Gesta Danorum

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Title page of the editio princeps Danorum Regum heroumque Historia published by Christiern Pedersen in Paris in 1514
Saxo's original manuscript with personal additions Danish Royal Library , Copenhagen

Gesta Danorum ("The Deeds of the Danes") is a large-scale history of Denmark written in Latin, written around 1200 by the Danish clergyman Saxo Grammaticus . The work is considered to be one of the most important sources for early Danish-Nordic history and as an important testimony to the processing of Danish-Nordic gods and heroic legends in the context of a " national history ".

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Books 1–8 represent the legendary prehistory of the Danes . The historical part (books 9–16) goes back to the reign of Knut VI. (1185). A German translation of the historical part, in particular of the 14th book with its references to the history of Mecklenburg , does not exist.

Denmark is portrayed as a venerable kingdom, a country with clearly defined borders, a uniform language and common customs, whose history shows continuity despite the interruptions due to civil wars and whose inhabitants are united by an awareness of a common past and cultural identity.

In addition, the Gesta Danorum also serve to justify the warfare of King Waldemar I against the Slavs ( Abodrites and Rans ). Saxo describes the turns derogatory, he emphasizes their otherness. The Danes are portrayed as devout Christians, as innocent victims of Slavic pirate attacks. The Slavs, on the other hand, appear as pagan, as murderous barbarians at the level of wild animals, who first had to be tamed by Waldemar I and his warriors and then by Christian missionaries. To illustrate the evil character of the Slavs, Saxo describes the destruction caused by the Slavic raids on the Danish coasts, in particular on the islands of Lolland and Falster opposite the Abodritic coast .

Editions

Latin text

  • Saxonis Gesta Danorum. Primum a C. Knabe & P. ​​Herrmann recensita. Recognoverunt et ed. J. Olrik & H. Raeder. Hauniae: Levin & Munksgaard, 1931 (Volume 1: Text); 1957 (Volume 2: Index) Online older edition

Latin text with Danish translation

  • Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien . Edited by Karsten Friis-Jensen, Danish translation by Peter Zeeberg. Copenhagen 2005. New authoritative edition and Danish translation

Latin text with English translation

  • Karsten Friis-Jensen (editor) and Peter Fisher (translator): Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum The History of the Danes . 2 Vol. Oxford 2015. Vol. 1 (books IX)

German translations

  • Paul Herrmann : Explanations of the first nine books of the Danish history of the Saxo Grammaticus.
Volume 1: Translation. Leipzig: Engelmann 1901. ( Digitized  - Internet Archive )
Volume 2: Commentary: The heroic sagas of Saxo Grammaticus. Leipzig: Engelmann 1922.
  • Gesta Danorum. Myths and legends of the famous medieval historian Saxo Grammaticus. Translated, retold and commented by Hans-Jürgen Hube. Wiesbaden: Marix-Verlag 2004. ISBN 3-937715-41-X . ( only partial edition )

Secondary literature

  • Lars Hermanson: Vänskap som politisk ideologi i Saxo Grammaticus “Gesta Danorum” , in: Historisk tidskrift 123 (2003), pp. 527-543.
  • Niels Henrik Holmqvist-Larsen: Saxo Grammaticus in Danish historical writing and literature , in: Brian Patrick McGuire (Ed.): The Birth of Identities. Denmark and Europe in the Middle Ages, Copenhagen 1996, pp. 161-188.
  • Kurt Johannesson: Saxo Grammaticus. Composition och världsbild i Gesta Danorum , Stockholm 1978.
  • Lars Boje Morensen: Saxo. (100 damarkshistorier), Århus 2018.
  • Tore Nyberg (Ed.): Saxo and the Baltic region: a symposium. Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag 2004 (University of Southern Denmark studies in history and social sciences, Vol. 275), ISBN 87-7838-928-3 .
  • Thomas Riis: Introduction to the Gesta Danorum of the Saxo Grammaticus. (University of Southern Denmark studies in history and social sciences, Vol. 276), Odense 2006.
  • Birgit Sawyer: Saxo Grammaticus and Gesta Danorum , in: Anton Scharer / Georg Scheibelreiter (eds.): Historiography in the early Middle Ages, (publications of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research, Vol. 32), Vienna 1994, pp. 531-538.
  • Horst-Diether Schroeder: The "Gesta Danorum" of the Saxo Grammaticus , in: Das Altertum 14 (1968), pp. 103-115.
  • Eva Valvo: Struttura e composizione dei Gesta Danorum. Interpretazioni a confronto , in: Giornale italiano di filologia 54 (2002), pp. 249-263.
  • Ruprecht Volz: Gesta Danorum in Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Volume III, Sp. 1422ff.

Web links

Commons : Gesta Danorum  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Explanations of the first nine books of the Danish history of the Saxo Grammaticus  - sources and full texts