Saxo Bank is named after one of the notable historians of the Middle Ages, Saxo Grammaticus. Renowned and inspiring, he was deemed ‘the man of letters’ in the 14th century for his brilliant use of Latin. Born around 1150 to a family of warriors in Sjælland, Saxo lived in the 12th and 13th century and although his station in life is debated (he was probably a cleric as it would have been unlikely for a layman at that time to have possessed his level of knowledge of theology and classical lore), he is considered to be the first Danish historian to compose a comprehensive early history of the Danes.
Saxo wrote the work Gesta Danorum, ‘Story of the Danes’. It is a comprehensive and colourful depiction of Denmark’s ancient culture and traditions and not only inspired many 19th-century Danish Romantic poets, but was the original source of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Saxo's history of the Danes was written at the suggestion of the Archbishop Absalon of Lund, who died in 1201 before the work was finished. Saxo subsequently addressed the work to the next Archbishop, Anders, who died in 1222. Originally, the work was meant to be a story of contemporary Denmark, but as it grew and occupied most of Saxo's life, it became a complete history of Denmark from mythological times to the year 1187.
It was written in an elegant, ornate Latin which was later praised by Erasmus of Rotterdam. The style was modelled on that of the Latin authors of the "Silver Age". The work consists of 16 books, of which the first nine relate to mythological material, while the latter seven books relate to material closer to Saxo's own time. Saxo's works did not appear to have been very popular during his lifetime, mostly due to the sparsity of people who spoke and could understand the form of Latin in which Saxo wrote.
The time of Saxo's death is not accurately known, but his legacy is an important part of Danish culture.