The Prose Edda Read Free Page A

and third-person storytelling. It would seem that these two sections of the
Edda
were gathered into one book only after they were written separately. Still, the two fit remarkably well together, containing almost no repetition. Both
Skaldskaparmal
and
Gylfaginning
tell myths, but
Skaldskaparmal
also recounts tales of legendary heroes. Some of these heroic legends can be dated to a timebefore the Viking Age known as the Migration Period, from the fifth to the seventh centuries, when warrior bands and tribes invaded the collapsing Roman Empire. Stories that originated during this era became the basis for epic cycles that were popular during the Viking Age, and continued to be told in the thirteenth century when the
Edda
was written. Among the stories gathered into
Skaldskaparmal
are those of kings and warriors whose fame springs from a mixture of history and myth. One of these is the legendary King Jormunrek, also known as Ermanaric in late Roman and Old English sources. This tragic figure ruled over a vast East Gothic kingdom of horsemen on the Ukrainian steppes until suddenly attacked by the Huns in the year 376.
Skaldskaparmal
also tells the story of the ancient Danish warrior King Hrolf Kraki, who, much like King Arthur in the Celtic lore or Charlemagne in the Frankish legends, surrounded himself with twelve champions. Hrolf’s warriors and berserkers are treated more fully in
The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki
, an episodic collection of Old Scandinavian tales that has similarities to the Old English epic
Beowulf
.
    Sigurd the dragon slayer, whose lineage is traced to Odin, is the best-known hero in
Skaldskaparmal
. He and his Volsung family serve as the basis of a series of epic stories, including those about Attila the Hun and the Burgundian tribesmen who covet Sigurd’s treasure, the Rhine Gold. Sigurd becomes entangled in a tragic love triangle with a Burgundian princess, who later marries Attila, and a Valkyrie, who disobeys Odin. Extensive versions of the Sigurd story also survive in
The Saga of the Volsungs
, the
Poetic Edda
, Thidrek’s Saga and the South German epic poem
The Nibelungenlied
, where Sigurd is known as Siegfried. Richard Wagner made Siegfried the hero of his
Ring
cycle, but most closely followed the storyline of what happened to Sigurd and his Volsung ancestors found in the
Eddas
and
The Saga of the Volsungs
.
    The fourth and final section of the
Edda
is the poem
List of Metres
, called
Hattatal
(
Háttatal
) in Old Icelandic. There is no doubt about
Hattatal
’s authorship: it was composed by Snorri Sturluson, probably early in his career, as an attempt to curry favour with the Norwegian King Hakon Hakonarson and hisfather-in-law Skuli, a jarl (earl), who was given the title of duke.
Hattatal
is an ambitious, somewhat pedantic work, whose 102 stanzas demonstrate often small differences in poetic metres and obscure usages of poetic devices. Prose commentary offering technical explanations is interspersed among the verses of this long poem. The poem is a treasure for those with a knowledge of Old Icelandic and interested in the intricacies of Norse poetry. Because of the technical and obscure nature of
Hattatal
, it is not included in this nor in most translations. ( Appendix 2 contains a sample stanza from
Hattatal
, followed by an example of the prose commentary.)
The Mythology of the
Edda
    In the period before the conversion to Christianity, Viking Age Scandinavians had no single, organized religion; instead they shared a common view of the universe and a belief in the same pantheon of Norse gods and other supernatural creatures. Two groups of gods, the Æsir and the Vanir, war with each other, eventually making a lasting truce. Thereafter they live together in harmony, fusing so effectively into a single group that all gods become known as Æsir, even though the Vanir retain their identity as a small, separate family. The home of the gods is at Asgard, a compound name whose first