Further Reading
Editions
Pedersen, Christian, ed. Danorum Regum Heroumque Historiæ.
Paris.
Badius, 1514 [based on complete MS Books 10–16 reproduced in
E. Christiansen’s trans.; the whole edition was reprinted with
minor alterations at Basel in 1534 and Frankfurt in 1576].
Stephanius, Stephanus J., ed. Saxonis Grammatici Historiæ
Danicæ Libri XVI. Søro: Crusius, 1645 [usually bound with
the following work].
Stephanius, Stephanus J. Notœ Uberiores in historian Danicam
Saxonis. Sorø: Cntsius, 1645. Reproduced (ed. H. D. Sche-
pelem) by Museum Tusculanum, Copenhagen, 1978. [There
were further editions by C. A. Klotz (Leipzig, 1771), P. E.
Müller (Copenhagen, 1839, with Prolegomena and Notæ
Uberiores by J. M. Velschow, 1858), and A. Holder (Stras-
sburg, 1886).]
Olrik, Jørgen, and H. Ræder, eds. Saxonis Gesta Danorum. Vol.
- Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 1931. Vol 2. Indicem
Verborum Continens, by Franz Blatt. Copenhagen: Levin &
Munksgaard, 1957. For the 14th-century abridgment, of which
four MSS survive, see: Langebek, J., ed. Thomæ Gheysmeri
Compendium Historiæ Danicæ. In SRD, vol. 2, pp. 286–400.
Copenhagen: Godiche, 1773.
Gertz, M. Cl., ed. Scriptores Minores Historiæ Danicæ. 2 vols.
Copenhagen: Gad, 1917–18. Vol. 1 rpt. by Selskabet for
Udgivelse af Kilder til Dansk Historie, Copenhagen, 1970.
The four Saxo MS fragments appear in facsimile in vol. 5
of Corpus Codicum Danicorum Medii Aevi. Ed. Johannes
Brøndum-Nielsen. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1962.
Translation
Elton, Oliver, trans. The First Nine Books of the Danish His-
tory of Saxo Grammaticus. Folklore Society Publications,
- London: Nutt, 1893; rpt. 2 vols. New York: Norrœna
Society, 1905.
Ellis Davidson, Hilda, ed., and Peter Fisher, trans. Saxo Gram-
maticus. The History of the Danes. Books I–IX. 2 vols. Cam-
bridge: Brewer Totowa: Rowman and Littlefi eld, 1979–80.
Fisher, Peter. “On Translating Saxo into English.” In Friis-Jensen,
Karsten, ed. Saxo Grammaticus: A Medieval Author Between
Norse and Latin Culture. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum,
1981, pp. 53–64.
Christiansen, Eric, trans. Saxo Grammaticus: Danorum Regum
Heroumque Historia. Books X–XVI: The Text of the First
Edition with Translation and Commentary. 3 vols. British
Archaeological Reports, International Series, vols. 84 and
118 (in two parts). Oxford: B.A.R., 1980–81
Bibliographies
A survey of the most important work done to 1930 was given by
Jørgen Olrik in the Latin and Danish Prolegomena to his edi-
tion. See further: Skovgaard-Petersen, Inge. “Saxo.” KLNM 15
(1970), 49–50, and “Saxo” in Dansk Biografi sk Lexicon 12
(1982), 641–3.
Laugesen, Anker Teilgaard. Introduktion til Saxo. Copenhagen:
Gyldendal, 1972, pp. 86–7 [meager].
Literature
Two collections of articles contain much recent work: Boserup,
Ivan, ed. Saxostudier. Saxo-kollokvierne ved Københavns
universitet. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 1975.
Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. Saxo Grammaticus: A Medieval Author
Between Norse and Latin Culture [see above]. These are
referred to below as Saxostudier and Saxo-Culture.
(a) Myth and Legend
Turville-Petre, E. O. G. Myth and Religion of the North: The
Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston; rpt. Westpori: Greenwood, 1975, pp. 27–34.
Ellis Davidson, H. R. Gods and- Myths of Northern Europe.
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964.
Dumézil, Georges. La Saga de Hadingus. Paris: Presses Univer-
sitaires, 1953 [trans. by D. Coltman as From Myth to Fiction:
The Saga of Hadingus (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1973) and reviewed by E. O. G. Turville-Petre in Saga-Book
of the Viking Society 14 (1953–55), 131–4].
Andersson, Theodore M. “Nifl unga saga in Light of German and
Danish Materials.” Mediaeval Scandinavia 7 (1974), 22–30.
Dollerup, Cay. Denmark, Hamlet and Shakespeare. 2 vols. Sal-
zburg Studies in English Literature, Elizabethan and Renais-
sance Studies, 47. Salzburg: Institut fúr englische Sprache
und Literatur, Universität Salzburg, 1975.
Lukman, Niels. “Ragnar loðbrók, Sigfrid, and the Saints of Flan-
ders.” Mediaeval Scandinavia 9 (1976), 7–50.
Smyth, Alfred P. Scandinavian Kings in the British Isles 850–880.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977 [on Ragnarr and his
sons].
Strand, Birgit. Kvinnor och Män i Gesta Danorum. Kvinnohisto-
riskt arkiv, 18. Gothenburg: [n.p.], 1980 [English summaryl
Bjarni Guðnason. “The Icelandic Sources of Saxo Grammmati-
cus.” In Saxo-Culture, pp. 79–93.
Martinez-Pizarro, Joaquin. “An Eiriks þáttr málspaka? Some
Conjectures on the Source of Saxo’s Ericus Disertus.” In
Saxo-Culture, pp. 105–19.
Skovgaard-Pedersen, Inge. “The Way to Byzantium: A Study
in the First Three Books of Saxo’s History of Denmark” In
Saxo-Culture, pp. 121–33.
Strand, Birgit. “Women in Gesta Danorum.” In Saxo-Culture,
pp. 135–67.
(b) History and Ideology
Skovgaard-Petersen, Inge. “Saxo, Historian of the Patria.” Me-
diaeval Scandinavia 2 (1969), 54–77.
Damsholt, Nanna. “Kongeopfattelse og kongeideologi hos Saxo.”
In Saxostudier, pp. 148–55.
Riis, Thomas. “Bruddet mellem Valdemar den Store og Eskil- Søborg, diplomerne og Saxo.” In Saxostudier, pp.
156–66.
Skyum-Nielsen, Niets. “Saxo som kilde til et par centrale insti-
tutioner i samtiden.” In Saxostudier, pp. 175–92.
Weibull, Curt. “Vem var Saxo?” Historisk tidsskrift (Denmark)
78 (1978) 87–96.
Riis, Thomas. Les institutions politiques centrales du Danemark
1100–1332. Odense University Studies in History and Social
Sciences, 46. Odense: Odense University Press, 1977, pp.
14–31, 86–150.
Johannesson, Kurt. Saxo Grammaticus. Komposition och världs-
bildi Gesta Danorum. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1978
[in Swedish, but for an English summary see his “Order in
Gesta Danorum and Order in the Creation,” in Saxo-Culture,
pp. 95–104].
Malmros, Rikke. “Blodgildet i Roskilde historiografi sk belyst.”
Scandia 45 (1979), 46–66 [English summary].
Weibull, Curt. “Saxos berättelser om de danske vendertågen
1158–1185.” Historisk tidsskrift (Denmark) 83 (1983),
35–70.
Sawyer, Birgit. “Saxo-Valdemar-Absalon.” Scandia 51 (1985),
33–60 [English summary].
Sawyer, Birgit. “Valdemar, Absalon and Saxo: Historiography and
Politics in Medieval Denmark.” Revue Belge de philologie et
d’histoire 63 (1985), 685–705
SAXO GRAMMATICUS