Description: This illustration is based on a rune stone which was
originally part of the Hunnestad Monument near Marsvinsholm,
Sweden and now is in Lund at the Kulturen museum. It is
generally accepted as depicting the giantess Hyrrokkin riding to Baldr's
funeral on a wolf with snakes for reins. Jakob Sigurdsson gave
it the title "Gestom Blindi," i.e. the blind guest and situated
it on a page above a paraphrased rendition of the second last
riddle in The Saga of Hervör and
Heiðrik. The riddle poses the question What two
have three eyes, ten legs, and one tail? The answer is:
The one-eyed god, Óðinn, riding his eight-legged horse.
However, the illustration does not adhere to the details of the
riddle because it depicts Sleipnir as being four-legged. Blindum Gesti is the
pseudonym that Óðinn uses in the saga.
Source: IB 299 4to
Folio or Page: 60v.
Medium: ink drawing on paper with coloured ink wash
Date: 1764
Dimensions (mm): 135 x 165
Provenance:
Rights:
Images from IB 299 4to are displayed
with permission from The Icelandic National
Library in Reykjavik. Link to E-manuscript. This image is from f. 60v.
Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
P. A. Baer notes that Jakob Sigurðsson's exemplar for
this illustration was likely Thomas Bartholin's lithograph in Antiquitatum danicarum de causis contemptae a Danis adhuc
gentilibus mortis libri tres (370). See:
mnd:AntiDani-1689-370-01. The exemplar for Bartholin's
lithograph was Jon Skonvig’s rendering of the giantess Hyrrokkin riding a
wolf from a rune stone that was originally part of the Hunnestad Monument in
Sweden. Skonvig was commissioned by Ole Worm circa 1626 - 1629 to draw the
Hunnestad Monument and Worm published Skonvig’s drawing in 1643 in Monumenta Danica (188). Skonvig's illustration is also
available in Skonvig Og De Andre Runetegnere: Et Bidrag Til
Runologiens Historie I Danmark Og Norge. (Moltke 2: 127). Here
is a picture of the rune stone that Baer took at the Kulturen museum
in Lund, Sweden in the summer of 2010.
Bibliography:
Primary Source: Manuscript
Reykjavik: Icelandic
National Library. ÍB 299 4to. 1764. Hand copied paper
manuscript.
Secondary Sources
Baer,
Patricia
Ann. An Old
Norse Image Hoard: From the Analog Past to the Digital Present.
Diss.
U. of Victoria, 2013.
Web.
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Moltke,
Erik. Jon
Skonvig Og De Andre Runetegnere: Et Bidrag Til Runologiens Historie I
Danmark Og Norge. Vol. 2.
Kønhavn: Munksgaard,
1956.
Simek,
Rudolf.
Angela
Hall
. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. W
Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer,
2007.
Sleipnir (non.)
Óðinn´s eight-legged horse which Loki bore after mating with the Giant
Builder's stallion Svaðilfari.
Giants and Giantesses
Hyrrokkin (non.)
The giantess who was summoned to push Baldr's funeral ship off of the
shore because the gods were not strong enough. She arrived riding on a
wolf and using snakes for reigns.
Gods and Goddesses
Baldr (non.)
Balder (en.)
The god who was killed by his brother Höðr.
Óðinn (non.)
Odin (en.)
The chief god of the Æsir in The Prose Edda.
However, in Heimskringla he was a mortal who
tricks the King of Sweden into believing that he was a god.
Myths
Death of Baldr Myth
A myth concerning an accidental fratricide. It sometimes includes Loki
as an instigator who dupes Baldr's brother, Höðr, into the act and
actually guides his hand. In the Prose Edda,
Snorri says that Höðr was blind.
ÍB 299 4toIB 299 4to
One of several manuscripts that features Jakob Sigurdsson's renderings
of scenes from the Prose Edda along with a
title page that is his own creation.
Source Persons
Jakob
Sigurðsson (is.)
Jakob
Sigurdsson (en.)
b. 1727
d. 1779
Nationality: Icelandic
Jakob was a tenant farmer, poet, scribe, and illustrator, who created
full-page Edda illustrations in hand-copied
paper manuscripts in Iceland in the eighteenth century.
Snorri
Sturluson (is.)
b. 1179
d. 1241
Nationality: Icelandic
Snorri was an Icelandic statesman, scholar, and author who is credited
with writing Heimskringla, The
Prose Edda, and possibly Egil's
Saga.
