Ynglingatal
Royal family tree of the Ynglingatal
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Ynglingatal is a family tree of the rulers of a royal family known as the Ynglinger , noted in the old Scandinavian meter Kviðuháttr . This legend was the model for the Ynglingasaga section in Snorri Sturluson 's Heimskringla work .
origin
The original version will come from Þjóðólfr ór Hvini , who based his writing on earlier traditions. Þjóðólfr dedicated his work to the little king Ragnvald, who was otherwise not historically documented , a presumed cousin of Harald I. The Norwegian kings wanted to derive their origins from the Swedish kings of the Ynglingers in Old Uppsala down to the old gods. So Þjóðólfr's poetry is a propaganda work for his ruler, which lowers his credibility. Especially the connection with the gods has no scientific use today. It should also be remembered that many of the events described took place several centuries ago and were passed down orally.
Dating
There was extensive debate about the content of the Ynglingatal. For a long time there has been a healthy skepticism towards the people who are described in the poetry. On the other hand, the date of the record around the year 900 was long considered fixed.
The Norwegian researcher C. Krag was of the opinion in the 1990s that the Ynglingatal must have arisen significantly later than was previously assumed. He based his view on a number of anachronisms that he believed he could identify, for example that the author was already familiar with the Greek four-element theory, but that knowledge of it could only be made probable for the 12th century. Euhemerism, according to which the gods were originally kings, cannot be assumed for the 9th century either. Krag's point of view found broader support around the time the Swedish National Encyclopedia was being written, and so this dating was carried over into the corresponding article.
However, there are a number of facts that speak against this late dating. If poetry were a later propaganda work, the list would end with a more important king than Ragnvald. Places appear in the text where archaeological material has shown that they were of great importance in the pre -Viking era , but not beyond. Consequently, these would not have been mentioned in a later poem. C. D. Sapp names linguistic evidence for dating to the 10th or possibly 11th century.
O. Sundquist explains that Krag disregards clear signs of the Ynglingatal such as place names, personal names and kennings , which she connects with the Swedish literary tradition. Cultural phenomena such as the king as the keeper of holy places or the memory of an elite of mounted warriors can be traced back to the Vendel era. Sundquist's conclusion is that Tjordolf composed his work in the 10th century according to an existing Swedish tradition.
If that is correct, then Krag's train of thought should be carried out in reverse: his “anachronisms” would then prove that scholars had access to the knowledge available on the continent much earlier than previously assumed.
Related poetry
The Ynglingatal is best known from the first part of the Heimskringla by Snorri Sturlusons , which was written about 300 years later, but which is written in prose . The latter is likely based on an oral retelling of the original poetry. Snorri's work can be incomplete. He reports that the list contains 31 regents and only lists 27 of them himself.
The Historia Norwegiæ , made in the 12th century by a Norwegian monk, contains mostly the same facts.
Historical source value
In connection with other sources, the Ynglingatal has some historical uses. From the kings of the 6th century onwards , the correspondence with other texts increased. For example, some people can be found in the English Beowulf and in French chronicles. It is noticeable here that there are sometimes inconsistencies in the order of rulers between the individual texts. Even the last sections of the family tree have different information in Icelandic sources.
literature
- The article is mainly a translation of the corresponding article on the Swedish language Wikipedia from May 13, 2006 . The following sources are mentioned here:
- Åkerlund, W. Studier över Ynglingatal (Lund 1939).
- Janson, H. Templum nobilissimum (Göteborg 1998).
- Dómaldi's Death and the Myth of Sacral Kingship, i J. Lindow et al. (Red.), Structure and Meaning in Old Norse Literature (Odense 1986).
- Krag, C. Ynglingatal and Ynglingesaga: en study i historiske kilder (Oslo 1991).
- Magerøy, H. 'Ynglingatal', in Kulturhistoriskt lexikon för nordisk medeltid 20 (Malmö 1976), pp. 362-63.
- Sapp, CD Dating Ynglingatal. Chronological Metrical Developments in Kviduhattr , Scandinavian Studies 2002: 2, pp. 85-98
- Schück, H. De senaste undersökningarna rörande ynglingasagan [Svensk] Historisk tidskrift 1895: 1, pp. 39–88.
- Sundquist, O. Freyr's offspring. Rulers and religion in ancient Svea society . (2004)
- Wallette, A. Sagans svenskar (Malmö 2004).
- Claus Krag : Ynglingatal . In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . No. 34 . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-018389-4 , pp. 385 ff .
Web links
- Ynglingatal in Old Norse, from the “Project Norwegian Texts and Songs”, Norway.
- Two further variants of the Old Norse text