Description: This illustration by Erik Werenskiold is from Kongesagaer, Gustav
Storm's Norwegian translation
of Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla. The scene
is described in the second saga in Heimkringla, Hálfdan Svart Saga. The wife of Halfdan inn
svarti, Queen Ragnhild, had a
dream that she was in her herb garden and took a thorn out of
her shift that immediately grew into a great tree that became
rooted in the ground. The tree grew so high that she could not
see over it. According to Heimskringla,
“The under part of the tree was red with blood, but the stem
upwards was beautifully green and the branches white as snow.
There were many and great limbs to the tree, some high up,
others low down; and so vast were the tree's branches that they
seemed to her to cover all Norway, and even much more."
Source: Kongesagaer
Folio or Page: 44
Medium: pen and ink drawing printed by means of
zincography
Date: 1899
Dimensions (mm): 90 x 90
Provenance:
This copy of Kongesagaer contains the signature of
Halldor C.
Espe and the date 1900 on the second page along with the note
"Ac 134" in the upper left hand corner. This is not a deluxe
edition,it has a plain black cover with gilt lettering on the spine
and a red and black title page but does not have any decorative page
borders. Page #21 is misnumbered as #22. The pages of this copy
appear to be of a more durable quality paper than those of the copy
in the Urbana-Champaign Library (Q. 839.6 SN5HDAS1899) which are now
very fragile.
P.A. Baer purchased this copy of Kongesagaer in
Oslo in 2008.
Rights:
Illustrations from the 1899 edition of Kongesagaer are in the Public Domain.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Sturluson,
Snorri.
Kongesagaer.
Translated by
Gustav
Storm,
Kristiania: J. M.
Stenersen, 1899.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Sturluson,
Snorri. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway.
Translated by
Lee M.
Hollander,
Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1964.
Historical Persons, i.e. from Heimskringla, Saxo, sagas etc.
Hálfdan
hinn svarti (non.)
Halfdan
the black (en.)
A king in Halfdan Svartes Saga, the second
saga in Heimskringla. Halfdan was
the husband of Ragnhild Sigurðsdóttir and the father of Haraldr hinn
hárfagri.
Ragnhild
Sigurðsdóttir (non.)
Ragnhild
Sigurdsdottir (en.)
The wife of the Norwegian king, Halfdanr Svarti, and the mother of
Haraldr hinn hárfagri. Ragnhild was known for having prophetic
dreams.
RagnhildSigurdsdottir (en.)
The wife of the Norwegian king, Halfdanr Svarti, and the mother of
Haraldr hinn hárfagri. Ragnhild was known for having prophetic
dreams.
Ragnhild
Sigurdsdottir (en.)
The wife of the Norwegian king, Halfdanr Svarti, and the mother of
Haraldr hinn hárfagri. Ragnhild was known for having prophetic
dreams.
Source Materials:
Heimskringla (is.)
History of the Kings of Norway (en.)
This account of the history of the kings of Norway and is generally
believed to have been written by Snorri Sturluson in Iceland in 1230. It
begins with the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings, who were the
subject matter of the skaldic poem Ynglingtal, and ends with the reign
of the Norwegian king, Magnus Erlingson (died 1184).
Hálfdanar Saga Svarta (non.)
The Saga of Halfdan the Black (en.)
the second saga in Heimskringla.
Kongesagaer (1899 ed.) (no.)
The first edition of Gustaf Storm's Norwegian translation of Heimskringla. Of the two hundred and
twenty illustrations for the 1899 edition Werenskiold drew fifty-seven,
Krohg forty- seven, Wetlesen forty-three, Egedius thirty-seven, Munthe
twenty-seven, and Peterssen eight.
Source Persons
Snorri
Sturluson (is.)
b. 1179
d. 1241
Nationality: Icelandic
Snorri was an Icelandic statesman, scholar, and author who is credited
with writing Heimskringla, The
Prose Edda, and possibly Egil's
Saga.
Werenskiold,
Erik (no.)
b. 1855
d. 1938
Nationality: Norwegian
Werenskiold was a painter and illustrator who was in charge of the
illustrations and the team of artists for Gustav Storm's editions of
Kongesagaer in 1899 and 1900.
