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However, even despite these attempts at composing mythological
poetry and even mythography (notably the work of Remigius of Auxerre),
the corpus of mythological poetry on the continent is even smaller than in
Iceland (where Codex Regius contains 10 strictly mythological poems and
few others are found outside). Also, the unique combination of mythology
with historiography that we find in, for example, the myths of Odin’s
immigration in Snorri, Ari and a few other Icelandic texts, never seems to
have been produced on the continent.19 We may therefore safely state that
mythological writings (especially in combination with mythological histo­
riography) in Iceland was a far wider and more varied genre than on the
continent.
To sum up, in the areas of the scholarly and the literary worldview,
Iceland produced a cognitive surplus in two major fields: firstly, in the field
of geography, where not only detailed knowledge of Iceland and Greenland
as well as the transatlantic discoveries, but also a relatively intimate knowl­
edge of north­eastern and eastern europe is reflected both in scholarship
and in literature; secondly, in the field of mythological writings, with the
inclusion of genealogies of mythological and heroic ancestry.
v.
the second question posed in section II above concerned the possible dif­
ference between a (supposed) native culture and the clerically dominated
culture of an intellectual elite. An excellent way of investigating this ques­
tion is by looking at the actual context of texts as found in the Medieval
manuscripts. this “material philology” (or more conservatively: codicolo­
gy) has been sadly neglected in old norse studies until quite recently and
19 Cf. Heinz Klingenberg, “Trór Thórr (Thor) wie Trōs Aeneas. Snorra Edda Prolog, Vergil
Rezeption und Altisländische Gelehrte urgeschichte,” alvíssmál 1 (1992): 17–54; Heinz
klingenberg, “odin und die Seinen. Altisländischer Gelehrter urgeschichte anderer
teil,” alvíssmál 2 (1993): 31–80; Heinz Klingenberg, “Odins Wanderzug nach Schweden.
Altisländische Gelehrte urgeschichte und mittelalterliche Geographie,” alvíssmál 3 (1994):
19–42; Rudolf Simek, “Der lange Weg von troja nach Grönland. Zu den Quellen der
gelehrten urgeschichte in Island,” Germanisches Altertum und christliches Mittelalter. Fest­
schrift für Heinz Klingenberg, ed. by Bela Brogyanyi and thomas krömmelbein (Ham burg:
kovacs, 2001), 315–327.
tHe MeDIevAL ICeLAnDIC WoRLD vIeW