Saxo, etching by the Danish-Norwegian illustrator Louis Moe (1857—1945)
Saxo Grammaticus (estimated. 1150 - 1220) was a Danishmedieval historian of whose life practical nothing is known. The sixteen books of Danish history of this time, known as the Gesta Danorum, are attributed to him, and also contribute our principal evidence of his own existence.
We know he was a ‘follower’ of ArchbishopAbsalon, which probably means he worked in the Archbishop’s administration; his exact status is not determined. He might have been a clerk. In Absalon’s will, one clericus named Saxo is forgiven a debt of 2 1/2 marks and is enjoined to return two handwritten manuscripts he has borrowed to Sorø monastery.
We read in the preface of Gesta Danorum Saxo’s own words that his Father and Grandfather both served under King Valdemar I as warriors and that he himself would like to serve King Valdemar II, though in a more spiritual way.
It is thought he was born in Zealand, as later sources claim. His elegant Latin and Roman knowledge, used in Gesta Danorum, makes it nearly certain that he was educated outside of Denmark, maybe in one of the big church-schools in France.
Saxo Grammaticus was not his real name. He received the appellation Grammaticus, the Latin word for a teacher of letters, in the Compendium Saxonis of Chronica Jutensis, around 1342, to express delight in his use of words. With the printed press publication of Christiern Pedersen's version of Gesta Danorum, the term Grammaticus has stuck to Saxo as being part of his name.
The only name given to him is found in the Zealand chronicle (Sjællandske Krønike), which names him Saxo, cognomine Longus, translating roughly to something like Saxo, named (or called) the long.
As that event happened in 1158 we may conclude that Saxo was born about 1150, but we do not know where; from the favour shown to Zealand, it has been inferred that that was his birthplace.
Saxo's history was written at the suggestion of ArchbishopAbsalon of Lund, who died in 1201 before the work was finished, whereupon the historian addressed himself to Absalon's successor Anders, who held the see until 1222.
It is much more probable that Saxo held a high office, possibly a secretaryship, and that he enjoyed the bishop's intimate acquaintance.
The sixteen books that comprise Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, or History of the Danes, tell of the rise and fall of the great rulers of Denmark, and the tale of Amleth, Saxo's Hamlet, is recounted in books three and four.
Saxo's story was first printed in Paris in 1514, and Francois de Belleforest translated it into French in 1570, as part of his collection of tragic legends, Histoires Tragiques.
Saxo's text did not appear in English until 1608, so either Shakespeare was fluent in French or he used another English source based on the French translation.
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