ABSTRACT

To everybody with a knowledge of the oldest history of the North it is a well-known fact that it is mainly, and as regards Sweden in particular almost exclusively, drawn from Icelandic sources. The obscure and fragmentary relics from the heathen period in Sweden which in this country have survived the introduction of Christianity and been preserved until our own day only serve to confirm the evidence of the ancient Icelandic records. It is true that outside these main sources there are other, although less satisfactory, sources of information, for instance the Anglo-Saxon writings, insofar as they touch upon subjects of common interest. The information which they afford is not always easy to reconcile with the records of the Icelanders, however. Take the tracing back to Odin of Hengist and Hors in the Anglo-Saxon writers, which can in no way be brought to agree with the Icelandic genealogies and the chronological system which they are made to support. A way out has therefore been agreed upon, which was surely the most expedient, i.e. to deny altogether the importance of the former. To make this seem reasonable it has been argued that to the Anglo-Saxons the North must have been of a more peripheral interest, so that their records about it deserve little credence as compared with those of the Icelanders. A closer investigation would seem to be called for. Perhaps there are still Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in English libraries which might shed light on the ancient history of the North, although they have not yet been examined. At any rate the epic poem, which has been edited by Councillor of State, G.J. Thorkelin, and which has given rise to the following comments, was left unused and almost wholly unknown until our own day. The importance of it for the elucidation of the Nordic past should appear clearly enough from the following, and it will become even more evident when it is subjected to full critical analysis. It shares the characteristic mentioned above of being difficult to bring in line with what we already know about the oldest events of

Until now no one has had any idea whatsoever of an Old Norse epic, unless the Icelandic heroic sagas be accorded this name. The German Nibelungenlied does not really belong here. It is the more surprising, then, to obtain one such, composed in another language and preserved till our own time among another people, since with us all traces, both of the events themselves and of the original, native Northern account of them, have been completely obliterated. No doubt this is the best proof of the value attached by the Anglo-Saxons to the historical traditions of their kinsmen. What they have preserved of this nature must, therefore, also in turn be of importance to us. Our oldest history is so scarce that not even the least hope of consolidating it should be left unregarded. Gram [i.e. Hans Gram (1685-1748) Danish historian, see Bibliography] has already demonstrated how important the Anglo-Saxon language is for a greater knowledge of our own. All this should encourage our antiquarians to study Anglo-Saxon literature, for which purpose Mr Rask’s recently published Anglo-Saxon grammar [1817] will no doubt be most helpful. It is the more pressing since these studies have hitherto been completely neglected in this country.