# Morkinskinna

Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275.
The name Morkinskinna means "mouldy parchment" and is originally the name of the manuscript book in which the saga has been preserved. The book itself, GKS 1009 fol, is currently in the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen. It was brought to Denmark from Iceland by Þormóður Torfason (Tormod Torfæus) in 1662.
The saga was published in English in 2000 in a translation by Theodore M. Andersson and Kari Ellen Gade.

## Contents

The saga starts in 1025 or 1026 and in its received form, ends suddenly in 1157, after the death of King Sigurðr II. Originally, the work may have been longer, possibly continuing until 1177, when the narratives of Fagrskinna and Heimskringla, which use Morkinskinna as one of their sources, end. Apart from giving the main saga, the text is lavishly interspersed with citations from skaldic verse (about 270 stanzas) and includes a number of short Icelandic tales known as þættir. The following is an overview of the chapters in Morkinskinna, chronologically subdivided by the reigns of the kings of Norway:

### Magnús I (r. 1035-1047)

    1. Here begins the saga of Magnús and Haraldr [his uncle]
    2. Concerning Sveinn
    3. Concerning King Magnús's feasts
    4. Concerning King Magnús
    5. Concerning the declaration of war against Magnús and concerning the Duke
    6. King Magnús in Jutland
    7. King Magnús's stay in Jutland
    8. How King Haraldr set sail when he came to Skáney
    9. Concerning Haraldr's travels
    10. Concerning Norðbrikt [=Haraldr]'s travels
    11. Concerning a declaration of war
    12. Concerning the raids of Norðbrikt and jarl Gyrgir
    13. Haraldr's journey to Jerusalem
    14. Concerning King Magnús's meeting with Haraldr
    15. The slandering of Þorkell
    16. Concerning King Magnús
    17. How King Magnús bestowed a jarldom on Ormr
    18. On the dispute between the kings
    19. Concerning the kings
    20. Concerning Þorsteinn Hallsson
    21. Concerning the kings
    22. The good counsels of King Haraldr
    23. Concerning King Magnús and Margrét
    24. Hreiðars þáttr ["The tale of Hreiðarr"]
    25. How the kings harried and how the king's mother granted a captive his life
    26. King Magnús dies [1047]
    27. Haraldr's thingmeeting
    28. King Magnús's funeral voyage

### Haraldr III (r. 1047-1066)

    29. Haraldr's thingmeeting
    30. Halldórs þáttr Snorrasonar
    31. [On King Haraldr's campaign in Denmark]
    32. Concerning King Haraldr
    33. Concerning the disagreement between the king and Einarr Þambarskelfir
    34. Concerning an Icelander
    35. Concerning King Haraldr's wise counsels
    36. How Auðunn from the Westfjords brought King Sveinn a bear [Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka]
    37. Concerning King Haraldr and the Upplanders
    38. Concerning King Haraldr and Brandr örvi (the Open-Handed)
    39. Concerning King Haraldr
    40. Concerning the storytelling of an Icelander [Íslendings þáttr sögufróða]
    41. Concerning Þorvarðr krákunel's gift of a sail to King Haraldr
    42. Concerning King Haraldr and Hákon
    43. Sneglu-Halla þáttr.
    44. [The king encounters a man in a boat]
    45. [Concerning King Haraldr and a dear friend of Tryggvi Óláfsson]
    46. [Concerning Gizurr Ísleifsson]
    47. Concerning Stúfr enn blindi
    48. Concerning Oddr Ófeigsson
    49. How it came about that King Haraldr journeyed to the West
    50. The treachery against King Haraldr
    51. Óláfr Haraldsson's return to Norway
    52. The death of King Harold Godwinson [1066]

### Óláfr III (r. 1067-1093)

    53. The saga of King Óláfr kyrri "the Quiet"
    54. Concerning King Óláfr and the Kráku-karl (Crow Man)

### Magnús III (r. 1093-1103)

    55. The Saga of King Magnús berfœttr
    56. Concerning King Magnús and Sveinki Steinarsson
    57. Concerning King Magnús's harrying
    58. Concerning King Magnús
    59. Concerning King Magnús's death

### Sigurðr I, Óláfr and Eysteinn I (r. 1103-1130)

    60. The beginning of the rule of King Magnús's sons
    61. The story of King Sigurðr's adventures
    62. Concerning the gifts of Emperor Kirjalax (Alexius I Komnenos)
    63. Concerning King Sigurðr's feast
    64. Concerning King Eysteinn
    65. Concerning King Eysteinn and Ívarr
    66. Concerning the king's genealogies
    67. Concerning King Sigurðr's dream
    68. The dealings of King Eysteinn and Ingimarr with Ásu-Þórðr
    69. The death of King Óláfr Magnússon [1115]
    70. An account of legal dealings between King Sigurðr and King Eysteinn (Þinga saga)
    71. The contest of the kings
    72. Concerning Þórarinn stuttfeldr
    73. Concerning the death of King Eysteinn [1123]
    74. Concerning King Sigurðr and Óttarr
    75. Concerning King Sigurðr and Erlendr
    76. Concerning Haraldr gilli
    77. Concerning King Sigurðr and Áslák hani (Rooster)
    78. Concerning King Sigurðr
    79. Concerning the bet between Magnús and Haraldr
    80. Concerning King Sigurðr and Bishop Magni
    81. The Death of King Sigurðr [1130]

### Haraldr IV (r. 1130-6) and Magnús IV (r. 1130-5, 1137-9)

    82. Concerning Haraldr and Magnús
    83. The gifts of King Haraldr to Bishop Magnús
    84. The story of Sigurðr slembidjákn
    85. Concerning Sigurðr slembir
    86. The slaying of King Haraldr [by Sigurðr slembidjákn in 1136]
    87. Concerning King Sigurðr slembir

### Sigurðr II (1136-1155)

    88. Concerning King Haraldr's sons
    89. Concerning Sigurðr
    90. Concerning King Sigurðr slembir
    91. King Ingi's letter
    92. Concerning Sigurðr slembir
    93. Concerning King Sigurðr slembir
    94. The slaying of Óttarr birtingr
    95. [no title]
    96. Concerning King Sigurðr
    97. Concerning King Eysteinn
    98. The slaying of Geirsteinn
    99. [no title]
    100. Concerning the death of King Sigurðr [1155]