Description: Hödr about to
throw the mistletoe dart at his brother Baldr.
Source: AM 738 4to
Folio or Page: 38r
Medium: ink drawing on paper with coloured ink wash
Date: 1680
Dimensions (mm): 60 x 70
Provenance:
Árni Magnússon received the manuscript from Magnús Jónsson in Leirá,
and he received it from Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir in Bæ. It was
previously owned by Sigurður Gíslason in Bæ.
Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi received the manuscript on
September 30, 1991.
Rights:
Images from ÁM 738 4to are displayed
with permission from the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í
íslenskum fræðum in Iceland. Link to
E-manuscript. This image was cropped from f. 38r.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Reykjavik: Stofnun
Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. AM 738
4to. 1680. Hand
copied paper manuscript.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Artist Not
Known
Artist not known for this illustration in the AM738 manuscript.
Gods and Goddesses
Baldr (non.)
Balder (en.)
The god who was killed by his brother Höðr.
Höðr (non.)
Hod (en.)
The god who killed his brother Baldr with a weapon made of mistletoe.
Depending on the source, the mistletoe projectile is a spear, an arrow,
or a dart. In the Prose Edda, Höðr is blind and
his aim is guided by Loki.
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.
Plants
mistilteinn (non.)
mistletoe (en.)
Of all the plants, Frigg failed to ask mistletoe not to harm Baldr.
Loki found out and used mistletoe to make the weapon that Höðr threw at
Baldr.
Source Materials:
AM 738 4to (is.)
Edda Oblongata (la.)
This manuscript is known by its shelf mark AM738. However, it is also known as the Edda Oblongata
because its height is unusually tall compared to its width. It was
created circa 1680 by an unknown scribe.
EddukvæðiPoetic Edda
This collection of eddic poems was compiled by an anonymous scholar in
Iceland in the twelfth century. It was for a time mistakenly attributed
to a scholar named Sæmundr hinn fróði (1056–1133) and thus was known as
Sæmundar Edda.
