Litla Skálda: Textbooks and teaching in the Middle Ages

Abstract

The medieval manuscripts AM 748 I b 4to and AM 757 a 4to, all preserved in The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies [i. Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi], contain parts of the Prose-Edda’s "language of poetry" [i. Skáldskaparmál], along with other material concerning poetic rhetoric. Parts of AM 748 I 4to and AM 757 a 4to give us an independent version of a list of kennings, of the same kind but not in the same order, as listed in Skáldskaparmál. The text in the manuscripts in question is almost identical and this part of it has sometimes been called Litla Skálda (The Little Book on Poetics). In the present article the author argues for this to be independent study material for prospective poets, not built upon the Edda text as we know it, nor in the Uppsala-version nor in the Regius-version. It might derive from material from the 12th century and thus from written or memorized texts that have been among the sources of Snorri Sturluson. The present author’s research has shown that most likely the poetic examples in Skáldskaparmál were meant to be learned by heart, and the guess is that the list of kennings in Litla Skálda also was meant to be memorized. One might even say that the kennings were arranged in groups, with regard to semantics or fields, just to make the memorizing a little easier. The author’s aim is to create for teachers an edition that shows students what textbooks may have looked like in medieval times, and thus encourage discussions on the schools and studies of long ago.