a Hrimthurs riding the stallion Svadilfari, according to Gylfaginning. Valhalla is located within Asgard...
, its chief city, to their settlement in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
. The subsequent sagas are (with few exceptions) devoted to individual rulers, starting with Halfdan the Black
Halfdan the Black
Halfdan the Black was a ninth-century king of Vestfold. He belonged to the House of Yngling and was the father of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway.-Biography:...
, and ending with Magnus Erlingsson
Magnus V of Norway
Magnus V Erlingsson was a King of Norway during the Civil war era in Norway.-Biography:Magnus Erlingsson was probably born in Etne in Hordaland. He was the son of Erling Skakke. His father was a Norwegian nobleman who earned his reputation crusading with Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, the Earl of Orkney...
. The saga narrates the contests of the kings, the establishment of the kingdom of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
expeditions to various European countries, straying as far afield as Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in the saga of King Sigurd the Crusader
Sigurd I of Norway
Sigurd I Magnusson , also known as Sigurd the Crusader , was King of Norway from 1103 to 1130. His rule, together with his brother Eystein I of Norway , has been regarded by historians as a golden age for the medieval Kingdom of Norway...
. The stories are told with a life and freshness, giving a picture of human life in all its reality. The Saga of Olaf Haraldsson is the main part. His 15 year long reign takes up about one third of the entire work.
The saga of Harold Hardrada narrates his expedition to the East, his brilliant exploits in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, and Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, his skaldic accomplishments, and his battles in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
against Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.It could be argued that Edgar the Atheling, who was proclaimed as king by the witan but never crowned, was really the last Anglo-Saxon king...
, the son of Earl Godwin
Earl Godwin
Earl Godwin is the name of:* Earl Godwin , American radio newsman, commentator, and announcer* Godwin, Earl of Wessex , one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors...
, where he fell at Stamford Bridge
Battle of Stamford Bridge
The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire in England on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway and the English king's brother Tostig...
in 1066 only a few days before Harold himself fell at the battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
. This saga is a splendid epic in prose, and is also of particular relevance to the history of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The first part of the Heimskringla is rooted in Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
; as it advances, fable and fact all curiously intermingle, and it terminates in factual history.
The value of Heimskringla as a historical source has been estimated in different ways during recent times. The historians of mid-19th century put great trust in the factual truth of Snorri's narrative, as well as other old Norse sagas. In the early 20th century, this trust was largely abandoned with the advent of saga criticism, pioneered by Curt
Curt Weibull
Curt Weibull was a Swedish historian, educator and author.-Biography:Curt Hugo Johannes Weibull was born in Lund, Sweden. He was a member of the noted Swedish Weibull family. He was the son of history professor Martin Weibull and the brother of Lauritz Weibull, Alexander Weibull, Julius Oscar...
and Lauritz Weibull
Lauritz Weibull
Lauritz Ulrik Absalon Weibull was a Swedish historian.He was born in Lund, son of history professor Martin Weibull and the brother of Curt Weibull and Carl Gustaf Weibull, enrolled at the University of Lund in 1892, completed his B.A. 1892, his licentiate degree in 1899 and defended his...
. These historians pointed out that Snorri's work had been written several centuries after most of the events it describes. In Norway, the historian Edvard Bull
Edvard Bull
Edvard Hagerup Bull was a Norwegian judge and politician for the Conservative Party.-Personal life:He was born in Bergen as the son of Colonel Jens Munthe Bull and his wife Johanne Margrethe Hagerup . His brother Schak Bull was an architect, and his maternal grandfather was politician Edvard...
famously proclaimed that "we have to give up all illusions that Snorri's mighty epic bears any deeper resemblance to what actually happened" in the time it describes. A school of historians has come to believe that the motives Snorri and the other saga writers give to their characters owe more to conditions in the 13th century than in earlier times. Heimskringla has, however, continued to be used as a historical source, though with more caution. It is not common to believe in the detailed accuracy of the historical narrative and historians tend to see little to no historical truth behind the first few sagas, however, they are still seen by many as a valuable source of knowledge about the society and politics of medieval Norway. The factual content of the work tends to be deemed more credible as it discusses more recent times, as the distance in time between the events described and the composition of the saga was shorter, allowing traditions to be retained in a largely accurate form, and because in the twelfth century the first contemporary written sources begin to emerge in Norway.
Contents
Heimskringla contains the following sagas (see also List of Norwegian monarchs):- Ynglinga sagaYnglinga sagaYnglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....
- Saga of HalfdanHalfdan the BlackHalfdan the Black was a ninth-century king of Vestfold. He belonged to the House of Yngling and was the father of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway.-Biography:...
Svarte (Svarte: "the Black") - Saga of Harald HårfagreHarald I of NorwayHarald Fairhair or Harald Finehair , , son of Halfdan the Black, was the first king of Norway.-Background:Little is known of the historical Harald...
(Hårfagre: "finehair") (died ca. 931) - Saga of Håkon GóðiHaakon I of NorwayHaakon I , , given the byname the Good, was the third king of Norway and the youngest son of Harald Fairhair and Thora Mosterstang.-Early life:...
(Góði: "the Good") (died 961) - Saga of King Harald GrafeldHarald II of NorwayHarald II Greycloak was a king of Norway.Harald Greycloak was the son of Eirik Bloodaxe and a grandson of Harald Fairhair...
(Grafeld: "Greycloak") (died 969) - Saga of King Olaf Tryggvason (died 1000)
- Saga of Olaf Haraldson (died 1030), excerpt from conversion of Dale-Gudbrand
- Saga of Magnus Góði (died 1047)
- Saga of Harald Hardråde (Hardråde: "Hardruler") (died 1066)
- Saga of Olaf KyrreOlaf III of NorwayOlaf Kyrre , or Olaf III Haraldsson, was King of Norway from 1067 to 1093. He was present at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in England in 1066 where his father, Harald Hardrada, saw defeat and was killed in action...
(Kyrre: "the Gentle") (died 1093) - Saga of Magnus BerfætturMagnus III of NorwayMagnus Barefoot or Magnus III Olafsson was King of Norway from 1093 until 1103 and King of Mann and the Isles from 1099 until 1103.-Background:...
(Berfættur: "Barefoot") (died 1103) - Saga of Sigurð the Crusader (died 1130) and his brothers
- Saga of Magnus BlindiMagnus IV of NorwayMagnus IV Sigurdsson , also known as Magnus the Blind, was King of Norway from 1130 to 1135 and again from 1137 to 1139. His period as king marked the beginning of the civil war era in Norway, which lasted until 1240....
(Blindi: "the Blind") (dethroned 1135) and of Harald GilliHarald IV of NorwayHarald Gille was king of Norway from 1130 until his death in 1136. His byname Gille is probably from Gilla Críst, i.e. servant of Christ.-Background:...
(died 1136) - Saga of Sigurð (died 1155), Eystein (died 1157) and Inge (died 1161), the sons of Harald
- Saga of Håkon Herðibreiðs (Herðibreiðs: "the Broadshouldered") (died 1162)
- Saga of Magnus ErlingsonMagnus V of NorwayMagnus V Erlingsson was a King of Norway during the Civil war era in Norway.-Biography:Magnus Erlingsson was probably born in Etne in Hordaland. He was the son of Erling Skakke. His father was a Norwegian nobleman who earned his reputation crusading with Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, the Earl of Orkney...
(died 1184)
External links
- Heimskringla by Snorri Sturlson Readable HTML format
- Images of the Kringla Leaf on the manuscripts website of the National and University Library of Iceland
- Heimskringla in Old Norse from "Kulturformidlingen norrøne tekster og kvad" Norway.
- Heimskringla: The full text in Icelandic, Norwegian and English as parallel texts
- English translation of Snorri Sturluson's text
- Proverbs and proverbial materials in Heimskringla