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SAXIFRAGE (Saxifraga)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 264 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SAXIFRAGE (Saxifraga) , a genus of See also:plants which gives its name to the See also:order of which it is a member. There are nearly 200 See also:species distributed in the temperate and See also:arctic parts of the See also:northern hemisphere, frequently at considerable heights on the mountains, and also found on the See also:Andes. They are mostly herbs with perennial rootstocks and leaves in tufts or scattered on the See also:flower-stalks. The arrangement of the See also:flowers is very various, as also are the See also:size and See also:colour of the flowers themselves. They have a See also:flat or more or less See also:cup-shaped receptacle, from the margin of which See also:spring five sepals, five petals and ten (or rarely five) stamens. The See also:pistil is often partly adherent to the receptacle, and is divided above into two styles; the ovules are numerous, attached to See also:axile placentas; and the See also:seed-See also:vessel is capsular. Fifteen species are natives of See also:Britain, some alpine plants of See also:great beauty (S. oppositifolia, S. nivalis, S. aizoides, &c.), and others, like S. granulata, frequenting meadows and See also:low ground, while S. tridactylites may be found on almost any dry See also:wall. S. umbrosa is See also:London See also:Pride or St See also:Patrick's See also:Cabbage, a See also:common See also:garden plant, a native of the See also:Spanish See also:Peninsula and also of the mountains of W. and S.W. See also:Ireland. Many species are in cultivation, including the Bergenias or Megaseas with their large fleshy leaves and copious panicles of rosy or See also:pink flowers, the numerous alpine species, such as S. pyramidalis, S. cotyledon, &c., with tall panicles studded with See also:white flowers, and many others, most of them adapted for rockwork. SA X0 GRAMMATICUS (c. 1150-C.

1206), Danish historian and poet, belonged to a See also:

family of warriors, his See also:father and See also:grand-father having served under Valdemar I., See also:king of See also:Denmark (d. 1182). Brought up for the clerical profession, Saxo entered the service of See also:Archbishop See also:Absalon about 118o, and remained in that capacity until the See also:death of Absalon in 1201. It was at the archbishop's instigation that he began, about 1185, to write the See also:history of the Danish See also:Christian See also:kings from the See also:time of Sweyn Astridson (d. 1076), but later Absalon prevailed on him to write also the history of the earlier See also:heathen times, and to combine both into a great See also:work, Gesta Danorum, or Historia Danica. The archbishop died before the work was finished, and therefore the See also:preface, written about 1208, dedicates the work to his successor Archbishop Andreas, and to King Valdemar II. Nothing else is known about Saxo's See also:life and See also:person; a See also:chronicle of 1265 calls him " mirae et urbanae eloquentiae clericus "; and an See also:epitome of his work from about 1340 describes him as " egregius grammaticus, origine Sialandicus." That he was a native of See also:Zealand is probably correct, inasmuch as, whereas he often criticizes the Jutlanders and the Scanians, he frequently praises the Zealanders. The surname of " Grammaticus " is probably of later origin, scarcely earlier than 1500, apparently owing to a See also:mistake. The See also:title of " See also:provost of See also:Roskilde," given him in the 16th See also:century, is also probably incorrect, the historian being confounded with an older contemporary, the provost of the same name. Saxo, from his See also:apprenticeship as the archbishop's secretary, had acquired a brilliant but somewhat euphuistic Latin See also:style, and wrote See also:fine Latin verses, but otherwise he does not seem to have had anf very great learning or extensive See also:reading. His See also:models of style were See also:Valerius See also:Maximus, See also:Justin and Martianus See also:Capella, especiallythe last. Occasionally he mentions See also:Bede, See also:Dudo of St Quentin and See also:Paulus Diaconus, but he does not seem to have studied them or any other See also:historical See also:works thoroughly.

His See also:

sources are partly Danish traditions and songs, partly the statements of Archbishop Absalon, partly the accounts of Icelanders and, lastly, some few earlier sources, lists of Danish kings and See also:short See also:chronicles, which furnished him with some reliable See also:chronological facts. He considered traditions as history, and therefore made it his See also:chief business to recount and arrange these, and his work is a loosely connected See also:series of See also:biographies of Danish kings and heroes. The first nine books of the Gesta Danorum comprise traditions of kings and heroes of the See also:half-mythical time up to about 950. Here we have traditions about Fredfrode, about Amleth (See also:Hamlet) and Fenge, about Hrolfr Kraki, Hadding, the See also:giant Starkather, See also:Harald Hildetann and Ragnarr Lodbrok. In this earlier history Saxo has also embodied myths of See also:national gods who in tradition had become Danish kings, for instance, See also:Balder and Hother, and of See also:foreign heroes, likewise incorporated in Danish history, as the See also:Gothic Jarmunrik (A.S. Eormenrfc), the Anglian Vermund (A.S. Garmund) and Uffe (A.S. See also:Offa), the See also:German Hedin and Hild, and others. Frequently the narrative is interrupted by See also:translations of poems, which Saxo has used as See also:authentic sources, although they are often only a few generations older than himself. In the later books (x.-xvi.) of his work he follows to a greater extent historical accounts, and the more he approaches his own time the See also:fuller and the more trustworthy his relation becomes; especially brilliant is his treatment of the history of King Valdemar and of Absalon. But his patriotism often makes him partial to his countrymen, and his want of See also:critical sense often blinds him to the historical truth. Saxo's work was widely read during the See also:middle ages, and several extracts of it were made for smaller chronicles.

It was published for the first time, from a MS. afterwards lost, in See also:

Paris, 1514,. by the Danish humanist Christiern See also:Pedersen; this edition was reprinted at See also:Basel, 1534, and at See also:Frankfort, 1576. Of later See also:editions may be mentioned that of See also:Stephen Stephanius (SSro, 1644), the second See also:volume of which contains the little-known, but valuable, Ste phanii notae uberiores in historiam Danicam Saxonis Grammatici, and which was reproduced, though without the notes, by C. A. See also:Klotz (See also:Leipzig, 1771); and that of P. E. See also:Muller completed by J. M. Velschow (See also:Copenhagen, 1839-1858). The last See also:complete edition is that of See also:Alfred Holder (See also:Strassburg, 1886), while a large See also:part was edited by G. See also:Waitz in the Mon. Germ. historica, See also:xxix. pp. 43-161 (1892).

No complete MS. any longer exists; yet of See also:

late small fragments have been found of three See also:MSS. The most remarkable of these is the fragment found at See also:Angers, in See also:France, written in the later part of the 13th century. It is now in the library of Copenhagen. There are Danish translations by A. G. Vedel (Copenhagen, 1575, and again 1851), and by F. Winkel-See also:Horn (1896-1898). There is an See also:English See also:translation by O. See also:Elton and F. Y. See also:Powell (London, 1894). See A.

See also:

Potthast, Bibliotheca historica medii aevi(See also:Berlin, 1896), where full references will be found.

End of Article: SAXIFRAGE (Saxifraga)

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