Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/119

Rh braces the time from King Skjold to Knud VI; but, as indicated by its title, it is very brief, and merely dwells now and then on a few more important episodes, such as Vermund and Uffe, Thyra Danebod and others. Concerning Valdemar the Great and Knud VI, who reigned during Svend Aageson's lifetime, his information is strikingly scanty, and he himself alleges as a reason for this, that Saxo was then engaged on an elaborate history of his own century; and he, moreover, well knew that the latter was fully equal to a task of this kind. Svend Aageson availed himself of the Icelanders and their poetry as sources, but he also, and doubtless chiefly, relied on native authorities, "aged men whom he consulted."

, surnamed Longus, that is descended from a family Lange, also called, on account of his elegant Latin style, is described as the "contubernalis" of Svend Aageson, probably because both these clergymen had taken part in some military expedition; a circumstance of common occurrence in those days. Svend Aageson himself relates that he took part with Archbishop Absalon in an expedition against the Vends, and Saxo's description of the military events of his time is so vivid and graphic, that in many instances the reader is almost forced to assume that he describes as an eyewitness, and that like his father and grandfather, who had done military service under Valdemar the Great, Saxo also had taken a personal part in those campaigns. According to an old tradition, he is said to have been a dean (præpositus) in Roskilde, and to lie buried in the cathedral of that city. We know with certainty only that he was the private secretary of Archbishop Absalon, that he stood in a very close relation to the latter and had been encouraged by him to undertake his great work. He survived his master and dedicated his work to his successor, Anders Suneson. The year of Saxo's death is not certain, but it can hardly have been before 1208.

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