Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Qupperneq 43

II Scholarly prehistory
23
foundation in reality.38 The anonymous reviewer praised Torfæus for re-
jecting the theories of the origin of the Danish dynasty in the times of
the Deluge, and he found that it was a step in the right direction to be
content with an origin in the first century B.C. “This is a great deal for a
Danish lover of his nation and historiographer of his King!”39
In support of the belief in the antiquity of the Edda, Torfæus, like Bar-
tholin, was happy to quote Robert Sheringham,40 who in a work on the
origin of the English people (1670) had argued for the authority of the
Edda on the basis of its very fabulousness. The Edda seems to have been
composed by one of the æsir shortly after their emigration, when the
events were still fresh in memory, he held, and Sæmundr and Snorri can
by no means have invented them themselves; they have only transmitted
old traditions. The story is intermingled with legend and allegory, but
that is simply proof of its antiquity, because this is typical of literature
from the period of the æsir, as can be seen from Homer and Hesiod and
other Greek authors, and even from Holy Scripture.41
More substantial argumentation is to be found in a chapter on the ori-
gin and age of Sæmundr’s Edda in a Latin dissertation from 1735 by the
Swede Oluf Nording, who thought that Huet believed the Edda to have
been composed by Sæmundr. The most important aspect of his work is
38 “Edda [...] Snorrii Sturlæi [...] solutå oratione scripta, & in capita distincta, qvæ Dæmi-
søgur appellantur; qvod qvidam mythologias, alii fabulas vertunt; minus qvidem, meo ju-
dicio, recté; cum Dæmesaga vi vocis idem sit ac historia, sive rei gestæ succincta narra-
tio. Neqve enim putandum, Eddam in poetarum solummodd gratiam initio confictam esse,
absqve ullo in veritate rei fundamento: fabulas tamen interspersas esse qvåm plurimas non
diffitemur” (Torfæus 1711: Proleg. D2v).
39 “On ne revient que peu å peu des anciens préjugez, & l’Auteur que nous examinons icy
a franchi déja quelques degrez pour approcher de la verité. C’est beaucoup pour un Dano-
is amateur de sa patrie & historiographe de son Roy” (Mémoires de Trevoux 1703: 948).
40 Sheringham was referred to also by Nording (1735: 18-19).
41 Cf. Sheringham (1670: 265-67): “Primam autem illam Eddam, cujus ea quæ nunc ex-
tat exigua quædam pars est, Asarum aliquis, ut creditur, statim post prædictas migrationes
compegerit, dum recens adhuc calénsque rerum gestarum memoria fuit. Unde authoritas
ejus magni pendenda est, cum author omnium conscius erat, quæ å Wodeno ceterisq; Asis
agebantur. Sæmundus certé aut Sturlæsonius fabulas Eddicas de suo ingenio nunquam
finxerint, sed ab antiquioribus acceptas posteritati transmiserint, ut patrias antiquitates ab
interitu conservarent [...] Antiquitatem insuper Eddæ multa testantur; illud imprimis quod
circa tempora ista quibus Wodenus boreales plagas adiit, omnis historia fabulis involuta
erat [...] Cum igitur condendarum fabularum consuetudo illa tam vetus fuerit, & nuperis,
nisi in quantum veteribus utantur, prorsus insolens, magnam esse Eddæ authoritatem ne-
gare non possumus”.