Description: The seeress Huldr chanting incantations in the presence of
Gísli
and Öndr,
the sons of King
Vísburr. This
illustration is from Chapter 14 in Ynglingesoga, the first saga in Kongesagaer, in Gustav
Storm's Norwegian translation
of Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla.
Source: Kongesagaer
Folio or Page: 15
Medium: pen and ink drawing printed by means of
zincography
Date: 1899
Dimensions (mm): 107 x 100
Provenance:
This copy of Kongesagaer contains the signature of
Halldor C.
Espe and the date 1900 on the second page along with the note
"Ac 134" in the upper left hand corner. This is not a deluxe
edition,it has a plain black cover with gilt lettering on the spine
and a red and black title page but does not have any decorative page
borders. Page #21 is misnumbered as #22. The pages of this copy
appear to be of a more durable quality paper than those of the copy
in the Urbana-Champaign Library (Q. 839.6 SN5HDAS1899) which are now
very fragile.
P.A. Baer purchased this copy of Kongesagaer in
Oslo in 2008.
Rights:
Illustrations from the 1899 edition of Kongesagaer are in the Public Domain.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Sturluson,
Snorri.
Kongesagaer.
Translated by
Gustav
Storm,
Kristiania: J. M.
Stenersen, 1899.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Sturluson,
Snorri. The
Heimskringla: Or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway.
Translated by
Samuel
Laing,
London: Longman, Brown, Green, and
Longmans, 1844.
―. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway.
Translated by
Lee M.
Hollander,
Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1964.
Historical Persons, i.e. from Heimskringla, Saxo, sagas etc.
Gísli (non.)
Gisli (en.)
One of the sons of King Vísburr in Ynglinga
Saga, who tried to recover their mother's dowry from their
father and had the seeress Huldr place a curse on the Ynglings when he
refused. They then murdered their father.
Huldr (non.)
Huld (en.)
The seeress in Ynglinga Saga, the first saga
in Heimskringla. She placed the
curse on the Ynglings at the request of Gísli and Öndr, the sons of King
Vísburr, that a murderer of his own kin would never be lacking in the
Yngling race.
Vísburr (non.)
Visbur (en.)
A king in Ynglinga Saga, the first saga in
Heimskringla. He was burned
to death in his hall by his sons because he had rejected their mother
and refused to return her dowery.
Öndr (non.)
Ond (en.)
One of the sons of King Vísburr in Ynglinga
Saga, the first saga in Heimskringla. He and his brother tried to recover their
mother's dowry from their father. They had the seeress Huldr place a
curse on the Ynglings when he refused. The brothers later murdered their
father.
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).
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.
Ynglinga saga (is.)
Ynglingesoga (no.)
Saga of the Ynglings (en.)
The first saga in Heimskringla.
It was based on the ninth-century skaldic poem Ynglingatal and concerns
the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings.
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.
