THE HISTORY.

How he was induced to write his book has been mentioned. The expressions
of modesty Saxo uses, saying that he was "the least" of Absalon's
"followers", and that "all the rest refused the task", are not to be
taken to the letter. A man of his parts would hardly be either the least
in rank, or the last to be solicited. The words, however, enable us to
guess an upward limit for the date of the inception of the work. Absalon
became Archbishop in 1179, and the language of the Preface (written,
as we shall see, last) implies that he was already Archbishop when he
suggested the History to Saxo. But about 1185 we find Sweyn Aageson
complimenting Saxo, and saying that Saxo "had `determined' to set forth
all the deeds" of Sweyn Estridson, in his eleventh book, "at greater
length in a more elegant style". The exact bearing of this notice on
the date of Saxo's History is doubtful. It certainly need not imply that
Saxo had already written ten books, or indeed that he had written
any, of his History. All we call say is, that by 1185 a portion of the
history was planned. The order in which its several parts were composed,
and the date of its completion, are not certainly known, as Absalon died
in 1201. But the work was not then finished; for, at the end of Bk. XI,
one Birger, who died in 1202, is mentioned as still alive.

We have, however, a yet later notice. In the Preface, which, as its
whole language implies, was written last, Saxo speaks of Waldemar II
having "encompassed (`complexus') the ebbing and flowing waves of Elbe."
This language, though a little vague, can hardly refer to anything but
an expedition of Waldemar to Bremen in 1208. The whole History was in
that case probably finished by about 1208. As to the order in which its
parts were composed, it is likely that Absalon's original instruction
was to write a history of Absalon's own doings. The fourteenth and