Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 86

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GRIPLA
The first and only detailed study of the poem appeared a hundred
years ago, when it was published, with notes and explanations, by
Theodor Möbius in 1874. The edition was a millennial presentation
from Germany on the occasion of the one thousandth birthday of the
settlement of Iceland. It was, in fact, a year of birthdays, since in
1874 Wilhelm the First, Kaiser of Germany and King of Prussia, was
77 years old, and he too was presented with a publication in honour
of the occasion which included Möbius’ edition of íslendingadrápa.
It seems not totally inappropriate that Icelanders themselves should
give the poem some attention, now that our eleven hundredth anni-
versary is approaching. This is not to forget that a number of our
countrymen have already conducted a certain amount of research into
the poem, the latest being Bjarni Einarsson in Kulturhistorisk leksikon
for nordisk middelalder.
Möbius and Bjarni hold similar views as to the date and composi-
tion of the poem. Möbius maintains that it could scarcely have been
composed before the mid-thirteenth century, basing his conclusion
both on its free and simple stylistic structure, and also on the fact
that a great deal of the material conceming the various heroes ap-
pears to be taken not so much from oral descriptions, as from the
written sagas, the majority of these being, apparently, written after
1250. Möbius also refers to Guðbrandur Vigfússon who dated the
poem as being composed at the end of the thirteenth century. Bjarni
Einarsson writes that, ‘the poem was apparently composed after the
majority of the íslendingasögur had been written; that is, according
to the normally accepted dating, late in the thirteenth century.’
Finnur Jónsson touches on the poem in his literary history, and
places it in the second half of the twelfth century, a century earlier
than Möbius.7 The editors of íslenzk Fornrit have adopted Finnur
Jónsson’s view, since they consider the drápa to be older than the
relevant sagas — that is, if they discuss the matter at all.
Jón Helgason has offered the opinion that the sanctity of Jón Ög-
mundarson is referred to in the verse in the drápa about Síðu-Hallr
who was one of Jón’s ancestors, and that the poem must therefore
have been written after 1200, when Jón was recognized as a saint:8
7 Op. cit., pp. 107-108.
8 Norges og Islands digtning, Nordisk kultur VIII: B, 1953, p. 141.