The Origin of Rus'. Vol. 1. Old Scandinavian Sources Other Than the Sagas

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Who were the Rus, where did they come from, how was the Kievan state founded? To answer these centuries-old questions, the author analyzes Old Icelandic, Anglo-Saxon, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Slavic, Turkic, and Chinese sources and presents a brilliant synthesis that will revolutionize our understanding of the problem. In this volume Professor Pritsak offers an exposition of the entire work and a description of the cultural setting in the early medieval East and West. This is followed by a detailed analysis of the Scandinavian phase of the problem, including six aspects of Old Scandinavian intellectual creativity — Eddaic poetry, the poetry of the Skalds, Runic inscriptions, legal literature, geographic literature, and chronicles. Special attention is devoted to the methodological problem of using poetry and myth as a historical source. Four appendices and a comprehensive bibliography of all the relevant primary and secondary literature as well as an exhaustive general index are included. Since this work reexamines anew one of the most controversial problems in historical literature, the author begins with the study of all pertinent source material in the original language, while considering the historiographic background and provenance of each individual information.

Author(s): Omeljan Pritsak
Series: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute Monograph Series
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Year: 1981

Language: English
Pages: 964
City: Cambridge, Mass.

Preface xv
Abbreviations xxiii
Part One. General Introduction 1
Chapter 1. Exposition to the Entire Work: The Origin of Rus' 3
Chapter 2. Introduction to Volumes One and Two: The Cultural Setting: The West 34
Chapter 3. Introduction to Volumes One and Two: The Cultural Setting in the East 53
Chapter 4. Introduction to Volumes One and Two: Historiography of Old Scandinavian Sources Pertaining to Eastern Europe 93
Part Two. Poetry and Myth as Historical Sources 105
Chapter 5. The Eddaic Poems and Their Manuscript Tradition 107
Chapter 6. From Myth to Epic and History: The Helgi Cycle 119
Chapter 7. From Myth and History to Epic: The Migrational Myth and Two Historical Transplantations 154
Chapter 8. From Myth to Epic and from History to Myth: Hadingus/Haddingjar and the Norse Attack on Constantinople in 860 164
Chapter 9. From History to Myth and Epic: Hnæf and Hnabi/Ønevus. New Approach to the Fight at Finnsburg and Old Danish Cønogardia 183
Chapter 10. The Transposition of History into Epic: The Battle of the Goths and the Huns 188
Chapter 11. Snorri's 'Gelehrte Urgeschichte': Has it a Historical Basis? 226
Chapter 12. The Poetry of the Skalds. Skaldic Poetry as a Historical Source 251
Part Three. The Runic Inscriptions 303
Chapter 13. The Runic Inscriptions in Younger Futhark 305
Chapter 14. The Geographical Vistas of the Runic Inscriptions 356
Chapter 15. The Varangians at Home and Abroad 385
Chapter 16. Jakun, the Varangian King of the Year 1024 404
Chapter 17. Yngvarr hinn víðfǫrli and His Campaign in Særkland (1041) 423
Chapter 18. Merchant Guilds in Eleventh-Century Sweden 461
Part Four. The Laws as a Historical Source 465
Chapter 19. The Old Scandinavian Laws 467
Chapter 20. The Old Frisian Laws 490
Part Five. Old Icelandic Geographic Literature 503
Chapter 21. Human Geography in the Religious Literature 505
Chapter 22. Human Geography in the Encyclopedic Collections 517
Part Six. Old Scandinavian Chronicles and Annals 551
Chapter 23. The Danish Chronicles and Annals 553
Chapter 24. The Icelandic Annals 568
Preliminary Conclusion 579
Chapter 25. Preliminary Conclusions 581
Appendices
Appendix 1: A Runic Viking-Varangian 'Who's Who?' 587
Appendix 2: The Basic Texts of the Icelandic 'Gelehrte Urgeschichte' 661
Appendix 3: King Alfred's Geography 683
Appendix 4: The Texts of the Icelandic Itinerary Literature 704
Bibliography and Bibliographical Essays 125
1. General Bibliography 728
2. Myths and Epics 738
3. The Eddaic Poetry 743
4. Skaldic Poetry 768
5. Runic Inscriptions 773
6. Legal Literature 788
7. Geographic Literature 796
8. Chronicles and Annals 806
9. Sources Other than Analyzed in This Volume 810
10. Secondary Sources and Literature 821
Indices 837
Index of Inscriptions 839
General Index 850