Chapter I: Preface

It was at the suggestion of Professor John M. Manly that I took up the study which has resulted in the following dissertation, and from him I have received much encouragement and valuable assistance on numerous occasions. I have profited by suggestions received from Professor Tom Peete Cross and Professor James R. Hulbert; and Professor Chester N. Gould has been unstinting in his kindness in permitting me to draw on his knowledge of the Old Norse language and literature. In addition to the aid received from these gentlemen, professors in the University of Chicago, I have received bibliographical information and helpful suggestions from Professor Frederick Klaeber, of the University of Minnesota; I have been aided in various ways by Professor George T. Flom, of the University of Illinois, particularly in preparing the manuscript for the press; and from others I have had assistance in reading proof. To all these gentlemen I am very grateful, and I take this opportunity to extend to them my sincere thanks.

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 _B[o.]ðvarsþáttr_, 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.--_Skj[o.]ldungasaga (_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.

_V[o.]lsungasaga (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.

CONTENTS.

Preface I

Introductory 1

Bibliography and Abbreviations 3

The Relation of the Hrólfs Saga Kraka and the Bjarkarímur to Beowulf

I B[o.]ðvarsþáttr 7

II Fróðaþáttr 61

III General Summary 98

THE RELATION OF THE HRÓLFS SAGA KRAKA AND THE BJARKARÍMUR TO BEOWULF.