Heimskringla

Heimskringla ( Old Norse for World Circle ) is the title of a medieval work on the history of Norwegian kings, written by Snorri Sturluson in 1230 and is attributed. The work is delivered without Responsibility.

History of Snorri Sturluson attribution to

It began with a price objective of the " Kongelige danske Videnskabernes Selskab " (Royal Danish society of scientists ) from the year 1870. This task had already received certain assumptions underlying that were formulated as a question. The first two questions were about Snorri as a writer, the last two the scope of the Heimskringla and its relationship to the Icelandic medieval historiography. The task presupposes already that it constitutes a coherent work of a certain size, which was handed down more or less complete. This view goes back to the first edition of Johan Peringskiöld Heimskringla Snorri Sturluson eller Nordlänske Konunga Sagor ( Stockholm 1697 ). The name " Heimskringla " he had taken from a copy of the Icelander Jón Eggertsson 1682. Meanwhile template in the University Library of Copenhagen was called Kringla or Heimskringla. The manuscript was missing the prologue, so that the first word of Ynglinga saga " Kringla heimsins " was decisive. The name was already used by Torfaeus and probably goes back to Ole Worm, who into Norwegian by Peder Friis Clausson " Norske Kongers Chronica " used in an introduction to the issue of translation.

Gustav Storm won the gold medal with his work at that price task. The work was at the expense of " Kongelige danske Videnskabernes Selskab " under the title Snorre Sturlasöns Historieskrivning (Copenhagen 1873) published. Sigurdur Nordal 1914 published his dissertation in Copenhagen Om Olaf the Helliges saga. While Storm was of the opinion, the saga of Olav the Holy was younger than the rest of the text of the Heimskringla, and build on this to, Nordal returned to this chronology, so that Snorri had the saga of Olav written earlier. Both assumed that all parts of the Heimskringla were from the same author, with Nordal was based on Storm and Storm had taken on the task of price task.

As the first Konrad Maurer has been suggested that it was in the Heimskringla is a compilation of work that was put together after his death from many individual studies, only some of which came from him.

In addition to the mentioned manuscript Kringla there were two other manuscripts, Jöfraskinna and Gullinskinna, both of which were destroyed in the library fire in Copenhagen in 1728, but have been preserved in quite reliable copies. Another two manuscripts have been destroyed in Norway and Sweden. De la Gardie # 3 burned in 1702 in Uppsala. However, there are copies of parts and a translation into Swedish Norlands Chrönika och Beskriffning of the Icelanders, Jón Rugman, published in 1670 in the print.

Jonna Louis -Jensen considers it likely that Snorri Sturluson but not Ólafur Þórðarson hvítaskáld the final editing of the Kringla performed and the individual parts have joined. It is based on Stefán Karlsson, who has shown that the main components of the two most important manuscripts of Gragas, the Codex Regius Staðarhólsbók and with the same hand have been written. It had been a professional writer. According to him, the priest also Þórarinn kaggi comes into consideration. Ólafur Þórðarson hvítaskáld was Snorri's nephew learned. He died 1259th The handwriting Kringla may not have ready been present before 1258 in accordance Stefán Karlsson. Thus, its final editing is not excluded. Þórarinn kaggi died 1283rd He, too, came from the stubbornness lung gender. He was the illegitimate son of Ólafur Egill Sölmundarson Thordason cousin, who was the son of Snorri's sister Helga.

Formation and structure

Snorri's Heimskringla ranging from the mythical prehistory, which he describes in the first part of the Ynglingasaga, to the year 1177 for his history Snorri spread to older templates back to the Fagrskinna ( the beautiful parchment; 1230 ). , And on Agrippa af Noregs konunga sögum ( outline of the history of the Norwegian kings in the late 12th century). For the final chapter of the Heimskringla, the years 1035 to 1177 describes Snorri drew from the Morkinskinna ( the rotten parchment, 13th century). Compared to its predecessors is Snorri's dynastic history of Norway coined in the Middle Ages by a, advanced for its time, critical historical method, which gives a clear picture of the child Norwegian kings. Nevertheless, the Heimskringla, a lack of coherent representation, since it consists of a compilation of independent sagas, each in itself can be regarded as a literary work of individual Norwegian kings. As in the Skáldskaparmál Snorri also used in the Heimskringla Skaldengedichte as a comment and illustration of his descriptions.

The work is divided into three parts. Heimskringla ( HKR ) I: from the beginning to the Olav the Holy, HKR II: the story of Olav the Holy and HKR III: the story afterwards. The manuscripts are divided into two classes: one class contains HKR II, the other not. At that include Jöfraskinna and Gullinskinna. There is also a separate saga of Olav the Holy. In Jöfraskinna the separate saga is inserted Olav the Holy. It is therefore not certain that in the original script Snorri's the story of St. Olav was already present. It is also possible that a later editors have slightly shortened inserted the separate saga Olav the Holy in the Heimskringla.

Contents by chapter

The Heimskringla consists of:

• Prologus
• Ynglingasaga, " Saga of the Ynglings " ( halbmythisch, based on the Ynglingatal )
• Hálfdanar saga svarta, " Saga of Halfdan the Black " (transition halbmythisch - historically )
• Harald's saga hárfagra, " Saga of Harald Fairhair " ( 868-928 )
• Past the Håkonar saga Goda ( Aðalsteinsfóstra ), " Saga of Haakon the Good " ( 933-961 )
• Harald's saga gráfeldar, " Saga of Harald Grey Coat " ( 960-975 )
• Olaf's saga Tryggvasonar, " Saga of Olaf Tryggvason " (995-1000)
• Olaf's saga helga, " Saga of Olaf the Holy " (1016-1030)
• Magnuss saga Goda, " Saga of Magnus the Good " (1035-1047)
• Harald ( Hardrada ) Sigurðarsonar saga, " Saga of Harald ( the Harten ) Sigurðsohn " ( 1047-1066 )
• Olaf's saga Kyrra, " Saga of Olaf the Pacific " (1066-1093)
• Magnuss saga berfætts, " Saga of Magnus Barefoot " (1093-1103)
• Magnússona saga, " Saga of the sons of Magnus ' " (1093-1130)
• Magnuss saga blinda ok Harald gilla, " Saga of Harald Gille and Magnús Sigurðarson " (1130-1136)
• Haraldssona saga ( Saga Inga konungs og hans bræðra ), " Saga of the sons of Harald's ( Sigurd, Øystein and Inge )" ( 1136-1157 )
• Past the Håkonar saga herðibreiðs, " Saga of Hákon the broad-shouldered uncircumcised " (1157-1162)
• Magnuss saga Erling sonar, " Saga of Magnus Erlingsson " (1161-1177)

Heimskringla as a historical source

The value of the Heimskringla as a historical source in the sense of modern scientific historiography is controversial since the saga criticism. For its time, the European High Middle Ages, Snorri Sturluson was certainly an exceptional scientist, the historical awareness and the pursuit of historical tradition can not be denied (in the sense emic cultural perspective). However, a contradiction is to assess Snorri as the first " historian " for the westskandinavische story that he has taken and compiled his sources with only minor changes. Then you would have this title " historian " already write the authors of his sources.

It is of particular significance that did not exist in any case at the time of writing, the literary genre " history " in the modern sense in Europe. It was located at the issuing as history always works to trend fonts with political intent. The pure of what has been keep for posterity was the writers away. It was either Herrscherlob or social criticism or the legitimacy of traditional claims or presentation of Christianity as a success story or similar objectives that were pursued with a factory.

That the purely historical interest was not in the foreground, is clearly observed at the Olaf's saga Tryggvasonar in which the destruction of the pagan temple loading is described. There, the king took a golden ring on the temple door se and may bring about this later as a gift in the courtship of the pagan Queen Sigrid of Sweden. These have found that the gold ring inside had a copper core. There was an altercation between the two during a meeting, slapped in the course of which the king Sigrid, whereupon they prophesied a violent end. The whole thing is a literary composition to that of the inner worthlessness of paganism symbol, depicted on the copper in the gold ring ( ref: Niedner pp. 267 f; Glauser p. 39).

Snorri's own sources ranged from mythological and oral traditions, which he collected from witnesses, to the above-mentioned works. He is co-founder of a " Scholars Icelandic Prehistory " ( by Andreas Heusler ), which stood on the threshold between mythology ( in euhemeristischer perspective) and historical science. This prohibits a general assessment of the Heimskringla as a historical source, and it depends on individual data and descriptions on whether they can be measured as mythical, historical or quasi- historical. That Snorri, as accused him of Egon Mogk, mythological stories have written that were not historically reliable, is not represented in this generality. The closer the events lie in his own lifetime, the higher the weight of his testimony is to be considered. Valuable resources are also his quotes old Skaldenstrophen from the time the subject areas of his ruler.