Manuscripts of the Prose Edda
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The Prose Edda is one of two Old Norse compilations made in Iceland in the early 13th century. Together they comprise the major store of pagan Scandinavian mythology. The Prose Edda (1223) was the work of Snorri Sturluson who planned it as a textbook for writers of skaldic poetry, prefaced by a section on the Norse cosmogony, pantheon and myths.[1]
Seven Manuscripts of the Prose Edda have survived: six compositions of the Middle Ages and another dating to the 1600s. No one manuscript is complete, and each has variations. In addition to three fragments, the four main manuscripts are Codex Upsaliensis, Codex Wormianus, Codex Trajectinus and above all, the Codex Regius.[2]
Codex upsaliensis (DG 11), was composed in the first quarter of the fourteenth century and is the oldest manuscript preserved in the Edda of Snorri.[3] It has the advantage of providing some variants that are not found in any of the three other major manuscripts (the name Gylfaginning, title of the first part of the Edda is only provided by this single text). It is preserved in the library of the University of Uppsala (Sweden).
The Codex Regius (GKS 2367 4°) was written in the first half of the fourteenth century.[3] It is the most comprehensive of the four manuscripts, and seems closer to the original. This is why it is the basis for editions and translations of the Edda. Its name is derived from its conservation in the Royal Library of Denmark for several centuries. From 1973 to 1997, hundreds of ancient Icelandic manuscripts were returned from Denmark to Iceland, including, in 1985, the Codex Regius, which is now preserved by the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík.
Codex Wormianus (AM 242 fol) was written in the mid-fourteenth century.[3] It is still part of the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection (the name of Árni Magnússon) in Copenhagen.
Codex Trajectinus (MSS 1374) was written around 1600.[3] It is a copy of a manuscript that was made in the second half of the thirteenth century. It is preserved in the library of the University of Utrecht (Netherlands).
References
- ^ The Macmillan Encyclopedia; rev. ed. London: Macmillan; p. 395
- ^ Kevin J. Wanner (2008). Snorri Sturluson and the Edda: The Conversion of Cultural Capital in Medieval Scandinavia. University of Toronto Press. pp. 97–. ISBN 978-0-8020-9801-6. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
- ^ a b c d Margaret Clunies Ross (18 August 2011). A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics. DS Brewer. pp. 151–. ISBN 978-1-84384-279-8. Retrieved 17 December 2012.