Description: Óðinn flying in the form
of an eagle while being pursued by the giant Suttungr, who is also in the
form of an eagle. Óðinn
is carrying Skáldskapar mjaðar, i.e. the Mead of Poetry, in his
mouth but some of it, which is known as the Rhymster's Share, is
falling from his backside to earth. This scene is from the
The Mead of
Poetry myth in Skáldskaparmál in Snorri
Sturluson's
Edda.
Source: Nks 1867 4to
Folio or Page: 92r.
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 Det Kongelige Bibliotek 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 illustration.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Copenhagen: Det
Kongelige Bibliotek. NKS 1867 4to.
1760. Hand copied paper
manuscript.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Helgason,
Jón. Handritaspjall. Reykjavik: Mál
og Menning, 1958.
Sigurðsson,
Gísli. The
Last Manuscript Home?The Manuscripts of Iceland.
Gísli
Sigurdsson
and
Vésteinn
Ólason
. Reykjavik: Árni Magnússon
Institute in Iceland, 2004. 179 -
186.
skáldskapar
mjaðar (non.)
mead of poetry (en.)
The drink created by the dwarves Falar and Galar from the blood of
Kvasir.
Giants and Giantesses
Suttungr (non.)
Suttung (en.)
The giant who hid the mead of poetry in a mountain named Hnitbjörg and
set his daughter Gunnlöð to guard it.
Gods and Goddesses
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
Mead of Poetry Myth
This myth begins at the end of the war between the two groups of gods
known as the Æsir and the Vanir. These two groups seal their peace by
exchanging hostages and also by spitting into a bowl. The spittle is
made into a wise being named Kvasir. Kvasir is eventually murdered by
the dwarves Fjalarr and Gjalarr who mix his blood with honey to make
mead. The mead makes anyone who drinks it into a poet. The two dwarves
later murder the giant Surttungr and his wife and then are forced to
give the mead to Surttungr's son as compensation. Surttungr hides the
mead in the mountain Hnitbjorg with his daughter Gunnlöð to guard it.
Óðinn finds a way to get into the mountain and steals the mead.
Nks 1867 4to (da.)
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.
Prose Edda (is.)
Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century prose work concerning Old Norse
mythology and poetics.
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.
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.
