The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (Penguin Classics)

by Jesse L. Byock

  Although some of the fornaldar sagas were written later than the better known family and kings’ sagas, many of them preserve the memory of ancient historical events and of the people involvedin them. For example, embellished though their stories are with myth and legend, it is probable that the kings mentioned in Hrolf’s Saga, such as Frodi, Halfdan, Helgi and Hrolf, were historical chieftains, who lived in Denmark during the Migration Period of the fifth and sixth centuries. Long before Iceland’s colonization in the ninth century, the names of these kings were carried to England. They were preserved in Anglo-Saxon written sources which may have depended upon oral tradition from northern Europe carried to Britain at the time of the Germanic invasions in the fifth and sixth centuries. Some of these invaders came from Denmark.

  The materials that make up Hrolf’s Saga survived the transition from pagan to Christian society as well as the accompanying shift from oral to written culture. Many of the legends incorporated in the saga were transmitted orally as heroic lays during the Viking Age. We know something about one of these poems, ‘The Lay of Bjarki’ (Bjarkamál), a heroic lay from the mid-tenth century. Although Bjarkamál is no longer fully extant, it is worthwhile to consider the way in which its contents survived independently of Hrolf’s Saga.

  Significant parts of Bjarkamál are preserved in the work of Saxo Grammaticus, who translated the lay into Latin hexameters in his History of the Danes (Gesta Danorum). Of crucial importance is the fact that a few of the lay’s verses are quoted in the Old Icelandic by Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), the powerful Icelandic chieftain and man of letters who inserted the verses into his Prose Edda as well as into Saint Olaf’s Saga. In both instances these originally oral stanzas were incorporated into the written texts because they possessed the timeless power to move audiences, whether pagan or Christian. The heroic deeds of King Hrolf and his champions had long since become a symbol for courage and the prowess of a warrior in medieval Scandinavian culture.

  According to Snorri in Saint Olaf’s Saga, Bjarkamál was recited on the morning of the important battle of Stiklestad in 1030. The Christian king of Norway, Saint Olaf, ordered his personal skald, the Icelander Thormod Kolbrun’s-poet, to rouse the king’s army, inciting it to battle against his pagan foes by reciting the opening verses of Bjarkamál. These were the same verses that Bodvar Bjarki was said to have sung at Hleidargard half a millennium earlier when inciting King Hrolf’s warriors to stand firm in their last battle:

  The day has arisen,

  the cock’s wings resound.

  Time is for thralls

  to get to their work.

  Awake now, be awake,

  closest of friends,

  all the best

  companions of Adils.

  Har the Hard-griper,

  Hrolf the Bowman,

  good men of noble lineage,

  who never flee.

  I wake you not for wine

  nor for women’s mysteries;

  rather I wake you for

  the hard game of war.

  Skjold and the Skjoldung Dynasty: The Legendary Past

  Hrolf Kraki was a Skjoldung, a scion of one of the foremost dynasties of ancient Scandinavia. Hundreds of years after this Danish royal house of the Migration Period had passed from the scene, both its origin and its membership remained subjects of intense interest and sharp debate throughout the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon worlds. Indeed, the legends about the Skjoldungs were a facet of shared cultural identity throughout the North. According to Sven Aggesen, a Danish monk who wrote late in the twelfth century a Latin history of the Danish kings, the dynasty’s founder was called Skjold ‘Shield’ because ‘his excellent defence tirelessly protected all the borders of the kingdom’. Hrolf’s Saga is the principal surviving source of the story regarding this famous dynasty.

  Remnants of the Icelandic Saga of the Skjoldungs (Skjöldunga Saga), an anonymous history of Denmark’s ancient kings, also yield much background information about Hrolf’s family. From the founder Skjold, the text traces the line through twenty generations. The account ends with Gorm the Old, a Viking Age king who died around the year 940 at the dawn of the historical era in the North. The Saga of the Skjoldungs is one of the earliest written sagas of whose existence there is evidence. It may have been already on parchment before 1200, which would mean that it originated in the period just at the start of saga writing in Iceland. We do know that a saga about the Skjoldungs existed in some form in the 1220s, when Snorri Sturluson relied on it as a source for sections of his Prose Edda. Unfortunately, the original text was lost in the seventeenth century, but a sixteenth-century Latin summary still exists. Numerous authors and historians from the early thirteenth to the seventeenth century used the saga as a source for their writings which, together with the Latin summary, make it possible to reconstruct a substantial part of the original.

  The Saga of the Skjoldungs would appear to preserve very old traditions. It asserts, for instance, that the Skjoldung family was of divine origin, descended from ‘Scioldus, the son of a certain Odinus, who is called by the common people Othinus’. In a manner acceptable to Christians, the Skjoldung text cloaked this connection with the god by describing Odin as a powerful man who originally came from Asia. In claiming descent from Odin, the Saga of the Skjoldungs relies on Norwegian tradition, which differs from information offered by Danish medieval commentators. The differing medieval interpretations of the origin of the family are evidence of embryonic national sentiment. Most of the Danish commentators, including Saxo Grammaticus, traced the family’s royal origin from a mythic founder named Dan. The Danish view notwithstanding, the Icelandic/Norwegian version of the story preserved in the Saga of the Skjoldungs is certainly older. Snorri Sturluson, who relied on several sources including oral story and verse, corroborates the genealogy. The claim of divine descent from Odin is by no means unique to the Skjoldungs. Such claims were part of a pattern widespread among Germanic dynasties. Other legendary/mythic houses, such as the Volsungs and their descendants, Norway’s medieval dynasty, likewise traced their lineage in whole or in part to the father of the gods.

  Awareness of the fame of the Skjoldungs’ first human founder allows the modern reader to form an idea of the extent of the legendary material that surrounded Hrolf’s family in the earlier and later Middle Ages. Writing in Denmark in the twelfth century, Saxo Grammaticus described Skjold as a just and righteous ruler who possessed extraordinary strength. As evidence of his youthful prowess, Saxo reports Skjold’s boyhood encounter with a menacing bear:

  In his youth, Skjold won fame among his father’s huntsmen by defeating a huge beast, an extraordinary feat that foretold the future quality of his courage. He had requested permission from the guardians who were carefully raising him to watch the hunting, when he met a bear of exceptional size. Although Skjold was unarmed, he nevertheless succeeded in tying the bear up with his belt, and then he gave it to his companions to kill.

  Skjold also connects Hrolf’s Saga and Beowulf. Skjold is called Scyld Scefing in Beowulf and is noted there as a prominent ancestor. Beowulf opens with an account of the miraculous origin of the Danish dynasty, telling how Scyld Scefing, while still a child, was from some unspecified place mysteriously set adrift in a small boat. Carried over the sea to Denmark, Scyld Scefing arrived unencumbered by any previous ties. By force of character and strength of arms, Scyld rose to a position of great power.

  Although not exactly parallel to the biblical story, the tale of the child from across the water is a widespread motif that at once recalls the story of Moses. Perhaps in part because of this connection, the account of Scyld’s mysterious arrival did not die out in Anglo-Saxon times; instead, it continued to arouse interest in England after the Norman conquest. According to William of Malmesbury who in the early twelfth century wrote a History of the Kings of the English (Gesta Regum Anglorum), the epithet Scefing, ‘of the sheaf’, was given to the boy by the people who found his boat washed up on the shore because
‘a handful of grain’ accompanied the sleeping child. The founder of the Danish royal dynasty was thus linked with two symbols of successful kingship: the shield, representing the protection of military strength, and the sheaf, suggesting the fertility of the land.

  In Iceland, by the period of saga writing, the Skjoldungs’ fame had acquired a new venue. Prominent Icelandic families, presuming to be of distant royal descent, now claimed the aura of the family’s divine origin. This ‘ancestral’ connection with the Skjoldungs is a factor that may have contributed to the ongoing interest in the dynasty and especially in Hrolf, its most famous king. The mixture of influences contributing to Icelandic self-identity during the saga-writing era can be seen in the example of the powerful Oddaverjar family from the south of Iceland. Among those identified as family ancestors in a twelfth-century genealogy called Forefathers’ List (Langfeðatal), are the biblical Adam, the kings of Troy (including Priam), the god Odin, as well as a number of the Skjoldung kings, among them Halfdan, Helgi, Hroar and Hrolf Kraki. At the very least the Skjoldungs were thought to be worthy of good company.

  The Icelandic fascination with the Skjoldungs and in particular with King Hrolf is attested to by still another major Icelandic text. The Book of Settlements (Landnámabók), written principally in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, gives information about Iceland’s first settlers. Among its many entries it tells a curious story about one of Iceland’s original settlers, who, around the year 900, entered the by then ancient grave mound of King Hrolf and his warriors. Before coming to Iceland this colonist, named Skeggi of Midfjord, raided as a Viking in the Baltic. While in Denmark, he broke into Hrolf’s grave mound, where he found more than just the king’s treasure and remains. Skeggi stole Hrolf’s sword Skofnung, Hjalti’s axe and other valuables. Skeggi, however, went too far when he tried to steal Bodvar’s famed sword, Laufi. Bodvar, still on watch after all those centuries, attacked Skeggi, and the situation was perilous for the grave robber until King Hrolf rose to his defence. With that powerful assistance, Skeggi escaped, taking the treasures with him. Did the medieval Icelanders believe such stories? It is hard to say. The concept that the dead live on in their burial mounds is well known in Icelandic lore, usually but not exclusively in descriptions of places distant from Iceland.

  Whatever the medieval Icelanders’ belief was in stories of the living dead, the sword Skofnung had a history of its own half a millennium after Hrolf’s death. In Iceland Skeggi lent Skofnung to the poet Kormak for use in a duel. The sword was returned and later Skeggi’s son lent Skofnung to his kinsman Thorkel, the fourth husband of Gudrun in Laxdœla Saga. Their son Gellir took the sword with him on a pilgrimage to Rome. Gellir died on his way home (c. 1073) and was buried at Roskilde (Hroar’s spring), the town adjacent to Lejre from where the sword was first taken. Knowledge of Skofnung ends at this point.

  Archaeology and the Legendary Hleidargard

  According to Hrolf’s Saga, the seat of the Skjoldung dynasty was Hleidargard. Gard means courtyard, farm, estate or stronghold and the Icelandic information about Hleidargard corresponds to information from medieval Denmark. As early as the twelfth century, Danish historians associated the legendary Hleidr with the small village of Lejre on the central Danish island of Sjælland. Lejre, a site with a long history of prehistoric habitation, lies a short distance inland from Roskilde. It is surrounded by Stone Age and Bronze Age mounds and there are many indications of Iron Age habitation.

  There is little doubt that in the early Middle Ages Hleidr was a centre of power, and, although there is no sure proof, it has often been surmised that it was the site of Heorot, the Danish hall to which Beowulf came, or a similar royal dwelling. In any event, both Hrolf’s Saga and Beowulf treat the state of the king’s hall as an indication of royal strength. In Beowulf the fiend Grendel ravages Heorot, whereas in the saga a troll-like dragon comes to Hleidargard, destroying the king’s peace.

  Following earlier, sometimes romantic investigations, systematic archaeology began at Lejre in the 1940s. Major finds were discovered in 1986–8 when excavations under the leadership of the Danish archaeologist Tom Christensen uncovered traces of a huge (48.3 meters in length by 11.5 meters in width), possibly royal, Viking Age hall. Dated by radiocarbon to the mid-ninth century, the hall stands partially on top of an earlier hall of similar size and construction, from around the year 660 AD. Because of the way the two structures sat, one on top of the other, the decision was made to concentrate on the better preserved and more accessible Viking Age building, diminishing somewhat our knowledge of the older hall. A small number of artifacts that were

  Illustration 1. Interior of the reconstructed ninth-century Great Hall at Lejre.

  Excavations led by the Danish archaeologist Tom Christensen uncovered the remains of two halls built successively on the same spot. These huge buildings, one from the mid-seventh-century Migration Period, the other from the ninth-century Viking Age, stood at the centre of a settlement. Pictured above is a reconstruction of the interior of the Viking Age hall. On both sides against the walls are tiered side benches where people sat and slept at assigned places. At mealtimes, tables were placed in front of the benches. In the centre of the floor are stones for the fire. The unusually high ceiling allowed smoke to rise and escape through ports at each end of the roof. The steeply pitched roof was supported by two interior rows of massive timbers or ‘posts’, whose size may be judged by comparison with the man at centre right and the door at the far end.

  Illustration 2. Reconstruction of the ninth-century Great Hall at Lejre (43.3 metres in length)

  A massive wooden building, this princely Viking Age dwelling covered approximately 500 sq. metres. The largest hall thus far found in Scandinavia, its size can be judged from the man entering the door toward the middle right. The gables at either end of the curved roof ridge were probably ported to let smoke escape. The end view (Illustration 3) details the shingled roof construction and the covered walkway under the eaves of the roof.

  found in and around the site corroborate the dating of the great halls and the surrounding settlement to the period from 600 to 900.

  The oldest of the halls appears just a little too young to be identified with Beowulf’s Heorot or Hleidargard of Hrolf’s Saga. It is, however, possible that these halls replaced an older structure in the vicinity, whose remains have been obscured or have yet to be found. The large nearby burial mound called Grydehøj, ‘Pot Mound’, is evidence of earlier chieftains being connected with the site. Dated by radiocarbon and artifacts, including gold threads and pieces of bronze, to approximately AD 550, the Grydehøj mound was a rich burial. It contained one of the few princely graves known from the Migration Period in Denmark and was most likely erected for a person of considerable political power.

  The presence of a ninth-century hall at Lejre may also have been a strong influence on the reinvigoration, in the Viking period, of older legends about the site. Medieval literary accounts preserve the memory of Lejre’s social and political prominence during the Viking

  Illustration 3. End view (11.5 metres in width)

  Illustration 4. Cross section of the Viking Age hall

  Much of the archaeological evidence for the hall comes from the remains of the ‘post holes’. These were pits that anchored the lower ends of the massive interior vertical timbers and the smaller angled exterior ‘raking posts’ that supported the ends of the roof and walls. See the subterranean portion of illustration 4.

  Age. For example, the German chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg knew Lejre as an important capital and pagan cult site. In 1015 he wrote the following description of Lejre based on information learned earlier in 934 when, the German Emperor Henry I had invaded Denmark:

  I have heard strange stories about their sacrificial victims in ancient times, and I will not allow the practice to go unmentioned. In one place called Lederun (Lejre), the capital of the realm in the district of Selon (Sjælland), all the people gathered every nine years in Jan
uary, that is after we have celebrated the birth of the Lord, and there they offered to the gods ninety-nine men and just as many horses, along with dogs and hawks.

  The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki and Beowulf

  The Anglo-Saxons were well aware that their own ancestry derived, at least in part, from the Danes. It is therefore not surprising that the

  Illustration 5. Archaeological plan of the two Great Halls at Lejre from the seventh and ninth centuries

  Remains of the ninth-century Viking Age hall, in grey, sit over a less well-preserved seventh-century Migration Period hall, in black. Clearly visible are the outline of the walls and the rows of post holes from both interior supporting posts and exterior raking posts. The two halls, although separated by several centuries, appear to have been of very similar construction. The Viking Age hall reused a row of external raking post holes (marked by an arrow) from the older building. Incorporating existing post holes greatly simplified the construction of the new building and suggests that the later hall was built shortly after the demolition of the earlier one. The archaeology presents a picture of continuous habitation between at least two periods of massive construction. The site shows much evidence of repair over the centuries and some post holes were reused perhaps as many as five times. Cow, sheep and pig bones found in post holes from the oldest hall carbon-14 date to around the year 660. Remnants of bone from the Viking Age building date to c. 890. (All illustrations by permission, Tom Christensen, Roskilde Museum)