Yngvars saga viðfǫrla, often classified as belonging to the Wikingersagas subcategory (“Viking sagas”) of the fornaldarsǫgur (“sagas of antiquity”, also referred to as “mythical-heroic sagas” and “legendary sagas”), is one of the two sagas set entirely in Rus’ and Eastern (South-Eastern) Europe (the other is Eymundar þáttr Hringssonar). Russian translation of Yngvars saga viðfǫrla was first published by Galina Glazyrina (1952–2016) in 2002 in the series The earlies sources for the history of Eastern Europe. The present book is its second edition.
Like other volumes of this serial edition, the book includes the original text (a reprint of Emil Olson’s edition of 1912, pp. 206–255), its Russian translation (pp. 256–277), an ample historical, philological and geographical commentary (pp. 278–392), appendix (inscriptions on Swedish runic stones commemorating the participants of Yngvarr’s campaign – pp. 395–426, prepared by Elena Melnikova), bibliography (pp. 431–447), and indexes (pp. 448–474). Above all, a voluminous introduction (pp. 11–204) contains an extensive study of the saga and the information about Eastern Europe preserved in it. Yngvars saga viðfǫrla, like the legendary sagas in general, had attracted until recently little attention of saga scholars and therefore required a special study of its manuscript tradition, origin, content, transformation of oral tradition in it, correlation with the information contained in runic inscriptions, and historical realities reflected in it. All these and many other questions are discussed in the introduction.
The first section of the introduction is devoted to the manuscript tradition and previous editions of the saga (pp. 11–34). Description of two parchment manuscripts of the mid‑15th century and eleven paper copies of the 17th to19th centuries made it possible to clarify the stemma of the manuscripts that fall into two groups, each of which goes back to one of the parchment manuscripts.
The next section of the introduction contains the discussion of the saga origin and the emergence of the nickname viðfǫrli (“Traveller”) in its title (pp. 35–54). A comparison of the titles of the saga in different manuscripts has shown that Yngvarr started to be called viðfǫrli only in the 17th century, apparently due to a rethinking of the plot of the saga. Until that time, it was designated simply as Yngvars saga.
The problem of authorship of Yngvars saga viðfǫrla is a debatable issue. It is stated in the final words of the saga that it was written “on the basis of those books that the learned monk Oddr had ordered to be written down according to the stories of wise men”. However, Oddr’s authorship was rejected by Emil Olson. Some seventy years later, Dietrich Hofmann, basing on the analysis of the language of the saga, thoroughly substantiated the attribution of the saga to Oddr and suggested that it was originally written in Latin (Emil Olson had also pointed at the Latin endings of some words, especially geographical names). Hofmann’s conclusions were not accepted by all scholars, and his arguments are again analyzed in the introduction to this book. Glazyrina thought his idea of the existence of a Latin version of the saga, *Vita Yngvari, probably written by Oddr at the end of the twelfth century, convincing. However, the degree and time of its revision in the process of translating it into Icelandic (dated from the late twelfth to the fourteenth century) have practically not been considered by scholars. The composition of this saga, consisting of a prologue, two parts based on different sources, and an epilogue, has not been studied either.
A detailed analysis of the Prologue (pp. 56–83) leads to the conclusion that its basis was the Swedish version of Eymundar þáttr that has not come down to us, but its existence was suggested by Robert Cook. The revision of this version allowed the author of Yngvars saga to compile the genealogy of Yngvarr as a member of the ruling dynasty of Eirik the Victorious in Svealand. A detailed study of the composition of the main part of the saga (pp. 84–146), supplemented by the study of the epilogue, has shown that all four sections of the saga were written by one author. This is evidenced, first of all, by the unity of one leading theme permeating the entire saga. This theme is the history of the clan, the loss and restoration of its social status: from Aki, Eymundr’s father, whose tragic death deprived the family of possessions, to Eymundr and Yngvarr in their conflict over their ancestral lands with Olaf of Sweden. The happy ending of the plot is the acquisition of a state by Sveinn, the son of Yngvarr, albeit far from his country. This theme is revealed in several storylines, one of which is marriage: Yngvarr, who promised Queen Silkisif to return and marry her, dies but Sveinn becomes husband of the queen and the king of her country. The second prevaling line is the triumph of the right faith. Yngvarr, who revealed the fundamentals of Christianity to the queen and made her ready for its adoption, dies, but Silkisif asks Yngvarr’s companions to send priests who could baptize her and all her people. The bishop brought by Sveinn for this purpose performs the rites of baptism and consecration of the church. The stories about Yngvarr and Sveinn are thus the necessary parts of one whole.
Another sign that gives grounds to say that the saga is a single unit and belongs to one author is the consistency of the plot: the author forms the plot from episodes that allow him to express his attitude to problems that were of particular interest to the people in the Middle Ages. The author considers the question of Christian morality to be perhaps the main one. The themes of observance of moral purity, of the power of gold, and of the troubles that are destined for people who succumbed to the temptations of the devil are the dominant ones in the saga. The author of the saga constantly returns to them, introducing folklore motifs of a fight against dragons, giants, etc., which he interprets as a fight against sinful urges, greed, envy, etc.
An essential indicator of the unity of the text is the author’s individual artistic techniques. These include parallel constructions that are clearly visible in different elements of the plot structure: plot lines duplicating each other (for example, stories about the campaigns of Yngvarr and Sveinn) and largely similar episodes (such as descriptions of Yngvarr’s detachment wintering near Silkisif and Julfr). Parallelism is manifested not only in the composition, but also at the level of verbal expression. Among the author’s favorite devices are references to the oral transmission of this or that information, the purpose of which, obviously, was a desire to give the narrative the appearance of a reliable story. Remarks that someone had said something or had noticed something concerning what was told in the saga can be traced throughout the text.
In the story of Sveinn’s campaign, there is practically no influence of oral Scandinavian sources; the material used to build the episodes clearly belongs to another sphere – different from the retinue tradition – the one which includes stories of the victory of Christians over pagans, which, apparently, is contemporary with the creation of the work.
The specific features of the composition of Yngvars saga viðfǫrla and the sources used in it suggest that it cannot be considered a work typical of the late twelfth century. The combination of the features described above gives grounds for dating Yngvars saga viðfǫrla by the time no earlier than the first half, or the middle, of the thirteenth century (pp. 155–157). Within the historical context of the era of the Danish and Swedish crusades in the Baltic, the oral tradition of a real campaign of the Swedish chieftain to the East was interpreted by the author of the saga as a story of a Christian mission in the Austrvegr (‘Eastern Way’), transforming the story of Yngvarr’s military campaign into a ‘saga about missionaries’ (pp. 200–204).
An important place in the study of the saga is occupied by the discussion of its historical roots (pp. 158–204), the existence of which is confirmed by inscriptions on Swedish memorial stones erected in memory of the fallen participants of Yngvarr’s campaign. It becomes evident from the texts of these inscriptions and their topography that a large detachment was assembled in Central Sweden under the leadership of a certain Yngvarr who had a high enough status to lead an expedition to Eastern Europe (according to the saga – to the court of Yaroslav the Wise). The inscriptions do not say anything about the activities of this detachment, except for the fact that it participated in some military operations. The place of death of some of the participants in the campaign is named Serkland (in the 11th to 13th centuries, this place-name of uncertain meaning served mainly as a designation of Muslim territories in Asia Minor and North Africa). The inscriptions also indicate the general direction of the campaign as austarla ‘in the east’ and sunnarla ‘in the south’. This is the only reliable information about the campaign of Yngvarr. It is highly probable, as Mats Larsson suggested, that the detachment had been assembled as a ledung by the king of Svealand to assist Yaroslav the Wise (at Yaroslav’s request?).
Yngvarr’s route was repeatedly discussed in scholarly literature, and various options were proposed: he was thought to travel to the Caucasus, to the Eastern Black Sea Region, etc. This issue was considered most thoroughly by Elena Melnikova who, relying on some data from the saga (mention of a certain Valdimarr, who had joined Yngvarr during his visit to Russia, in the campaign and his march, after the death of Yngvarr, against