Historia Norvegiæ

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Historia Norvegiæ is a short history of the Norwegian past written by a monk in the second half of the 12th century. One of its sources is Þjóðólfr of Hvinir's Ynglingatal. The only extant manuscript is from the 15th century and contains.

I. A short Chronicle of Norway
II. Genealogy of the Earls of Orkney
III. Catalogue of the Kings of Norway

The text is important, among other things, because it constitutes an independent version of Ynglingatal besides the Ynglinga saga in the Heimskringla. It also contains some unique ethnographic detail, including a description of a shamanic séance among the Sami. It is the earliest preserved witness to many of the historical facts it treats.

Along with Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum and the work of Theodoricus monachus, Historia Norvegiæ is one of the Norwegian synoptic histories. It is thought to have been the first one written, most probably sometime between 1160 and 1175. It may have been composed somewhere in eastern Norway.

The manuscript was published by P. A. Munch in 1850 as Symbolæ ad Historiam Antiquiorem Rerum Norwegicarum. A new critical edition appeared in 2003.

References

Ekrem, Inger (editor), Lars Boje Mortensen (editor) and Peter Fisher (translator) (2003). Historia Norwegie. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 8772898135
Nordisk familjebok [link]
[Notes and Queries, Issue 56]

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