4. Sources for Skaldic Poetry Cited in the Kings' Sagas

The present section gives an overview of the manuscripts which are the basis for the editions in SkP II, grouped according to the prose sources they represent, together with relevant facsimiles and editions. The prose (or strictly prosimetrum) sources concerned are mainly sagas of the kings, whether single sagas or compilations, and these are ordered under the subheadings 4.1. Compilations and sagas of the kings of Norway after 1035, 4.2. Sagas related to Denmark and Orkney after 1035 and 4.3. Other sources. The sigla for the prose sources correspond to those of the Registre to Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog (ONP 1989; see also Sigla above and Bibliography at the end of the volume). The manuscripts for each of the prose sources are listed with brief descriptions and stemmata where possible (for more complete discussions of some of these items, see Introductions to SkP I and III). The full, standard manuscript sigla in the SkP editions follow those of the Registre to ONP wherever possible; the sigla for the manuscript collections and the manuscripts used in SkP II are listed under ‘General Abbreviations’ above. The abbreviated sigla given below and used in the manuscript sections in the individual editions were developed by Tarrin Wills for the SkP project. In keeping with the practice established by the Registre to ONP, a superscript ˣ is added to the sigla of all paper manuscripts. The approximate dates of the manuscripts also follow those of the Registre; for manuscripts not cited in ONP, the standard editions have been consulted (see also Kålund 1888-94). Facsimiles and earlier editions are listed for each prose source (for full details of which, see Bibliography). Some editors considered a few of these editions not to be of value for the poetry in question, and such works therefore appear selectively throughout SkP II. Stemmata are drawn mainly from standard editions of the prose sources concerned, though the possibility that the transmission history of the poetry differs from that of the prose has been borne in mind in the editorial process. Asterisks in the stemmata indicate lost manuscripts (in some cases hypothetical), and in many cases there may be further lost stages of transmission.

References

1. Bibliography
2. ONP = Degnbol, Helle et al., eds. 1989-. A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose / Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog. 1-. Copenhagen: The Arnamagnæan Commission.
3. SkP = Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages. Turnhout: Brepols.
4. SkP I = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Ed. Diana Whaley. 2012.
5. SkP II = Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Ed. Kari Ellen Gade. 2009.