Introduction
The Kraken was not only an Icelandic myth but may have originated in a number of places. In Ancient Greece, tales of giant octopi were mentioned as a creation of Hades, the god of the underworld. In Pacific lore, there were references to large sea serpents that devoured canoes and ships. It is not until the 11th century that references to the Icelandic myth of Hafgufr and Lyngbakr (The whale and the kraken) rose from the tales of Icelandic saga hero Örvar-Oddr.
Pre-Nordic - Cetus and the Scylla
The first resemblance to the kraken would be a creature known as Cetus, created by Hades in Greek mythology and was a rival of Typhon. It had many tentacles but more more similar to that of a shark. The correlation of Cetus and the Kraken and is very vague and is commonly not considered to be the same entity as the Kraken.
There was also another aquatic monster in Greek mythology known as the Scylla, however instead of multiple tentacles it had many heads and the hero Odysseus avoided. 1250 - Konungs skuggsjaThe myth's origin is very vague - many of the first recorded versions of the myths have been dated around the end of the Dark Ages - circa 1250, which was the waning end and waxing beginning of feudalism for Scandinavia. The earliest analysis of the Kraken was by an Icelandic traveller under the rule of Norway circa 1250 in manuscript Konungs skuggsja. The educational text was written for King Magnus VI after a number of Viking expeditionaries. The story tells of a mythical beast that roams between Iceland and Norway and observes nearby ships, occasionally flailing a tendril to cause large waves. The kraken was not thought of as aggressive but rather just a part of the environment.
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Now I will tell you that there are two sea-monsters. One is called the hafgufa (sea-mist), another lyngbakr (heather-back). It (the lyngbakr) is the largest whale in the world, but the hafgufa is the hugest monster in the sea. It is the nature of this creature to swallow men and ships, and even whales and everything else within reach. It stays submerged for days, then rears its head and nostrils above surface and stays that way at least until the change of tide. Now, that sound we just sailed through was the space between its jaws, and its nostrils and lower jaw were those rocks that appeared in the sea, while thelyngbakr was the island we saw sinking down. However, Ogmund Tussock has sent these creatures to you by means of his magic to cause the death of you (Odd) and all your men. He thought more men would have gone the same way as those that had already drowned (i.e. to thelyngbakr which wasn't an island, and sank), and he expected that the hafgufa would have swallowed us all. Today I sailed through its mouth because I knew that it had recently surfaced.
Excerpt of a 14th century adaptation of Icelandic formaldarsaga of Örvar-Oddr, converted to English. |
1250-1300 (1400) - The tales of Örvar-Öddr
During the late 13th century, an Icelandic hero known as Orvar-Oddr, who was a descendant of Hakon Haakonson, believed, explored the outskirts of Iceland on his own longboat. When an infant, a volva predicted that he would be killed by his own horse Faxi when he returned to his homeland at the age of 300. After being betrayed by Ogmund Tummock, who killed his blood-brother Thord, he ventured into Icelandic sea with his brother Vignir and encountered two giant sea monsters - one of these was Heather-Back, a giant whale, and the other was Sea-Reek, who was in fact, the legendary Kraken. This episode of the Sea-Reek and Heather-Back was entered into the original 13th century version in the late 14th century.
1555 - Olaus Magnus
A man known as Olaus Magnus, from Sweden wrote of a 'sea serpent' in his Scandinavian zoology saga, Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus. The serpant was also known as a 'Sea Orm' and was snake-like with sharp horns and thorns with deep, black eyes, similar to that of squid and their teeth. His primary goal was to collect all the mythical beasts that had not been discovered and the Kraken was one similar to this description. However, the Kraken depicted could have easily have been Scylla or Cetus, as the source of the monster is not identified.
1630 - Thirty Years War and the collection of folklore
During the European wars of the 17th century, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, famous war chief and king had the priests of every parish in the Swedish Empire to collect Scandinavian folklore and paganist acts. As the entirety of Scandinavia was converted to Christendom in the 11th century, pagan acts had been unused and became more of the folklore - particularly those of the Norse sagas of Thor and Odin - however the myths of that of the dangerous creatures such as the Lyngbakr and the Hafgufa - the latter being a reference to the kraken. These beasts were not considered untrue but were regarded as the history of the Swedish Empire and to remain unanswered. The folklore was collected as it was regarded as history of the Swedish Empire and everything had to be documented under the rule of Gustavus Adolphus.
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1735 - Systema Naturae
Carl Linnaeus, one of the first Swedish botanists, officially classified the kraken as a cephalopod in his taxonomic major work Systema Naturae written in 1735. He gave it a scientific classification - microcosmus marinus - which roughly translates to simple, tentacled marine monster. Linnaeus referred to it specifically as kraken in his first editions of the major work in 1735 but the creature was removed later on in his official publication in 1758.
1752 - Det Forste Forsorg paa Norges Naturlige Historie
Danish bishop Erik Pontoppidan wrote extensively about kraken in his writings about the history of Norway. His claims were contrary of the time, as in the 16th century, the Renaissance had begun in Scandinavia and many famous writers began to steer away from the realm of biological fiction and more into scientific analysis. Erik mentioned that the creature was easily mistaken for an island due to the hump that may hover out of the back of the creature and that the real dangers that the kraken gave was not of its tentacles but of the whirlpool that remained after the kraken had left. This could be referring to the ships that sunk but had no indication of tentacle lacerations on the hulls but rather that of violent storms.
1781 - Min son på galejan
In a 1781 work by Swedish author Jacob Wallenberg, the kraken is depicted as "the crab-fish" and was estimated to be the size of Öland, or about 16 kilometres long. The kraken was said to be surrounded by fishes so as to shroud his existence when unwary ships passed. When a ship was close enough, the kraken would spring up, devouring the ship whole and causing ripples and damage to the nearby seas or islands. It was also said that fishermen tried to find his resting place, as there were many fish around him to shroud himself. It is referenced to be that of the Leviathan of the Book of Job, which was probably influenced by that of the Christendom of Scandinavia.
1802 - Pierre Dénys de Montfort
Montfort was one of the last pioneers of the claims about the Kraken. He was a french malacologist who was inspired by a eight metre long squid tentacle found in the jaw of a sperm whale. He took the folklore of Scandinavia and used it to 'discover' the kraken's existence long before the discovery of the real giant squid in 1857. He claimed that there were two kinds of giant octopus off the shores of Norway and Iceland that had been described by Nordic fishermen and American sailors in folk tales. However, his claims were falsified after his accusation of an 'army of krakens' attacking British warships was disproved by a survivor that in fact the ships were taken down by hurricanes, not giant squids.
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Sources (History)
for King Magnus IV (circa 1250). Konunga skuggsja. Norway: educative text. http://books.google.com.au/books?vid=OCLC05178869&id=LgtIfLwQgX4C&pg=PP7&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Unknown Icelander (circa 1280). Orvar-Oddr Formaldarsaga. Iceland: formaldarsaga. http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/orvar.htm.
Olaus Magnus (1555). Carta marina. Sweden: Norway. http://cipher.uiah.fi/forum/materials/carta_marina?lang=en
Walter de Gruyter (1990). Religion, Myth and Folklore in the World's Epics: The Kalevala as Epic. Lauri Honko: Google Books. p184 (http://books.google.com.au/books?id=pblyZWxi5SsC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&dq=collection+of+scandinavian+folklore+1630&source=bl&ots=-LSz76IgwE&sig=aE0RfNgda6YEf61tNsPn-FXUfn8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RE0AVMbmOYW).
Carl Linnaeus (1735-1790). Systema Naturae. 10th ed. Sweden: Johann Friedrich Gmelin. http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727146.
Erik Pontoppidan (1752). Det forste Forsorg paa Norges Naturlige Historie. Denmark: Private. http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Det_forste_Forsorg_paa_Norges_Naturlige.html?id=qGw_AAAAcAAJ&redir_esc=y.
Jacob Wallenberg (1781). Min son på galejan. Sweden: Bokorama. http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Min_son_p%C3%A5_galejan.html?id=e1mlMwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y.
Bengt Sjögren (1980). Berömda vidunder. Laholm, Sweden: Settern. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3379193W/Bero%CC%88mda_vidunder.
Unknown Icelander (circa 1280). Orvar-Oddr Formaldarsaga. Iceland: formaldarsaga. http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/orvar.htm.
Olaus Magnus (1555). Carta marina. Sweden: Norway. http://cipher.uiah.fi/forum/materials/carta_marina?lang=en
Walter de Gruyter (1990). Religion, Myth and Folklore in the World's Epics: The Kalevala as Epic. Lauri Honko: Google Books. p184 (http://books.google.com.au/books?id=pblyZWxi5SsC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&dq=collection+of+scandinavian+folklore+1630&source=bl&ots=-LSz76IgwE&sig=aE0RfNgda6YEf61tNsPn-FXUfn8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RE0AVMbmOYW).
Carl Linnaeus (1735-1790). Systema Naturae. 10th ed. Sweden: Johann Friedrich Gmelin. http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727146.
Erik Pontoppidan (1752). Det forste Forsorg paa Norges Naturlige Historie. Denmark: Private. http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Det_forste_Forsorg_paa_Norges_Naturlige.html?id=qGw_AAAAcAAJ&redir_esc=y.
Jacob Wallenberg (1781). Min son på galejan. Sweden: Bokorama. http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Min_son_p%C3%A5_galejan.html?id=e1mlMwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y.
Bengt Sjögren (1980). Berömda vidunder. Laholm, Sweden: Settern. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3379193W/Bero%CC%88mda_vidunder.