Gripla - 2021, Blaðsíða 61

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his martyrdom and the composition of Íslendingabók were produced in
England, predominantly in Latin. The earliest attestation is found in the
common stock of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which was compiled late in
the reign of Alfred the Great, within decades of the martyrdom taking
place.5 The entry for 870 (actually November 869) observes simply that
King Edmund was killed following a battle with a Danish army that had
overwintered at Thetford.6 Edmund’s killers go unnamed, although the F
recension of the Chronicle identifies them as the Viking leaders “Ingware,”
an anglicization of ON Ívarr, and “Ubba” (ON Ubbi). This recension was
produced in Canterbury in around 1100, at which point these two names
(rendered into Latin as Hinguar and Hubba) were widely connected with
the act.7
Conversely, no Old Icelandic narrative of the saint’s martyrdom or
miracles has survived, although sporadic references to both are found
in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Icelandic traditions. Nevertheless,
medieval Icelanders did apparently foster some independent traditions
about Edmund, with several families (including Ari’s) claiming descent
from Vilborg “Ósvaldsdóttur konungs ok Úlfrúnar hinnar óbornu, dótt-
ur Játmundar Englakonungs” (daughter of King Ósvaldr and Úlfrún the
unborn, daughter of Játmundr, king of the English) in the catalogue of
settlers’ accounts known as Landnámabók.8 Lesley Abrams points out that
the name Ósvaldr (OE Osƿeald, MdnE Oswald) matches that of Edmund’s
purported successor, a possible puppet of the invaders known only from
surviving coinage. She proposes that the survival of Edmund’s descend-
ants in Iceland could have preserved details of his martyrdom there.9 This
apparent reference to the obscure Oswald is intriguing but could also be
misleading. Játmundr’s presence in the genealogy cannot be traced earlier
than the Sturlubók recension of Landnámabók from c. 1275–80. In addition,
neither Ósvaldr or Játmundr are referred to as kings before the Hauksbók
5 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, trans. Michael Swanton (London: Phoenix, 2000), xxi.
6 Ibid., 70–71.
7 Ibid., xxvii–xxviii and 70, n. 2.
8 Íslendingabók; Landnámabók, 49.
9 Lesley Abrams, “Scandinavian Place-Names and Settlement-History: Flegg, Norfolk, and
East Anglia in the Viking Age,” Viking and Norse in the North Atlantic: Select Papers from
the Proceedings of the Fourteenth Viking Congress, Tórshavn, 19–30 July 2001, eds. Andras
Mortensen and Símun V. Arge (Tórshavn: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, 2005), 312–13, n. 4.
UNEARTHING ST EDMUND