The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf Part 1

The Relation of the Hrolfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarimur to Beowulf.

by Oscar Ludvig Olson.

PREFACE

It was at the suggestion of Professor John M. Manly that I took up the study which has resulted in the following dissertation, and from him I have received much encouragement and valuable a.s.sistance on numerous occasions. I have profited by suggestions received from Professor Tom Peete Cross and Professor James R. Hulbert; and Professor Chester N.

Gould has been unstinting in his kindness in permitting me to draw on his knowledge of the Old Norse language and literature. In addition to the aid received from these gentlemen, professors in the University of Chicago, I have received bibliographical information and helpful suggestions from Professor Frederick Klaeber, of the University of Minnesota; I have been aided in various ways by Professor George T.

Flom, of the University of Illinois, particularly in preparing the ma.n.u.script for the press; and from others I have had a.s.sistance in reading proof. To all these gentlemen I am very grateful, and I take this opportunity to extend to them my sincere thanks.

INTRODUCTORY.

The following pages are the result of an investigation that has grown out of a study of _Beowulf_. The investigation has been prosecuted mainly with a view to ascertaining as definitely as possible the relations.h.i.+p between the Anglo-Saxon poem and the _Hrolfs Saga Kraka_, and has involved special consideration of two portions of the saga, namely, the _B?varsattr_, and the _Froaattr_, and such portions of the early literature in England and the Scandinavian countries as seem to bear some relations.h.i.+p to the stories contained in these two portions of the saga. Some of the results achieved may seem to be outside the limits of the main theme. But they are not without value in this connection, for they throw light on the manner in which the _Hrolfssaga_ and some of the other compositions in question came to a.s.sume the form in which we now find them. Thus these results a.s.sist us in determining the extent to which the saga and the _Bjarkarimur_ are related to _Beowulf_.

As the field under consideration has been the object of investigation by a number of scholars, much that otherwise would need to be explained to prepare the way for what is to be presented lies ready at hand, and this is used as a foundation on which to build further.

In order to give the reader who is interested in the subject, but has not made a special study of it, an idea of the problems involved, and the solutions that have been offered, the discussion is preceded by a brief summary of the princ.i.p.al conclusions reached by various scholars.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS

_Aarb._--_Aarboger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1894._

_Ark._--_Arkiv for Nordisk Filologi._

_Ang._--_Anglia._

_Ant. Tid._--_Antiquarisk Tidsskrift._

_Beow._--_Beowulf._ The line numbering used is that of A.J. Wyatt's edition.

_Beow._, Child--_Beowulf and the Finnesburh Fragment_, translated by C.G. Child, 1904.

_Beow. Stud._--_Beowulf-Studien_, by Gregor Sarrazin, 1888.

_Beow. Unt._--_Beowulf, Untersuchungen_, by Bernhard ten Brink, 1888.

_Beow. Unt. Ang._--_Beowulf, Untersuchungen uber das angelsachsische Epos und die alteste Geschichte der germanischen Seevolker_, by Karl Mullenhoff, 1889.

_Camb. Hist. Lit._--_The Cambridge History of English Literature._

_Chron._--_Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland_, by Raphael Holinshed, edition of 1808.

_Helt._--_Danmarks Heltedigtning_, by Axel Otrik, vol. I, 1903; vol. II, 1910.

_Dan. Nor. Rig._--_Danske og norske Riger paa de britiske oer i Danevaeldens Tidsalder_, by Johannes C.H. Steenstrup, 1882.

_Eng. Nov._--_The Development of the English Novel_, by Wilbur L. Cross, 1914.

_Dictionary of National Biography_.

_Eng. Stud._--_Englische Studien_.

_Ext. Ch. Rol._--_Extraits de la Chanson de Roland_, by Gaston Paris, 1912.

_Gest. Dan._--_Gesta Danorum_, by Saxo Grammaticus, edited by A. Holder, 1886.

_Elton's Saxo_--_The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus,_ translated by Oliver Elton, 1894.

_Gesch. Alteng. Lit._--_Geschichte der altenglischen Litteratur_, by Alois Brandl (Paul's _Grundriss der germanischen Philologie_, 1908).

_Heimsk._--_Heimskringla, eller Norges Kongesagaer_, by Snorre Sturla.s.son, edited by C.R. Unger, 1868.

_Hist. Reg. Wald._--_Historia Regis Waldei_, by Johannes Bramis, edited by R. Imelmann, 1912.

_Hist. Mer._--_Historia Meriadoci_, edited by J.D. Bruce, 1913.

_Hrs. Bjark._--_Hrolfs Saga Kraka og Bjarkarimur_, edited by Finnur Jonsson. 1904.

_Icel. Leg._--_Icelandic Legends_, collected by Jon Arnason, translated by George E. Powell and Eirikur Magnusson, 1864.

_Mort. d'Arth._--_Morte d'Arthur_, by Sir Thomas Malory, Globe edition, 1871.

_Norroen Fornkvaei_, edited by Sophus Bugge, 1867.

_Nor. Tales_--_Norse Fairy Tales_, selected and adapted from the translations of Sir George Webbe Dasent, 1910.

_Folk. Huld. Even._--_Norske Folke-og Huldre-Eventyr i Udvalg_, by P.

Chr. Asbjornsen, revised edition by Moltke Moe, 1910.

_Event. Sagn_--_Norske Folkeeventyr og Sagn_, by O.T. Olsen, 1912.

_Nor. Hist._--_Det norske Folks Historie_, by P.A. Munch, 1852.

_Sagn--Norske Sagn_, Christiania, 1902.

_Notes, Beow.--Notes on Beowulf_, by Thomas Arnold, 1898.

_Oldn. Lit. Hist.--Den oldnorske og oldislandske Litteraturs Historie_, by Finnur Jonsson.

_Grundr._--Paul's _Grundriss der germanischen Philologie._

_P. B. B._--Paul and Braune's _Beitrage zur Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur._

_Pop. Tales--Popular Tales from the North_, by George Webbe Dasent, 1859.