The Edda's - From the Desk of Snorri Sturluson

The Edda's, a Heathens primary source of mythic information. Most of what we know today of the Gods, their worlds and their adventures is found in the Edda's, and lets be real we wouldn't have the works of J.R.R. Tolkien if not for them and that alone should raise the importance of this work 10 fold.

I'll start by saying what this isn't. This isn't a biography on the very interesting life of famed lawmaker Snorri Sturluson (read 'Songs of the Vikings' by Nancy Marie Brown for that, it's excellent). This isn't an examination of translations we read today, the Christian influence or detailing and examining the contents of the poems themselves. It's merely an overview of where and when they came from, mainly for a couple of reasons; I think there is already a healthy discussion out there about the politics of the myths and detailing all that nuance is one hell of a job, and I'm not getting paid to do this, and there seems to be a confusion or lack of clarity of the timeline of the manuscripts, at least for me anyway. Perhaps I'm just an idiot (probable) but it seemed extremely difficult to understand the timeline of the creation of the Edda's and what fed into what. 

While this isn't about Saxo, I think its important to note that The History of the Danes was being written somewhere between 1185 and 1222, roughly the same time as Snorri's first cut of his Edda. There doesnt appear to be any evidence that they ever corresponded or met, and despite writing about the same subject matter, they seem to share very little in common with the exception of the idea of euhemerised Gods. Saxo and his work is still a highly regarded and important source, but it is a very different one of that of the Edda's, and that is a topic for another post.

There is a whole discussion about what Snorri may have done when interpreting the source material and what and how much was inserted and borrowed from unrelated sources. However, for now this is just a "simple" understanding of the history of the vellums that they are written on. The politics of the myths is for another discussion. So with that aside, lets dive in.


Cover page from Sæmundar Edda 1760

Lets set the scene, give this the appropriate historical backdrop for the 100 odd years when the Edda's came to be, because it sometimes seems that people either think they are way older than they are, or way younger. It was approximately 200 years after the end of the Viking age which alone is rather significant, thats like writing about the American revolution now - with no internet *gasp*. Crusades were cruising, Constantinople was captured for the first time, Genghis Khan was running amok in China, Marco Polo created that cool game for the pool, The Magna Carta had just been signed and the French and the English were flipping each other off, there was a civil war Iceland, and Mel Gibson led the Scots to cosplay as Avatars, just to name a few events. Lots of stuff was happening. Amongst all that, Snorri and a bunch of literate nerds were creating something special. The Edda's.

What the fuck is an 'Edda' anyway, I wont beat around the bush here, nobody really knows with any certainty. There's plenty of discussion out there on the meaning and etymology of the word, and I will leave that to you the reader to come to your own conclusions and to the experts to discuss. Ultimately what it means has no real value because it has found it's own meaning amongst modern Heathens, historians and literacy nerds alike.

Below I will attempt with my layman's mind and skill to summarise what we know about the Edda's and the principal manuscripts that surround them in an attempt to paint a clear picture because I dont know about you, but I found it so confusing when trying to understand whats what, where it came from and when it was written. As for why so much of it is by 'Unknown Author', it seems people just weren't big on signing their work back then. Iceland and most of what was 'pre-Christian' Scandanvia had only just become literate (over the last 100 years or so) so it just wasn't something people did. Snorri didnt even sign his own Edda, this was found much later.

Before we begin, here is my feeble attempt to illustrate all of this in one picture. Graphic design is not my passion and I fucking hate it.

this took me hours to do and it still sucks

The Sources

Ok so we have to start with this as it contains all the abbreviations that I will refer to further on. The biggest challenge of writing this down is the format and what goes where because fuck me this is tough. Also to note, there are other manuscripts that contain copies of the various poems of both the Eddas, especially post 16th century, but I'll be focusing on what is considered the primary manuscripts and not the many others that unfortunately do still influence our translations today. That said, buckle up, let's get nerdy.

The content of what makes up the Prose Edda dates from c1220 all the way through to the 1600's coming from 4 primary manuscripts, and several supplementary ones. With each iteration borrowing from the previous and filling the gaps of missing or destroyed segments or entire pages. With that there are changes. What are deliberate alterations, corrections from previous mistakes or transcription errors is up for debate, but leaves translators of the modern Prose Edda several primary sources to work from spanning 300 years, as well as the later secondary sources.

The content of the Poetic Edda is a little more straightforward (lol) as the primary source is one manuscript, with bits and pieces from others, but there is far less iteration of the primary manuscript that it's sourced from. 

The letters at the start of the manuscripts basically identify the collection they are a part of:

  • GKS - Gammel kongelig Samling
    • Norwegian for Old Royal Collection
  • NKS - Nye Kongelige Samling
    • Dutch for The new royal collection
  • DG - Delagardieska Samlingen
    • Swedish for the Delagardian Collection
  • AM - Accepted Manuscript
    • The accepted manuscript (AM) is defined as the version of a manuscript accepted for publication after peer review.
  • DAS - Den arnamagnæanske samling
    • Dutch for The Arnamagnæan Collection
  • JS - Jóns Sigurðssonar
Where possible I have linked to the scans of the documents, and given the following tags to identify the sources, and links to the poems where a direct readable text version is available.
  • [SP] - The Skaldic Project
  • [ONP] - Dictionary of Old Norse Prose hosted by the University of Copenhagen
  • [MS] - manuscript.is / handrit.is

Snorri's Orginal Edda - (c1220)

This is when Snorri put pen to paper, or quill to parchment I dont fucking know, whatever they used.

Unfortunately this no longer exists, so we will never see this for ourselves, with the earliest iteration we have of Snorri's Edda transcribed nearly 100 years later in *checks notes* the Codex Regius.... But not that one. FFS. 

Prose Edda Codex Regius is GKS 2367 4° [SP]

Poetic Edda Codex Regius is GKS 2365 4° [SP] 

Snorri's original text has not survived so there is not too much to say here, moving on.

[R] Codex Regius (Poetic) - GKS 2365 4º [SP] - (c1270)

'Kings Book'

Author: Unknown

The primary source for what we know as the Poetic Edda, made up of 45 pages (vellum leaves) though the original text is said to have had 53 and the missing 8 pages (referred to as the 'Great Lacuna') are theorised to contain the last poem of Sigurðarkviða consisting of 22 stanzas. Translators and transcribers have filled the missing gaps in the poem by referring to Snorri's Volsunga saga (Heimskringla).

What is the often misconception that Snorri drew his sources from this manuscript, however it's more accurate to say that both Snorri and the unknown authors of the Codex Regius (poetic) sourced information from earlier manuscripts and oral stories, and very likely the authors and transcribers of the the pages of the Codex Regius (poetic) were at least aware of Snorri's work, as by this time he had completed his Edda as well as the Heimskringla and Egils saga, it's very possible they used his writings and research when putting together one of the most important manuscripts we have. 

We will discuss the contents of this manuscript below, but it does indeed contain poems.

The Codex Regius is considered the most comprehensive collection of old Norse poetry, and while it doesn't directly contain Snorri's Edda, they share the same primary sources. 

The name Codex Regius, or 'Kings Book' is due to the manuscript being a gift to the then King of Denmark, Christian IV from Bishop Brynjólfur in 1662, 19 years after its discovery in 1643. Where it was prior to this is a mystery.

[Rs] Codex Regius (Prose) - GKS 2367 4° [SP] - (c1300-1325)

Also 'Kings Book'

Author: Unknown

FUCK THIS SHIT, WHY DIDNT THEY GIVE IT A DIFFERENT NAME!

This also gets the abbreviation [R], but I am going to go against academia here for the sake of clarity and refer to it as [Rs] (Regius Snorri).

This is considered the most complete manuscript of Snorri's Edda and closest to Snorri's original and is made up of 55 pages (vellum leaves) and is commonly used in modern translations of the Prose Edda.

It contains these poems, with the last 2 skaldic poems not part of the modern Prose Edda.

This is also called Codex Regius ('Kings Book') because as mentioned above, it was part of the same gift to the King of Denmark in 1642, and the Royal Danish Library catalogued in the same folder, despite it being a very different document. Boomer librarians saving everything to the desktop vibes. It was returned to Iceland in 1985 along with the other Codex Regius where it remains today.

me at the Danish Library.

[U] Codex Upsaliensis - DG 11 [SP] - (c1300-1325)

'Uppsala Book'

Author: Unknown

This is considered (although debated) the oldest surviving complete manuscript of Snorri's Edda, although some say [Rs] may be the oldest, either way its the dating between this and [Rs] is within the same quarter century and feels like splitting hairs. 

The original manuscript is a bit shorter than the translation we have today as over time has been extended and added to from other sources, primarily [Rs]. This is also the only written evidence we have that Snorri actually authored the Prose Edda with a note from the transcriber crediting Snorri for the work.

This manuscript has also been translated in full by Anthony Faulkes titled 'The Uppsala Edda'

It contains the following poems:

  • Prologue 
  • Skáldskaparmál
  • Skáldatal
  • Ragnarsdrápa
  • Önnur málfræðiritgerðin
  • Málfrœðiritgerðirnar
  • Háttatal

It does have this cool as fuck picture in it - click here for more info;

The Swedish King Gylfi, who is in disguise as Gangleri, presumably in the presence of Óðinn, who is represented in three forms as Þriði, Jafnhárr, and Hárr. This scene is from the Deluding of Gylfi in Gylfaginning in Snorri's Edda.


[W] Codex Wormianus - AM 242 fol [SP] - (c1350)

'Ole Worm's book'

Author: some monk (and not a worm tragically)

Another version of Snorri's Edda, this time transcribed by a monk in the Benedictine monastery 'Þingeyraklaustur' in Þingeyrar in northern Iceland. 

I think we can all agree this is the coolest name of all the manuscripts.

The namesake of this manuscript comes from Ole Worm (1588– 1654) who was a professor in medicine at the University of Copenhagen as well as one of the founders of the scientific study of Nordic antiquities and runes. He was gifted this then rather dark and brown manuscript by Arngrímur Jónsson in 1628. Nearly 100 years later in 1706, Árni Magnússon aquired the manuscript from Ole Worms grandson, Christen Worm. Unhappy with the dark tones of the vellum, Magnússon decided to *checks notes*  wash it in old piss. yes, piss. This was documented in a letter sent to Stephen Stephanius, a Danish history nerd (who was also the current holder of [U] at the time), who was also unhappy with his dark brown manuscript of Grettis saga, and had reached out to Magnússon to ask him how he got his documents so sparkly clean and legible, and yep, as you do, you piss on that thang.

This manuscript contains an extended Prologue which appears in Rasmus Björn Anderson's translation of the Younger Edda (1879) (boy oh boy is this translation full of dog whistles)

More notably this is the only manuscript to preserve the Rígsþula.

It contains all these poems (some fragmented over different pages):

  • Prologue 
  • Gylfaginning
  • Bragaræður
  • Skáldskaparmál
  • Ragnarsdrápa
  • Prologue to the Grammatical Treatises
  • Málfrœðiritgerðirnar
  • The First Grammatical Treatise
  • Önnur málfræðiritgerðin
  • The Third Grammatical Treatise
  • The Fourth Grammatical Treatise
  • Háttatal
  • Rígsþula

More information on this manuscript can be found at the University of Copenhagen's Arnamagnæan Institute.

[Tˣ] Codex Trajectinus - Traj 1374ˣ [SP] - (c1595)

Author: Unknown

Not too much to note here really, a much later wee free transcription, which was also held by Ole Worm, but luckily made it to the Library of Utrecht before it got pissed on. It's simply noted as a "paper copy of a medieval manuscript" and is a much smaller than the previous manuscripts. This is also known as the 'The Utrecht manuscript of the Prose Edda', Utrecht being a town in Denmark. This was a tough one to find too much info on, but it appears Anthony Faulkes has done some variation or translation of it, but other than a reference here and there, I cant seem to find too much else.

It consists of the following 3 poems:

Reference on Faulkes publications page;

(Ed.) Codex Trajectinus. The Utrecht Manuscript of the Prose Edda. Copenhagen
1985 (Early Icelandic Manuscripts in Facsimile XV). 22 + [120] pp.

[A] AM 748 I a 4° [MS] - (c1300)

AM 748 I a 4° is part of the The Arnamagnæan manuscript collection [DAS] which consists of approximately 3000 manuscripts which is named after the Icelandic philologist, urinator of manuscripts, and historian Árni Magnússon.

This manusript contains the following poems:

  • Hárbarðsljóð
  • Baldrs draumar
  • Skírnismál
  • Vafþrúðnismál
  • Grímnismál
  • Hymiskviða
  • Vǫlundarkviða

[H] Hauksbók - c1310

Author: Unknown

Hauksbók is also part of the [DAS] and made up of the following 3 manuscripts, and a whole lot of poems, so click the links if you want to see more.

[F] Flateyjarbók - GKS 1005 fol [SP] (1387 to 1394)

Author: Unknown

Flateyjarbók is another big text, made up of a bunch of other texts. Like a ridiculous amount of other texts, so once again I am asking you to click them links, I aint listing all that here.

[VS] Vǫlsunga saga - NKS 1824 b 4° [SP] (c1400)

Author: Unknown

The Ramsund carving in Sweden dated c1000 that is said to depict the events of this saga. This really doesnt have anything to do with the Edda's directly, but cool stone is very cool.

This manuscript also contains Ragnars saga.

dont invite me to the party if it isnt this cool


Prose Edda | Younger Edda | Snorri's Edda | Edda

Snorri Sturluson c1220 

The Prose Edda is an old norse manual of poetry mostly written by Icelandic lawspeaker, scholar and playboy Snorri Sturluson and was originally composed in 1220.

The primary function of the Prose Edda was to demonstrate poetic meter and composition, and things like the use of heiti and kennings. A big old "skaldic poetry for dummies" while also preserving some of the old stories of the pre-Christian Scandinavians, mainly sourced from the poems that were later written down and end up in what we know today as the Poetic Edda, along with various other unknown sources with a sprinkle of Snorri's imagination and artistic licence.

sup ladies

The Prose Edda is made up of four main sections, but some translations dont include the final section.

The Prologue

Author: Some say Snorri, some say not - debated

The prologue is an interesting one, presumably not sourced from any old Norse poem or tale, but a rather strange introduction to the mysterious of the north. It details a rather Christian flavoured euhemerized account of the old Norse Gods and a peculiar back story involving Odin migrating from Troy (or that Asgard is just a new name for Troy) and a rather not so subtle hint that these myths are borrowed or evolved from old Greek poetry from the Iliad. There are certain academics that believe Snorri didnt write the prologue. and that parts of it were written by unknown authors as well as Snorri's nephew Óláfr Þórðarson.

However, not everyone agrees with that sentiment.

Anthony Faulkes writes in Pagan Sympathy: Attitudes To Heathendom In The Prologue To Snorra Edda, "Undoubtedly one of his motives for including the prologue, and maybe the chief reason for the use of the frame device itself, was to avoid the criticism that his stories were dangerous to orthodoxy."

The contents of this paper is rather illuminating to the understated importance and relevance to what appears to be an out of place beginning.

The Prologue is thought to be a mash up primarily from [Rs] with additions to supplement the missing beginning of [Rs] from [W] and the extended version of [Tˣ]

In addition to Faulkes writing above, I would also recommend his paper The Prologue to Snorra Edda: An Attempt at Reconstruction.

Gylfaginning [Gylf]

'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or the 'The Deluding of Gylfi'

Author: Snorri Sturluson

A back and forth between a Swedish King called Gylfi and three men called 'High', 'Just-As-High' and 'Third' (sucks to be them) who are later to be revealed as Odin.

This scene allows for a narrative of a question and answer type dialog between the King and what we will refer to as Odin from here to inform the reader of the basic knowledge such as the creation of the universe, the history of the Gods and how it may come to end. Gylfaginning doesn't serve as an instruction for skaldic poetry, rather a reference and background on information for content.

Its largely accepted that Gylfaginning is composed (or compiled) by Snorri based on fragments from other poems found in various manuscripts, including details from what most consider the oldest written poem we have - the Völuspá as well as stories about the death of Baldr and Ragnarök.

Skáldskaparmál [Skáld]

'The Language of Poetry' 

Author: Snorri Sturluson

Out of the 7 different manuscripts that this can be found in, Skáldskaparmál is the most varied out of the 4 sections with a substantial difference in the number of stanza's.

[Rs] has 470 stanzas, [Tˣ] has 463 stanzas, [W] has 255 stanzas, [U] 249 has stanzas, [A] has 355 stanzas, [B] has 308 stanzas and [C] has 278 stanzas (see below for manuscript short names).

In full, Skáldskaparmál is made up of 75 chapters and follows a similar structure to Gylfaginning in that it is a two part dialogue setting up a scene for questions and answers to be provided to the ready. This time it is between the two Gods Aegir and Bragi. 

The primary intention of this section as mentioned above is to demonstrate skaldic poetry in phrasing and meter, a list of names, meanings, places, and most importantly kennings and heiti. It also serves as another version of many of the poems from what we see today in the Poetic Edda such as Thorsdrápa, Ragnarsdrápa, Húsdrápa, Bjarkamál and bits and pieces that would later end up in some of Snorri's other work in the sagas, or in some cases the other way round and added later from these sagas. Some of the most well known and notable stories and myths we know are found in this section. 

The source for Skáldskaparmál is thought to have mostly come from oral stories, and is theorised by Faulkes in his translation of the Edda that this work was unfinished when Snorri died in 1241. As mentioned above said gaps were filled by various authors with each extrapolation over the years which is demonstrated with the differences in each manuscript.

Háttatal

'Tally of Metres'

Author: Snorri Sturluson

Closing out the Prose Edda is more of the instructional content. A compilation made up mostly of Snorri's own compositions to use as an example of how to structure the poems of the old Norse skalds. It completes this handbook of poetry so that any budding skald can pick it up, and use the various sections to gather information for content, or instruction on composition. It is often left out of translations, perhaps because it doesn't really offer anything substantially different in relation to the myths themselves.

The Manuscripts of the Prose Edda

Now immediately I am going to confuse you, because most of you probably think there is only one Prose Edda, when in fact there are multiple iterations in a total of nine manuscripts. There are four complete manuscripts and five fragmented or partial manuscripts. This is why some translations differ in content, not just a word here and there as there is multiple source materials to draw from, and lucky for you, you have read the preceding section on the manuscripts and are now well versed in what all these letters and numbers mean... right?

*Leaves are basically pages, made from animals skin

The links below will vary between depending on availibity of scans

  • [SP]:The Skaldic Project
  • [ONP]: Dictionary of Old Norse Prose hosted by the University of Copenhagen

The 4 main manuscripts are;

  • [Rs] Codex Regius - GKS 2367 4° [SP] (c1300) (NOT THE POETIC EDDA ONE)
    • Technically still referred to as R in academia but will refer to it as Rs here for clarity
    • 55 leaves, 470 stanzas
  • [U] Codex Upsaliensis - DG 11 [SP] (c1325)
    • 56 leaves 249 stanzas
  • [W] Codex Wormianus - AM 242 fol [SP] (c1350)
    • 63 leaves, 255 stanzas
  • [Tˣ] Codex Trajectinus (Traj 1374ˣ) [SKP] (c1595)
    • 51 leaves, 463 stanzas

The remaining don't get the sexy Codex name, but are just referred to as;

These 2 are often referenced in some places, but not others, so including for completedness, but honestly, this is where i get lost :/
Alaric Hall's diagram - I think he shares my passion in hating graphic design 


Poetic Edda | Elder Edda | Sæmundar Edda

Unknown Authors - c1270

The Poetic Edda is a compilation of Pre-Christian Scandinavian poems, similar in content to the Prose Edda, in fact they share the same primary sources which are later attributed to the Codex Regius, the same stories and original lost manuscripts created both Edda's, with the Poetic Edda also directly sourcing additional poems from other manuscripts. Despite being penned a good 50 years after the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is considered and referred to as the 'Elder Edda' due to the poems being transcribed in their raw and originally form (what we know anyway), thus pre-dating the altered version Snorri presents.

The authors (or composers) of the what is the majority of what makes up the Poetic Edda, the Codex Regius - is mostly unknown, but I think it would be safe to say that it would not exist if it wasn't for Snorri, and should get some credit. Unlike the more narrative style of the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is made up strictly of alliterative verse that have fancy old Norse words which I'll index at the end of the peoms name against each poem to indicate the style. Some poems can shift in and out of different styles for a stanza or two.

  • [F] fornyrðislag (old story meter)
  • [M] málaháttr (speech form) 
  • [L] ljóðaháttr (song form)
  • [G] galdralag (magic spell meter)
  • [P] prose (no meter)

A note on the name Sæmundar Edda, the discovery of the Codex Regius in 1643, which ended up in the lap of the Icelandic bishop Brynjólfur, he attributed the manuscript to Sæmundr the Learned, an Icelandic priest and scholar from the late 9th century, which is largely rejected by everyone.

The contents of the Poetic Edda, namely the Codex Regius doesn't quite share the same iterative journey as the Prose Edda, however due to its multiple difference sources coming from a variety of manuscsripts, including those of the Prose Edda, The Modern Poetic Edda still has it's differences and controversies with poems being added or removed and stanzas being reordered or sometimes blended from the difference sources, all at the translators discretion.

The Poetic Edda is broken up into two main categories: mythological and heroic, and two sub categories: in the codex regius and not. However some of the poems that are in [R] are also found in other earlier manuscripts, often not whole and fragmented, and thus theorised they are rebuilt using Snorri's Edda which I have also marked at the beginning of the Poems name using the abbreviations noted in the Prose Edda section, but here they are again below to save you scrolling.

  • [Gylf] - Gylfaginning 
  • [Skáld] - Skáldskaparmál

I have also provided thoerised dates for each indvidual poem to provide some context on the age. The dates provided indicate which century as its almost impossible to give a specific year in most cases. Some can not be definitive and in such cases I have provided the range that was concluded.
These dates have primarily been sourced from the book "Dating the Old Norse Poetic Edda" by Christopher D. Sapp. which considers a range of methods and other academic studies, but ulitmately lands on a date based on the Naïve Bayes Classifiers (NBC) system. I would recommend reading that to gain more insights as to how they arrived at these dates, but the research is thorough - theres tables and graphs and all sorts of data points. 

I have provided links to Pettit's translations where possible that have extensive notes.

note: Lay can also mean ballad, song or poem in the translation of each poem name
e.g Hárbarðsljóð - could be The Poem of Hárbard or The Lay of Hárbard or Hárbard's Song

Mythological poems (In the Codex Regius)

  • [R] [H] [Gylf] Völuspá (The Seeress's Prophecy) [F] (c900s)
  • [R] [Gylf] Hávamál (Sayings of the High One) [L] (c900s)
  • [R] [A] [Gylf] Vafþrúðnismál (Vafthrúdnir's Sayings) [L] ([G]) (c900s)
  • [R] [A] Grímnismál (Grímnir's Sayings) [L] ([G] [F]) (c900s)
  • [R] [A] [Gylf ] Skírnismál (Skírnir's Journey) [L] ([G] [F]) (c900s)
  • [R] [A] Hárbarðsljóð (Hárbard's Song) [M] (c1000s)
  • [R] [A] Hymiskviða (Hymir's Poem) [F] (c900s - 1100s)
  • [R] [Skáld] Lokasenna (Loki's Quarrel) [L] ([G]) (c900s)
  • [R] Þrymskviða (The Lay of Thrym, Thrym's Poem) [F] (c800s)
  • [R] [A] Völundarkviða (The Lay of Völund) [F] (c1000s)
  • [R] [Skáld] Alvíssmál (The Lay of Alvís) [L] ([G]) (c900s)

Mythological poems (NOT In the Codex Regius)

  • [A] Baldrs draumar (Baldr's Dreams) [F] (c900s)
  • [Rs] Gróttasöngr (The Song of Grotti) [L] (early 1000s)
  • [W] Rígsþula (The Lay of Ríg) [F] (c900's / c1200s) ***
  • [F] Hyndluljóð (The Lay of Hyndla) [F] (late 1000s)
    • Völuspá in skamma (The short Völuspá) [F] **
  • [+] Svipdagsmál (The Lay of Svipdag) [L] *
    • Grógaldr (Gróa's Spell) [L] (early 1000s)
    • Fjölsvinnsmál (The Lay of Fjölsvid) [L] (c900s)
  • [8vo nr 15] Hrafnagaldr Óðins [F] (c1600's - 1700s) *
  • [JS 28] Gullkársljóð (The Poem of Gullkár) [F] (c1350) * 
* These poems are late works and not included in most modern translations.
** Sometimes not seperated and incorporated into Hyndluljóð.
*** dating this one is extremely contentious due to the problamatic linquistics and alterations thus have provided the 2 main theorised dates.
[+] denotes this is found in many manuscripts and no true source can be determined.

Heroic Lays (In the Codex Regius)

The Helgi Lays

The Niflung Cycle

The Jörmunrekkr Lays

Heroic Lays (NOT In the Codex Regius)

* extracted from Hervarar saga.

Other Manuscripts

So when we say its not in the Codex Regius, what does that mean exactly. Lets see if we can break that down and date them. Some of these manuscripts also include poems that are in the Codex Regius (you can see why this is confusing) but again for the sake of brevity, ill just list the ones that are exclusive to these manuscripts and details on the manuscripts themselves are above but have provided some info again for context.

[W] Codex Wormianus AM 242 fol [SP] (c1350)

AKA the piss manuscript.

[A] AM 748 I a 4° [MS] - (c1300)

AM 748 I a 4° is part of [DAS] as discussed above in the sources, which consists of approximately 3000 manuscripts one of which is the Hauksbók.

[H] Hauksbók - c1310

Hauksbók is also part of the [DAS] and the 3 manuscipts of the Hauksbók are listed in the sources section.

Both of the poems referenced in the Poetic Edda can be found in AM 544 4° which is the largest of the 3 manuscripts found in the Hauksbók.

  • Hlöðskviða & Hervararkviða
    • Some believe this poem could date back to 4th of 5th century all the way up to the 9th century, however Sapps NBC system dates them both to the early 1200s. 
    • The first written form was found in A.M. 544 (1310ish)

[F] Flateyjarbók - GKS 1005 fol [SP] (1387 to 1394)

Flateyjarbók is another big text, made up of a bunch of other texts, but to stay of target here, it contains the following that is also in the Poetic Edda;
  • Hyndluljóð
    • Völuspá in skamma is contained within this poem, or sometimes seperated out as its own title, but the source remains the same.

Other Additions

Some of the poems are just classified as later additions which really just means they weren't from some old dusty manuscript and were probably from some newer dusty manuscript, and added anytime in the last several hundred years, and no written evidence of them existing prior to the existence of the original Edda's. This doesn't mean they couldn't be surviving oral stories that just got missed, but the general consensus on most of them is they are just newer poems created after the Edda's were written, perhaps inspired by older tales, but the written forms are certainly new.
 
Some of them are even earlier that for some reason were just not written or perhaps lost in the original transcriptions, and then found their way back. You can research the poems individually and make up your own mind.
  • Grottasöngr 
  • Svipdagsmál
    • 2 poems, Gróugaldur (Groa's Incantation) and Fjölsvinnsmál (Mighty-Wise's Speech)
    • Found in manuscripts Stockholm Papp. 15 octavo and Rask 21 a. 
    • Some say 1200's and some say 1600s as it appears the texts were copies of copies (we see a lot of that huh) so it does make it hard to date. Sapps NBC has Fjölsvinnsmál dated at c900s and Gróugaldur early 1000's.
    • Theres a whole lot we could discuss about this one alone, a post for another day
  • Hrafnagaldr Óðins 
    • Found in numerous manuscripts, but most agree that it is derived from Stockholm papp. 8vo nr 15 and Lbs 1562 4°x and is commonly dated sometime in the 1500's. Sapps NBC has it dated in the 1600s.
  • Gullkársljóð
    • The poem itself has been dated c1350 and is found in several manuscripts with the earliest being 1660 found in JS 28 fol [SP]
  • Hervararkviða

Summary

So in summary, asasdgdfsikjrhtkdfgkjdfgfdkgdfg.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

Its a lot, and its very hard to articulate and lay out that is understandable and perhaps this only works for my particular brain but maybe it will help someone else out there understand the sources, the dates and how they relate to each other, or maybe it will confuse you more. I don't know, I'm not trained or skilled in this shit, I'm just someone who barely passed high school with a curious mind and an internet connection. Academia is bullshit and I feel like I'm back at school but at least I'm not paying to be tortured so theres that.

I would highly recommend reading Edward Pettits (free) translation of the Poetic Edda, it has in my opinion the most comprehensive notes and was a source for a lot of this information. A close second would be Carolyn Larringtons translation (which is not free unfortunately)

For the Prose Edda I would recommend Anthony Faulkes translations;

Further reading

  • Link - Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols
  • For another great overview of the various translations of the Prose Edda, see mimisbrunnr article A Survey of English Language Translations of the Prose Edda
  • The most comprehensive translation available of the Prose Edda (mostly translated from the Codex Regius), The Everyman Edda by Anthony Faulkes
  • For great overview of the various translations of the Poetic Edda, see mimisbrunnr article A Survey of English Translations of the Poetic Edda
  • A Viking Fairy Tale - Nancy Marie Brown blog entry
  • A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture, specifically the chapter "Eddic Poetry: The Main Manuscripts" by Terry Gunnell.
  • Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths by Nancy Marie Brown
  • Dating the Old Norse Poetic Edda by Christopher D. Sapp (2022)
  • A Store of Common Sense: Gnomic Theme and Wisdom in Old Icelandic and Old English Wisdom Poetry by Carolyne Larrington (1993)
  • Were the Mythological Poems of the Edda Composed in the Pre-Christian Era? by Lee M. Hollander (1927)

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