Kings' Sagas and Norwegian History: Problems and Perspectives (The Northern World: North Europe and the Baltic c. 400-1700 A.D. Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 54)

This book is an examination of some of the principal issues arising from the study of the kings sagas, the main narrative sources for Norwegian history before c. 1200. Providing an overview of the past two decades of scholarship, it discusses the vexed relationship between verse and prose and the reliability as historical sources of the verse alone or the combination of verse and prose; the possibility and extent of non-native influence on the composition of these texts; and the function of the past, in particular given that most of the historiography of Norway was produced in Iceland. This read morebook aims to stimulate studies of medieval Scandinavian historiography with its critical perspective on the texts and the scholarship, while also providing a useful work of reference in order to make this area of research accessible to scholars in cognate fields Contents 7 Acknowledgements 9 Abbreviations 13 Chapter One Introduction 17 Medieval Norwegian History and the Problem of Sources 17 The Kings’ Sagas (konungasögur) 20 Skaldic Verse 34 Chapter Two Skaldic Verse and Saga Prose: Transmission and Reliability 41 The Authenticity of Skaldic Verse 41 The Relationship of Verse and Prose 86 Summing Up: The Historical Value of the Kings’ Sagas 111 Appendix: Þormóðr Kolbrúnarskáld after the Battle of Stiklarstaðir 117 Chapter Three Non-Native Sources and Influence 127 The Anglo-Norman Background 127 The Broader Context of the Growth of Historical Writing in Iceland 147 Appendix: Parallel Narratives in Scandinavian and Foreign Sources 168 Chapter Four The Uses of the Past 193 Chronology 219 Bibliography 225 Concordance of Cited Passages from the 1932 and 2011 Editions of Morkinskinna 255 Index of Modern Scholars Cited 257 General Index 262 Surveying The Past Two Decades Of Scholarship On The Medieval Historiography Of Norway, This Book Provides A Critical Appraisal Of The Principal Issues Involved In The Study Of The Primary Sources And The Key Areas Of Scholarship And Future Research. This title is an examination of some of the principal issues arising from the study of the kings' sagas, the main narrative sources for Norwegian history before c.1200 By Shami Ghosh. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [209]-237) And Indexes.