The contributions to OE studies in the remaining Nordic countries are few: three from Iceland, three from Norway, and one from Finland. The Icelandic minister and historian Jón Jónsson (1849–1920) of Stafafelli, whom we have met before, published two articles in
AfNF, the first on Liserus, the one-eyed old man mentioned in book 1 of Saxo’s
Gesta Danorum, and the connection between the name Beowulf and the god Beow and the similar connection between the name Bjarki and the god Biar.
1 Jónsson, “Liserus – Béow,” pp. 258–61. Jónsson observes that it is not unlikely that Beowulf (Bjólfr) actually existed as a chieftain of the Jutes in the sixth century and later got mixed up with the god-like hero Beo or Beaw, which is the equivalent of Biar. That version of the tale was then taken to England in the seventh to eighth centuries.
2 Ibid., p. 260. The second article concerns the lineage of Harald Wartooth, the semi-legendary king of Denmark who died in the battle of Bråvalla; in this, Jónsson mentions
Beowulf and “Widsith” as casting some light on Hrólfr Kraki and his contemporaries. Finally from Iceland is Bjarni Guðnason (1928–2023), who was Professor of Icelandic Literary History from 1963 to 1998 at the University of Iceland
3 Anon., “Bjarni Guðnason.” and published his doctoral dissertation,
Um Skjöldungasögu (Concerning the Saga of the Skjoldungs) in 1963. In it, he mentions
Beowulf six times in his exploration of evidence for a saga now lost but referenced by Snorri Sturluson around 1220 in his
Ynglingasaga, the saga of the Skjoldungs.
4 Guðnason, Um Skjödungasögu, pp. 3, 61, 80, 165, 175, and 221.In Norway, just two authors of whom I am aware have written about
Beowulf, Niels Christian Brøgger (1914–66) and Tor H. Strand (no dates). Brøgger was a novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic trained in the history of literature at the University of Oslo and in London. He was a member of the resistance during the Nazi occupation of Norway during WWII and was imprisoned in a concentration camp for a period of about six months. He wrote crime novels under the pseudonym Johnny W. Lambeth such as
Mordet i Nationaltheatret (Murder in the National Theater, 1952)
and published a number of books, three of which were on mythology: one on classical, one on Celtic, and one on Nordic myth.
5 Anon., “Niels Christian Brøgger.” His encyclopedic
Nordens demring. Nordiske myter og sagn (The Dawn of the North: Nordic Myths and Legends) from 1949 retells the myths and legends concerning the creation of the universe,
6 Brøgger, Nordens demring, pp. 35–39. the Norse gods,
7 Ibid., pp. 40–95. the dwarves and giants,
8 Ibid., pp. 105–12. Thor’s various adventures,
9 Ibid., pp. 119–44. Balder’s death,
10 Ibid., pp. 145–51. and other important aspects of Norse myth including Ragnarok,
11 Ibid., pp. 177–83. before talking about heroic poetry
12 Ibid., pp. 184–88. and then the various Scandinavian dynasties beginning with the Skjoldung.
13 Ibid., pp. 189–235. Bjovulf, whom Brøgger classes among the kings and warriors who undoubtedly lived,
14 Ibid., p. 184. and among the good friends of Rolf Krake,
15 Ibid., p. 245. is discussed in the context of the Skjoldung dynasty in Lejre, and the poem itself is always in the background because of all the Skjoldung names that it contains. It moves into the foreground in Brøgger’s discussion of Roar’s building of the great hall Hjort and then his recapitulation of the poem blended with details from Danish history.
16 Ibid., pp. 210–35.Tor H. Strand, an author who identifies himself as an engineer but for whom I can find no other biographical information, wrote two newspaper articles about
Beowulf in 1953
17 “Heltediktet Beowulf.” and 1958
18 “Bøheringen Beowulfs Kongesaga i Nytt lys.” and a chapter in a book for a general audience, ages fifteen and up, in 1956. In the articles, he asserts that
Beowulf comes from Norway in the region of Telemark; all the names in it can be traced back to Norwegian roots, he claims, and some are still in use today. Ecglaf, for example, whom scholars have assumed was a patronymic attached to Unferth in the poem, is actually a woman’s name that descends into Norwegian as Egglæf. He made this argument about names in his book,
Norrønafolket (The Norwegians), which gives glimpses into the history, culture, religion, geology, biology, archaeology, ethnography, and legends of the Norwegian people from the Stone Age to 2956 CE, in a fictional future. In that year, a professor of what used to be called ethnography gave a lecture at a place of learning once called the University of Oslo on the subject of what used to be called Norway.
19 Strand, Norrønafolket, pp. 165–80. Chapter 46 of the book deals with Beowulf (Bjå-Ulv) and Heorot, which the Danes maintain was in Roskilde but Strand argues was in Norway in Vestfold, built on the highest part of what is now called Brårudåsen (Brårud hill) behind the village of Horten. Geography and archaeology substantiate Strand’s claim, as do two other facts: Beowulf’s name still exists as “Biuff” in Telemark and Setesdal, Norway, and Heorot’s architecture was of the Norwegian stave church type, as asserted by the Swedish art historian Gerda Boethius (1890–1961) in her 1931 book
Hallar, tempel och stavkyrkor (Halls, Temples and Stave Churches).
20 Ibid., pp. 158–61. Strand himself was Norwegian and so had a slight national bias. As R. W. Chambers remarked about a scholar from Jutland arguing for the Geats originating from Jutland, “No amount of learning will eradicate patriotism.”
21 Chambers, Beowulf: An Introduction, p. 7.And in Finland, a lecturer who has specialized in text and book production at the University of Turku in the Department of English since 2018, Mari-Liisa Varila (1984–),
22 Varila, “Biography.” published the single Finnish contribution to the study of
Beowulf in the Nordic region. Her “Beowulf seurueineen.
Nowell Codexin
mysteeri” (Beowulf and his Troup: The Mystery of the Nowell Codex) in
Papyruksesta PDF: ään. Tutkielmia kirjan historiasta (From Papyrus to PDF: Essays on the History of the Book) appeared in 2008. The article focuses on Beowulf in its manuscript context, first reviewing some of the existing research and debate on the topic to about 2007, and then
trying to provide an overview for Finnish readers. I deal with issues such as the rationale of the contents of the Nowell Codex, the dating of the manuscript(s), and the potential audience(s) of the collection. I introduce the contents of Cotton Vitellius A.xv before focusing on the Nowell Codex and its contents in more detail. I briefly talk about the debate regarding the dating and production context of Beowulf and the potential sources for the story. I also discuss the other texts in the manuscript and the suggestions that have been made regarding the theme of the compilation.
23 Varila, personal email received 25 May 2023.Preceding Varila’s work on Beowulf in Finland are the efforts of four scholars to translate the poem into Finnish beginning in 1927, as we will shortly see.