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Thema der Arbeit sind die genealogischen Fürstenpreisgedichte Ynglingatal, Háleygjatal und Nóregs konungatal, eine Textgruppe aus dem Bereich der norrönen Skaldendichtung. Die Gedichte wurden vor allem im Kontext dynastischer Interessen in mittelalterlichen historiographischen Werken tradiert und sind in ihrer Datierung umstritten. Sie behandeln Genealogien norwegischer Herrschergeschlechter und die Königsreihe mit einem Fokus auf dem Tod der Fürsten. Mit der Verbindung der Aspekte Genealogie und Tod entziehen sie sich einer eindeutigen Klassifikation. Die Arbeit erfasst diese Textgruppe in ihren charakteristischen Merkmalen, ordnet sie literaturhistorisch ein und will zu einer präziseren Bestimmung der Texte beitragen. Sie gliedert sich in zwei Teile. Der erste Teil behandelt die literaturhistorischen Kontexte: Zum einen die Frage der Überlieferung von Skaldendichtung. Zum anderen werden die Gedichte in den Kontext genealogischer und enumerativer Literatur eingeordnet und zu verwandten Dichtungsarten in Beziehung gesetzt. Der zweite Teil der Arbeit besteht aus einer Analyse von Ynglingatal, Háleygjatal und Nóregs konungatal unter Berücksichtigung ihrer Überlieferung. Das wesentliche Ergebnis ist, dass sich die Vorstellung eines Texttyps genealogischer Skaldendichtung retrospektiv im 12./13. Jahrhundert entwickelt haben muss. Es zeigt sich, dass die Frage der Datierung der Texte nicht mehr zu beantworten ist, da die Texte in der Überlieferung umgestaltet wurden. Es wird deutlich, dass dieser Texttyp seine Ursprünge in einer mit dem Tod verbundenen poetischen Tradition hatte und die Texte im Zuge genealogisch-dynastischer Interessen die Form fanden, in der sie in der Historiographie überliefert wurden. Dort schließlich begegnen Ynglingatal und Háleygjatal als emblematische Vertreter wikingerzeitlicher Skaldendichtung. Die Arbeit zeigt, dass die überlieferungsgeschichtliche Perspektive ein unabdingbarer Teil der Analyse von Skaldengedichten sein muss. / The topic of this paper are the genealogical praise poems Ynglingatal, Háleygjatal and Nóregs konungatal, a text group within the Old Norse skaldic poetry. The poems were transmitted in medieval historiographic works, above all within the context of dynastic interests. The dating remains controversial. They deal with the genealogies of the Norwegian dynasties and the order of the kings, with a focus on the dukes’ deaths. By linking the aspects of genealogy and death, they elude a distinct literary classification. This paper covers this text group in its characteristic features, classifies it in a literary-historical context and aims at contributing to a more precise determination of the texts. It is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the literary-historical contexts, firstly with the issue of the transmission of skaldic poetry. Then the poems are analysed within the context of genealogical and enumerative literature, and are seen in connection to related kinds of poetry. The second part of the paper is an analysis of Ynglingatal, Háleygjatal and Nóregs konungatal with particular focus on their transmission. The main result is that the concept of genealogical skaldic poetry as literary genre developed retrospectively in the 12th/13th centuries. It can be shown that the issue of dating the texts cannot be answered definitively since the texts have been altered in the course of their transmission. It becomes apparent that this text type had its origins in a poetic tradition which is related to death, and which assumed the form in which it was passed on in historiographical works mainly due to genealogical and dynastic interests. Here Ynglingatal and Háleygjatal represent an emblematic representation of the viking-age skaldic poetry. The paper shows that the perspective of medieval transmission of skaldic poems needs to be an indispensable part within the analysis of that literary genre.

This thesis examines the political functions of the performance of skaldic poetry during the Viking Age. It aims to establish the vital role that skaldic verse plays in the establishment and maintenance of power, as well as the importance of skaldic performance in the negotiation of that power in the inter-community relations between various courts both within and outside of Viking Age Scandinavia. The first chapter provides a contextual understanding of Viking Age power structures by considering the central ideological constructs surrounding the concept of óðal (ancestral property). Óðal-derived power, it will be shown, is based on ruler-presence (which extends to ancestral presence) in the landscape, which is perceived as a crucial element in the legitimisation of authority and power. My second chapter will consider the political significance of skaldic performance within the context of ruler itinerancy, which develops in response to political practices based on the importance of óðal-derived legitimacy. Of particular importance in this respect, will be the use of 'presencing' proper- and praise-names in skaldic poetry that effect both spatial and temporal itinerancies in a highly distributable format. My third chapter will establish the representational features of skaldic performance and elaborate on the definition of Performance not only as action (in the Austinian sense), but also as a type of action that is defined by its artifice, its temporal continuity and its emergent dialogism. This will provide the theoretical context for my fourth and final chapter which will aim to examine the employment of skaldic Performance in Viking Age diplomatic praxes. Here the phenomenologically perceived 'binding' of the Self through the dialogic rhythmicity that arises out of skaldic ambiguity and crypticism will be of central importance.

The thesis is a comparative and multidisciplinary study of legendary genealogies in the historical writing of northern England and Iceland c. 1120 – c. 1241. Historical writing was produced in abundance over this period in both areas and the frequent contact between England and Scandinavia, as well as shared use of early medieval insular sources make them especially suitable for comparison. The Viking invasions and settlement in England had a significant impact on English culture, language and literature and changed attitudes to their own legendary past. The Danish conquest of England in the early eleventh-century also brought the insular and Scandinavian worlds closer together, and even after the Norman Conquest in 1066, England and Scandinavia engaged in scholarly and textual exchange The theoretical framework for the thesis combines approaches from religious history, art history, political history, literature history and gender history. The main research questions of the thesis consider the dissemination, development, and purpose of legendary genealogies. The sources are a collection of Durham related manuscripts with illuminations of the pagan god Woden (c. 1120–88) in two historical works De Primo Saxonum Aduentu and De Gestis Regum; Genealogia Regum Anglorum (Rievaulx, 1153x54) by Aelred of Rievaulx; two works attributed to Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda (Iceland, 1220s) and Heimskringla (Iceland, 1225x35). Common to the sources is the inclusion of genealogies that stretch from legendary generations to living individuals at the time of writing. Thus, genealogies connected dynasties and civilisations in mutual descent from pagan, Trojan and biblical ancestors. By analysing textual dissemination as well as political contexts, literary patronage and mechanisms in legitimisation of power, the thesis address amalgamations of origin myths, the use and significance euhemerised pagan gods, and female generations in genealogies.