The Danish History, Books I-IX

by Saxo Grammaticus

Etbindsudgave af storværket fra den danske middelalder i Peter Zeebergs roste nyoversættelse. Smukt illustreret af Maja Lisa Engelhardt.

Saxos værk skulle befæste Danmarks plads blandt Europas civiliserede lande omkring år 1200. Blodige heltesagn, muntre anekdoter og bevægende kærlighedshistorier fletter sig sammen i den store beretning om danskernes vej fra hedenskab til kristendom.

Udgivet i samarbejde med Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab.

Genres: History, Denmark, Nonfiction, Classics

253 pages, Kindle Edition

About the author

born perhaps 1150
died perhaps 1220

Gesta Danorum , a chronicle of legendary and historical Danish kings, of Saxo Grammaticus contains the story of Hamlet. See Hamlet .

Saxo Grammaticus served as secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, archbishop of Lund and foremost advisor to Valdemar I, or so people also know or think. He authored the first full book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxo_Gr...

Reviews

[Jack Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the easiest read, and some chapters/books were easier to follow than others. Chapter/Book 2 consisted of the story of a prince who attempted to avenge the killing of his father by his uncle, which Shakespeare took some significant elements from and turned into Hamlet. Chapter/Book 9 was about Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons which is always fun to read about. There was a lot of singing, drinking, killing. . . goodtimes. I might wait a while before rereading it, but I'm definitely glad that I did.

[Óli Sóleyjarson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ég las sumsé Gutenberg útgáfuna.

Það að lesa Saxo vekur hjá manni virðingu fyrir stíl íslensku fornritanna. Saxo er almennt frekar stirður og langdreginn þó ég viti auðvitað ekki hvort það sé þýðandinn sem ber ábyrgð á því eða Saxo sjálfur.

Það er annars skemmtilega kaldhæðnislegt að sá hluti bókarinnar sem átti að vera til dýrðar velgjörðarmönnum Saxo fylgi ekki einu sinni með. Síðan er gaman þegar Íslendingar taka þátt í stríðum sem eiga að hafa átt sér stað löngu áður en Ísland byggðist.

Sögurnar af Starkaði eru líklega hápunktur bókarinnar.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got to say, I had a tough time reading this one. Felt like the King James but vikings. He seems to switch subjects (people) without saying anything and you go on reading about someone else. Maybe it's just me. Anyway it was interesting if not what I was expecting.Just a difficult read

[Attela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Che faticaccia leggere la storia cronologica di un popolo priva di un qualsiasi riferimento se non vago a eventi o date che permettano di contestualizzare correttamente gli eventi stessi! Ma il fascino delle gesta di questi uomini grezzoni è tanto.

Interessante il libro dedicato ad Amleth, futuro Hamlet di più grande fama, che praticamente è una versione in prosa della tragedia shakespeariana. Interessante anche notare come si pone un autore cristianizzato come Saxo rispetto al passato pagano della propria nazione (hint: si pone malissimo).

[Nick B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little difficult to read, and obviously the mix of myth, legend and fact doesn't provide conclusive evidence for some of the presented material, but it did provide a good read of how life was during the Viking Age and opened the door to more investigation and inquiry on my part. For that, it's worth the read.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instrumental source in understanding Scandinavia in the medieval period