Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes, Books I-IX : I. English Text; II. Commentary, Paperback / softback Book

Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes, Books I-IX : I. English Text; II. Commentary Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

Less than 10 available - usually despatched within 24 hours

Description

A major source for the heroic and mythological traditions of northern Europe. '[The translation] is a masterpiece . . . the [Commentary] will doubtless prove of the greatest interest to historians.' ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEWIn the early years of the thirteenth century the Danish writer Saxo Grammaticus provided his people with a History of the Danes, an account of their glorious past from the legendary kings and heroes of Denmark to the historical present.

It is one of the major sources for the heroic and mythological traditions of northern Europe, though the complex Latin style and the wide range of material brought together from different sources have limited its use.

Here Hilda Ellis Davidson, a specialist in Scandinavian mythology, together with the translator Peter Fisher, provides a full English edition; each of the first nine books is preceded by an introductory summary, and a detailed commentary follows on the folklore and life and customs of twelfth-century Denmark - including the sources of Hamlet, of which Saxo gives the earliest known account. HILDA ELLIS DAVIDSON's other books include The Sword in Anglo-Saxon England; PETER FISHER is also the translator of Olaus Magnus: A Description of the Northern Peoples.

Information

Save 17%

£39.99

£32.85

Less than 10 available - usually despatched within 24 hours
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information