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Queen Ragnhild's Dream

Queen Ragnhild's Dream
  • Creator: Trish Baer 1952-
  • Description: Trish Baer based this needle felting on an illustration by Erik Werenskiold in Kongesagaer, Gustav Storm's Norwegian translation of Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla. The scene is described in the second saga in Heimkringla, Hálfdan Svart Saga. The wife of Halfdan inn svarti, Queen Ragnhild, had a dream that she was in her herb garden and took a thorn out of her shift that immediately grew into a great tree that became rooted in the ground. The tree grew so high that she could not see over it. According to Heimskringla, “The under part of the tree was red with blood, but the stem upwards was beautifully green and the branches white as snow. There were many and great limbs to the tree, some high up, others low down; and so vast were the tree's branches that they seemed to her to cover all Norway, and even much more." See Research Notes below for information relevant to the needle felting. See Werenskiold's original illustration here.
  • Source: Trish Baer's needle felted rendering of Queen Ragnhild's Dream
  • Folio or Page: Inspired by Erik Werenskiold's illustration on page 44 in Gustav Storm's 1899 edition of Kongesagaer
  • Medium: Needle felted with wool and silk on a piece of material from a woolen blanket.
  • Date: 2020-09-03
  • Dimensions (mm): 185 x 204
  • Provenance:
    This needle felting piece is from from the Collection of P. A. Baer.
  • Rights:
    All Rights Reserved
  • Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
    The tree in Ragnhild's dream is a Norwegian maple (Acer platanoides). Its bark is grey-brown with shallow grooves. I chose not to follow the exact description of the tree in Ragnhild's dream where the tree has a green trunk and white branches.
  • Bibliography:

    Primary Sources

    Sturluson, Snorri. Kongesagaer. Translated by Gustav Storm, Kristiania: J. M. Stenersen, 1899.
  • Identity Number: DIS-PAB-SKng-1899-Oslo-044-01
  • Download size: 3.39 MB
  • Related items: SKng-1899-Oslo-044-01   
  • Source code of this document: [XML]
Snorri Sturluson   Kongesagaer (1899 ed.)   Heimskringla, History of the Kings of Norway   Hálfdanar Saga Svarta, The Saga of Halfdan the Black   Werenskiold, Erik   Ragnhild Sigurðsdóttir, Ragnhild Sigurdsdottir, RagnhildSigurdsdottir, Ragnhild Sigurdsdottir   needle felted  

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The MyNDIR Team

Baer, Trish (en.) b. 25th January 1952
Occupation: Adjunct Professor in Medieval Studies; Digital Scholarship Fellow in the Electronic Texts and Culture Lab; editor and MyNDIR-IDG (Insight Development Grant) Team Leader

Historical Persons, i.e. from Heimskringla, Saxo, sagas etc.

Hálfdan hinn svarti (non.) Halfdan the black (en.) A king in Halfdan Svartes Saga, the second saga in Heimskringla. Halfdan was the husband of Ragnhild Sigurðsdóttir and the father of Haraldr hinn hárfagri.
Ragnhild Sigurðsdóttir (non.) Ragnhild Sigurdsdottir (en.) The wife of the Norwegian king, Halfdanr Svarti, and the mother of Haraldr hinn hárfagri. Ragnhild was known for having prophetic dreams. RagnhildSigurdsdottir (en.) The wife of the Norwegian king, Halfdanr Svarti, and the mother of Haraldr hinn hárfagri. Ragnhild was known for having prophetic dreams. Ragnhild Sigurdsdottir (en.) The wife of the Norwegian king, Halfdanr Svarti, and the mother of Haraldr hinn hárfagri. Ragnhild was known for having prophetic dreams.

Nouns

needle felted (en.) A 2D or 3D felted item produced with a barbed needle and unspun fibre.

Source Materials:

Heimskringla (is.) History of the Kings of Norway (en.) This account of the history of the kings of Norway and is generally believed to have been written by Snorri Sturluson in Iceland in 1230. It begins with the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings, who were the subject matter of the skaldic poem Ynglingtal, and ends with the reign of the Norwegian king, Magnus Erlingson (died 1184).
Hálfdanar Saga Svarta (non.) The Saga of Halfdan the Black (en.) the second saga in Heimskringla.
Kongesagaer (1899 ed.) (no.) The first edition of Gustaf Storm's Norwegian translation of Heimskringla. Of the two hundred and twenty illustrations for the 1899 edition Werenskiold drew fifty-seven, Krohg forty- seven, Wetlesen forty-three, Egedius thirty-seven, Munthe twenty-seven, and Peterssen eight.

Source Persons

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.
Werenskiold, Erik (no.) b. 1855
d. 1938
Nationality: Norwegian
Werenskiold was a painter and illustrator who was in charge of the illustrations and the team of artists for Gustav Storm's editions of Kongesagaer in 1899 and 1900.