Description
Book SynopsisInvestigates the relationship between two texts separated by hundreds of years and nearly two thousand miles.In the saga, Grettir fights a giant who wields a
hepti-sax; in the poem, Beowulf uses a
hæft-mece on Grendel's mother. These two unique words for "hafted blade" appear to be related. Can the same be said for the works that surround them? This book says yes, arguing not that the weapons have a common origin, nor that their likeness is a coincidence, but that
Grettis saga has borrowed from
Beowulf. The case for a textual loan begins in the context of England's connection with Denmark in the reign of Cnut the Great (1016-35). This book argues that Cnut took an interest in Scyld and the Scyldings of
Beowulf and that his skalds transformed these names into "Skjoldr" and the "Skjoldungar". The
Beowulf manuscript is placed in Lichfield in 1017, with the suggestion that it was commissioned by Eadric Streona as a gift for Earl Thorkell of Skåne. It is proposed that in 1159 a copy of
Beowulf was brought from Lincoln to Iceland to serve the interests of a family that claimed descent from Skjoldr, that in the 1180s the poem influenced
Skjoldunga saga, and that in the 1190s
Beowulf went north to Þingeyrar abbey, where Oddr the Monk, author of
Grettis saga, used it to enhance Grettir's fights with Glámr and the trolls of Bárðardalr. This is a daring book that sheds new light on the circulation of
Beowulf, on questions of dating and patronage, and on the authorship of
Grettis saga.
