Learned traditions in Danish historiography: the case of the Skjǫldungar dynasty

Foredrag ved Lucia Santercole (Pisa/København/Basel)

Arngrímur Jónsson “the Learned” (1568-1648) was the first Icelandic humanist: among other works, he has written a detailed description of his country (Crymogæa, 1610), as well as historical and dynastic accounts on Denmark (Rerum Danicarum Fragmenta, 1596) and Norway (Supplementum Historiæ Norvagicæ, 1597). In doing so, he is likely to have consulted several other sources than the ones available to us, including the lost *Skjǫldunga saga. This presentation proposes an analysis and review of the narrative and genealogical manuscript sources available in Scandinavia before 1596 on the figure of Skjǫldr, the mythical progenitor of the Danish dynasty. In this way, a more detailed contextualisation of the Danish historiographical background in the Early Modern Age is aimed, focusing on the role played by learned genealogical traditions in Denmark and Iceland.