The origin of Rus' / Vol. 1, Old Scandinavian sources other than the sagas

Who were the Rus, where did they come from, how was the Kievan state founded? To answer these centuries-old questions, the author analyzes Old Icelandic, Anglo-Saxon, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Slavic, Turkic, and Chinese sources and presents a brilliant synthesis that will revolutionize our understanding of the problem. In this volume Professor Pritsak offers an exposition of the entire work and a description of the cultural setting in the early medieval East and West. This is followed by a detailed analysis of the Scandinavian phase of the problem, including six aspects of Old Scandinavian intellectual creativity — Eddaic poetry, the poetry of the Skalds, Runic inscriptions, legal literature, geographic literature, and chronicles. Special attention is devoted to the methodological problem of using poetry and myth as a historical source. Four appendices and a comprehensive bibliography of all the relevant primary and secondary literature as well as an exhaustive general index are included. Since this work reexamines anew one of the most controversial problems in historical literature, the author begins with the study of all pertinent source material in the original language, while considering the historiographic background and provenance of each individual information. Preface xv Abbreviations xxiii Part One. General Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Exposition to the Entire Work: The Origin of Rus' 3 Chapter 2. Introduction to Volumes One and Two: The Cultural Setting: The West 34 Chapter 3. Introduction to Volumes One and Two: The Cultural Setting in the East 53 Chapter 4. Introduction to Volumes One and Two: Historiography of Old Scandinavian Sources Pertaining to Eastern Europe 93 Part Two. Poetry and Myth as Historical Sources 105 Chapter 5. The Eddaic Poems and Their Manuscript Tradition 107 Chapter 6. From Myth to Epic and History: The Helgi Cycle 119 Chapter 7. From Myth and History to Epic: The Migrational Myth and Two Historical Transplantations 154 Chapter 8. From Myth to Epic and from History to Myth: Hadingus/Haddingjar and the Norse Attack on Constantinople in 860 164 Chapter 9. From History to Myth and Epic: Hnæf and Hnabi/Ønevus. New Approach to the Fight at Finnsburg and Old Danish Cønogardia 183 Chapter 10. The Transposition of History into Epic: The Battle of the Goths and the Huns 188 Chapter 11. Snorri's 'Gelehrte Urgeschichte': Has it a Historical Basis? 226 Chapter 12. The Poetry of the Skalds. Skaldic Poetry as a Historical Source 251 Part Three. The Runic Inscriptions 303 Chapter 13. The Runic Inscriptions in Younger Futhark 305 Chapter 14. The Geographical Vistas of the Runic Inscriptions 356 Chapter 15. The Varangians at Home and Abroad 385 Chapter 16. Jakun, the Varangian King of the Year 1024 404 Chapter 17. Yngvarr hinn víðfǫrli and His Campaign in Særkland (1041) 423 Chapter 18. Merchant Guilds in Eleventh-Century Sweden 461 Part Four. The Laws as a Historical Source 465 Chapter 19. The Old Scandinavian Laws 467 Chapter 20. The Old Frisian Laws 490 Part Five. Old Icelandic Geographic Literature 503 Chapter 21. Human Geography in the Religious Literature 505 Chapter 22. Human Geography in the Encyclopedic Collections 517 Part Six. Old Scandinavian Chronicles and Annals 551 Chapter 23. The Danish Chronicles and Annals 553 Chapter 24. The Icelandic Annals 568 Preliminary Conclusion 579 Chapter 25. Preliminary Conclusions 581 Appendices Appendix 1: A Runic Viking-Varangian 'Who's Who?' 587 Appendix 2: The Basic Texts of the Icelandic 'Gelehrte Urgeschichte' 661 Appendix 3: King Alfred's Geography 683 Appendix 4: The Texts of the Icelandic Itinerary Literature 704 Bibliography and Bibliographical Essays 125 1. General Bibliography 728 2. Myths and Epics 738 3. The Eddaic Poetry 743 4. Skaldic Poetry 768 5. Runic Inscriptions 773 6. Legal Literature 788 7. Geographic Literature 796 8. Chronicles and Annals 806 9. Sources Other than Analyzed in This Volume 810 10. Secondary Sources and Literature 821 Indices 837 Index of Inscriptions 839 General Index 850 V. 1. Old Scandinavian Sources Other Than The Sagas. Omeljan Pritsak. Includes Indexes. Bibliography: V. 1, P. 725-835.