Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1999, Page 59

III The period of romanticism
39
III actually seems to be from Christian times. But the decisive proof is
given by the kennings quoted in Skaldskaparmål, and to suggest that the
skaldic quotations in Skaldskaparmål are spurious would be absurd be-
cause the belief in the authority of the ancient skalds is at the very heart
of Snorri’s Edda. A later author, Edélestand Du Méril, put the same
point on Heimskringla in this way:
Snorri déclare, au commencement de son Heimskringla, qu’il
s’appuie sur les traditions poétiques du pays [...] et, volut-on pré-
tendre [...] qu’il composait lui-méme les vers dont il se faisait une
autorité, ce serait convenir que les chants historiques étaient bien pro-
fondément entrés dans les usages et les croyances du peuple, puisque
les écrivains les plus graves auraient été obligés d’en inventer pour
donner crédit å leurs récits en prose.26
(Snorri claims in the opening of his Heimskringla that he refers to the
poetic traditions of his country [...], and to assume [...] that Snorri
himself composed the very poems which he adduced as his authorities
is to concede that the historical poems were deeply rooted in the
people, since even the most serious historians would have to invent
some in order to give credit to their prose.)
Muller demonstrated that the skalds are well known from other sources
as well. In skaldic poetry we have on the one hånd poems which tell
mythological stories like those of the Eddie poems, and on the other
hånd poems containing kennings which presuppose some knowledge of
the myths; this according to Muller is indisputable proof that Nordic
mythology is authentic (1811: 86). It does not mean, however, that they
can be taken as sources for Scandinavian prehistory - as we have al-
ready seen, Muller did not believe in Euhemerism - but it is important to
distinguish between their value for general history and their value for
the history of religion; conceming their value in respect of the latter, he
maintained that they were untouched by the influence of Christianity
leicht mit den wenigen Versen aus der Voluspa, Hyndlas Gesange, Grimmismal, Aegis-
dreka, Skirners Farth, und Vafthrudnismal, die in Gylfeginning citirt werden. Denn das
hohe Alter dieser anonymen Gesange diirfte sich schwerlich aus innem Grunden allein mit
Sicherheit darthun lassen” (Muller 1811: 78).
26 Du Méril 1839: 31.