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HISTORIA DE ANTIQUITATE REGUM NORWAGIENSIUM: AN ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE NORWEGIAN KINGS. By Theodoricus Monachus. Translated and Annotated by David and Ian McDougall with an Introduction by Peter Foote. Viking Society for Northern Research Text Series, I I. London: University College London, 1998. Pp. xxxi + 144. GBP 6.
Since the early fifties the Viking Society and the Scandinavian Department at University College London have made available a series of translations and/or editions of texts pertaining to early Nordic history. Unassuming in looks, modest in price, but of the highest scholarly quality, these volumes are admirably suited for both teaching and study. The text under consideration here is one of the three so-called Norwegian synoptics, short narratives written toward the end of the twelfth century in Latin (Theodoricus and the anonymous Historia Norwegian) or Norse (Agrip). In the series Theodoricus's text is preceded by Agrip (Vol. x) and will be followed by the Historia.
This volume contains a valuable introduction to Theodoricus's work by Peter Foote (25pp.), in which he highlights the problems raised by author and text that relate to the rise of Nordic historiography. David and Ian McDougall have competently rendered the Latin text into a precise English that admirably conveys the author's engaged and idiosyncratic style (54 pp.). English translations of Latin texts are always welcome, of course, but Theodoricus's Latin is far easier than that of his Danish colleague Saxo Grammaticus, for example, and since two Norwegian translations of Theodoricus are already in existence, the most important contribution of the McDougalls is their running commentary to the text (61 pp.). In scope, depth, and accuracy this part surpasses all previous work on the narrative. They provide exhaustive references to Old Norse and Latin texts which the author may have used or, in reverse, which he may have influenced, thus helping to clarify the problem of the priority of Icelandic or Norwegian historiography. They are well read in the classical authors and master the secondary literature pertaining to the European Middle Ages in general, important prerequisites to interpreting Theodoricus's numerous classical and contemporary quotations and references. They also provide an extensive bibliography, useful maps, and indices.
A perusal of the previous volumes in the series suggests that the general...