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The Deluding of Gylfi

The Deluding of Gylfi

  • Creator: Jakob Sigurðsson 1727-1779
  • Description: The Swedish King Gylfi, who is in disguise as Gangleri, presumably in the presence of Óðinn, who is represented in three forms as Þriði, Jafnhárr, and Hárr. This scene is from the Deluding of Gylfi in Gylfaginning in Snorri's Edda.
  • Source: Nks 1867 4to
  • Folio or Page: 98r.
  • Medium: ink drawing on paper with coloured ink wash
  • Date: 1760
  • Dimensions (mm): 135 x 165
  • Provenance:
    The manuscript which contains this illustration was first owned by the Reverend Ólafur Brynjólfsson (1713 -1765) in Kirkjubær in north-eastern Iceland, and he appears to have been responsible for its textual content. Ólafur included his name and the date on the title page for Sæmundar Edda f. 2r and also at the end of Goðrúnar lok on f. 60v.
    Reverend Ólafur Brynjólfsson died in 1765 after which the manuscript came into the possession of Guðmundur Eiríksson in Refsstaður in Vopnafjörd. The dedication verse written on f. 1r is in the hand of “G. E. S.” to “ My son Eirik the Older “whereby ‘both Eddas’ the pictures and all the rest...‘unworthy rune themes’ are thereby given to him. Professor Jón Helgason commented in Handritaspjall 114 that Eirikur, who lived in Copenhagen, was a drunkard and that he most likely sold the manuscript.
    The Danish manuscript collector Peter Frederik Suhm acquired the manuscript and after his death in 1798 it came into the possession of the Royal Library in Copenhagen along with the rest of his collection. The manuscript is now known by its shelf mark Nks 1867 4to.
  • Rights:
    Images from Nks 1867 4to are displayed with permission from Det Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen. Link to E-manuscript: http://www.kb.dk/permalink/2006/manus/738/dan/98+recto/?var=
  • Bibliography:

    Primary Sources

    • Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Bibliotek. NKS 1867 4to. 1760. Handcopied paper manuscript.

    Secondary Sources

    • Cleasby, Richard and Vigfússon Guðbrandur. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957. Print.
    • Helgason, Jón. Handritaspjall. Reykjavik: Mál og Menning, 1958. Print.
    • Sigurðsson, Gísli. The Last Manuscript Home? The Manuscripts of Iceland. Gísli Sigurdsson and Vésteinn Ólason . Reykjavik: Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland, 2004. 179 - 186. Print.
  • Identity Number: Nks1867-098r
  • Download size: 719 KB
  • Related items: Nks1867-111v   IB299-059v   SAM66-078r   
  • Source code of this document: [XML]
Snorri Sturluson   Prose Edda   Nks 1867 4to   Jakob Sigurðsson , Jakob Sigurdsson   Ólafur Brynjólfsson , Brynjolfsson, Olafur   Deluding of Gylfi   Gylfi   Gangleri   Óðinn, Odin   Þriði, Third   Hárr, High   Jafnhárr, Just-as-high  

Primary Sources

  • Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Bibliotek. NKS 1867 4to. 1760. Handcopied paper manuscript.

Secondary Sources

  • Cleasby, Richard and Vigfússon Guðbrandur. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957. Print.
  • Helgason, Jón. Handritaspjall. Reykjavik: Mál og Menning, 1958. Print.
  • Sigurðsson, Gísli. The Last Manuscript Home? The Manuscripts of Iceland. Gísli Sigurdsson and Vésteinn Ólason . Reykjavik: Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland, 2004. 179 - 186. Print.
Jakob Sigurðsson (is.)
Jakob Sigurdsson (en.)
b. 1727
d. 1779
Nationality: Icelandic
Jokob was a tenant farmer, poet, scribe, and illustrator, who created full-page Eddaillustrations in hand-copied paper manuscripts in Iceland in the eighteenth century.
Gylfi (non.)
A king in Ynglinga Saga, the first saga in Heimskringla, who promises Gefjon a ploughshare of land. He plays a much larger role in Snorri's Edda when he decides to try and discover if Óðinn and his followers are men or gods.
Gangleri (non.)
This is the name that King Gylfi used when he went to question Óðinn and the men who came with him from Asia to see if they were gods or sorcerers.
Óðinn (non.)
Odin (en.)
The chief god of the Æsir is The Prose Edda. However, in Heimskringla he is a mortal who tricks the King of Sweden into believing that he is a god.
Þriði (non.)
Third (en.)
This is one of Óðinn´s many names that are collectively known as Óðins heiti.
Jafnhárr (non.)
Just-as-high (en.)
This is one of Óðinn´s many names that are collectively known as Óðins heiti.
Hárr (non.)
High (en.)
This is one of Óðinn´s many names that are collectively known as Óðins heiti.
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.
Ólafur Brynjólfsson (is.)
Brynjolfsson, Olafur (en.)
b. 1713
d. 1765
Nationality: Icelandic
Occupation: priest
Residence: Kirkjubær (farm) in Hróarstúnga, Norður-Múlasýsla, Northern Iceland
The priest whose family fostered Jakob Sigurðsson.
Deluding of Gylfi This myth is part of the story that Snorri uses to frame one of the three sections of his Edda and is an essential part of his attempt to use euhemerization as an explanation for the origin of the belief in pagan gods.
Prose Edda Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century prose work concerning Old Norse mythology and poetics.
Nks 1867 4to A hand-copied paper manuscript from 1760 that was produced in north-eastern Iceland and contains a set of sixteen full page illustrations from Snorri's Edda, plus four other illustrations, all of which were created by Jakob Sigurðsson.