The Relation of the "Hrólfs Saga Kraka" and the "Bjarkarímur" to "Beowulf": A Contribution to the History of Saga Development in England and the Scandinavian Countries

Also published as a private dissertation by the University of Chicago. 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 relationship between the Anglo-Saxon poem and the "Hrólfs Saga Kraka", and has involved special consideration of two portions of the saga, namely, the "Bǫðvarsþáttr", and the "Fróðaþáttr", and such portions of the early literature in England and the Scandinavian countries as seem to bear some relationship 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 "Hrólfssaga" and some of the other compositions in question came to assume the form in which we now find them. Thus these results assist us in determining the extent to which the saga and the "Bjarkarímur" are related to "Beowulf". Preface I Introductory 1 Bibliography and Abbreviations 3 The Relation of the Hrólfs Saga Kraka and Bjarkarímur to Beowulf I. Bǫðvarsþáttr 7 II. Fróðaþáttr 61 III. General Summary 98