Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a work of Danish history, by 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and an essential source for...
Introduction The motif of the "dis-arming" of the monster, so memorable in Beowulf's fight with Grendel, is the key feature of the first part of "The Hand and the Child" tale, in which the hand traditionally comes to kidnap a child; the absence...
This ambitious study represents the first attempt at an overall survey of the Gesta Romanorum tradition since Hermann Oesterley's seminal edition of 1872. Brigitte Weiske's principal aim is to examine the relationship between the narratives of the Gesta and their interpretations, and on the...
In the following essay, Amory explains how myths may be transformed by the very act of being studied and searches for the historic Hamlet, in part, in Saxo's Gesta Danorum.
In the following essay, Karras examines how three thirteenth-century works—the Gesta Danorum, the Heimskringla of Snorri Sturluson, and Njal's Saga—differ in their accounts of the history of paganism and the advent of Christianity.
In the following essay, Friis-Jensen offers background information on the Gesta Danorum, summarizes its books, and discusses the development of Saxo's popularity in Europe.
