Hrómundar Saga Gripssonar
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''Hrómundar saga Gripssonar'' or ''The Saga of Hromund Gripsson'' is a
legendary saga A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the settlement of Iceland.The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991 ...
from
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
. The original version has been lost, but its content has been preserved in the ''
rímur In Icelandic literature, a ''ríma'' (, literally "a rhyme", pl. ''rímur'', ) is an epic poetry, epic poem written in any of the so-called ''rímnahættir'' (, "rímur meters"). They are rhymed, they alliterative verse, alliterate and consist of ...
'' of ''Hrómundr Gripsson'', known as ''Griplur'', which were probably composed in the first half of the 14th century, but survived only in younger manuscripts and first appeared in print in 1896 in
Fernir forníslenzkar rímnaflokkar
', edited by
Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was born a ...
. These ''rímur'' were the basis for later adaptations, among them the seventeenth-century prosification, known as ''Hrómundar saga Greipssonar'' (or Gripssonar), which can be found in around 30 manuscripts and was first edited by Erik Julius Björner, and the nineteenth century prosification under the same title, which can be found in four manuscripts and was first edited by Katarzyna Anna Kapitan. The seventeenth-century saga contains a number of narrative discrepancies, which are probably the result of the scribe working from a partly illegible manuscript of the ''rímur.''


Contents

According to '' Þorgils saga ok Hafliða'', a saga included in the great compilation ''
Sturlunga saga ''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic Norse saga, sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300, in Old Norse. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlun ...
'', the original version was composed by the farmer Hrólfr of Skálmarnes and was recited by him at a wedding at Reykjahólar in 1119: The saga that we now have is about Hrómundr serving king Óláf King of Warriors (''Óláfr Liðsmannakonung'') and Hrómund's battles with the
berserker In the Old Norse written corpus, berserkers () were Scandinavian warriors who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English adjective ''wikt:berserk#Adjective, berserk'' . Berserkers ...
Hröngvið, as well as the undead witch-king Þráinn, a
draugr The draugr or draug (; ; ; , ''drauv''; , ''dröger'') is a corporeal undead creature from the sagas and folktales of the Nordic countries, with varying ambiguous traits. In modern times, they are often portrayed as Norse mythology, Norse super ...
(he was a former king of
Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
, '' Valland''). Þráinn had killed four hundred and twenty men, including king Sæmingr, legendary first King of Norway, father of Þrand of Trondheim, with his enchanted sword Mistletoe ('' Mistilteinn''.) Hrómund grapples with Þráinn and wins, burns his body and takes Mistletoe. This first section of the saga corresponds with the saga described in ''Þorgils saga ok Hafliða''. It's been questioned whether ''Þorgils saga'' could have reported such details accurately over a century after the fact, but even if no such saga was told in 1119, the basic tale must have been familiar by the mid-13th century, when ''Þorgils saga ok Hafliða'' itself was written. Soon afterwards, Hrómundr is slandered to King Olaf and forced to leave his service, but he returns to fight the two kings of Sweden, both named Haldingr or Haddingr, who have invaded Olaf's realm. With them is their champion Helgi Haddingjaskati (Hröngvið's brother) who is aided in battle by his lover Kára's magic. During the battle, she flies overhead in the shape of a swan, and she is probably based on the
Valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become ('single fighters' or 'once fighters').Orchard (1997:36) and Li ...
Kára. Her magical singing causes Helgi's enemies to forget to defend themselves, and Helgi is able to kill all eight of Hrómundr's brothers. When Hrómundr arrives, Helgi accidentally cuts off the swan's leg as he swings his sword, and is no longer protected by Kára's magic. Hrómundr kills Helgi but is severely wounded. His rival at Olaf's court, Vali, gets Mistletoe away from him before Hrómundr kills him as well. After recuperating and finding Mistletoe again, Hrómund slays the last Swedish king Haldingr. This section of the saga reflects parts of the lost ''Káruljóð'' which is mentioned in the prose section of ''
Helgakviða Hundingsbana II "Völsungakviða in forna" or "Helgakviða Hundingsbana II" ("The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane") is an Old Norse poem found in the ''Poetic Edda''. It constitutes one of the Helgi lays together with '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' and ''Helgak ...
''. This section says that
Helgi Hundingsbane Helgi Hundingsbane is a hero in Norse sagas. Helgi appears in '' Volsunga saga'' and in two lays in the ''Poetic Edda'' named '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' and '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana II''. The ''Poetic Edda'' relates that Helgi and his mist ...
and his lover, the Valkyrie Sigrún are reborn as Helgi Haddingjaskati and Kára. It also reflects others of the "Helgi lays" preserved in the ''
Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems in alliterative verse. It is distinct from the closely related ''Prose Edda'', although both works are seminal to the study of Old Norse ...
''; an episode in which Hrómundr is searched for by a malicious counsellor named Blindr, but is concealed by being dressed as a female servant grinding grain, is very close to an escapade of Helgi in ''
Helgakviða Hundingsbana II "Völsungakviða in forna" or "Helgakviða Hundingsbana II" ("The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane") is an Old Norse poem found in the ''Poetic Edda''. It constitutes one of the Helgi lays together with '' Helgakviða Hundingsbana I'' and ''Helgak ...
''. It is probably not a historic account of real events since it was remarked by king
Sverre of Norway Sverre Sigurdsson () (c. 1145/1151 – 9 March 1202) was the king of Norway from 1184 to 1202. Many consider him one of the most important rulers in Norwegian history. He assumed power as the leader of the rebel party known as the Birkebeiner i ...
, who heard it, that it was an amusing "lying tale" (''lygisaga''). Nonetheless, according to ''
Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and ov ...
'', Hrómundr Gripsson was the paternal great-grandfather of Ingolfr Arnarson, the first settler in Iceland. This means that he would have lived in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
in the first half of the 8th century, and it's not impossible that stories about an ancestor who did exist were handed down by his Icelandic descendants (probably becoming increasingly embellished as time passed).


Sweden

Hrómundr has been connected to Swedish legends of Ramunder hin Onde (Hrómundr the Evil). In these traditions he was a wild and evil Viking who founded the estate of Ramundeboda in the forest of
Tiveden Tiveden is a long and wide densely forested rocky ridge in Sweden, throughout history notorious for its wilderness and dangers; historically a hiding place for outlaws. In historic times it, along with Tylöskog and Kolmården, formed the border b ...
, Sweden. His daughter Skaga constructed the Skaga stave church. A number of Scandinavian ballads appear related to the story and one of them served as an inspiration for a Viking metal song, Ramund hin unge by
Týr (; Old Norse: , ) is a god in Germanic mythology and member of the . In Norse mythology, which provides most of the surviving narratives about gods among the Germanic peoples, sacrifices his right hand to the monstrous wolf , who bites it off ...
.


References


External links


An article on this saga in Nordisk familjebok



Another edition of the Norse text
at th
Heimskringla
site

* A digital edition of the text in AM 601 b 4to with variants: https://editions.mml.ox.ac.uk/editions/hromundar_A601/ * A digital edition of the text in JS 634 4to with variants: https://editions.mml.ox.ac.uk/editions/hromundar_J634/ * A digital edition of the text in BL Add. 11109 with variants: https://editions.mml.ox.ac.uk/editions/hromundar_B11109/


Sources

Editions: * Björner, Eric Julius (1737). ''Nordiska kämpa dater, i en sagoflock samlade om forna kongar och hjältar.'' Stockholm. * Kapitan, Katarzyna Anna (2024).
Lost but not forgotten: The saga of Hrómundur and its manuscript transmission
'. Oxford: Taylor Institution Library. ISBN 978-1-8384641-7-2. * Rafn, Carl Christian (1829-1830). ''Fornaldar sögur Nordrlanda eptir gömlum handritum''. Copenhagen.


Translations

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hromundar saga Gripssonar Legendary sagas