Studies in Codex Upsaliensis

Edda is a textbook of Old Norse poetry, written by the Icelander Snorri Sturluson in the 1220’s. Today, four complete manuscripts are preserved, one of which, the Codex Upsaliensis, is kept at Uppsala University Library. This version is dramatically shorter than and different from that of the other manuscripts. To explain why is one of the greater challenges in Old Norse scholarship.

One explanation has been that Codex Upsaliensis constitutes a radical abbreviation. If this is the case, its purpose is unknown. The opposite interpretation is that Codex Upsaliensis is close to the original version of Edda. Somebody, probably Snorri Sturluson himself, has then expanded and improved this text. In earlier scholarship the same textual examples have been used as evidence of both abbreviation and expansion. The project aims at determining which alternative is the correct one. Edda will primarily be studied as the handbook it is, considering the special demands such a teaching media must fulfill. The text is analyzed philologically and linguistically, as well as from a literary point of view, to clarify how the different textual witnesses relate to each other, and to establish which one is primary. The paleography, language and contents of Codex Upsaliensis are scrutinized to make this possible.

For the first time there will also be a normalized version of its text, as well as a translation of this unique manuscript.

14th International Saga Conference, Uppsala 9-15th August 2009: During the recent saga conference Go to conference homepage the project members played an important role in the organizing committee and as active participants (see below). Codex Upsaliensis was one of the themes of the conference and no less than three sessions on Thursday, August 13th, with ten papers were devoted to the manuscript and its text. 

Research hitherto: Maja Bäckvall, Lasse Mårtensson, Heimir Pálsson, and Daniel Sävborg gave papers about their research at the Saga Conference. Go to hompage for downloading the preprint volymes of the conference.