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Literary Encyclopedia — Anonymous. Hrólfs saga kraka [The Saga of King Hrólf Kraki] 1230
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</div> <div class="row"> <div class="col"> <div id="article_buttons" class="float-end text-end"> <a href="/php/pdf_format_works.php?UID=13133" id="produce_pdf"><img alt="Download PDF" data-container="body" data-bs-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="top" title="Save to PDF" class="article-action-button" src="/images/v3_site/pdf.svg"></a> <a aria-label="Add this article to a bookshelf" href="#" id="add_to_bookshelves2"><img alt="Add to Bookshelf" data-container="body" data-bs-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="top" title="Save to Bookshelf" class="article-action-button" src="/images/v3_site/book-button.svg"></a> <a aria-label="Report an error in this article" href="#" id="report_an_error"><img alt="Report an Error" data-container="body" data-bs-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="top" title="Report an Error" class="article-action-button" src="/images/v3_site/error-button.svg"></a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="card" id="article_authorities"> <div class="card-body"> <div id="editors"> <ul class="list-unstyled mb-0"> <li>Ed. by <a href="/php/show_editor_articles.php?id_editor=16068">Hugh Magennis, Queen's University Belfast</a> </li> <li><em>The Literary Encyclopedia.</em> Volume <a href="/php/browse_volume.php?id_display=20">1.3.4</a>: <em>Icelandic Writing and Culture</em>. </li> <li>Vol. editors: <a href="/php/show_editor_articles.php?id_editor=83484">Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland)</a>, <a href="/php/show_editor_articles.php?id_editor=86695">Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle)</a>, <a href="/php/show_editor_articles.php?id_editor=82667">Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien)</a>, <a href="/php/show_editor_articles.php?id_editor=68945">Herbert Rowland (Purdue University)</a>, <a href="/php/show_editor_articles.php?id_editor=76894">Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-12 col-sm-6 col-md-3 col-lg-2"> <div id="article_metadata"> <div class="card metadata"> <div class="card-header"> <h3 class="card-title">Dates</h3> </div> <div class="card-body"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><span class="clearfix">First circulation or publication</span> c. 1230 - c. 1450</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="card metadata"> <div class="card-header"> <h3 class="card-title">Places</h3> </div> <div class="card-body"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li> Iceland (Country of Origin) </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="card metadata"> <div class="card-header"> <h3 class="card-title">Genres and Modes</h3> </div> <div class="card-body"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li>Epic </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="article_options"> <div class="card commands"> <div class="card-header"> <h3 class="card-title">Resources</h3> </div> <div class="card-body"> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><a target="_blank" href="/php/investigate.php?article_id=5958&article_type_id=1&investigation_type=author">Anonymous' Life</a></li> <li><a target="_blank" href="/php/investigate.php?article_id=5958&article_type_id=1&investigation_type=works">Anonymous' Works</a></li> <a aria-label="Add this article to a bookshelf" href="#" id="add_to_bookshelves">Save to Bookshelf</a> <li><a target="_blank" href="/php/investigate.php?article_id=13133&article_type_id=3&investigation_type=rr">Recommended Reading</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <button class="btn btn-success w-100 mt-xs-1 mb-xs-1" data-feedback="feedback" aria-label="Leave Feedback">Send Us Feedback </button> </div> <div class="col-12 col-sm-6 col-md-9 col-lg-10" id="article"> <div class="card"> <div class="card-body"> <i>Hrólfs saga kraka</i> <p>, the</p> <i>Saga of King Hrólf kraki,</i> <p>is a colourful and dramatic prose account of legendary events in and around Denmark that was composed in Iceland in the later Middle Ages. Characters and plot elements are shared with a number of other texts that survive from medieval Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England, including</p> <i>Beowulf</i> <p>and Saxo Grammaticus's</p> <i>Gesta Danorum</i> <p>(Hrólfr kraki himself, for example, corresponds to Hroþulf in</p> <i>Beowulf</i> <p>and Roluo Krake in Saxo, and there are intriguing similarities between Beowulf and Böðvarr Bjarki, one of Hrólfr's champions in the saga). On the basis of comparison with these and other texts the events of the saga may be dated to the late fifth and the sixth centuries, but a long oral tradition precedes the composition of the written saga and…</p> <div class="alert alert-danger" role="alert">Please <a href="/php/members/login.php">log in</a> to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (<a href="/subscriberlist.php">see List</a>), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a <a href="/php/register.php">personal user account</a> with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under <a href="/individual_subscriptions.php">Individual Subcriptions</a>. </div> <p class="mb-0">1377 words</p> <p><span class="text-primary break"><strong>Citation:</strong></span> Phelpstead, Carl. "Hrólfs saga kraka". <em>The Literary Encyclopedia</em>. First published 03 September 2003 <span class="break">[https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13133, accessed 18 February 2025.]</span></p> <ul class="list-unstyled break"> <li><a title="Recommended reading for this article." target="_blank" href="/el/articles/works/13133/recommended-reading">View recommended reading for this article</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <span class="d-none" id="article_id">13133</span> <span class="d-none" id="headword">Hrólfs saga kraka</span> <span class="d-none" id="article_type_id">3</span> <span class="d-none" id="shortnote_text">Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. 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