Gripla - 01.01.1984, Page 246

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GRIPLA
It is clear from a comparison of these later works with Icelandic lit-
erature on one hand and Saxo on the other, that they do not contain
any traditional material derived from other than these combined sources.
Their value lies in the manner in which they demonstrate the kind of
literature produced in Iceland in this period, and the tastes of the audi-
ence. In addition, the names of the authors of most of the rímur and
of some of the sagas are known, and from this it can be seen what people
were producing these works and what positions in society they held. The
names of some of the people who copied the works are also known.
The first printed editions of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum appeared in the
early sixteenth century, but the version that probably reached Iceland
first was the shortened and frequently paraphrased rendering into Danish
by Anders S0rensen Vedel.1 This was printed in Copenhagen in 1575,
and must have reached Iceland shortly afterwards, as there are sixteenth-
century references based on Vedel’s translation in the Oddverja Annáll.2
From the seventeenth century onwards other excerpts from Saxo’s work
are to be found in Icelandic manuscripts. These are often either direct
translations of Vedel or can be recognised as being derived from his
version because of their omissions and idiosyncrasies. The earliest of the
actual sagas are also probably based on Vedel, since Latin editions of
Saxo were apparently never common in lceland. Two manuscripts con-
taining parts of Gesta Danorum are known,3 and there are three nine-
teenth-century manuscripts of Starkaðar saga on which Latin glosses
were made (Lbs. 2796 4to, Lbs. 360 4to and JS 436 4to).
A second Danish translation of Gesta Danorum appeared in Copen-
hagen in 1752,4 and this also provided a base for a number of Icelandic
works. This translation, by Sejer Schousb0lle, was much closer to the
original than was Vedel’s, and he included translations of the verses
contained in Saxo, which were omitted by Vedel. Several of the Ice-
landic works derived from Schousb0lle contain verses, but they are
rendered in the traditional metre, fornyrðislag.
The Icelandic translations of the legendary material in Saxo’s History
1 Den danske kránicke, 1575. Reprinted Copenhagen 1967.
2 Islanske Annaler indtil 1578, ed. Gustav Storm, Christiania 1888, xxxx-xxxxi.
3 AM 21 fol. (c. 1700) and AM 28 fol. (first half of seventeenth century).
4 Saxonis Grammatici Historia Danica, Paa Dansk, ed. H. Godiche, Copen-
hagen 1752.