He was also interested in history and culture, and commissioned Saxo Grammaticus to write Gesta Danorum, a comprehensive chronicle of the history of the Danes.

Saxo Grammaticus ' Gesta Danorum was not finished until after the death of Absalon, but Absalon was one of the chief heroic figures of the chronicle, which was to be the main source of knowledge about early Danish history.

Tales concerning the Skjöldungs, possibly originating as early as the 6th century, were later used as a narrative basis in such texts as Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus and Hrólfs saga kraka.

In the 12th century, Danish accounts by Saxo Grammaticus and other Danish Latin chroniclers recorded a euhemerized account of his story.

Jacob Grimm noted that if, as Adam of Bremen states, Fosite's sacred island was Heligoland, that would make him an ideal candidate for a deity known to both Frisians and Scandinavians, but that it is surprising he is never mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus.

Gesta Danorum (" Deeds of the Danes ") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus (" Saxo the Literate ", literally " the Grammarian ").

De danske Kongers og Heltes Historie, skrevet i pyntelig Stil for over 300 Aar siden af Saxo Grammaticus, en Sjællandsfar og Provst ved Kirken i Roskilde, og nu for første Gang oplyst ved et Register og omhyggeligt trykt.

Histories of the Kings and heroes of the Danes, composed in elegant style by Saxo Grammaticus, a Sjællander and also provost of the church of Roskilde, over three hundred years ago, and now for the first time illustrated and printed correctly in a learned compilation.

* N. F. S. Grundtvig, published 1818-1822, title: Danmarks Krønike af Saxo Grammaticus

* Frederik Winkel Horn, published 1898, title: Saxo Grammaticus: Danmarks Krønike

* Oliver Elton, published 1894, title: The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus

* Peter Fisher and Hilda Ellis Davidson, published 1979-1980, title: Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes, Books I-IX

* Eric Christiansen, published 1980-1981, title: Saxo Grammaticus: Danorum regum heroumque historia, books X-XVI

* William F. Hansen, published 1983, title: Saxo Grammaticus and the life of Hamlet

* Hermann Jantzen, published 1900, title: Saxo Grammaticus.

* Hilda Ellis Davidson, Peter Fisher ( trans ), Saxo Grammaticus: The History of the Danes, Books I-IX: I. English Text ; II.

* Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum, Books I-IX, translated to English by Oliver Elton 1905.

* Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum, from the Royal Library in Copenhagen, Danish and Latin.

* Frederik Winkel Horn, Saxo Grammaticus: Danmarks Krønike, Chr.

Shakespeare based Hamlet on the legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum as subsequently retold by 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest.

A facsimile of Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus, which contains the legend of Amleth

Many of the earlier legendary elements are interwoven in the 13th-century Vita Amlethi (" The Life of Amleth ") by Saxo Grammaticus, part of Gesta Danorum.

Saxo Grammaticus & the Life of Hamlet.

It is believed that Saxo then wrote Books 11, 12, and 13.

Saxo finished the history with the Preface, which he wrote last, about 1216 under the patronage of Anders Sunesen who replaced Absalon as Archbishop of Lund.

Oliver Elton who was the first to translate the first nine books of Gesta Danorum into English wrote that Saxo was the first writer produced by Denmark.

In Gesta Danorum the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus wrote that the Viking Starkad crushed the Curonians, all the tribes of Estonia, and the peoples of Semgala.

The earliest reference of an Eriksgata is probably from Saxo Grammaticus who c. 1200 wrote about the struggle for the Swedish crown in the 1120s in his Gesta Danorum.

It is where Saxo Grammaticus wrote the famous chronicle s ' Gesta Danorum ', a Middle Ages | medieval historical work recounting the early Christian history of Scandinavia.

Saxo wrote that Thyra was mainly responsible for building the Dannevirke on the southern border, but archeology has proven it much older.

Absalon first appears in Saxo Grammaticus's contemporary chronicle Gesta Danorum at the end of the civil war, at the brokering of the peace agreement between Sweyn III and Valdemar at St. Alban's Priory, Odense.

* Saxo, Gesta Danorum, ed.

The first is found in Christiern Pedersen's " Danske Krønike ", which is a sequel to Saxo ’ s Gesta Danorum, written 1520 – 23.

The Danish flag from the front page of Christiern Pedersen ’ s version of Saxo ’ s Gesta Danorum, 1514.

An episode in the Latin work Gesta Danorum, written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus, is generally considered to refer to Hel, and Hel may appear on various Migration Period bracteates.

In the account of Baldr's death in Saxo Grammaticus ' early 13th century work Gesta Danorum, the dying Baldr has a dream visitation from Proserpina ( here translated as " the goddess of death "):

The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus recorded an alternative version of this myth in his Gesta Danorum.

According to Paul the Deacon's 8th century work Historia Langobardorum, the Langobards migrated southward from Scandinavia led by Ibur and Aio, while Saxo Grammaticus records in his 12th-century work Gesta Danorum that this migration was prompted by Aggi and Ebbi.

* 1514 – Jodocus Badius Ascensius publishes Christiern Pedersen's Latin version of Saxo ’ s Gesta Danorum, the oldest known version of that work.

Parallels have been pointed out between Njörðr and the figure of Hadingus, attested in book I of Saxo Grammaticus ' 13th century work Gesta Danorum.

He has been identified with Uffo ( also Uffe, Uffi of Jutland ), a legendary Danish king in the Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus.

Additionally, Sleipnir is mentioned in a riddle found in the 13th century legendary saga Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, in the 13th century legendary saga Völsunga saga as the ancestor of the horse Grani, and book I of Gesta Danorum, written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus, contains an episode considered by many scholars to involve Sleipnir.

In Saxo Grammaticus ' 12th century work Gesta Danorum, where gods appear euhemerized, Ollerus is described as a cunning wizard with magical means of transportation:

Early modern publications, dealing with what we now call Viking culture, appeared in the 16th century, e. g. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus ( Olaus Magnus, 1555 ), and the first edition of the 13th century Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus in 1514.