Studies in the transmission history of Hrómundar saga Greipssonar
Public Defence of PhD thesis by Katarzyna Kapitan.
The present study examines the transmission history of the story of Hrómundur Gr(e)ipssoninIcelandic. It investigates four works dealing with the story of Hrómundur: two in metrical from, Griplur and Hrómundar rímur Greipssonar (RHG), and two in prose, the seventeenth-century saga (17HsG) and the nineteenth-century saga (19HsG). The focus of the study is the existing tradition of the story of Hrómundur and not a quest for the lost medieval saga, which has been the subject of most previous research. Various manifestations of the story are examined from the perspective of material-philological transmission studies: an approach developed at the crossroads of material philology and transmission history.
One of the most significant findings to result from this study is the discovery of a new Hrómundarsaga Greipssonar (19HsG), previously unknown to scholarship. While 17HsG appears to be a summary of the rímur, presumablymadein response to seventeenth-century antiquarian interest in the history of Scandinavia, 19HsG seems to be an attempt to write an entertaining saga with a strong narrative thread, but with little regard for faithfulness to the sources. The saga-writer of 19HsG freely utilized both Griplur and the older saga in order to create a coherent narrative about Hrómundur. At the same time, the saga-writer also added material, the origins of which certainly lie outside the HsG-tradition as we know it today.
The results of the present research are not limited to 19HsG, however. Through an analysis of textual and material features of the saga, 19HsG has been placed in the broader context of other works that tell the story of Hrómundur and the manuscripts that preserve them. While the relationship between Griplur and 17HsG was already well established in previous scholarship, this study expands the knowledge of Hrómundur related material by revealing the relationships among all four manifestations of the story, as well as establishing the first complete stemmas of 17HsG and Griplur.
Den foreliggende afhandling undersøger transmissionshistorien af fortællingerne om Hrómundur Gr(e)ipsson på islandsk. Den undersøger fire værker om Hrómundur: to i metrisk form (rímur), Griplur og Hrómundar rímur Greipssonar (RHG), og to i prosa, 1600-talssagaen (17HsG) og 1800-talssagaen (19HsG). Afhandlingens fokus er de overleverede historier om Hrómundur og ikke et forsøg på at studere den tabte middelalderlige saga, som var målet for tidligere forskning. Undersøgelsen af historiens forskellige manifestationer tager udgangspunkt i materialfilologiske transmissionsstudier, en tilgang udviklet i krydsfeltet mellem materialfilologi og transmissionshistorie.
Et af undersøgelses væsentligste forskningsresultater er opdagelsen af en ny saga, Hrómundarsaga Greipssonar (19HsG), der tidligere var ukendt. Mens 17HsG viser sig at være et resumé af rímur, som formodentligt blev udført som svar på 1600-tallets antikvariske interesse i Skandinaviens ældre historie, synes 19HsG at være et forsøg på at skrive en underholdende saga med en stærk fortællende tråd, der er mindre tro mod kilderne. Sagaskriveren af 19HsG benyttede både Griplur og den ældre saga for at skabe en sammenhængende fortælling om Hrómundur. Samtidig tilføjede han materiale, hvis oprindelse ligger uden for HsG-traditionen, som vi kender den i dag.
Resultaterneafdenneundersøgelseerimidlertidikkebegrænsettil19HsG.Gennem analysen af sagaens tekstuelle og materielle egenskaber placeres 19HsG i en bredere sammenhæng af andre værker, der fortæller historien om Hrómundur, og håndskrifterne der indeholder dem. Mens forholdet mellem Griplur og 17HsG allerede var eletableret i tidligerestudier, udvider dette studiekendskabet til Hrómundur-relateret materiale ved at påvise forholdet mellem alle fire manifestationer af historien, ligesom studietetablererdeførstekomplettestemmaerfor17HsGogGriplur.
Assessment Committee
- Associate Professor Anne Mette Hansen, chairman (University of Copenhagen)
- Professor Shaun F. D. Hughes (Purdue University)
- Senior Researcher Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir (Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies)
Moderator of defence
- Head of Department John. E. Andersen (University of Copenhagen)
Copies of the thesis will be available for consultation before the defence at the following three places:
- At the Information Desk of Copenhagen University Library, South Campus
- In Reading Room East of the Royal Library (the Black Diamond)
- At Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, Karen Blixens Plads 8, 2300 Copenhagen S
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