Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/326

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

ECUMENICAL


280


EDDA


Church and its property were placed under State con- trol. At the same time it was enacted that no new or foreign religious order would be permitted in the coun- try. Suffragan to Quito, which became an archbishop- ric in 1848, are: Cuenca (1786), Guayaquil (1837), Ibarra (1862), Loja (1866), Puerto, or Porto, Viejo (1871), Riobamba (186.3). There are also four vicar- iates Apostolic subject to the Congregation of Ex- traordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs: Canelos and Macas, Mendez and Gualaquiza, Napo, Zamora.

The first known mention of the Ecuadorian coast is made by Juan de Samano, Relacion de los primeros descubnmientos de Francisco Pizarro y Diego de Almugro (1525-26) in Documentos para la Historia de Espana, V.

Accounts of eyewitnesses on the Conquest: Francisco de Xerez, Verdadera relacion delta Conguista de la Peru y provincia del Cuzco llamada la nueva Castilla (ed. 1534; Salamanca, 1547; and translations); La Conqjttsta del Pent llaTnada la nueva Cas- tilla (Seville. 1534); Pedro Pizarro, Relacion del dexcub. y conquisla del Peru (c. 1571) in Doc, para la Hist, de Espana, V.

Later sources are: Cieza. Primera Parte de la Cronica del Peru; AuGusTix DE Zarate, Hist, del Descub. y Con. del Peru (.\ntwerp, 1555); Santa Clara, Hist, de las Guerras civiles del Peru (Madrid, 1904); Cieza, La Guerra de Quito in Doc. para la Hist, de la Espana; Gabcilasso de la Vega, Comentarios reales de los Incas {CordcSva, 1617); Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Incas, ed. Markham, (Hackluyt Soc. London, 1873), especially the first part. Lopez de Velasco, Geogr. &ca. de Indias (Madrid, 1S92). Important documents are found in Coleccion de Doc. de Indias and in Relaciones geog. de Indias (Madrid). I. III. Cf . Gomara, Herrera, and, for be- ginning of Conquest, Peter Martyr. — See also: Juan de Ve- lasco, Hist, del Reyno de Quito (Quito, 1841-42); Ulloa and Jorge Juan, Relacion hist, del viage d la America Meridional etc. (Madrid, 1748); Resumen hist, del origen sucesion de los Incas etc. (Caracas, 1830); La Condamine, Journal du Voyage fait par ordre du roi a VEquateur (Paris, 1751); Idem, Hist, des pyramides de Quito (Paris, 1751); Humboldt, Relacidn hist. (Paris. 1816-31); Vues des Cordillires etc. (Paris. 1816); Bene- DETTl, Hist, de Colombia (Lima. 1887); Gonzalez Suarez, Hist, general de la Repi'tb. del Ecuador (Quito. 1890); Wolf, Geog. y geologia del Ecuador (Leipzig. 1892); .Stubel. Skizzen aus Ecuador (Berlin. 1886); Idem. Die Vulkanberge von Ecuador (Berlin, 1898); Reiss and Stubel, Reisen in Sud-Amerika (Berlin, 1S90); Kolberg, Nach Ecuador (Freiburg im Br., 1897); Hassaurek. Four Years Among Spanish Americans (New York. 1876); Wymper. Travels Among the Great Andes of Ecuador (London, 1892); see also publications of the Bureau of .\merican Republics (Washington, D. C.) and Dice. Hisp.~.\mcr. For history of printing in Ecuador see ToRIBlo Medina, La Imprenta en Quito (Santiago, 1904).

Ad. F. Bandelier. Ecumenical Council. See Council.s, General.

Edda, a title applied to two different collections of old Norse literature, the poetical or " Elder Edda" and the prose or "Younger Edda". Properly speaking the title belongs only to the latter work, having been given to the former through a misnomer.

I. "The Younger Edda", the work of the Icelandic historian and statesman Snorri Sturlu.son (1178-1241), is a treatise on poetics for the guidance of the skalds or Icelandic poets. The title "Edda" is given to this work in the most important manuscript which we pos- sess of it, the " Upsala Codex", dating from about 1.300. The meaning of the word Edda is not cer- tain. The older explanation of "great-grandmother" is now generally discarded, the most commonly ac- cepted rendering being "poetics" (from dthr, "spirit", "reason"). Some scholars derive the word from Oddi, the name of a place in southern Iceland, where Snorri received his earliest training. The work itself w'as intended to supply to the skald all the necessary information concerning nijihology, poetic diction, and versification. Besides a formdti (preface) of later origin it contains three parts. (1) "Gylfaginning" (Gylfi's Deception), an abstract of old Scandinavian mythology in the form of a dialogue between King Gylfi and three gods. Appended to this are the "Bragaroedhur" (Bragi's Sayings), stories about Odhin and 'J'hor, related liy Bragi, the god of poetry, to the sea-god Aegir. (2) ".Skaldskaparmdl" (Dic- tion of Poetry) is a collection of poetic paraphrases (kenningar) and synonyms (6ke»d heiti), inter- spersed with mythological and legendary stories. (.3) "Hdttatal", a panegyric on the Norwegian King Hdkon Hdkonarson and Jarl Skuli, containing one


hundred and two strophes, each of which is composed in a different metre. This is followed by a prose com- mentary wTitten, however, after Snorri's death by an unknown author. The work was unfinished when Snorri died and was subsequently revised and ampli- fied by other writers. The best edition of the Snorra Edda is that published in three volumes by the Arna- Magnaean Society (Copenhagen, 1848-1887). Selec- tions were edited by E. Wilken (Paderborn, 1877; glossary to this edition, Paderborn, 1883). Parts were translated into German by Gering (Leipzig, 1892), into English by Dasent (1842), by Blackwell in Mallet's "Northern Antiquities" (London, 1770), and R. B. Anderson (Chicago, 1880).

II. "The Elder Edda", a collection of mj'thological and heroic .songs in the ancient Icelandic language. Altogether there are thirty-three such songs, twenty- nine of which are contained in the famous "Codex Regius", the most important of the Eddie manu- scripts. This codex was found in Iceland in 1643 by Bishop BrjTijolf Sveinsson. It had no title, and, since it contained poems, portions of which are cited in the Snorra Edda, the bishop concludetl that this was Snorri's .source and so he called the collection "Edda". He furthermore assumed that the priest Sa>mund (1056-1133), whose reputation for learning had become proverbial, was the author, or at least the collector of these songs, and he therefore WTote on a copy which he caused to be made the title "Edda Ssmundi multiscii" (Edda of Siemund the wise), and the title "Edda" has since then remained in general use to designate the kind of poems found in the "Codex Regius". Such poems differ both in content and form from the so-called skaldic poems. There is no doubt that these songs were collected and written dowm in Iceland from oral tradition; but nothing cer- tain is known concerning their age, original home, and authorship. All this has to be inferred from internal evidence, and hence opinions differ widely. It is agreed, however, that these poems are not common Scandinavian, but purely Norwegian; they were com- posed either in Norway or in Norwegian settlements like Iceland and Greenland. As to their age, it is con- ceded that none dates earlier than the midtlle of the ninth, and that some were written as late as the thir- teenth century. The subject-matter of the songs is taken either from mythology or heroic saga. Among the mythological poems the most famous is the "Voluspa" (the prophecy of the volva or sibyl), the most important source for our knowledge of Norse cosmogony. Important also in this respect are the " Vafthriidhnismal" and " Grimnismal ", where Odhin's superior wisdom is set forth.

Of the songs dealing with Thor the best known is the "Thrymskvidha" (the song of Thrym), relating Thor's quest of his hammer. The sententious wisdom of the Northmen is represented by the "Havamdl" (sayings of the High One, i. e., Odhin). Among the heroic poems the chief interest attaches to the lays of Sigurd and the Niflungs. Unfortunately this cycle of poems is incomplete, owing to a great gap of about eight leaves in the " Codex Regius ' ' ; but an idea of the contents of the lost poems may be gained from the prose version of the " Volsungasaga", the author of which still had before him the complete collection. The first complete edition of the "Elder Edda", with Latin translation, was issued by the Arna-Magna'an So- ciety (Copenhagen, 1787-1828). The first critical edi- tion, on which all subsequent ones were based, was given by Sophus Bugge (Christiania, 1867). A litho- graphic facsimile edition of the "Codex Regius", with a diplomat ic text, was given by Wimmer and Jonsson (Copenhagen, 1S!)1). Other editions are those of Sij- mons and (iering (Halle, Vol. I, text, 18SS Ii)01 ; Vol. II, glossary, 190.3); F. Jonsson (Halle, lSSS-90, 2 vols.); Hildebrand-Gering (Paderborn, 1904\ F. Det- ter and R. Ilcinzel (Leipzig, 1903, 2 vols.). The