The History of the Danes: Commentary PDF Download

Author: Saxo (Grammaticus)
Publisher: D. S. Brewer
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Author: Saxo (Grammaticus)
Publisher: DS Brewer
ISBN: 9780859915021
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
In the early years of the thirteenth century the Danish writer Saxo Grammaticus provided his people with a History of the Danes, an account of their glorious past from the legendary kings and heroes of Denmark to the historical present. It isone of the major sources for the heroic and mythological traditions of northern Europe, though the complex Latin style and the wide range of material brought together from different sources have limited its use. Here Hilda Ellis Davidson, a specialist in Scandinavian mythology, together with the translator Peter Fisher, provides a full English edition; each of the first nine books is preceded by an introductory summary, and a detailed commentary follows on the folklore and life and customs of twelfth-century Denmark - including the sources of Hamlet, of which Saxo gives the earliest known account. HILDA ELLIS DAVIDSON's other books include The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England; PETER FISHER is also the translator of Olaus Magnus: A Description of the Northern Peoples. Both are available from Boydell & Brewer. `In the early years of the 13th century the Danish writer Saxo Grammaticus provided his people with a dignified and ambitious Latin account of their glorious past from the mythical past to the historical present -(He) collected the legends of Scandinavian gods and heroes, and arranged their exploits in a series of `biographies' which ostensibly formed an unbroken sequence. He took his tales from a variety of sources, and readers will find his collection of myths, folklore and fabulous history fascinating - An accurate and readable translation of the nine mythological books based on the best scholarly edition'. RUTH MORSE, BRITISH BOOK NEWS.

Author: Saxo Grammaticus
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1329902831
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Gesta Danorum - Deeds of the Danes In the early years of the thirteenth century the Danish writer Saxo Grammaticus provided his people with a History of the Danes, an account of their glorious past from the legendary kings and heroes of Denmark to king Gorm. It is one of the major sources for the heroic and mythological traditions of northern Europe, though the complex Latin style and the wide range of material brought together from different sources have limited its use.

Author: Saxo (Grammaticus)
Publisher: Oxford Medieval Texts
ISBN: 0198205236
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 874

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Book Description
Saxo was probably a canon of Lund Cathedral, at that period a Danish cathedral, and lived at the end of the twelfth century. He was in the service of Archbishop Absalon, who encouraged him to write a history of his own country from the beginnings up to his own time, with a strong Christian bias. Starting with the myths and heroic tales of primitive Scandinavia, he devoted the first nine of his sixteen books to legendary material before dealing with the first kings of the Viking age and finished in 1285, after relating the earlier exploits of King Cnut Valdemarsson. The activities of the Danish kings were intimately bound up with the monarchies of Norway and Sweden; Cnut the Great, one of Saxo's heroes, whose empire stretched as far as Britain and Iceland, was ruler of both these countries. In the last books Saxo took particular concern to describe the campaigns of Valdemar the Great and his warrior archbishop, Absalon, against the Wends of North Germany. The work is a prosimetrum, that is, in six of the first nine books he inserts poems, which are intended to parallel specimens of old Danish heroic poetry in Latin metres. Saxo's Latin prose style is often complex, based as it is on models like Valerius Maximus and Martianus Capella, but he is a lively and compelling story-teller, often displaying a rather sly sense of humour, and an interest in the supernatural. He is the first author to give a full account of Hamlet, whose adventures he relates at some length, the elements of which in a great many respects correspond surprisingly closely with the characters and incidents of Shakespeare's play. Volume I of Saxo Grammaticus contains an introduction from the editor, and the first ten books of Saxo's work.

Author: Saxo Grammaticus
Publisher: Alan Rodgers Books
ISBN: 9781598185607
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Saxo Grammaticus, who's believed to have lived from 1150 until 1220 (though the dates are uncertain), wrote a sixteen-volume history of the Denmark that he lived in. Volumes X through XVI (oddly -- or perhaps not so oddly -- written first) are a conventional history of Saxo's day and age. But the first the volumes are the stuff of myth and legend, delightful tales of mythic Norse persons and circumstances. This book is comprised of those mythic volumes, and it's special stuff indeed.

Author: Saxo Grammaticus
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Now Dan and Angul, with whom the stock of the Danes begins, were begotten of Humble, their father, and were the governors and not only the founders of our race. (Yet Dudo, the historian of Normandy, considers that the Danes are sprung and named from the Danai.) And these two men, though by the wish and favour of their country they gained the lordship of the realm, and, owing to the wondrous deserts of their bravery, got the supreme power by the consenting voice of their countrymen, yet lived without the name of king: the usage whereof was not then commonly resorted to by any authority among our people. Of these two, Angul, the fountain, so runs the tradition, of the beginnings of the Anglian race, caused his name to be applied to the district which he ruled. This was an easy kind of memorial wherewith to immortalise his fame: for his successors a little later, when they gained possession of Britain, changed the original name of the island for a fresh title, that of their own land.

Author: Edgar Wallace Knight
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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This volume is an excellent description of the more important forces that have made Denmark one of the most highly civilized and enlightened nations of the world--a nation in which the problems of town and country cooperation have been solved better than anywhere else in the world. Originally published in 1927. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Author: Oliver 1861-1945 Elton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781362351283
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 574

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Author: Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 9780851157160
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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This study concerns the importance of the sword in Anglo-Saxon and Viking society, with reference to surviving swords and literary sources, especially Beowulf.

Author: Carmen Agra Deedy
Publisher: Cats Whiskers
ISBN: 9781903012505
Category : Children's stories
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
This powerful and dignified story of heroic justice is a story for all people and all times. The book tells the legend of King Christian X of Denmark. The ruling of the Nazis that all Danish jews would have to display a yellow star on their clothes frightened the Danes and their King. He sought for guidance in the starry night sky, and came up with a very simple answer. Everyone, himself included, would wear a yellow star. The book's focused and simplified approach allows children to be exposed to an unpleasant subject without feeling threatened. The seamless interaction between the illustrations and the text make this a fascinating and thought-provoking piece of work.