Anonymous, Rígsþula [List of Rig]

Andrew McGillivray (University of Winnipeg)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1340 - c. 1370

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem

Resources

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Rígsþula

[List of Rig] is a mythological eddic poem composed in

fornyrðislag

[old story metre]. The poem is divided into 46 stanzas with a prose prelude that establishes a narrative frame.

Rígsþula

survives in a vellum manuscript, Wormsbók (Codex Wormianus; AM 242 fol.), from c. 1340–70, though the end of the poem appears to be lost as the leaf in the manuscript following the extant text of the poem is now lost. In the manuscript,

Rígþula

is untitled, though in other places in Wormsbók reference to “Rígsþula” appears in the text (Jónas Kristjánsson and Vésteinn Ólason). The poem includes many common names in lists categorized by social class.

The prose prelude to the poem announces that according to fornum sǫgum [old stories] a member of the Æsir, Heimdallr

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1641 words

Citation: McGillivray, Andrew. "Rígsþula". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 June 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41004, accessed 04 May 2024.]

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