Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus (Illustrated)
Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus (Illustrated)

Author: Saxo Grammaticus

Publisher: Delphi Classics

Published: 2024-07-07

Total Pages: 1488

ISBN-13: 1801701997

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Saxo Grammaticus was a twelfth century historian, who composed a heroic history of Denmark, known under its Latin title ‘Gesta Danorum’ (Deeds of the Danes). The first eight books deal with mythical elements such as giants and the Scandinavian pantheon of gods. It tells of Dan the first king of Denmark and his brother Angul, who would give his name to the Angles. Saxo also provides the earliest known source for the revenge story of Amleth, which would later influence Shakespeare’s Hamlet. ‘Gesta Danorum’ remains an incredibly important work of European literature, providing an essential source for Denmark’s early history. Delphi’s Medieval Library provides eReaders with rare and precious works of the Middle Ages, with noted English translations and the original texts. This eBook presents the first nine books of Saxo’s history, as well as the complete Latin text, with illustrations, an informative introduction and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) Please note: Oliver Elton only translated Books I-IX of ‘Gesta Danorum’; there are no translations of the later books in the public domain. When new texts become available, they will be added to the eBook as a free update. * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Saxo’s life and works * Feature’s Oliver Elton’s 1905 translation * Features the complete original Latin text of ‘Gesta Danorum’ * Concise introduction to the text * Excellent formatting * Easily locate the sections you want to read with individual contents tables * Features a bonus biography — discover Saxo’s medieval world CONTENTS: The Translation Gesta Danorum (Books I-IX) The Original Text Contents of the Latin Text The Biography Introduction to Saxo Grammaticus (1905) by Oliver Elton

Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum

Author: Saxo (Grammaticus)

Publisher: Oxford Medieval Texts

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 874

ISBN-13: 0198205236

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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.

Gesta Danorum - Deeds of the Danes
Gesta Danorum - Deeds of the Danes

Author: Saxo Grammaticus

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2016-02-14

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 1329902831

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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.

Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus

Author: André Muceniecks

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9781641899413

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"The twelfth to thirteenth centuries in Denmark were a time of transition, particularly in the context of the Northern Crusades. The Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus, a Danish cleric, was for several centuries an official and referential history in Denmark. Initially written under the commission of Archbishop Absolom, its sixteen books are traditionally divided into two parts, arbitrarily called "mythic" (books 1-9) and "historical" (books 10-16). The scheme of the Four Cardinal Virtues, first studied by Kurt Johanesson, provides referential and structural values, while what André Muceniecks terms the theme of the Counselor covers a principal narrative "kernel," inserted after the previously mentioned values as political conceptions and fundamental ideas. It is not sufficient for the king to be strong; he needs to be wise, and have a wiser man to guide him, here represented by the Archbishopric. By interweaving this with the context, Muceniecks identifies a defense of hierocratic conceptions, even in books where Christianity is absent. The Gesta also defines a Danish hegemonic project in the Baltic, under guidance from the Archbishopric, grounded in the crusade movements. Such movements are presented through complex language and imagery about a glorious past brought to bear on the projects in the thirteenth century while internal tensions strengthen the monarchic and ecclesiastical institutions."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

The Nine Books of the Danish History
The Nine Books of the Danish History

Author: Saxo Grammaticus

Publisher:

Published: 2012-01-04

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9781468173673

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Originally titled Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") this book is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Learned.") It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history. Consisting of sixteen books written in Latin, Gesta Danorum describes Danish history and to some degree Scandinavian history in general, from prehistory to the late 12th century. In addition, Gesta Danorum offers singular reflections on European affairs from a unique Scandinavian perspective, supplementing what has been handed down by historians from Western and Southern Europe. This current volume presents Oliver Elton's English translation of the first nine books of Saxo's work, which focus on Norse Mythology. Included as well are over 50 pages of introductory material by Frederick Powell and all of the original illustrations from the 1905 edition of the book. This book is 338-pages.

The Danish History
The Danish History

Author: Saxo Grammaticus

Publisher:

Published: 2021-02-23

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13:

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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.

The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000-1300)
The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000-1300)

Author: Lars Boje Mortensen

Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9788763504072

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Mythology is usually reserved for non-Christian religions. However, the adoption of Christianity in Northern and East-Central Europe between c. 1000 and 1300 can be adequately described as a myth-making process: local saints were added to the Christian pantheon in all regions entering Latin Europe. The present collection explores the links between local sanctity and the making of national myths in medieval historical writing. By bringing together specialists in history and literature of the European periphery in question, the case is made that the writing of history and saints lives from this pioneering period should been analysed together as mainly successful attempts at creating cultural foundation myths.

Princesses Behaving Badly
Princesses Behaving Badly

Author: Linda Rodriguez McRobbie

Publisher: Quirk Books

Published: 2013-11-19

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 1594746656

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These 30 true stories of take-charge princesses from around the world and throughout history offer a different kind of bedtime story . . . Pop history meets a funny, feminist point-of-view in these illustrated tales of “royal terrors who make modern gossip queens seem as demure as Snow White” (New York Post). You think you know her story. You’ve read the Brothers Grimm, you’ve watched the Disney cartoons, and you cheered as these virtuous women lived happily ever after. But real princesses didn’t always get happy endings—and had very little in common with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, or Ariel. Featuring illustrations by Wicked cover artist, Douglas Smith, Princesses Behaving Badly tells the true stories of famous (Marie Antoinette; Lucrezia Borgia)—and some not-so-famous—princesses throughout history and around the world, including: • Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe, a Nazi spy. • Empress Elisabeth of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who slept wearing a mask of raw veal. • Princess Olga of Kiev, who slaughtered her way to sainthood. • Princess Lakshmibai, who waged war on the battlefield with her toddler strapped to her back. Some were villains, some were heroes, some were just plain crazy. But none of these princesses felt constrained to our notions of “lady-like” behavior.