III. — An English Version of Oehlenschlacgcr's Hakon Jarl 



BY JAMES CHRISTIAN LINDBERG 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



The tragedy Hakon Jarl the Mighty was completed toward the latter 

 part of the year ]805 at Halle, Germany. The author, Adam Gottlob 

 Oehlenschlaeger, wrote the work in Danish and later on translated it into 

 German. It was first published in November, 1807, in Nordiskc Digtc, 

 and was presented for the lirst time at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, 

 January 30, 1808. Before this, Oehlenschlaeger had used the same mate- 

 rials in his poem, Tlic Death of Hakon Jarl, which appeared in 1802. 

 These materials were taken from the fragments of old Icelandic court 

 poetry as given in the Elder Edda. In many cases Oehlenschlaeger de- 

 parts from the historical facts, and he does not always present the inci- 

 dents in their true chronological order. 



The two principal characters, which alone will be considered here, 

 are Hakon Jarl and Olaf Trygveson. The date of Hakon's birth is un- 

 certain. When we iind him in history he is the most famous of an al- 

 ready famous family, whose genealogy and notable deeds are celebrated 

 by Eywind, the poet, in Halcyia-tai His grandfather, Hakon I, foster- 

 son of King Athelstan of England and a close friend and advisor of King 

 Harald Eairhair, was Earl of Yriar. His father's name was ,Sigurd. 

 Both were great men in their day as law-makers and famous for their 

 power of organization. 



Of Hakon himself we know very little until about the year 970 A. D. 

 At this time the three Haralds, Graafeld, Blaatand, and Guldharald, were 

 masters of Norway and Denmark. They were constantly at war with 

 each other and each in turn sought the advice of Hakon. But Hakon 

 was shrewd and in all his advice kept his own advantage in view, so that 

 at each turn he was the gainer and they were losers. Graafeld, King in 

 Norway, was lured from thence to Denmark, where he was killed by 

 GukUiarald. Scarcely was this done when Hakon himself, in league with 

 Blaatand of Denmark, killed Guldharald and for this was made earl in 

 Norway. He soon cast off this Danish suzerainty and for about twenty 

 years, 97G-995, was in all but name king of Norway. 



As a vassal earl of Harald Blaatand, Hakon fought against the in- 

 roads of the German Emperor, Gtho II, who wished to force the Christian 

 religion upon Denmark. Compare Corpus Pocticuni Borcalc, vol. II, p. 45: 



"He (the Danish king) bade the prince of the Hords, Hakon, de- 

 fend the Wall against the king of the Logobards (Germans). ... It 

 was a hard fight when they joined shields; the earl faced Otho bravely, he 

 turned the Sa.xons to flight. Thus he guarded the Wall against the army 

 of Southerners" {cf. I, ii, p. 11 below). 



University Studies, Vol. V, No. 1, January 1905. 



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