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.