OR, AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, RELIGION LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF THE ANCIENT SCANDINAVIANS, (DANES, SWEDES, NORWEGIANS AND ICELANDERS.) WITH INCIDENTAL NOTICES RESPECTING OUR SAXON ANCESTORS. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF M. MALLET, NEW EDITION, REVISED THROUGHOUT, AND CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED; WITH A TRANSLATION BY I. A. BLACKWELL, ESQ. TO WHICH IS ADDED, AN ABSTRACT OF THE EYRBYGGJA SAGA, By Sir Walter Scott. LONDON. HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1847. THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. BISHOP PERCY's Edition of M. Mallet's "Northern Antiquities" having been published at a period when the most important documents bearing on the subject were but imperfectly known, the present Editor has necessarily been obliged to revise the work throughout, and omit such portions as were founded on views obviously erroneous, or on authorities which the historical researches of the present age have shown to be fallacious; while he has sought to render the whole more in accordance with these researches, by insertions in the body of the text, and notes critical and explanatory +. Supplementary chapters have also been added, in which, as well as in the remarks on the Prose Edda, several questions that have given rise to learned discussions and conflicting theories have been carefully investigated, and, perhaps, in some instances, placed under a novel point of view. In the prosecution of his laborious task, the Editor has made it an invariable rule to test the statements even of writers who are generally regarded as authoritative on the subject, by referring to the Eddas, the Sagas, and the Grágás, from which almost all the information we possess respecting Scandinavia in the olden time has been, either mediately or immediately, derived. In short, he has endeavoured, by unremitting attention and diligent research, to make this one of the most complete works on Northern Antiquities hitherto published. How far he may have succeeded will be for the reader to judge; who, he trusts, will bear in mind the quaint admonition "of old Dan Geffry" that— "For every word men may not chide or pleine London, August 16th, 1847. * Distinguished by being placed within brackets. I. A. B. + These notes, when they do not refer to his own text, are distinguished by the letters ED. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I.-First inhabitants of Denmark, particularly the Cimbri CHAP. II.-Grounds of the ancient history of Denmark, and of the different opinions concerning it CHAP. III.-Of Odin, his supposed arrival in the North, and the changes 60 CHAP. IV. Primitive worship of the northern nations CHAP. V.-Religion in the North, particularly in Scandinavia, after CHAP. VII.-Form of Government which formerly prevailed in the North 122 CHAP. VIII.-Passion of the ancient Scandinavians for arms-their valour the manner in which they made war CHAP. IX.-Maritime expeditions of the ancient Scandinavians CHAP. X.-Customs and manners of the ancient Northern Nations CHAP. XI.-Sequel of the customs, arts and sciences of the ancient SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS BY THE EDITOR. CHAP. I.-Colonization of Greenland, and discovery of the American NAVIAN SYSTEM OF MYTHOLOGY. By the Editor NOTES TO THE PROSE EDDA. By M. Mallet and Bishop Percy. |