Introductory
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 Bọðvarsþáttr, 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.
As the field under consideration has been the object of investigation by a number of scholars, much that otherwise would need to be explained to prepare the way for what is to be presented lies ready at hand, and this is used as a foundation on which to build further.
In order to give the reader who is interested in the subject, but has not made a special study of it, an idea of the problems involved, and the solutions that have been offered, the discussion is preceded by a brief summary of the principal conclusions reached by various scholars.
Bibliography and Abbreviations
Aarb.—Aarböger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1894.
Ark.—Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi.
Ang.—Anglia.
Ant. Tid.—Antiquarisk Tidsskrift.
Beow.—Beowulf. The line numbering used is that of A.J. Wyatt’s edition.
Beow., Child—Beowulf and the Finnesburh Fragment, translated by C.G. Child, 1904.
Beow. Stud.—Beowulf-Studien, by Gregor Sarrazin, 1888.
Beow. Unt.—Beowulf, Untersuchungen, by Bernhard ten Brink, 1888.
Beow. Unt. Ang.—Beowulf, Untersuchungen über das angelsächsische Epos und die älteste Geschichte der germanischen Seevölker, by Karl Müllenhoff, 1889.
Camb. Hist. Lit.—The Cambridge History of English Literature.
Chron.—Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by Raphael Holinshed, edition of 1808.
Helt.—Danmarks Heltedigtning, by Axel Otrik, vol. I, 1903; vol. II, 1910.
Dan. Nor. Rig.—Danske og norske Riger paa de britiske Öer i Danevældens Tidsalder, by Johannes C.H. Steenstrup, 1882.
Eng. Nov.—The Development of the English Novel, by Wilbur L. Cross, 1914.
Dictionary of National Biography.
Eng. Stud.—Englische Studien.
Ext. Ch. Rol.—Extraits de la Chanson de Roland, by Gaston Paris, 1912.
Gest. Dan.—Gesta Danorum, by Saxo Grammaticus, edited by A. Holder, 1886.
Elton’s Saxo—The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, translated by Oliver Elton, 1894.
Gesch. Alteng. Lit.—Geschichte der altenglischen Litteratur, by Alois Brandl (Paul’s Grundriss der germanischen Philologie, 1908).
Heimsk.—Heimskringla, eller Norges Kongesagaer, by Snorre Sturlasson, edited by C.R. Unger, 1868.
Hist. Reg. Wald.—Historia Regis Waldei, by Johannes Bramis, edited by R. Imelmann, 1912.
Hist. Mer.—Historia Meriadoci, edited by J.D. Bruce, 1913.
Hrs. Bjark.—Hrólfs Saga Kraka og Bjarkarímur, edited by Finnur Jónsson. 1904.
Icel. Leg.—Icelandic Legends, collected by Jón Arnason, translated by George E. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, 1864.
Mort. d’Arth.—Morte d’Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory, Globe edition, 1871.
Norroen Fornkvæði, edited by Sophus Bugge, 1867.
Nor. Tales—Norse Fairy Tales, selected and adapted from the translations of Sir George Webbe Dasent, 1910.
Folk. Huld. Even.—Norske Folke-og Huldre-Eventyr i Udvalg, by P. Chr. Asbjörnsen, revised edition by Moltke Moe, 1910.
Event. Sagn—Norske Folkeeventyr og Sagn, by O.T. Olsen, 1912.
Nor. Hist.—Det norske Folks Historie, by P.A. Munch, 1852.
Sagn—Norske Sagn, Christiania, 1902.
Notes, Beow.—Notes on Beowulf, by Thomas Arnold, 1898.
Oldn. Lit. Hist.—Den oldnorske og oldislandske Litteraturs Historie, by Finnur Jónsson.
Grundr.—Paul’s Grundriss der germanischen Philologie.
P. B. B.—Paul and Braune’s Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur.
Pop. Tales—Popular Tales from the North, by George Webbe Dasent, 1859.
P. M. L. A.—Publications of the Modern Language Association of America.
Grettis.—The Saga of Grettir the Strong, Everyman’s Library.
Sc. Folkl.—Scandinavian Folk-lore, by William A. Craigie, 1896.
Sc. Rer. Dan.—Scriptores Rerum Danicarum, edited by Jakob Langebek, 1772.
Macb.—Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth, edited by William J. Rolfe, 1905.
_Skjs.—_Skjọldungasaga (Aarböger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1894).
Sn. Ed.—Snorri Sturluson, Edda, edited by Finnur Jónsson, 1900.
St. germ. Sag.—Studien zur germanischen Sagengeschichte; I Beowulf, by Friedrich Panzer, 1910.
St. Sag. Eng—Studien zur Sagengeschichte Englands; I Teil, Die Wikingersagen, by Max Deutschbein, 1906.
Vọlsungasaga (Fornaldarsogur Norðrlanda, edited by Valdimar Asmundarson, vol. I, 1891).
Widsith (The Oldest English Epic—Beowulf, Widsith, etc.—translated by Francis B. Gummere, 1909).
Yel. Fair. Bk.—The Yellow Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang.