White, Paul. The Latin Men.

• Author: White, Paul
• Title: The Latin men: The Norman sources of the Scandinavian kings' sagas
• Published in: Journal of English and Germanic Philology 98, 2
• Year: 1999
• Pages: 157-69
• E-text:
• Reference: White, Paul. "The Latin men: The Norman sources of the Scandinavian kings' sagas." Journal of English and Germanic Philology 98, 2 (1999): 157-69.

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Annotation

White explores the connections between Scandinavian and Norman historical writing in the Middle Ages. He begins by describing a number of similar narratives which appear—with different characters—across sources such as the Norse Morkinskinna and Heimskringla and the Norman Gesta Normannorum Ducum and De Rebus Gestis Normannorum in Sicula. He synthesizes earlier views about the transmission of narratives between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean, arguing that Normandy could have been a nexus of traditions from which Norse authors gathered sources. White provides examples from the texts under analysis in order to support the assumption that there was communication between the two—even into the 13th century; for instance evidence from Njáls saga shows that Normandy was a pilgrimage route for Norsemen. White then describes similarities between certain Norman histories and Kings’ sagas, including the work of Orderic Vitalis, who in various instances corroborated the Scandinavian sources, even in contradiction to Insular or Continental ones. He concludes by saying that due to their close historical relationship, Norman sources were possible influences on the Norse histories.

Lýsing

Texta vantar

References

Chapter 159: hóf upp suðurgöngu sína : “Otto Springer has argued that there existed a third pilgrim route for Scandinavians traveling to Rome, a route that passed through Normandy in addition to the two better documented routes through Germany and by sea. A hard piece of evidence for this claim is found in the final chapter of Brennu-Njáls saga where we find [a] description of Kári Sǫlmundarson’s journeys.” (p. 165)

Links

• Written by: Will Bechtel
• Icelandic/English translation: