Saxo Grammaticus

There are two versions of the "The revenge of Amelth" contained in this book. The first is taken from the Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes) by Saxo Grammaticus translated from the Latin original into modern English by Søren Filipski who also wrote an informative introduction to this volume.

The second is a translation of a selection of the Histoires Tragiques by François de Belleforest; it's a retelling in French of Saxo's 12th century work in the late 16th century. Belleforest added a show more good bit of moralizing to the story and a few bits of his own, enough to make it twice as long as Saxo's original. His version was translated into English anonymously and published in 1608 as "The Hystorie of Hamblet." This 17th century translation is included after Filipski's 21st century one of Saxo's original. It's date of publication, a few years after Shakespeare's play was already in performance, so strictly speaking, this translation is not a source of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Filipski writes that the most likely source for Shakespeare is a play that no longer exists, probably by Thomas Kyd. There are a few references to it in diaries kept at the time and an essay published in 1589, about three years before Shakespeare's production. The experts call it "Ur-Hamlet," and it included a very scary ghost that shouts, "Hamlet, revenge!" show less

This is not an exciting read, but has a couple of things to recommend it. The first is that there isn't a lot of material on the Norse people from close to the time itself, so we'll take whatever we can get, warts and all. Second, it contains the original material upon which Shakespeare based his play [Hamlet].

Chronicle of the kings of Denmark from the time of legend (King Dan) till early middle age (King Canute).
Translation (1855) by N.F.S. Grundtvig of the original manuscript by Saxo (approx. 1200), edited and modernised by H. M. Berg.

2 v.Copy 1 of 350 printed for the Imperial Edition