The Danish History, Books I-IX | Page 2

dead-weight
against him, and given Denmark a writer. The nature of his work will
be discussed presently.

LIFE OF SAXO.
Of Saxo little is known but what he himself indicates, though much
doubtful supposition has gathered round his name.
That he was born a Dane his whole language implies; it is full of a
glow of aggressive patriotism. He also often praises the Zealanders at
the expense of other Danes, and Zealand as the centre of Denmark; but
that is the whole contemporary evidence for the statement that he was a
Zealander. This statement is freely taken for granted three centuries
afterwards by Urne in the first edition of the book (1514), but is not
traced further back than an epitomator, who wrote more than 200 years
after Saxo's death. Saxo tells us that his father and grandfather fought

for Waldemar the First of Denmark, who reigned from 1157 to 1182.
Of these men we know nothing further, unless the Saxo whom he
names as one of Waldemar's admirals be his grandfather, in which case
his family was one of some distinction and his father and grandfather
probably "King's men". But Saxo was a very common name, and we
shall see the licence of hypothesis to which this fact has given rise. The
notice, however, helps us approximately towards Saxo's birth-year. His
grandfather, if he fought for Waldemar, who began to reign in 1157,
can hardly have been born before 1100, nor can Saxo himself have
been born before 1145 or 1150. But he was undoubtedly born before
1158, since he speaks of the death of Bishop Asker, which took place
in that year, as occurring "in our time". His life therefore covers and
overlaps the last half of the twelfth century.
His calling and station in life are debated. Except by the anonymous
Zealand chronicler, who calls him Saxo "the Long", thus giving us the
one personal detail we have, he has been universally known as Saxo
"Grammaticus" ever since the epitomator of 1431 headed his
compilation with the words, "A certain notable man of letters
("grammaticus"), a Zealander by birth, named Saxo, wrote," etc. It is
almost certain that this general term, given only to men of signal gifts
and learning, became thus for the first time, and for good, attached to
Saxo's name. Such a title, in the Middle Ages, usually implied that its
owner was a churchman, and Saxo's whole tone is devout, though not
conspicuously professional.
But a number of Saxos present themselves in the same surroundings
with whom he has been from time to time identified. All he tells us
himself is, that Absalon, Archbishop of Lund from 1179 to 1201,
pressed him, who was "the least of his companions, since all the rest
refused the task", to write the history of Denmark, so that it might
record its glories like other nations. Absalon was previously, and also
after his promotion, Bishop of Roskild, and this is the first
circumstance giving colour to the theory--which lacks real
evidence--that Saxo the historian was the same as a certain Saxo,
Provost of the Chapter of Roskild, whose death is chronicled in a
contemporary hand without any mark of distinction. It is unlikely that

so eminent a man would be thus barely named; and the appended
eulogy and verses identifying the Provost and the historian are of later
date. Moreover, the Provost Saxo went on a mission to Paris in 1165,
and was thus much too old for the theory. Nevertheless, the good
Bishop of Roskild, Lave Urne, took this identity for granted in the first
edition, and fostered the assumption. Saxo was a cleric; and could such
a man be of less than canonical rank? He was (it was assumed) a
Zealander; he was known to be a friend of Absalon, Bishop of Roskild.
What more natural than that he should have been the Provost Saxo?
Accordingly this latter worthy had an inscription in gold letters, written
by Lave Urne himself, affixed to the wall opposite his tomb.
Even less evidence exists for identifying our Saxo with the scribe of
that name--a comparative menial--who is named in the will of Bishop
Absalon; and hardly more warranted is the theory that he was a
member, perhaps a subdeacon, of the monastery of St. Laurence, whose
secular canons formed part of the Chapter of Lund. It is true that Sweyn
Aageson, Saxo's senior by about twenty years, speaks (writing about
1185) of Saxo as his "contubernalis". Sweyn Aageson is known to have
had strong family connections with the monastery of St. Laurence; but
there is only a tolerably strong probability that he, and therefore that
Saxo, was actually a member of it. ("Contubernalis" may only imply
comradeship in military service.) Equally doubtful is the consequence
that since Saxo calls