The Angers fragment from A History of the Danes by Saxo.
Gesta Danorum, A History of the Danes, by Saxo, is by far the most ambitious Danish medieval literary project. The narrative stretches from the origins of the kingdom to Saxo's own day and is related in a self-consciously stylish and classicist Latin. The work of Saxo is as a whole only known from the printed edition of Christiern Pedersen, published in Paris in 1514.
That Saxo meticulously re-worked the wording of his text is demonstrated by this fragment, which without doubt was Saxo's own copy in progress. The work - and this fragment - was written in the beginning of the 13th Century.
The leaves were discovered in the binding of a printed book in the public library of Angers in 1863. In 1878, The Royal Library exchanged a French manuscript for the Angers fragment.
Parchment; 4ff., ca. 21 x 16 cm
