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The Death of Baldr

The Death of Baldr
  • Creator: Jakob Sigurðsson 1727-1779
  • Description: Loki guiding the hand of Höðr to kill Baldr. This scene is from the Death of Baldr myth in Gylfaginning in Snorri's Edda.
  • Source: SÁM 66
  • Folio or Page: 75v.
  • Medium: ink drawing on paper with coloured ink wash
  • Date: 1765
  • Dimensions (mm): 135 x 165
  • Provenance:
    The last page of the manuscript lists three names which likely represent the earliest owners of SAM 66: Gísli Gíslason (1797 - 1758) from Skörð in Reykjahverfi; St. Petersen, who has not been identified; and Magnús Guðmundsson, a farmer at Sandur in Aðaldalur. Magnús' daughter, Elín Sigríður emigrated to Canada in 1876 and took the manuscript with her. Elín Sigríður's farm near Gimli, Manitoba was called Melsted which also became the family's surname in Canada.
    The Icelandic counsel to Minnesota, Örn Arnar, bought the manuscript from one of Elín Sigríður´s descendents, Ken Melsted in Wynyard, Saskatchewan and donated it to the Ární Magnússon Institute in Iceland on February 2, 2000.
    The manuscript is now known either by the title Melsteð Edda or by its shelf mark SÁM 66 4to.
  • Rights:
    Images from SÁM 66 are displayed with permission from the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum in Iceland. Link to E-manuscript Description. E-manuscript illustrations.
  • Bibliography:

    Primary Sources

    Reykjavik: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum. SÁM 66. 1765. Hand copied paper manuscript.

    Secondary Sources

    Cleasby, Richard and Vigfússon Guðbrandur . An Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957.
    Driscoll, Matthew. The view From the North: Some Scandinavian digitisation projects Review of the National Center for Digitization. 4 (2004): 22 - 30.
    Sigurðsson, Gísli. The Last Manuscript Home? The Manuscripts of Iceland. Gísli Sigurdsson and Vésteinn Ólason . Reykjavik: Árni Magnússon Institute in Iceland, 2004. 179 - 186.
    Simek, Rudolf. Angela Hall . Dictionary of Northern Mythology. W Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 2007.
  • Identity Number: SAM66-075v
  • Download size: 1 MB
  • Related items: Nks1867-096v   
  • Source code of this document: [XML]
Snorri Sturluson   Prose Edda   SÁM 66 4to, SAM 66 4to   Jakob Sigurðsson, Jakob Sigurdsson   Death of Baldr Myth   Höðr, Hod   Baldr, Balder   Loki   mistilteinn, mistletoe  

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Linked items

Anomalies

Loki (non.)
Loki is counted among the gods but is a giant by birth.

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:

Prose Edda (is.) Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century prose work concerning Old Norse mythology and poetics.
SÁM 66 4to (is.) SAM 66 4to (en.) SAM 66 4to is also known as Melsted Edda.

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.