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In "The Sagas of Norwegian Kings (1130–1265)", Theodore M. Andersson offers an orientation to the category of Icelandic sagas known as "kings' sagas," a genre of Old Norse-Icelandic prose literature less known than the somewhat later sagas of early Icelanders and their extended families. The kings'-saga genre culminated in three compendia that appeared prior to 1250: the manuscripts "Morkinskinna" and "Fagrskinna" and the compilation of sagas known as "Heimskringla". These remarkable sagas are among the most readable of European chronicles. Theodore M. Andersson’s book examines not only the evolution of the genre and its associated critical literature but also the genre’s points of interaction with Icelandic family sagas.
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Islandica A Series in Icelandic and Norse Studies Cornell University Library patrick j. stevens, managing editor volume lix
lL The Sagas of Norwegian Kings (1130–1265) An Introduction
THEODORE M. ANDERSSON
The Sagas of Norwegian Kings (1130–1265) An Introduction
lL Theodore M. Andersson
isl a n dic a l i x
cornell university library ithaca, new york 2016
Copyright © 2016 by Cornell University Library All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. First published 2016 by Cornell University Library Printed in the United States of America Distributed by Cornell University Press Design and composition: Jack Donner, BookType A complete version of this book is available through open access at http://cip.cornell.edu/Islandica ISBN: 978–0–935995–20–6 Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Maps vi Preface vii Abbreviations xi Chronology of Early Norwegian Kings xiii chapter 1
Medieval Contacts between Norway and Iceland
1
Chapter 2
Early Epitomes and Biographies
25
chapter 3
The Character of Kings: Morkinskinna and Fagrskinna
51
chapter 4
An Imperiled World: Heimskringla
75
chapter 5
In Quest of a Leader: Sverris saga
105
chapter 6
A Historical Mirage: Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar
133
Conclusion
155
Notes Bibliography Index of Authors and Titles
163 183 197
v
List of Maps
Central and South Norway
xiv
Map no. 1 of Iceland: Saga Age ship landing sites (ca. 930-1050)
23
Map no. 2 of Iceland: Thirteenth-century landing sites 24
vi
Preface
The purpose of the present volume is to provide the nonspecialist with a first orientation on the category of Icelandic sagas known as “kings’ sagas.” They are so titled because they typically, though not exclusively, recount the lives of the Norwegian kings from ca. 900 down to the thirteenth century. Two short Latin histories of these kings were written by Norwegians in the twelfth century, but the more extended vernacular histories, with one possible exception, were the work of Icelanders in the period 1130 to 1263. They reached their fullest and liveliest form in the three so-called “compendia” between ca. 1220 and ca. 1235. After 1200 the extended kings’ sagas were in competition with the sagas about early Icelanders (“family sagas”). The latter are much better known and more easily available in modern translations. The kings’ sagas are less well known outside of Scandinavia, where there is of course a living interest in the earliest native kings. The interaction between kings’ sagas and “family sagas” has not been much discussed but is touched on in several chapters below. The “family sagas” have, on the other hand, elicited a large critical literature and avid appreciat