VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCHTEXT SERIESGENERAL EDITORS

Anthony Faulkes and Richard Perkins

VOLUME XÁGRIP AF NÓREGSKONUNGAS¯GUMÁGRIP AF
NÓREGSKONUNGAS¯GUM
A TWELFTH-CENTURY SYNOPTICHISTORY OF THE KINGS OF NORWAYEDITED AND TRANSLATEDWITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY

M. J. DRISCOLLSECOND EDITIONVIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

2008

Bók ﬂessi er tileinku› vinum mínum á Árnastofnun© Matthew James Driscoll 1995
Second edition with corrections and additions 2008
ISBN: 978 0 903521 75 8

The cover illustration is based on a figure attached to the shrineof St Manchan, Boher, County Offaly, which was probably made in
Ireland in the twelfth century. It is thought to represent St Óláfr.
The maps are based on those in Íslenzk fornrit XXIX by permissionof Hi› íslenzka fornritafélag

Printed by
Short Run Press Limited, Exeter

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ............................................................ vi
Preface to second edition ............................................... vii
Introduction ....................................................................... ix(i) Manuscript and provenance .............................................. ix(ii) Ágrip’s sources ................................................................ xiii(iii) Style and language ........................................................ xviii
Editorial principles ....................................................................... xx(i) Orthography and morphology .......................................... xx(ii) Punctuation, chapter division etc. ................................ xxiii(iii) Previous editions and translations ............................... xxiv
A note on the translation .......................................................... xxv
Text and translation ...........................................................1
Notes to the translation................................................... 82
Bibliography and abbreviations ................................... 109
Index of personal names ............................................... 116
Index of place-names .................................................... 120
Index of other names .................................................... 126

Illustrations
Facsimile of folio 5v of the manuscript....................... viii
Map of Denmark ........................................................... 121
Map of Central and South Norway ....................... 122–23
Map of Sweden and the Baltic .................................... 124

Acknowledgments
The present work began life as a BA dissertation, or ‘Semester 8
project’, in English Studies at the University of Stirling, Scotland,
completed in the spring of 1979. The Viking Society agreed to publish
it fairly quickly thereafter, but one thing or another has prevented its
publication until now. Owing to the work’s long gestation period,
there are a great many people to whom I owe my thanks. Ursula
Dronke first suggested the idea of a translation with commentaryof Ágrip and Michael Alexander, now Professor of English at St
Andrews, supervised the original project. I edited the text from photographs of the manuscript at Stofnun Árna Magnússonar in Reykjavík,
checking my text subsequently against the manuscript itself at Det
Arnamagnæanske Institut in Copenhagen; to the staffs of both these
institutions I owe my gratitude, in particular to Ólafur Halldórsson
and Stefán Karlsson in Reykjavík and to Jonna Louis-Jensen in Copenhagen. I should also like to acknowledge the help of Christopher
Sanders of Den arnamagnæanske kommissions ordbog. Others who
have helped in one way or another in the preparation of this volume
include Bjarni Einarsson, who very kindly read over my introduction
and notes at an early stage and made available to me the text of his
edition while it was still in proof, Bjarni Gu›nason, who read over the
first draft of my text, and Carolyne Larrington, who also read over thenotes and made a number of valuable comments and suggestions.
Anthony Faulkes and Richard Perkins have both read over the entire
work, the former probably more times than he would care to remember, and to both of them I owe a debt of gratitude. Finally, I should liketo thank my wife Ragnhei›ur, without whose help and encouragement
I should probably never have completed this—or indeed any other—
project. It is a sobering thought that at no time during our married life
have I not, in theory at least, been working on Ágrip.
M. J. Driscoll
Reykjavík
September 1994

Preface to second edition
For this reprint I have taken the opportunity to correct some errors andinfelicities in the first printing, among them several brought to myattention in reviews of the book, in particular those by Jan Ragnar Hagland(Maal og Minne 2 (1996), 215–16) and Kari Ellen Gade (Alvíssmál 7(1997), 112–15). Hallgrímur J. Ámundason’s MA thesis from 2001, an
edition of Ágrip with detailed palaeographic and linguistic commentary,
has also prompted me to revise a number of readings in my own edition.
I have not, however, made substantial revisions to the introduction(except in section (i)) or notes, nor have I updated the bibliography.
M. J. Driscoll
Copenhagen
May 2007

AM 325 II 4to, folio 5v (see pp. 16 and 18)
Photo: Suzanne Reitz, Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, Copenhagen

INTRODUCTION(i) Manuscript and provenanceÁgrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum, or simply Ágrip, is the name given
by modern scholars1 to a short text, written in the vernacular, dealing
with the history of the kings of Norway from the late ninth to the early
twelfth century, and preserved in a single Icelandic manuscript, AM
325 II 4to, dating from the first half of the thirteenth century.2 The
manuscript is imperfect, comprising in its present form four quires,the first, second and fourth of them originally consisting of eight leaves,the third of seven. The first leaf of the first quire was at some point cut
from the rest, so that nothing remains of it apart from a strip 1.5 cm wide
along the inner margin. In addition, only two leaves, a bifolium, remainof the fourth quire, with the result that there are two significant lacunae
toward the end of the text. A fifth quire generally assumed to havefollowed has left no trace. The text is written in two columns throughout, which is rather unusual for a small quarto manuscript (c.15 × 13cm), most of 25 lines. There are two contemporary hands, otherwise
unknown, but clearly those of practised scribes. The first of these writes
fols 1r–22v, i. e. to the end of chapter LV in the present edition, andthe second fols 23 and 24. Some scholars have argued for a third handon fol. 24, but the evidence for this is insubstantial.3 Spaces for initials
and chapter headings were left by the scribes but not filled in. A later,probably fifteenth-century, hand has added initials and chapter headings
in greenish-coloured ink on fols 8r, 8v, 9r, 10r and 11r. Although the
1 The name derives from Finnur Magnússon’s edition in Fornmanna sögur
X, ‘Stutt ágrip af Noregs konúnga sögum’ (‘Short summary of the histories of
the kings of Norway’), which was in turn probably suggested by ÁrniMagnússon’s description of the text, ‘Compendium Historiæ Norvegicæ’; see
Katalog 1889–94, I 553.
2 Katalog 1889–94, I 553; cf. Ágrip 1880, xxxiv. Hreinn Benediktsson
1965, xxi, gives the date more specifically as ‘probably towards the middle ofthe first half of the 13th century’. Munch (Ágrip 1834, 273) initially declared
the manuscript to be from the fourteenth century, but later (Oddr Snorrason
1853, vi) referred to it as ‘et . . . Haandskrift, der neppe kan være stort yngreend 1200’; Konrá› Gíslason (1846, xxxviii) dated it to the early thirteenth
century, and similar datings—late twelfth or early thirteenth century—arefound in Storm (1871, 414: ‘ved Aar 1200 eller lidt senere’), Bugge (1873, 2:‘rimelig ikke længe efter 1200’) and Gu›brandur Vigfússon (1878, lxxxvii:‘end of the twelfth century’).
3 E. g. Dahlerup (Ágrip 1880, xxvii–xxx) and Hreinn Benediktsson (1965,xxi); cf. Brieskorn 1909, 149–52; Finnur Jónsson, Ágrip 1929, viii.

xÁgrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

ink has faded somewhat most of these chapters headings can still bemade out, e.g. fol. 8rb ‘floti astridar’ (‘Ástrí›r’s flight’), fol. 9rb ‘vm olaf
konung’ (‘Concerning King Óláfr’) and fol. 10ra ‘Gipting olafs konungs’(‘The marriage of King Óláfr’). There are, in addition to these, several
marginal notes in later hands. On fol. 4v, for example, the words ‘hialmadr
og brynjadr’ (‘helmeted and mail-clad’) are written in a fifteenthcentury hand, imitating an addition made to the text by the scribe at thispoint (cf. p. 14 note b). Probably in the same hand is a comment in
the lower margin of fol. 5r: ‘ﬂetta ﬂiki mer vera gott blek ennda kannek icki b[e]tr[a] sia’ (‘this seems to me to be good ink, at least as far
as I can see’), presumably a pen trial. In the bottom margin of fol. 9v
a rather amateurish hand, probably of the seventeenth century, has
written: ‘ﬂessa bok uilda eg gæt lært meda[n] Gud gefe myer Gott ad
læra’ (‘I would like to study this book while God makes it possible forme to study’). There are also illegible scribbles in a later hand (orhands) on fols 2r, 3r, 5v, 6r and 19r. On fol. 16r a similar hand has
written what appears to be the name ‘ﬁorgeir Jónsson’; this is presumablyﬁorgeir Jónsson (c.1661–1742), brother of Bishop Steinn Jónsson andrá›sma›ur (steward) at Hólar, one of the manuscript’s previous owners.4
One unusual aspect of the manuscript is the very large number of
erasures. Throughout the manuscript single words, groups of words andeven whole sentences have been erased, often so thoroughly that it is
now impossible to see what had been written there. In a few cases these
may be the work of the scribe himself—in one instance at least a scribal
error has clearly been corrected—but as the spaces have for the mostpart been left empty this is unlikely to be true for the majority. Four lines
at the end of chapter IX have been erased, presumably because thesame events are dealt with more fully later in the book and someone,
perhaps the scribe himself, wanted to avoid the repetition, but for mostof the erasures there is no apparent reason. Curiously, few of them inany way affect the grammar or syntax. It is, suggests Bjarni Einarsson,
as if someone had, as a kind of diversion, gone through the manuscript
looking for words that could be removed without damaging the text.5
Ágrip’s forty-eight pages span the period of Norway’s history fromthe death of Hálfdan svarti (‘the black’) in about 880 to the accessionof Ingi krókhryggr (‘the hunchback’) in 1136. In its original form,
however, the text is thought to have begun with Hálfdan’s reign and
4 For a full description of the manuscript see Ágrip 1880, iii–vi.
5 Ágrip 1984, vi.

Introduction

xi

continued, like the more expansive and better-known series of Kings’
Sagas Heimskringla and Fagrskinna, down to the accession of Sverrir
Sigur›arson in 1177.6
Several features of the text—omissions, dittographies etc., and thefact that there is more than one hand—indicate that it must be a copyof an older original. Some scholars have suggested that even whencomplete the extant version represented no more than an abridgementof a much longer text.7 Most agree that although the manuscript itself
is without doubt Icelandic,8 the original must certainly have been
written in Norway.9 That the author was Norwegian—or at least
writing in Norway10—is suggested by a number of factors. The orthography of the manuscript is inconsistent and in many respects quite
odd, and at least some of the features it exhibits must be due to a
Norwegian exemplar.11 There are also several anomalous morphological forms, some of which are clear ‘Norwegianisms’, and many of thenicknames used in Ágrip—háfœta (‘high-leg’), hvítbeinn (‘white-leg’),lafskegg (‘dangling beard’), berleggr (‘bare-leg’)—are different fromthose normally found in Icelandic sources, and may therefore represent
Norwegian, rather than Icelandic, tradition.12
6 See e. g. Ágrip 1984, xvii; Indrebø 1922, 19. Maurer (1867, 146) thought
it to have continued down to 1161, and Dahlerup (Ágrip 1880, iii) that it ‘harsluttet med Sigurd Jorsalefarer’, i. e. in 1130 (like Theodoricus).
7 E. g. Gu›brandur Vigfússon 1878, lxxxvii: ‘As the only example of an
Icelandic abridgement it is interesting.’ Much of the evidence for this view isdiscussed by Sigur›ur Nordal (1914, 46–48).
8 See e. g. Konrá› Gíslason 1846, xxxviii.
9 Icelandic provenance has occasionally been claimed; see e. g. Jón
ﬁorkelsson 1856, 141–42 and 147–48 (‘getum vèr eigi sè›, a› ﬂa› sè neinsönnun fyrir norskum uppruna . . . Ágrips af Noregs konunga sögum’). Morerecently, Bjarni Gu›nason (1977, 119) has been content to say merely that‘Ágrip er ef til vill íslenskt a› uppruna’.
10 Finnur Jónsson 1920–24, II 618–19, claims that while Ágrip may wellhave been written in Norway, ‘må det betragtes som utvivlsomt, at forfatteren
er en Islænder’. The argument is wonderfully circular: no Norwegian is
known to have written a historical text in the vernacular—after all, Sverrir and
Hákon Hákonarson both imported Icelanders to write their sagas—ergo, no
historical text in the vernacular can have been written by a Norwegian.
11 On ‘Norwegianisms’ in the text see Ágrip 1880, xxx–xxxiii; Storm 1873,
25–27; and Hægstad 1906–42, II.2, 156; see also, however, Ágrip 1929, ix.
Generally, care must be taken when assessing the value of such ‘Norwegianisms’,
as their presence in Icelandic manuscripts does not in any way demonstrate
Norwegian origin; see Stefán Karlsson 1978 and 1979.
12 See Indrebø 1922, 56–57.

xiiÁgrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

The text itself provides some information on its author. Unlike sagaauthors generally, the author of Ágrip evinces little interest in, andindeed some ignorance of, Iceland and Icelanders.13 He misinterpretsa kenning in one of the skaldic verses he cites, which, it has been
claimed, no ‘educated Icelander of that day’ could have done.14 The
centre of much of the action is Ni›aróss (modern Trondheim), which
is often referred to simply as Kaupangr (‘town’), and with which thereader is apparently expected to be familiar. The ﬁrœndir—the peopleof ﬁrándheimr, the modern-day Trøndelag—are mentioned five times
in the text, as against only one mention each for the inhabitants ofother parts of the country, the Vƒrsar, Upplendingar, Háleygir andMœrir, suggesting that the author’s interests were centred there, andthat he himself may have lived there, and there have written his book.
One might also be forgiven for detecting in Ágrip an underlying
Norwegian national sentiment, particularly with regard to its presentationof the various achievements of the Norwegian royal house. In chapter
XLIX, for example, Magnús berfœttr’s expedition to Sweden (inHeimskringla and in foreign chronicles a Norwegian defeat) is presented
as a resounding victory.
It is also possible to discern in Ágrip a certain tendentiousness. The
author, obviously a cleric, clearly sides with Ingi krókhryggr and his
follower Gregóríús Dagsson, which would suggest that he was an
opponent of the Birkibeinar, or ‘Birch-legs’, and that his work was,at least in part, polemical, intended to convince the populace that thedescendants of the kings who had collaborated with the church weremore worthy of their support than the Birkibeinar and their followers.15
Discernible also is a tendency on the part of the author to take thepart of ‘the people’—l‡›rinn, a word occurring with unusual frequency in the text—against bad kings who impose taxes and hardships.16 Ágrip is decidedly not an aristocratic work.
Ágrip is generally said to have been written ‘c.1190’.17 This date has
been arrived at because Ágrip’s author, as we shall see below, isthought to have made use of another Norwegian synoptic history,
Historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium, written by one
13 Indrebø 1922, 58–59.
14 Turville-Petre 1953, 173; see note 9 to the translation below, pp. 83–84.
15 See Paasche 1922. An account of the background to this dispute can befound in Gathorne-Hardy 1956.
16 See Indrebø 1922, 43–45.
17 See e. g. Ágrip 1984, x–xi.

Introduction

xiii‘Theodoricus monachus’, which, on the basis of internal evidence,
would appear to have been written shortly after 1177 but certainly
before 1188,18 thus providing us with a convenient terminus post
quem for Ágrip. The only certain terminus ante quem is the date of themanuscript itself, i. e. the first half of the thirteenth century, as was
said above, but there is some external evidence (not, admittedly, agreat deal) to indicate that it is somewhat older than that. Snorri
Sturluson knew Ágrip, and used it in his Heimskringla, thought tohave been written around 1230. Fagrskinna and the so-called ‘Legendarysaga’ of Óláfr Haraldsson, both of which predate Heimskringla, appear
also to have used Ágrip, pushing its likely date of composition backsomewhat further. Finally, certain similarities between passages inÁgrip and in the Icelandic translation of Oddr Snorrason’s Óláfs saga
Tryggvasonar, thought to date from about 1200, suggest that Ágrip
was known to the translator.19 If so, Ágrip must have been written
sometime before 1200 but after 1188, hence ‘c.1190’.
(ii) Ágrip’s sources‘The history of Icelandic literature’, wrote Jón Helgason, ‘contains nomore intricate problem than that of the relationship between the various
Sagas about the Norwegian Kings.’20 Scholarship on the Kings’ Sagas
has in general tended to concentrate on this question of sources andtextual relations, often to the exclusion of all else, so that one may
occasionally find oneself in agreement with Theodore M. Andersson’s
recent comment that ‘the charm of kings’ saga study is decidedly remote’.21
Ágrip lies in many ways at the very heart of the ‘problem’ of theKings’ Sagas. While its influence on subsequent material is fairly
clear—it became known in Iceland soon after its composition and wasused, as was mentioned above, by Snorri in his Heimskringla—thenature of the sources used by the author of Ágrip himself has been thesubject of much learned debate over the last century and a half,
particularly as regards Ágrip’s relationship to the two other Norwegian synoptic histories, Theodoricus’s Historia de Antiquitate Regum
Norwagiensium and the anonymous Historia Norvegiæ.22
18 Nordal 1914, 8–9.
19 See Bjarni A›albjarnarson 1937, 57–58; Nordal 1914, 37–39.
20 1934, 12.
21 1985, 198.
22 See Ulset 1983, 16–47.

xivÁgrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

Theodoricus’s book, written in Latin, begins with the reign of Haraldr
hárfagri and ends with the death of Sigur›r Jórsalafari in 1130, andmust have been composed, as noted above, sometime between 1177
and 1188. Despite a number of attempts to do so, it does not seem
possible to pin-point the date of composition within that period,23
although it is customary to see it as nearer the beginning of the period
than the end.24 Theodoricus’s sources have, like Ágrip’s, been thesubject of much debate. He himself says that he has based his accounton the reports, therefore presumably oral, of Icelanders, who know
more about these things than anyone else, having preserved thesestories in their poetry.25 Although he appears to claim to have had nowritten sources—he is reporting, he stresses, what he has heard, notseen (‘non visa sed audita’)—he refers in the text to a Catalogus
regum norwagiensium, presumably a written work,26 and he seems
also to have known a Translatio S. Olavi.27 Neither of these has survived.
Historia Norvegiæ, also written in Latin, is preserved in a single
fragmentary manuscript containing texts and documents in Latin and
Scots relating to the history of Orkney, Scotland and Norway. P. A.
Munch, the first editor of the Historia Norvegiæ,28 considered themanuscript to be Orcadian and to date from the mid-fifteenth century,
but Michael Chesnutt has demonstrated that it cannot have been compiled before 1500, and then on the Scottish mainland.29 The originalis thought to have been Norwegian. Little can be said with any certainty with regard to its date of composition, but various scholars havesuggested dates ranging from 1152–63 to 1266 or later.30 In its present
23 See Lange 1989, 20–22.
24 See e. g. Nordal 1914, 8–9.
25 ‘Operæ pretium duxi . . . pauca hæc de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium
breviter annotare, et prout sagaciter perquirere potuimus ab eis, penes quos
horum memoria præcipue vigere creditur, quos nos Islendinga vocamus, qui
hæc in suis antiquis carminibus percelebrata recolunt.’ (MHN 3)
26 See Ellehøj 1965, 182–96.
27 The Translatio is discussed in e. g. MHN xxxiv; Nordal 1914, 10–12;
Bjarni A›albjarnarson 1937, 6; Jónas Kristjánsson 1972, 146–47.
28 Symbolæ ad historiam antiquiorem Norvegicarum (1850).
29 Chesnutt 1985.
30 Hanssen (1949, 28) dated it to 1152–63; Storm (MHN xxiii) suggested
1180–90; Koht (1919, 102; 1921, 211–13), Schreiner (1928, 73) and Ellehøj(1965, 144–46; 295), favoured c.1170; Finnur Jónsson (1920–24, II 594;
1928, 276), Paasche (1957, 464–65) and Bjarni A›albjarnarson (1937, 22)have all argued for 1200–20; Meissner (1902, 42–43) proposed 1264–66, andIntroduction

xv

form the chronicle breaks off with St Óláfr’s return to Norway in
about 1015, and it is uncertain how much further it may originallyhave extended, although the prologue suggests the author intended tocontinue the story down to nearer his own day.31
These three works are manifestly interrelated; in places Ágrip’s text
is virtually identical with that of Theodoricus, while in others it seems
to agree rather with Historia Norvegiæ. The nature and number ofcorrespondences between the three point to a written, rather than anoral, connection, and Siegfried Beyschlag’s theory32—that the threesynoptics independently preserve an established oral tradition—has
few adherents. The scholarly literature on these works has tended toconcentrate on their literary relations, and could be described, at leastin comparison with the length of the works themselves, as extensive.
The arguments advanced are often extraordinarily complex.33 There isno consensus, although Theodoricus’s work and Historia Norvegiæ
are believed by most to be unconnected. It is how Ágrip relates to themthat is anything but clear. Generally, however, Ágrip’s author is thought
to have made direct use of Theodoricus, translating passages virtuallyword for word, while the similarities between Ágrip and Historia
Norvegiæ are explained by most scholars as the result of their having
had a common source, either Latin or Norse, although many admitthat there is really nothing to preclude the possibility that Ágrip used
Historia Norvegiæ directly.34 There have been a number of candidates
posited for this common source. An earlier generation of scholars
assumed it to have been a Norwegian work, otherwise unattested,35
but more recently the chief contenders have been the lost works ofSæmundr Sigfússon (1056–1133) and Ari ﬁorgilsson (1067/8–1148).

Maurer (1867, 226–27) a date certainly not before 1266 but possibly even aslate as the fifteenth century. The dating of Historia Norvegiæ is obviously a
key factor in any attempt to determine its position vis-à-vis the other Norwegian synoptics.
31 Ulset (1983, 147–48) reckons Historia Norvegiæ may well have carriedon until at least 1155; much the same conclusion was reached by Storm (1876,224), but see also Schreiner 1928, 84.
32 Beyschlag 1950, esp. 247–48.
33 For an excellent summary of the various arguments see Andersson 1985,
201–11.
34 See Ellehøj 1965, 198–200; Lange 1989, 164–78 and references there.
35 See e. g. Bjarni A›albjarnarson 1937, 17–18, 47–49, 54.

xviÁgrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

Sæmundr, called inn fró›i, ‘the wise’, wrote, probably in Latin, ahistory of the kings of Norway. This work has not survived apart froma few lines interpolated into the Icelandic translation of Oddr Snorrason’sÓláfs saga Tryggvasonar, 36 but Sæmundr’s book was also the basis
for the metrical Nóregskonungatal, composed in Iceland at about thesame time as Ágrip (between 1184 and 1197) and preserved in
Flateyjarbók. 37 On the basis of the poem it is possible to get some ideaof the nature and scope of Sæmundr’s book, which appears to havebegun with Hálfdan svarti and ended with the death of Magnús gó›i,although the central figures would have been Haraldr hárfagri, Hákon
gó›i, Óláfr Tryggvason and Óláfr helgi.
Ari, also called inn fró›i, is well known as the author of Íslendingabók,
the earliest extant example of narrative prose in a Scandinavian language.
References to Ari in later works indicate that his writings must haveincluded more than the extant Íslendingabók, however, and indeed in
the prologue to that work Ari himself states that there was an earlier
version, containing áttartala, ‘genealogy’, and konungaævi, ‘lives ofkings’. What form these may have taken is not clear, but some indication
is provided by Ari’s own lögsögumannaævi, ‘Lives of the Lawspeakers’,
in the extant Íslendingabók, in which the Lawspeakers are listed andthe term of office given for each, along with a brief mention of themost important events during each Lawspeaker’s term. This is,conceivably, the form the konungaævi took in the older recension of
Ari’s Íslendingabók.
In his closely-argued book Studier over den ældste norrøne
historieskrivning Svend Ellehøj attempts to show that the common
source of Ágrip and Historia Norvegiæ must have been Ari’s lost
konungaævi, and he also includes Sæmundr as one of Ágrip’s sources.
His argument, while persuasive, is not iron-clad. But even what he,and nearly everyone else, has taken as read—that Theodoricus could
not have known the works of Sæmundr and Ari because he had nowritten sources, and that similarities between Theodoricus and Ágrip
can therefore only be explained as the latter having made direct use of
the former—has recently been called into question. Bjarni Gu›nason,
reviving and augmenting an older theory,38 has argued convincingly
36 1932, 114.
37 II 524. On Nóregskonungatal see Ólafía Einarsdóttir 1964, 165–83.
38 The idea that Theodoricus knew Ari was suggested by Árni Magnússon,see Edda Snorra Sturlusonar 1848–87, III 227; it has also been argued by
Gjessing (1873–76, II 50–56) and Finnur Jónsson (1920–24, II 587–94).

Introduction

xvii

that, despite his statements to the contrary, Theodoricus did know anduse the works of Sæmundr and Ari.39 Building on Bjarni’s work, Gudrun
Lange’s study Die Anfänge der isländisch-norwegischen Geschichtsschreibung argues that not only Theodoricus but all three Norwegian
synoptics could have used both Sæmundr and Ari, and also the originalLatin version of Oddr Snorrason’s Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar and the‘oldest saga’ of Óláfr helgi. If she is right, her findings effectively put
paid to the idea of a twelfth-century Norwegian school of historiography
flourishing independently of the Icelandic school of Sæmundr and Ari.40
Ágrip’s author may have had written sources other than the lost
books of Sæmundr and Ari, and there has been no shortage of nominees. It has been suggested, for example, that he had access to somekind of law-book, as witnessed by his description of the ‘Álfífulƒg’and their consequences in chapters XXVIII and XXIX.41 Bjarni
A›albjarnarson thought he must also have used a lost Hákonar saga
gó›a.42 Finnur Jónsson, among others, postulated a lost saga about theearls of Hla›ir,43 and Didrik Arup Seip proposed Eiríkr Oddsson’s lostwork Hryggjarstykki as one of Ágrip’s sources.44 These can only everremain conjectural. As Gudrun Lange’s study shows, the only thingthat can be said with any certainty about Ágrip’s written sources is thatvery little indeed can be said with much certainty.
Ágrip clearly drew on oral sources as well. One such was skaldic
poetry, at least some of which is likely to have come from oral
tradition. The author cites seven verses: two strophes attributed to
Sighvatr ﬁór›arson, two half-strophes—one, which he misinterprets,from the otherwise unknown poem Oddmjór—and three couplets which
are probably to be traced to local tradition. The poet Eyvindr skáldaspillir is mentioned, along with his poem Háleygjatal, but no verses
are cited. This is indeed unfortunate, as the verses referred to have notsurvived. Traces of skaldic poems have been discerned elsewhere inÁgrip. Bjarni Einarsson,45 for example, detects a verse behind Ágrip’s
description of the Icelander ﬁórálfr inn sterki (chapter VI)—three
39 Bjarni Gu›nason 1977; essentially the same theory was advanced independently in Andersson 1979.
40 Lange 1989, 180–81.
41 Ágrip 1984, xii–xiii.
42 See e. g. Bjarni A›albjarnarson 1937, 54.
43 Ágrip 1929, xiii.
44 Seip 1938–39; see also Indrebø 1938–39, 61–62, and 1940.
45 Ágrip 1984, xxix.

xviiiÁgrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

strophes from a poem about him by ﬁór›r Sjáreksson are cited in
Heimskringla 46 and a further half-strophe in Fagrskinna.47
Scholars agree that one of the major sources for Ágrip must havebeen Trøndelag local tradition, which provided the Snjófrí›r episode(later borrowed by Snorri) and other material of an anecdotal nature.48(iii) Style and languageÁgrip’s style is difficult to define.49 Gu›brandur Vigfússon called it‘quaint’, and for that reason ‘interesting’,50 while Finnur Jónsson
said: ‘über den stil—wenn man überhaupt von stil sprechen kann—braucht man nicht viel zu sagen.’51 When reading Ágrip one is perhaps
first struck by its awkwardness. There are, to begin with, the endlesscompound sentences, each clause beginning with en (‘but’) or ok(‘and’). Scattered throughout are sentences of extreme complexity—
the first sentence of chapter II for example—many of which border
on incomprehensibility. Some of this awkwardness, admittedly, may
be due to omissions—as was mentioned above, some scholars are of
the opinion that in its present form Ágrip is no more than a précis—or it may be that the author, working from two or more sources, has
tried to cram too much into his text. Several parenthetical remarks
seem particularly ill-chosen, for example the information on the sizeof the ship Ormr inn langi (‘The Long Serpent’) provided in chapter
XX just as Óláfr Tryggvason is meeting his end. But given the age ofthe text and the fact that it is among the earliest attempts to write acontinuous narrative in the vernacular to have survived, such awkwardness
is perhaps not surprising.
There are, at the same time, many passages that suggest a fair degreeof stylistic awareness—if not sophistication—on the part of the author.
He is fond of using rhetorical figures such as antithesis: ok bar inn
sami rei›i hans út, er bo› hans haf›i borit inn (‘the same (man) bore hisanger out as had borne his message in’), syrg›i hann hana dau›a, enlandsl‡›r allr syrg›i hann villtan (‘he mourned for her, dead, but the
46 Heimskringla, I 187, 191–92.
47 Fagrskinna 91–93; it is the second half of the third strophe that is notcited in Heimskringla.
48 This material is most fully discussed in Indrebø 1922, 52–56.
49 The fullest description of Ágrip’s style is Indrebø 1922, 20–23, fromwhich many of the examples here derive.
50 Gu›brandur Vigfússon 1878, lxxxvii.
51 Ágrip 1929, xviii.

Introduction

xix

people all mourned for him, bewitched’), seig hón svá í ƒsku, en konungr
steig til vizku (‘she sank so into ash, but the king rose to wisdom’), orBjƒrn enn digri fell at hƒf›i konunginum, en ﬁorsteinn knarrasmi›rvar ﬂegar drepinn á fœtr konunginum (‘Bjƒrn digri fell before theking, and ﬁorsteinn knarrasmi›r was killed right on the king’s heels’).
This fondness for antithesis is evident also in descriptions such as
lítil kona s‡num, en mikil r›um (‘a woman small of stature, yet greatof counsel’), or mildr af gulli . . . en fastaldr á jƒr›um (‘open-handedwith gold . . . but tight-fisted with land’), to name but two. He also
repeats the same or related words, often creating neatly-balanced
sentences, such as var hennar fƒr ger pr‡›iliga til óprú›ar (‘herjourney, begun in splendour, ended in disgrace’),52 or ok lauk svá
saurlífis-ma›r í saurgu húsi sínum dƒgum ok svá ríki (‘and thus a man
who had lived a life of filth ended, in a house of filth, his days and also
his rule’). There are several examples of zeugma, where a single verb
is used with two disparate objects, such as: kom hann svá til trúar, ﬂvínæst til Nóregs (‘he came thus to belief and then to Norway’), or tók
ﬂá l‡›r vi› trú, en Óláfr vi› ríki (‘then the people took the faith andÓláfr the kingdom’). These are doubtless to be ascribed to the author’s
Latin learning and are characteristic of the so-called ‘courtly style’,commonly found in Old Norse texts of various kinds, but particularly
associated with translated romances, or riddarasögur.53 Common,
too, are alliterating collocations, particularly in personal descriptions,such as rƒskr ok risuligr (‘valiant and imposing’), grimmr ok greypr(‘cruel and savage’), marglyndr ok málsnjallr, vandlyndr ok vanstilltr(‘temperamental and eloquent, irascible and intemperate’), fastr ok
fégjarn (‘mean and miserly’) and so on. He also uses non-alliteratingsynonymous collocations, as in í hernu› ok í víking (‘raiding andplundering’), farin ok sløkk› (‘gone and extinguished’), fræg›ar ok
gó›s or›lags (‘fame and good repute’), nau› ok illing (‘evil andoppression’), í kærleik ok í virktum (‘in favour and affection’) etc. He
appears also to use a kind of rhyme, for example in grenjandi okemjandi (‘bellowing and shrieking’), perhaps also in fjƒlmennt ok
gó›mennt (‘many men and good men’). In the sentence seig hón sváí ƒsku, en konungr steig til vizku ok hug›i af heimsku, mentioned
earlier, ƒsku—vizku—heimsku form a kind of rhyme similar to theskothending commonly found in skaldic poetry. This may not, of
52 See textual note c on p. 20 below.
53 For a definition see Halvorsen 1962; several hundred examples are given
in Cederschiöld 1884, v–xvi. Cf. also Jónas Kristjánsson 1981.

xxÁgrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

course, have been deliberate, but in view of the author’s obvious
penchant for rhetorical embellishment, it is tempting to think it was.
Ágrip preserves an unusually high number of rare words and hapax
legomena, as well as some words not uncommon in themselves but
used in an unusual way.54 These include the adjectives risuligr (‘tall(in stature)’, normally used of buildings), listuligr (‘magnificent’),játsi (‘agreeing to something’ + dat.), halzi (‘in possession of something’ + gen.) and frekefldr (‘harshly-imposed’), this last occurring
only in Ágrip; the nouns vitor› (‘report’ or ‘knowledge’, normally‘counsel’), ím (‘doubt’, normally ‘dust, ashes’), ørfer› (‘fate’, coupledwith ørnefni, ‘name (of a person)’, normally ‘place-name’),55 misheldi(‘ill-treatment’) and illing (‘evil’); the verb phrase at stefja manntjón(‘to prevent loss of life’), unique to Ágrip; and the contractions svági(= svá eigi ), hérnú (= (sé) hér nú) and vérrum (= vér erum). Also,
many of the nicknames, such as skreyja and heikilnefr, are otherwise
unattested and of uncertain meaning. Unusual grammatical forms
include hvak, strong preterite of the verb hvika (‘to waver’), normallyhvika›i;56 sløri, also spelt sleri, preterite of the verb slá (‘to strike’),normally sló;57 segr, third person singular of segja (‘to say’), normallysegir ; vi›rtalan (‘conversation’), normally vi›(r)tal ; stí (‘sty’), n.,normally stía, f.; and djákn (‘deacon’), n., normally djákn(i), m.
The text contains only a few loan words, for example the Latin word
propheta ; kempa (‘champion’), instead of the older kappi; fróva, fromLow German; and kurteiss, one of the very first words borrowed into
Old Norse from French.

Editorial principles(i) Orthography and morphology
The orthography of the manuscript, as was mentioned above, is somewhat idiosyncratic and more than usually inconsistent, particularly as
regards the representation of vowels in accented syllables.58 For the
purposes of the present edition it was thought best to normalise the54 I am grateful to Christopher Sanders of Den arnamagnæanske kommissions
ordbog for his assistance in checking these words and forms.
55 See Johannisson 1939, 99–101.
56 The form hvak is otherwise unattested; see Noreen 1923, § 498, Anm. 8.
57 See Noreen 1923, § 501, Anm. 2; § 506.
58 See Ágrip 1880, vi–xvii.

Introductionxxi

orthography of the text along the lines used in the series Íslenzk
fornrit. This has meant, for example, that although the voiced andunvoiced dental spirants /›/ and /ﬂ/ are both normally written ﬂ in the
manuscript, in keeping with early Icelandic (but not Norwegian) scribal
practice,59 the present edition normalises. Similarly, there is no apparent pattern in the distribution of the characters u, v and y in the
manuscript,60 but their use has been fully normalised here, as has therepresentation of intervocalic /f/ and the use of i and j, of which thelast occurs only sporadically in the manuscript as an orthographic
variant of /i/.61 Both c and ch occur frequently in the manuscript for/k/, and /kk/ is normally written ck, while /kv/ is written qu;62 in allthese cases the present edition normalises. Normalised too has been
the use of z, which in the manuscript is used (as it was in Icelandic
orthography until well into the sixteenth century63) for a dental + /s/,for example in gen. sg. forms such as malz (= ‘malts’), lanz(= ‘lands’), or halvarz (= ‘Hallvar›s’), and is also used after /ll/ or /nn/,e. g. alz (= ‘alls’), mannz (= ‘manns’). In the present edition, however,z is used as it was in official Icelandic orthography up until 1973,
i. e. in the second person plural and past participles of middle voice
verbs and in words where a dental has been assimilated to /s/, e. g.
íslenzka.64 Finally, geminate consonants are almost invariably written as
single when followed by another consonant—normal practice in Icelandic until the nineteenth century 65—e. g. in ‘allt’, written alt,or ‘sløkk›’, written sl∑cﬂ; these are fully normalised, as are the many
instances of geminate consonants written as single and vice versa. 66
In unaccented syllables i is much commoner than e, occurring nearlyseven times as often. Conversely, o occurs more frequently than u, in
59 Hreinn Benediktsson 1965, 21–22. There are a few sporadic examples of› in the manuscript, but for /d/ rather than /›/.
60 See Hreinn Benediktsson 1965, 25–26.
61 This is entirely typical for Icelandic manuscripts generally, see Hreinn
Benediktsson 1965, 46.
62 See Hreinn Benediktsson 1965, 30–34.
63 See e. g. Noreen 1923, §§ 43, 238.2 d, 245.1; Alexander Jóhannesson
1923–24, § 273; and Bandle 1956, §§ 108.2, 114.
64 On the (rather unusual) use of ﬂ for /z/ in the manuscript, e. g. beﬂt for‘bezt’, see Brieskorn 1909, 160–66.
65 See Jón A›alsteinn Jónsson 1959, esp. 86, 90, 96; this practice is followed by Finnur Jónsson is his edition (Ágrip 1929).
66 See Ágrip 1880, xvii; some of these (e. g. settia for ‘setja’, fittiom for‘Fitjum’) may derive from the Norwegian exemplar; see Seip 1955, 113.

xxiiÁgrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

a proportion of roughly three to one.67 These have been fully normalised, so that i and u are used throughout.
Vowels in accented syllables have been normalised in accordancewith accepted editorial practice, with the exception that in the present
edition the clear distinction made in the manuscript between /á/ and its
u-mutated form // is preserved.68 These two phonemes had fallen
together in Icelandic by 1250,69 or well before the date of the vast
majority of extant vernacular manuscripts, so that this distinction is
not usually made in normalised editions, other than in verses attributed to skalds from the twelfth century and earlier.
The following exceptions to common practice have also been made:1. The proper name ‘Magnús’ is normally written m√gnus, i. e. with
mutated vowel; I have spelt this form of the name Mƒgnús. The few
instances of unmutated /a/ have been allowed to stand.
2. ‘Norwegianisms’, i. e. instances of unmutated /a/,70 and where /h/is lacking before /r/ and /l/,71 have been allowed to stand, e. g. kallu›,
reyr, lut.
3. Superlative forms of ‘gó›r’ are frequently written with a, e. g.
baztir ; these have been allowed to stand.
4. Forms of the word ‘sonr’ (other than dat. sg. and nom. pl.) occur
most frequently with u when written in full; where abbreviated, expansion has been in keeping with this practice. When they occur,
however, forms with o have been preserved.
5. The combination /pt/, as in ‘eptir’ and ‘aptr’,72 is consistently
written ft, at least by the principal hand, and the present edition
therefore prints eftir, aftr etc.
In addition to these, individual spellings felt to be of interest (i. e.
those with a basis in phonology, rather than in scribal caprice) havebeen allowed to stand, or are mentioned in a note. There is as a result
a certain degree of inconsistency in the orthography of the edition.
67 This is, again, quite in keeping with other manuscripts of the period; see
Hreinn Benediktsson 1962.
68 The latter is represented in the manuscript by the characters √, o and ƒ;
rarely by a except in Hand II.
69 See Noreen 1923, § 107; when nasalised, // had fallen together with/ó/ by the mid-eleventh century, see Noreen 1923, § 116; Hreinn Benediktsson
1965, 61–62.
70 See Seip 1955, 123–27.
71 See Seip 1955, 48; there are no instances of lack of /h/ before /n/.
72 See Noreen 1923, § 240.2.

Introduction

xxiii

Variant spellings such as fri›la and frilla, gersimi and gørsimi, havebeen allowed to stand, as have the various forms of the definite article,
which appear written both with i and e.
In general, ‘aberrant’ morphological forms have been retained. Thereis, for example, a good deal of variation in forms of the indefinite
pronoun ‘nƒkkurr’. In each case the form found in the manuscript has
been used, although the spelling has been normalised. The variant
forms ‘fyr’ for ‘fyrir’ and ‘mi›al’ for ‘me›al’ and older forms such as‘vas’ and ‘umb’ are preserved when they occur. Similarly, ‘ﬂessur’,nom. and acc. n. pl. of the demonstrative pronoun ‘sjá’, another‘Norwegianism’,73 occurs four times and is retained.
Obvious or probable errors have been corrected; missing letters(i. e. those mistakenly omitted rather than assimilated) are supplied inangle brackets; misspellings are corrected in the text and the original
reading given in a footnote.
Words or letters which cannot now be read are supplied in square
brackets; where these have been erased and cannot be reconstructed
the present edition prints [ooo], the number of os indicating the probable number of letters missing.
(ii) Punctuation, chapter division etc.
The only mark of punctuation used in the manuscript is the point, buteven this is used neither consistently nor in keeping with modern
practice. The punctuation and capitalisation in the present edition are
therefore entirely editorial. The practice of the manuscript has, however, been allowed to influence the placing of stops and other marksof punctuation to some extent—in not, for example, preceding er by
a comma in restrictive (defining) relative clauses as is normally donein, for example, Íslenzk fornrit.
I have chosen to separate with commas, rather than stops, the large
numbers of ‘subjectless’ sentences beginning with en or ok. In places
I have resorted to using dashes to enclose a parenthetical remark.
The text is quite clearly divided into chapters. These are unnumbered in the manuscript and without headings. Some of the chapters,
it will be noted, are extremely short, e. g. chapter XXX,74 and several
73 See Noreen 1923, § 470; Seip 1955, 197.
74 Although this is marked in the manuscript as a separate chapter, Bjarni

Einarsson (Ágrip 1984, 29) incorporates it into the previous chapter, where
it logically belongs. I have chosen to follow the manuscript, as did Finnur
Jónsson in his edition (Ágrip 1929, 31). After chapter XXIX, therefore, mychapter numbers are one higher than those of the ÍF edition.

xxivÁgrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

begin in awkward places, chapter L being perhaps the most obvious
case. Nearly three-quarters of the chapters begin with the word En. In
the edition this division, however awkward, is retained. Chapter numbers are obviously editorial and do not take into account any chapter
divisions that may have occurred in the lacunae.
There are no paragraph divisions in the manuscript, although whena sentence happens to begin a new line it will occasionally begin witha slightly larger capital drawn in the margin. I have chosen to ignore
these. In the manuscript the verses are written as prose and theirarrangement here is therefore also editorial.
Numbers in the text are most often written with roman numerals,
normally preceded and followed by points. I have chosen to retain thisform of notation in the present edition, normalising to the extent that
I have sets points before and after whether they appear in the manuscript or not.
(iii) Previous editions and translationsÁgrip has been edited and translated several times, although neverbefore into English in its entirety.75 In 1834 P. A. Munch published an
edition together with a Danish translation under the title ‘Brudstykke
af en gammel norsk Kongesaga’ in Samlinger til det norske Folks
Sprog og Historie II, 273–335. The following year an edition by
Finnur Magnússon, ‘Stutt ágrip af Noregs konúnga sögum’, appearedin the tenth volume of the series Fornmanna sögur (1835), 377–421.
This edition was the basis for a Danish translation by N. M. Petersen,‘Kort Omrids af de norske Kongers Sagaer’, published in Oldnordiske
Sagaer X (1836), 329–71, and a Latin translation by Sveinbjörn Egilsson,‘Epitome historiarum regum Norvegicorum’, in Scripta historica
Islandorum X (1841), 350–92. In 1880 Verner Dahlerup produced a
diplomatic edition, Ágrip af Noregs konunga sögum: Diplomatarisk
udgave, in the series published by Samfundet til udgivelse af gammel
nordisk litteratur (1880)—probably the most ‘diplomatic’ edition everproduced in Old Norse–Icelandic studies76—which incorporated manyreadings from an unpublished transcription of the text made by Gustav
Storm (see Ágrip 1880, xxxvii; several of these are referred to in the
75 Margaret Ashdown 1930, 144–51 (textual notes pp. 208–16), includes anormalised text with facing English translation of the section of Ágrip fromchapter XVI to the beginning of chapter XXIII in the present edition.
76 Two columns of text were printed, equally ‘diplomatically’, in Konrá›
Gíslason 1846, xxxix–xl.

Introduction

xxv

textual notes below). Finnur Jónsson edited Ágrip for Altnordische
Saga-Bibliothek XVIII (1929). Several years later Gustav Indrebø
produced a normalised edition with facing Norwegian translation,Ågrip: Ei liti norsk kongesoge, in Norrøne bokverk XXXII (1936;
revised edition 1973). Finally, there is Bjarni Einarsson’s edition,Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sƒgum, in Íslenzk fornrit XXIX (1984).

A note on the translation
In my translation of the text I have endeavoured to reproduce as
closely as possible the Old Norse original, producing, I hope, a result
which is, if not always fair, at least true. The conventions of English
grammar and syntax have, however, often necessitated the rearrangement of clauses within a sentence and not infrequently the addition ofgrammatical subjects.
I have not translated the Old Norse nicknames, partially as a resultof my own dissatisfaction with renderings such as ‘paunch-shaker’ forﬂambarskelmir or ‘shock-head’ for lúfa, but also because of my feelingthat a man’s name—and Norse nicknames were names—is his name,however accessible its meaning may be. Translations are provided in
the notes or in the index. I have also refrained from anglicising
personal and place-names, although I have ‘translated’ names of countries where they correspond to modern political entities like Norway,
Sweden and Denmark, and have given Anglo-Saxon names, Æthelstan
for example, their accepted English form. Most of the personal namesin Ágrip have no counterpart in English, however, and while names
such as ‘Ragenwald’ may have set the hearts of nineteenth-century
Englishmen a-racing, I felt nothing would be gained by the use offorms foreign to both English-speakers and Scandinavians. Where
English equivalents do exist—Eric, Swen, Harold, Canute—I have forthe sake of consistency not used them. I have retained for the most partthe Old Norse forms of place-names, even in cases where there is aclear modern Scandinavian counterpart, in the belief that Ni›aróss,for example, is a very different place from Trondheim. I give themodern-day equivalents in the notes and index and maps are provided
for any readers who might wish to undertake a pilgrimage to the sagasteads of Scandinavia.

Ágrip af Nóregskonungaso˛gum
A synoptic history of the kings of NorwayÁgrip af Nóregskonungaso˛gum
I. [. . . var] hann ﬂá einn tekinn til [konungs]. Var hann ﬂákalla›r [Haral]dr lúfa, ﬂvíat ma›rinn var ﬂá eigi [hárfa]gr,
en sí›an b[rey]ttisk nafn hans ok var kalla›r Haraldr h[ár]fagri,
ﬂvíat manna va[r hann] listuligastr ok hær›r bezt. En hérhœfir at sk‡ra spurdagaa ﬂann er kristnir menn gera, hvat
hei›nir menn myndu til jóla vita, me› ﬂví at jól vr eru
risin af bur› dróttins várs. Hei›nir menn ger›u sér samkundu
ok í tígn vi› Ó›in, en Ó›inn heitir mƒrgum nƒfnum. Hann
heitir Vi›rir ok hann heitir Hr ok ﬁri›i ok Jólni<r>, ok var
af Jólni jól kallu›. En sjá er httr á dau›daga Hálfdanar:hann ﬂá veizlu á Ha›alandi, en ﬂá er hann fór ﬂa›an í
sle›a, [ﬂá drukkna]›i hann í Rƒnd [í R]ykinvík, ﬂar er
nautabrunnr var, ok var fœr›r til Steins sí›an á Hringaríki
ok var ﬂar heyg›r.
II. Haraldr tók eftir Hálfdan ríki ﬂat er fa›ir hans haf›ihaft, ok afla›i sér meira ríkis me› ﬂeim hætti—er ma›rinn
var snemma rƒskr ok risuligr vexti—at hann helt orrostuvi› næsta konunga ok sigra›i alla, ok eigna›isk hann fyrstr
konunga einn Nóreg á tvítøgsb aldri, ok helt ena sí›urstu
orrostu vi› konung ﬂann er Skei›ar-Brandr hét, í Hafrsvági
fyr Ja›ri, ok fl‡›i Brandr til Danmarkar ok fell í orrostu á
Vinnlandi, sem segir í kvæ›i ﬂví er heitir Oddmjór, er gƒrter umb konungatal, me› ﬂessum or›um:
1. Skjƒldungr rak me› skildi
Skei›ar-Brand ór landi;ré› sá konungr sí›ansnjallr Nóregi ƒllum.

a written spurdadaga (over line division).
b following this word there is an empty space, about one third of the line (1.5 cm).

A synoptic history of the kings of Norway
I. . . . he was then taken as sole king. He was then called
Haraldr lúfa,1 for he was not then fine-haired, but later his
name changed and he was called Haraldr hárfagri, because
he was the handsomest of men and finest-haired.
Here it is fitting to elucidate a problem posed by Christian men as to what heathen men knew about Yule, for ourYule has its origin in the birth of Our Lord. Heathen men
had a feast, held in honour of Ó›inn, and Ó›inn is calledby many names: he is called Vi›rir and he is called Hár
and ﬁri›i and Jólnir; and it is after Jólnir that Yule isnamed.2
This is how Hálfdan3 died: he was being feasted4 inHa›aland, and leaving there in a sledge he drowned inRƒnd in Rykinvík, where there was a hole in the ice forcattle; and he was taken to Steinn in Hringaríki and there
buried in a mound.5
II. Haraldr succeeded Hálfdan in the kingdom his father
had had and enlarged his kingdom—he was valiant at an
early age and of imposing stature—by fighting battles
with neighbouring kings and defeating them all, and by theage of twenty he was the first king to gain all Norway. He
fought his final battle with a king named Skei›ar-Brandr,in Hafrsvágr,6 off Ja›arr. Brandr fled to Denmark and fellin a battle in Wendland, as is told in the poem Oddmjór,7which was composed about the kings of Norway, in thisway:
1. The Scylding-king8 drove with shield
Skei›ar-Brandr9 from land;
the king thereafter governed,
valiant, Norway all.

4Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

En ﬂat var .x. vetr er hann bar›isk á›r til lands en hann yr›iallvaldskonungr at Nóregi, ok si›a›i vel land sitt ok fri›a›i,ok átti sunu tvítján ok me› mƒrgum konum, kómu ﬂó tveir
einir til konungs nafns, Eiríkr bló›ax ok Hkon gó›i. Var
Eiríkr bló›ax <í> elzta lagi sona hans, annarr Hkon í
yngsta lagi, er A›alsteinn Englands konungr tók í sunarsta›, ﬂri›i Óláfr digrbeinn, .iiij. Bjƒrn kaupma›r, <er>sumir kalla bunu, .v. Go›ormr, .vj. Hálfdan svarti, .vij.
Dagr, .viij. Hringr, .ix. Go›rø›r skirja, .x. Rƒgnvaldr, .xi.
Sigtryggr, .xij. Fró›i, .xiij. Hrœrekr, .xiiij. Tryggvi, .xv.
Gunnrø›r, .xvj. Eysteinn, .xvij. Sigur›r hrísi, .xviij. Gu›rø›r
ljómi, .xix. Há<l>fdana hvítbeinn, er sumir kƒllu›u háfœtu,.xx. Rƒgnvaldr reykill, er sumir kalla Ragnar, er var sunr
Finnkonu einnar er kƒllu› var Snjófrí›,b dóttir Svása
Finnkonungs, ok brá hónum til mó›ur sinnar. Var hannkalla›r sei›ma›r—ﬂat er spáma›r—ok var sta›fastr áHa›alandi ok síddi ﬂar ok var kalla›r skratti.
III. Jólaaftan, er Haraldr sat at mat, ﬂá kom Svási fyrir dyrr
ok sendi konungi bo› at hann skyldi út ganga til hans, enc
konungr brásk rei›r vi› ﬂeim sendibo›um, ok bar inn sami
rei›i hans út er bo› hans haf›i borit inn. En hinnd ba› hannﬂá eigi fyrir ﬂví at sí›r [í] annat sinni ok gaf hónum
bjórskinn eitt til, ok kva› sik vera ﬂann Finninn er hann
haf›i ját at setja gamma sinn annan veg brekkunnar á
ﬁoptyn, ﬂar sem ﬂá var konungrinn. En konungrinn gekk
út ok var› hónum ﬂess játsi, at hann gekk yfir í gamma
hans me› áeggjane sumra sinna manna, ﬂóat sumir letti.
Stó› ﬂar upp Snjófrí›, dóttir Svása, kvenna vænust, ok
byrla›i ker mja›ar fullt konunginum, ok hann tók allta the lack of l may be a Norwegian dialectal feature; cf. Noreen 1923, § 297 andAnm. 1; Seip 1955, 76, 109–10, 164.
b here and below the nom. ending r is lacking, cf. Noreen 1923, § 384, Anm. 2.
c MS er.
d MS –
h (i. e. hann), but corrected below line.
e written aengiaN; cf. engiar (= Eggjar) below, note a on p. 42.

History of the kings of Norway

5

It was ten winters he fought for the country, before becoming sole ruler of Norway, and he brought good order andpeace to his country. Haraldr had twenty sons, and by
many women,10 though only two came to be kings, Eiríkr
bló›øx and Hákon gó›i. Eiríkr bló›øx was the eldest of hissons and Hákon the youngest, whom Æthelstan, king ofEngland, fostered; third was Óláfr digrbeinn; fourth Bjƒrn
kaupma›r, whom some call buna; fifth Go›ormr; sixth
Hálfdan svarti; seventh Dagr; eighth Hringr; ninth Gu›rø›r
skirja; tenth Rƒgnvaldr; eleventh Sigtryggr; twelfth Fró›i;thirteenth Hrœrekr; fourteenth Tryggvi; fifteenth Gunnrø›r;sixteenth Eysteinn; seventeenth Sigur›r hrísi; eighteenthGu›rø›r ljómi; nineteenth Hálfdan hvítbeinn, whom somecalled háfœta; and the twentieth Rƒgnvaldr reykill, whomsome call Ragnarr. He was the son of a certain Lappish
woman called Snjófrí›r,11 the daughter of Svási, king of
the Lapps, and took after his mother. He was called asorcerer—that is to say a soothsayer—and he lived inHa›aland and practised sorcery there and was called awarlock.12
III. On the eve of Yule,13 as Haraldr sat at table, Svási
came to the door and sent word in to the king that heshould come out to him. This request angered the king,and the same man bore his anger out as had borne themessage in. Svási asked him nevertheless a second timeand also gave him a beaver skin and said that he was that
Lapp whom the king had allowed to set up his hut on theother side of the hill at ﬁoptyn, where the king then was.
The king went out and he agreed to go to Svási’s hut,
egged on by some of his men, though others tried todissuade him.
There Snjófrí›r stood up, Svási’s daughter, the mostbeautiful of women and offered the king a cup full of
mead. He took it and with it her hand, and suddenly it was6Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

saman ok hƒnd hennar. Ok ﬂegar var a sem eldshiti kœmií hƒrund hans ok vildi ﬂegar hafa hana á ﬂeiri nótt. En
Svási sag›i at ﬂat mundi eigi vera, nema hónum nau›gum,bnema konungrinn festi hana ok fengi at lƒgum. Ok hannfesti ok fekk ok unni svá me› œrslum, at ríki sitt ok allt ﬂat
er hans tígn byrja›i ﬂá fyrlét hann ok sat hjá henni nótt ok
dag náliga,c me›an ﬂau lif›u bæ›i, ok .iij. vetr sí›an hón
var dau›. Syrg›i hann hana dau›a, en landsl‡›r allr syrg›ihann villtan.
IV. En ﬂessa villu at lægja komd til læknanar ﬁorleif<r>spaki, er me› viti læg›ie ﬂá villu ok me› eftirmæli me›
ﬂessum hætti: ‘Eigi er, konungr, kynligt, attuf munir svá
frí›a konu ok kynstóra, ok tígnir hana á dúni ok á gu›vefi
sem hón ba› ﬂik. En tígn ﬂín er ﬂó minni en hœfir—ok
hennar—í ﬂví at hón liggr of lengi í sama fatna›i. Er
myklu sannligra at hón sé hrœr›.’ Ok ﬂegar er hón varhrœr›, ﬂá sløri á óﬂefjani ok ‡ldu ok hverskyns illum fnyk
af líkamanum. Var ﬂá hvatat báli ok hón brennd. Blána›iﬂó á›r allr líkaminn, ok ullu ór ormar ok e›lur, froskar okpƒddur, ok allskyns illyrmi. Seig hón svá í ƒsku, en konungr
steig til vizku ok hug›i af heimsku, st‡r›i sí›an ríki sínu
ok styrk›i; gladdisk hann af ﬂegnum sínum, ok ﬂegnar
af hónum, en ríkit af hvru tveggja, ok sat at Nóregi
einvaldskonungr sex tøgu vetra sí›an, er hann haf›i innan
tíu vetra aflat alls Nóregs, anda›isk sí›an á Rogalandi okvar heyg›r á Haugum upp frá Hasleyjarsundi.
V. En eftir Harald tók Eiríkr bló›øxg vi› ríki, en Hkon
bró›ir hans var vestr í Englandi me› A›alsteini konungi,
a MS com.
b hónum nau›gum] the word at may be lacking here.
c added above the line.
d MS coma (over line division).
e læg›i] thus Heimskringla I 126 ; MS lagﬂe.
f attu] i. e. at ﬂú; tu added above the line.
g here written blƒt √x, but elsewhere with ﬂ.

History of the kings of Norway

7

as if fiery heat entered into his flesh and he wished to have
her that same night. But Svási said that this should not beso—except against his will—unless the king betrothed
himself to her and then wedded her according to the law.
And he betrothed himself to her and wedded her and loved
her so witlessly that he neglected his kingdom and all thatbeseemed his kingly honour, and he stayed by her almost
night and day while they both lived and for three years
after she died. He mourned for her, dead, but the people allmourned for him, bewitched.
IV. But ﬁorleifr spaki came to cure him and put an end to
this enchantment, and he did it wisely and with blandishments in this way: ‘It is not strange, king, that you should
remember so beautiful and noble a woman and honour her
thus on down and velvet, as she asked you. And yet yourhonour is less than is fitting—and hers—for she has lain
too long in the same clothes. It would be much seemlier if
she were moved.’ And when she was moved there issued
from the body a rank and fulsome stench and foul odoursof every sort. A pyre was hastily prepared and she wasburnt, but before that the body blackened and there bubbled out worms and vipers, frogs and toads and multitudes
of vermin. She sank thus into ash, but the king rose to
wisdom and abandoned his folly; he from then on took
control of his kingdom and strengthened it; he was gladdened by his subjects and they by him and the kingdom bythem both, and he ruled Norway as absolute king for sixty
years thereafter, after having won all of it in ten. He later
died in Rogaland and was buried at Haugar, inland from
Hasleyjarsund.14
V. Eiríkr bló›øx took the kingdom after Haraldr. His brother
Hákon was west in England with King Æthelstan, to whom8Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

er fa›ir hans lífs haf›i hann sendan til fóstrs. Eiríkr bló›ax
var frí›r s‡num, mikill ok inn vir›iligsti. Hann átti Gunnhildi,
dóttur ¯zurar lafskeggs—ﬂeira synir vru ﬂeir Gamli okGo›ormr, Haraldr gráfeldr ok Erling<r>, Sigur›r slefa; enn
eru nefndir fleiri, Go›rø›r ljómi ok Ragnfrø›r, Hálfdan ok
Eyvindr ok Gormr—ok helt Nóregi .v. vetr alls me› ﬂeim
tveim vetrum er hónum var fyr konung heilsat í landinu ﬂá
er Haraldr lif›i, en ﬂrjá sí›an. Gunnhildr kona hans var
allra kvenna fegrst, lítil kona s‡num en mikil r›um. Hón
gør›isk svá illr›ug, en hann svá áhl‡›inn til grimmleiks
ok til allskyns áﬂjánar vi› l‡›inn, at ﬂungt var at bera.
Hann ré›a Óláf digrbein, bró›ur sinn, ok Bjƒrn ok fleiribrœ›r sína. ﬁví var hann kalla›r bló›øx at ma›rinn var[ooooo] ofstopama›r ok greypr, ok allra mest af r›um
hennar. ﬁá kvƒddu vitrir menn Hkon aftr í land me›
leynd tveim vetrum eftir andlát Haralds hárfagra, ok hannkømr tveim skipum vestan ok sat svá um vetr at hann haf›ieigi konungs nafn.b Hkon var manna vænstr, mikill ok
listuligr, ok svá sterkr [oooo]c at engvir fengusk hónum
jafnir. Hann var hƒf›i ƒllu hæri en a›rir menn, hárit ﬂat áhƒf›i sem silki gult væri. Hann var [í]d ƒllum ridderaskap
ok korteisi um fram of a›ra menn. Hann var náliga tvítøgr
er hann kom í land. En hónum tók brátt svá flokkr at vaxa
at Eiríkr mátti ﬂá eigi vi›stƒ›u hafa, ok fl‡›i hann ﬂá okkona hans til Danmarkar fyrst. En Hkon sat ﬂá einnkonungr at Nóregi, ok var Nóregr svá gó›r undir hans ríki
at hann var eigi muna›r betri, fyr útan ﬂat at eigi var kristni
á. En hann var kristinn ok átti konu hei›na ok veik mjƒkaf kristninni fyr hennar sakar ok fyr vildar sakar vi› l‡›inner á mót stó› kristninni, helt ﬂó sunnudags helgi ok frjádaga
a more commonly ré› af dƒgum.
b nafn] written nafn (= nanfn or namfn), cf. note a on p. 48.
c there is a short erasure at the end of the line followed by another, even shorter, atthe beginning of the next line; as the text appears, here as elsewhere, to have been
unaffected, one could imagine an original uar –h (= var hann).
d this word appears to have been erased.

History of the kings of Norway

9

his father, while alive, had sent him to be fostered. Eiríkr
bló›øx was a handsome man, tall and very stately. His
wife was Gunnhildr, daughter of ¯zurr lafskegg.15 Theirsons were Gamli and Go›ormr, Haraldr gráfeldr and Erlingr,
Sigur›r slefa; there are still more named: Gu›rø›r ljómi,
Ragnfrø›r, Hálfdan, Eyvindr and Gormr. Eiríkr ruled Norway
for five years, including the two years he was consideredking while Haraldr lived and three years thereafter.16
Gunnhildr, his wife, was of all women the most beautiful; a woman small of stature yet great of counsel. She
became so wicked in her counsel, and he so easily led toacts cruel and oppressive to the people, that it was hard tobear. He had killed his brother Óláfr digrbeinn and Bjƒrn
and others of his brothers. Thus he was called bló›øx,
because he was a cruel and ruthless man, and mostly as aresult of her counsel.17
Then, two years after the death of Haraldr hárfagri,
wise men, in secrecy, called Hákon back to Norway. He
came from the west with two ships and stayed there thewinter without the name of king. Hákon was the bestlooking of men, tall and magnificent, and so strong that his
equal could not be found. He was a full head taller thanother men and his hair was like yellow silk. In chivalry andall courtesy he excelled other men. He was nearly twenty
when he came to the country.
His following grew so quickly that Eiríkr could notstand against him, and he and his wife fled, going first to
Denmark.18 Hákon ruled thereafter alone as king of Norway, and Norway so prospered under his rule that none
could remember when it had been better—except that there
was then no Christianity. Hákon was a Christian, but his
wife was heathen,19 and he departed much from Christian
ways for her sake and in order to please the people, whostood against Christianity, although he kept the holiness of
Sunday and the Friday fast.

10Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

fƒstu. Hkon fór til Danmarkar su›r tveim skipum okbar›isk ﬂar ok hrau› .x. skip me› tveim skipum. Í ﬂeiri fƒr
lag›i hann undir sik Selunda ok Skáney ok Gautland etvestra, ok helt svá aftr í Nóreg. Á hans dƒgum snørusk
margir menn til kristni af vinsældum hans, en sumir hƒfnu›u
blótum, ﬂótt eigi kristna›isk.b Hann reisti nekkverar kirkjur
í Nóregi ok setti lær›a menn at, en ﬂeir brenndu kirkjurnar
ok vgu prestana fyrir hónum, svát hann mátti eigi ﬂví
halda fyr illvirkjum ﬂeira. Ok ﬂar eftir ger›u ﬁrœndir fƒrat hónum á Mærini ok b›u hann blóta sem a›ra konunga
í Nóregi, ‘ella rekum vér ﬂik af ríki, nema ﬂú gerir nekkvern
hlut í samﬂykki eftir oss’. En fyr ﬂví at hann sá ákafa ﬂeira[oooooooooooooooo] á hƒnd hónum [oooooo]c at hƒf›ingja rá›i,ﬂá snøri hann svá til, at hann fyrkva› eigi í nekkverum hlutí yfirbrag›i til vingunar vi› ﬂá. Svá er sagt at hann biti áhrosslifr, ok svá at hann brá dúki umb, ok beit eigi bera, en
blóta›i eigi ƒ›ruvís, en svá er sagt at sí›an gekk hónum
allt ﬂyngra en á›r. Hann setti Golaﬂingslƒg eftir rá›agør›
ﬁorleifs spaka, er verit haf›i for›um. En ﬂá er hann haf›i.xv. vetr haldit Nóregi me› vinsæld ok me› fri›i, ﬂá
sóttu synir Eiríks bló›øxar í Nóregd—Gamli Gunnhildarsunr, er ﬂeira brœ›ra var œztr ok vaskligastr at gervƒllu,ok Go›ormr ok Haraldr gráfeldr ok allir ﬂeir brœ›r—ok
heldu [oooooo]e orrostu í Kƒrmt vi› ¯gvaldsnes vi› Hkon[oooooooooooooooooo]f—ﬂar fell Go›ormr, Hálfdan, Eyvindr,
en a›rir kómusk á flótta undan—en a›ra orrostu litlu sí›arrí Fræ›i enn vi› Hkon, ok var› Hkon enn øfri, en ﬂeir
brœ›r fl‡›u ór landi allir nema Gamli. Hann fl‡›i til lands
a written Selundr, but r erased.
b t added above the line; there are three other examples of crisn-, however, cf. notesb on p. 30, a on p. 34 and b on p. 74.
c here the first letter could conceivably be s and the last i; Storm reconstructed snæri
(see Ágrip 1880, 102).
d MS noregi, i. e. dat. instead of acc.
e here a word of about six letters has been erased, conceivably fyrsta.
f here nearly an entire line has been erased.

History of the kings of Norway

11

Hákon went south to Denmark with two ships andfought there, defeating ten ships with his two. On thisvoyage he won Sjóland, Skáney and Vestra-Gautland andthen returned to Norway.
In his day many men turned to Christianity as a resultof his popularity, and others, although they did not become Christian, ceased the practice of pagan rites. He built
some churches in Norway and set clerics in them, but theheathens burnt his churches and killed his priests so thathe could not continue this activity as a result of their evil
work. And later the ﬁrœndir20 rose against him at Mærin
and asked him to worship the gods as other kings in
Norway had done. ‘We will drive you from the kingdom,’they said, ‘if you do not act in some way in accordancewith our wishes.’ Because he saw their zeal against him,
and following the advice of the chieftains, he responded insuch a way that he refused nothing, so as to appear to
appease them.
It is said that he bit horse-liver, but wrapped it in cloth
so that he should not bite it directly. He would worship in
no other way, and thereafter, it is said, his troubles weregreater than before.21
He established the Gulaﬂing Law, following the adviceof ﬁorleifr spaki, as it had been of old.22
After he had ruled Norway for fifteen years with peace
and popularity, the sons of Eiríkr bló›øx returned to Norway: Gamli Gunnhildarson,23 who of the brothers wasforemost and most valiant in every way, and Go›ormr andHaraldr gráfeldr and all the brothers. They fought Hákon
in battle in Kƒrmt, near ¯gvaldsnes. There fell Go›ormr
and Hálfdan and Eyvindr, but the others fled and escaped.
Another battle was fought shortly thereafter against Hákon
in Fræ›i,24 and again Hákon won. The brothers all fled thecountry, with the exception of Gamli, who went to the12Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

ok ita øfra of Súrnadal til ﬁrndheims, en menn Hkonarme› l‡›sinsb fulltingic sóttu á mót hónum ok felldu íGaulardali, ﬂar sem nú er kallat Gamlaleir af hans nafni.
VI. En ﬂví næst á .ix. vetra fresti síz ﬂeir brœ›r haf›u í
Nóreg sótt me› bardaga, ﬂá heldu ﬂeir brœ›r er eftir vru
—Haraldr gráfeldr, er ﬂeira var merkilegastr at Gamlafallinn—me› Gunnhildi mó›ur sinni aftr í land, ok heldu
orrostu vi› Hkon á Fitjum í Stor› hjá Byskupssteini. ﬁarvru fjórir of einn á mót Hkoni. ﬁar var me› ﬂeim í ﬂvíli›i sá ma›r er hét Eyvindr skreyja.d Hann var kappi mikill,meiri en a›rir menn, ok bitu varla jrn. Hann gekk svá
umb daginn at ekki vétta helt vi› hónum, ﬂvíat engi haf›ifƒng á í móti hónum. Hann fór svá grenjandi ok emjandi,
ok ruddi svá at hann hjó á bá›ar hendr ok spur›i hvar hannNor›manna konungr væri, ‘hví leynisk hann nú?’ ‘Haltu
svá vele fram ef ﬂú vill hann hitta,’ kva› konungrinn, en
hann œstisk at meir vi›, ok hjó á bá›ar hendr me› mikilli
brei›ri øxi svá atf í jƒr›u nam sta›ar. ﬁá mælti ﬁórálfr enn
sterki, íslenzkr ma›r, er ﬂá var me› konunginum, nítján
vetra gamall ok kalla›r var jamsterkr konunginum: ‘Villtu,
herra,’ kva› hann, ‘at ek r›umsk í mót hónum?’ ‘Nei,’kva› hann, ‘mik vill hann hitta; skal hann ok ﬂví mik
finna,’ varp af hƒf›i sér dulhetti er <Eyvindr> skáldaspillir
haf›i sett á hjálm [oo]g gollro›inn er konungrinn haf›i áhƒf›i til leyndar, at ﬂá væri hann torkenndri [oooo] en á›r,
ﬂvíat hann var au›kenndr fyr hæ›ar sakar ok yfirbrag›s.
Sí›an gekk konungrinn undan merkjunum fram í mót hónum
kappanum, í silkiskyrtu ok hjálm á hƒf›i, skjƒld fyr sér, ensver› í hendi er Kvernbiti hét, ok s‡ndisk ma›rinn svá
a MS in.
b s added above the line, incorrectly, before ›.
c MS fvltilgi.
d written scraygia.
e added above the line.
f first written svat (cf. p. 14), but with a second a added above the line.
g possibly not an erasure.

History of the kings of Norway

13

mainland and then overland through Súrnadalr to ﬁrándheimr.
Hákon’s men, with the help of the people, came against
him and killed him in Gaulardalr, at that place which is
now called Gamlaleir after him.25
VI. But then, nine years26 after the brothers attacked Norway, Haraldr gráfeldr—who was the most noteworthy ofthe brothers after the death of Gamli—and those brothers
who remained came back to the country with their mother
Gunnhildr and fought a battle with Hákon at Fitjar in
Stor›, near Byskupssteinn. They were four to one against
Hákon.
In their army was a man named Eyvindr skreyja.27 He
was a great champion, bigger than other men, and little
iron could bite him. He fought that day in such a way thatnone could stand against him, for no one could have power
against him. He went bellowing and shrieking forward,
clearing a path by hacking on both sides, demanding where
the Norwegian king was; ‘Why does he hide now?’‘Keep on as you are, if you would find him,’ said theking, and at this Eyvindr grew more violent and hewed on
both sides with a great broad axe, striking down to theground each time. ﬁórálfr sterki,28 an Icelander who wasthen with the king, nineteen years old and said to be as
strong as the king himself, spoke then: ‘Do you wish, mylord,’ he said, ‘that I attack him?’‘No,’ said the king, ‘it is I he wishes to meet; so meetme he shall.’ And he threw off the hood Eyvindr skáldaspillir29
had placed over the golden helmet he had on his head, inorder to hide him so that he would be more difficult torecognise—for his height and bearing made him easily
known. Then the king went out from under his banner andfaced the warrior, wearing a silk shirt, a helmet on his
head, a shield before him, and in his hand the sword called
Kvernbiti,30 and thus dressed he seemed to all falcon-like.

14Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

búinn ƒllum [ooooo]a haukligr. ﬁá ó› kappinn at fram hjálma›r
ok brynja›rb í mót ok tvíhendi øxina ok hjó til konungs, enkonungrinn hvak undan lítt ﬂat, ok missti kappinn hans ok
hjó í jƒr›ina ni›r ok steyp›isk eftir nƒkkvut svá, en konungrinn hjó hann me› sver›inu í mi›ju í sundr í brynjunnic svát
sinn veg fell hvárr hlutrinn. En eftir ﬂat er kempan var
fallin, ﬂá snørisk bardaginn á hendr ﬂeim brœ›rum, ok
fellu ﬂá ﬂeir Gormr ok Erlingr í ﬂeirid ok fjƒl›i manna, enallir brœ›r ﬂeira fl‡›u til skipa ok svá ór landi, hverr sem
komask mátti, en konungrinn Hkon rak flóttann me› sínuli›i. ﬁá flaug ƒr at konunginum, sú er engi vissi hverr
skaut, ok fló undir brynstúkuna í arminn øfrae í músina. En
ﬂat er sagt at me› gørningum Gunnhildar snørisk matsveinn
einnf aftr me› skeyti ok var› ﬂetta á munni: ‘Gefit rúm
konungsbana!’ ok lét fara skeytit í flokkinn er at móti fór,ok sær›i konunginn sem á›r sag›i. En ﬂá er konungrinn
kenndi at ﬂat var banasár, fyr ﬂví at hónum mátti eigi bló›stƒ›va, ﬂá ba› hann konungrinn flytja sik til Alrekssta›a,en á lei›inni koma ﬂeir vi› hellu ﬂá er nú heitir g Hkonarhella.
ﬁar haf›i hann fœddr verit af ambtt ﬂeiri er hét ﬁóraMorstƒng.h Hón var af Most<r > kynju› ok fœdd, ﬂví var
hón svá kƒllu›. En er konungrinn sá at at hónum lei›, ﬂái›ra›isk hann mjƒk mótger›a vi› gu›. Vinir hans bu›u
hónum at fœra lík hans til Englands vestr ok jar›a at
kirkju.i ‘Ek em eigi ﬂess ver›r,’ kva› hann. ‘Svá lif›a ek
a here a word of about five letters has been erased; Storm suggested ƒ›rum (Ágrip
1880, 103).
b hjálma›r ok brynja›r] added twice in the margin, once in the same hand, once ina younger hand.
c í brynjunni] added in the margin in the same hand.
d one expects here the word orrostu, but similar constructions occur elsewhere in the
text and must be intentional.
e some, e. g. Bugge (1873, 8), have seen this as an error for hƒgra (i. e. hœgra, ‘right’).
f matsveinn einn] added in the margin in the same hand.
g written over the line is c∑lloﬂ; previous editors have preferred this reading,
although it requires the addition of er.
h i. e. Mostrstƒng; this is perhaps simply an error.
i MS kirkiom, which scarcely makes sense.

History of the kings of Norway

15

Then the warrior strode forward, helmeted and mailclad, and, gripping the axe with both hands, he struck at
the king. The king drew back a little and the warrior
missed him and struck the ground, stumbling somewhat.
The king split him in two in the middle with his sword,
through the chainmail, so that he fell in halves to eitherside.
When the champion had fallen, the tide of battle turned
against the brothers, and then Gormr fell, and Erlingr, andmany men besides. Their brothers all fled to ship and all
who could left the country. But King Hákon and his forces
pursued them. Then there flew toward the king an arrow—shot by no one knows whom—and it passed under thesleeve of his corselet and into the muscle of the upper arm.
But it is said that through the sorcery of Gunnhildr akitchen boy wheeled round, crying: ‘Make room for the
king’s banesman!’ and let fly the arrow into the groupcoming toward him and wounding the king, as has been
said.
When the king realised that his wound was mortal—for
the flow of blood could not be stopped—he asked to be
moved to Alrekssta›ir. Along the way they came to theslab of rock which is now called Hákonarhella. There hehad been born of a bondwoman named ﬁóra Morstƒng.
She was of Mostr-kin and had herself been born there andwas for this reason so called.
When the king saw that death was near he repented
greatly of his offences to God. His friends offered to takehis body west to England and bury it there at a church. ‘I
am not worthy of that,’ he said. ‘I have lived in many ways

16Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

sem hei›nir menn í mƒrgu, skal mik ok fyr ﬂví svá jar›asem hei›na menn. Vætti ek mér ﬂa›an af meiri miskunnar
af gu›i sjlfum en ek sjá ver›r,’ ok anda›isk á Hkonarhellu,
ena hann var heyg›r á Sæheimi á Nor›hƒr›alandi. Hannhƒrmu›u bæ›i vinir hans ok óvinir. Eigi var meira fé borití haug me› hónum en sver› hans Kvernbiti ok búna›rhans. Í steinﬂró var hann lag›r í hauginum.
VII. En ﬂat gƒr›isk ﬂá umb Eiríks ævi bló›øxar er hann
fl‡›i ór landi at hann fluttisk me› skipali›i vestr til Englands
ok var í útilegu ok herna›i ok beiddisk miskunnar af
Englands konungi, sem A›alsteinn konungr haf›i hónum
heitit, en hann ﬂá af konunginum jarlsríki á Nor›imbralandi,
ger›isk ﬂar ennb me› r›um Gunnhildar konu sinnar svá
grimmr ok greypr vi› l‡› sinn at hann ﬂóttisk varla bera
mega. Af ﬂví ré›sk hann í hernu› ok í víking ví›a í
Vestrlandum, ok fell Eiríkr í Spáníalandi í útilegu. En
Gunnhildr snørisk aftr til Danmarkar til Haralds konungs,
er ﬂá var konungr í Danmƒrku, ok var ﬂar me› sunu sínac
til ﬂess er ﬂeir vru rosknir menn mjƒk svá at aldri.
VIII. En eftir fráfall Hkonar tóku Nor›menn eftir rá›i
Hkonar konungs Harald gráfeld til konungs í Nóregi. En
Haraldr gráfeldr kømr aftr í land ok náir ríki me› brœ›rum
sínum Sigur›i slefu, Go›rø›i ljóma ok Ragnfrø›i. Haraldr
var ﬂeira brœ›ra fremstr ok vænstr ok einnad bezt at sér
gerr. ﬁví var ﬂetta kve›it —2. Æ standa mér augu
of eld til Gráfeldar—at ma›rinn var e frí›r s‡num.
a added in the margin.
b MS er.
c sunu sína] apparently corrected from svnum sinum.
d added above the line, incorrectly after vænstr.
e added above the line.

History of the kings of Norway

17

as a heathen, and as a heathen shall I therefore be buried.
I hope for greater mercy from God Himself than I am
worthy of.’ And he died at Hákonarhella and he was buried at Sæheimr in Nor›hƒr›aland. He was mourned byboth friends and enemies. There were no more goods set
in his mound with him than his sword Kvernbiti and hisbattle-dress. He was laid in the mound in a stone coffin.
VII. And it happened then that when Eiríkr bló›øx fled
the country he went west with his ships to England andthere spent his time raiding and plundering. There heasked quarter of the English king, as Æthelstan had promised him.31 He received from the king an earldom inNorthumbria. Through the advice of his wife Gunnhildr hebecame once again so cruel and savage in his dealings
with his people that they could scarcely endure it. Becauseof this he went raiding and harrying widely in western
Europe and fell in Spain while on a raid.32 Gunnhildr
returned to King Haraldr, who was then king in Denmark,and remained there with her sons till they were fully grown
to manhood.
VIII. After Hákon’s death, the Norwegians, following King
Hákon’s counsel, took Haraldr gráfeldr as king in Norway.
Haraldr gráfeldr returned to Norway and took the kingdom
together with his brothers Sigur›r slefa, Gu›rø›r ljómi
and Ragnfrø›r. Haraldr was foremost of the brothers, themost accomplished and best looking. This verse was composed:
2. Steady is my eye across the fire
fixed on Grey-cloak;
because he was a handsome man.

18Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

IX. Haraldr [oooooooooooo]a var konungr .x[v].b vetr. Hann
fylg›i r›um mó›ur sinnar ok gør›i har›an rétt landsmannaok ﬂeir allir brœ›r. Var um ﬂeira ævi í Nóregi sultr ok
seyra ok hverskyns illr yfirgangr. ﬁeir vru allir ofstopamenn
ok bardaga, vru ok náliga allir fyr ﬂví drepnir at mennmttu eigi ﬂola ﬂeim ofríki ok ólƒg. Svá er sagt at Vƒrsar
ger›u fƒr at Haraldi konungi ok ﬂeim brœ›rum ok Sigur›ic
á ﬂingi einu ok vildu taka af lífi, en ﬂeir kómusk undan. En
ﬂeir drpu sí›and Sigur› slefu á Alreksstƒ›um. Var ﬂar
flokksforingi Vémundr vƒlubrjótr. Drap [o]e Sigur› ma›r
sá er hét ﬁorkell kleypr, er Sigur›r haf›i tekit konu hansnau›ga. Lag›i hann Sigur› gegnum me› sver›i, ok hefndi
hans ﬂegar hir›ma›r hans, sá er hét Erlingr gamli. Haraldr
gráfeldr g[er›i fƒr at] Tr[yggva] brœ›r[ung sínum ok draphann], en ﬁórólfr lúsaskegg hljóp ór landi sí›an me› Óláf,son Tryggva konungs.f
X. Í ﬂann tí› bau› Haraldr Danakonungr Haraldi gráfeld
til sín af vél. Hann kom í Limafjƒr› ﬂrim skipum, en ﬂar
kom á hendr hónum Gull-Haraldr, sunr Knúts, bró›ursunr
Haralds blátannar, me› .ix. skipum, ok me› rá›agør› ﬂeiraHkonar jarls, er ﬂá var jarl í Nóregi at fƒ›urleif sinni
sí›an ﬂeir brœ›r ré›u fƒ›ur hans á Hƒklói í ﬁrndheimi.
En er Haraldr konungr gráfeldr sá at hann var svikum okofli›i borinn, ﬂá mælti hann vi› Gull-Harald: ‘ﬁat hlœgir
mik,’ ﬂá kva› hann,g ‘at ek sé skamman ﬂinn sigr, fyr ﬂvíat Hkon jarl, frændi várr, ferr hér me› li›i ok drepr y›rá fœtr oss ﬂegar <á> lei›, ok hefnir svá vár.’ ﬁar fella the length of the erasure suggests there were probably two words here, the secondof which may conceivably have been gráfeldr; Storm claimed to be able to make out ldr(Ágrip 1880, 104).
b the second letter is now impossible to read ; the number could also be .xii.
c ok Sigur›i] added above the line.
d added in the margin.
e here a single letter has been erased, probably –h (= hann).
f Haraldr . . . konungs] this sentence is now largely unreadable, having been almost
completely erased. The reconstruction derives from Storm (Ágrip 1880, 105) and has

History of the kings of Norway

19

IX. Haraldr was king fifteen winters.33 He followed his
mother’s counsel, and, with his brothers, tyrannised overthe people. In their time there was hunger and starvationand injustices of every kind in Norway. They were all
overbearing men, eager for battle, and nearly all were
killed as a result of the fact that men would not suffer theirtyranny and lawlessness.
It is said that the Vƒrsar rose against King Haraldr andthe brothers and Sigur›r at an assembly and meant to kill
them, but they escaped. But later they killed Sigur›r slefa
at Alrekssta›ir. There they were led by Vémundr vƒlubrjótr.
Sigur›r was killed by a man named ﬁorkell kleypr,34 whose
wife he had forcibly taken. ﬁorkell ran him through witha sword, and one of Sigur›r’s men called Erlingr gamli
straightway avenged him.
Haraldr gráfeldr came against his cousin Tryggvi andkilled him, but ﬁórólfr lúsarskegg fled the country withÓláfr, King Tryggvi’s son.35
X. At that time Haraldr king of the Danes had treacherously invited Haraldr gráfeldr to Denmark. He sailed into
Limafjƒr›r with three ships, and there Gull-Haraldr,36 sonof Knútr, nephew of Haraldr blátƒnn, came against him
with nine ships, by the design of the Danish king and Jarl
Hákon, who had become jarl of his patrimony in Norway
after the brothers had killed his father at Hƒkló in ﬁrándheimr.
But when King Haraldr gráfeldr saw that he had been
betrayed and his forces outnumbered, he said to Gull-Haraldr:‘It makes me laugh,’ he said, ‘that I see your victory to be
short-lived, because Jarl Hákon, my kinsman, is on his
way here now with an army, and in killing you on ourheels, he will straightway avenge us.’37 King Haraldr gráfeldr
been accepted by every subsequent editor, but it is doubtful whether there would havebeen room in the line for both sínum and ok drap hann; Storm read vndan for what
appears rather to be or landi. The words sí›an and konungs are added below the line.
g ﬂá kva› hann] added, rather unnecessarily, in the margin.

20Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

Haraldr konungr gráfeldr at Hálsi í Limafir›i ok li› hansallt, en Hkon jarl drap ﬂegar Gull-Harald ok vann svá
Nóreg undir sik, me› skattgildi vi› Danakonung.
XI. En eftir fráfall Haralds kømr Hkon jarl til ríkis ok
haf›i einn Nóreg allan mjƒk svá, ok undir jarls nafni sem
hans forellrar hƒf›u haft. Ætt hans var af Hleygjum ok afMœrum, ok jarla ætt í hvára tveggja kvísl, ok vildi hannfyrir ﬂví eigi tígna sik konungs nafni. Fa›ir hans hét Sigur›r
Hyrnajarl en mó›ir hans Bergljót, dóttir ﬁóris ﬂegjanda,
jarsa af Mœri. Hann átti Ólofu, dóttur Haralds hárfagra.
Hón var mó›ir Bergljótar. Hann haf›i enn at n‡fengnu ríki
gagnstƒ›u í fyrstunni af Gunnhildi konungamó›ur, ok láhvárt umb annat me› illum prettum, ﬂvíat ﬂat skorti hvárki
ﬂeira. Hkon jarl var manna vænstr s‡num, ekki hr, [ooooooo]bvir›iligr. Hann var spekingr mikill í vizku sinni, ok var›hann fyr ﬂví slœgri en Gunnhildr í sínum r›um. Hann áttienn vingótt vi› Harald konung, er ﬂá ré› fyr Danmƒrku, okbœndi hann til at hann skyldi koma flár›um vi› Gunnhildi,
ok koma henni ór landi me› ﬂeim hætti at hann sendi henni
rit sitt ok sendi menn at bi›ja hennar. Ok hann sendi henni
rit ok kva› ﬂat sœmst at hón gƒmul giftisk gƒmlum konungi,
ok hón hl‡ddi á ﬂat, ok var hennar fƒr ger pr‡›iliga tilóprú›ar,c ﬂvíat ﬂegar hón kom til Danmarkar ﬂá var hón
tekin ok søkkt í m‡ri einni, ok lauk svá hónd sínum dƒgum,at ﬂví sem margir segja.
XII. En Hkon jarl sat í ríki .xx. vetr síz Haraldr gráfeldr
fell at Hálsi í Limafir›i, ok sat me› ríki miklu ok óvinsæl<d>ea i. e. jarls; see Noreen 1923, § 291.7.
b here a word of about seven letters has been erased; in the margin the word
riﬂuaxinn has been added in a slightly younger hand.
c pr‡›ilega til óprú›ar] written prvﬂﬂilega til opprvﬂar. While the meaning is fairly
obvious, the syntax of this sentence is not immediately clear; there appears to be anomission or error, or both. Most previous editors (e. g. Finnur Jónsson, Ágrip 1929, 15)have emended to óprú›rar, following which the word farar is to be understood. Anotherpossibility, however, is that a construction such as var› (henni) til ópr‡›i is meant,either with an otherwise unattested gen. sg. pr‡›ar (cf. Noreen 1923, § 411.2), or a gen.

History of the kings of Norway

21

fell there, at Háls in Limafjƒr›r, and all his men, but
Hákon immediately killed Gull-Haraldr, winning Norway
for himself as a vassal of the Danish king.
XI. Following the death of Haraldr, Jarl Hákon came to
power and ruled alone very nearly all Norway, and withthe jarl’s title his forefathers had had. His kin were Háleygirand Mœrir, and there had been jarls on both sides, forwhich reason he did not wish to honour himself by assuming the kingly title. His father was called Sigur›r Hyrnajarl,and his mother was Bergljót, the daughter of ﬁórir ﬂegjandi,
jarl of Mœrr. He was married to Ólof, daughter of Haraldr
hárfagri. She was Bergljót’s mother.
In the early days of his reign Hákon had opposition
from Gunnhildr konungamó›ir,38 and they were often engaged in nasty trickery each against the other, for neitherof them was lacking in that.
Jarl Hákon was the handsomest of men, not tall, but
imposing. He was a man of great wisdom and therefore
more cunning than Gunnhildr in his machinations. He wasthen still on good terms with King Haraldr, who then ruled
Denmark, and asked him to trick Gunnhildr into leaving
the country by sending to her messengers bearing a writproffering marriage. And Haraldr sent her the writ, saying
it would be fitting that she in her old age marry an old
king, and she agreed to do this. But her journey, whichbegan in splendour, ended in disgrace, for when she arrived in Denmark she was taken and sunk in a bog, and,according to many, so ended her days.39
XII. Hákon jarl ruled twenty winters after the death ofHaraldr gráfeldr at Háls in Limafjƒr›r. He ruled imperiously,
and, as time passed, grew more and more unpopular, particuprú›ar from a nom. prú›r (cf. Noreen 1923, § 384 and Anm. 1 ).
d svá hón] hón svá would be more natural.
e cf. p. 48; also vinsæld, pp. 10 and 70, and óvinsæl›, p. 46.

22Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

mikilli ok margfaldri, er á lei› upp, ok me› einni ﬂeiri erhann dró til heljar, at hann lét sér konur allar jamt heimilarer hann f‡sti til, ok var engi kvenna munr í ﬂví gƒrr, ok
engi grein, hvers kona hver væri, e›a systir, e›a dóttir.
XIII. En hann f‡sti eitthvert sinni til konu ﬂeirar er Gu›rún
hét Lundasól. Hón bjó á Lundum í Gauladali,a ok ger›ihann af Me›alhúsum ﬂræla sína at taka hana ok flytja sér
til ósœm›ar. En me›an ﬂrælarnir mƒtu›usk, ﬂá haf›i hón
svá li›i safnat at ﬂá var eigi kostr at flytja hana, ok sendi
hón ﬂá or› Hkoni jarli at hón mundi eigi á hans fundsœkja, nema hannb sendi konu ﬂá er hann haf›i er ﬁóra hétá Remoli. En eftir ﬂau or› sœkir hann upp í Gauladal me›ƒllu li›i sínu. En Halldórr á Sker›ingsste›ju skar upp ƒr
allt at dalinum, ok sótti alla vega flokkr á mót hónum. Ok
ﬂá er jarlinn sá li›it, ok hann fann at hann var svikinn, ﬂádreif›i hann ƒllu li›i sínu frá sér. En hann ok ﬂræll hans
Karkrc ri›u vakar nekkurar ok drekk›u ﬂar hesti hans ok
létu eftir skikkju hans ok svá sver› á ísinum, en ﬂeir
fluttusk í helli einn er enn heitir Jarlshellir í Gauladali. Ok
sofna›i ﬂar ﬂrællinn, ok lét illa, ok sag›i sí›an, er hann
vakna›i, at ma›r svartr ok illiligr fór hjá hellinum, okótta›isk hann at hann mundi inn ganga, ok sag›i hónum at
Ulli var drepinn. En jarlinn svara›i at ﬂá myndi vera
drepinn sunr hans, ok svá var› ok. Sofnar ﬂrællinn í annat
sinni, ok lætr eigi betr en fyrr, sag›i sí›an at inn sami ma›r
haf›i ﬂá farit ofan aftr, ok ba› segja jarlinum at ﬂá vru
lokin sund ƒll. En jarlinn skil›i í ﬂví kominn endadag sinn,ok fluttisk til Remols til konu ﬂeirar er ﬁóra hét, er var
fri›la hans, ok hón leyndi hónum ok ﬂrælinum í svínstí
sínu. Sí›an kom flokkr ok rannsaka›i, ok me› ﬂví at hannfannsk eigi, ﬂá ætla›isk flokkrinn at brenna bœinn upp ata first written golar-, but with the o corrected to au and the r erased.
b MS hon.
c MS carki, presumably an error.

History of the kings of Norway

23

larly because—and this led to his death—he considered all
women whom he desired equally available to him, making
no distinction as to who was whose wife or sister or daughter.
XIII. He once desired a woman named Gu›rún Lundasól.
She lived at Lundir in Gauladalr, and he sent his thralls
from Me›alhús to get her and bring her to him for unseemly purposes. But while the thralls were eating she got
together so great a band of men that there was no possibility of taking her. She sent word to Jarl Hákon saying that
she would not seek his company unless he sent away the
woman he kept as mistress, who was named ﬁóra of Remol.
After these words he proceeded to Gauladalr with all his men.
Halldórr of Sker›ingsste›ja called men to arms fromeverywhere in the valley, and a band of men came against
the jarl from every direction. When the jarl saw the forces
and realised that he had been betrayed, he sent away all his
men and he and his thrall Karkr40 rode till they came to ahole in the ice, and there they drowned his horse and laid
his cloak and then his sword on the ice, and then they went
to a cave, which is still called Jarlshellir, in Gauladalr.
There the thrall fell asleep and rested uneasily and said
afterwards when he awoke that a man dark and grim had
passed before the cave, and he had feared that the man
would enter. Then he had told him that Ulli was dead. The
jarl answered that his son must then be slain, and this was
so.41 The thrall slept again and rested no better than before, saying afterwards that the same man had passed
again and had asked him to tell the jarl that all hope wasgone.42 And the jarl understood from this that his last day
was come, and they went to Remol, to the woman namedﬁóra, who was his mistress,43 and she hid him and thethrall in her pig-sty.
Later a band of men came and searched the house, andfinding nothing, they intended to burn the farm to the24Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

hringum. En ﬂá er jarlinn heyr›i ﬂat, ﬂá vildi hann eigibí›a písla af óvinum sínum, ok lét ﬂrælinn skera sik ábarka, ok lauk svá saurlífisma›r í saurgu húsi sínumdƒgum, ok svá ríki. Var hƒfu›it flutt til Kaupangs. Ok ﬂáer li›it fór ofan of Steinbjƒrg, ﬂá var fjƒr›rinn allr fullr af
skipum, er allr l‡›rinn sótti eftir ƒru hann af lífi at taka.
Var ﬂá hƒfu›it flutt í Hólm, ok kasta›i hverr ma›r steini at,
en ﬂrællinn Karkr bar í ljós hƒfu›it ok vænti sér af ﬂví lífs,
en hann var ﬂó upp heng›r. ﬁat vas of vár er Hkon dó. Í
ﬂví bili kom Óláfr Tryggvasunr af Englandi í Nóreg[ooooooooooooooooooooo].a En Eiríkr Hkonarsunr stƒkk ór
landi [oooooooo] ok fór til handa Óláfi enum sœnska í
Svíﬂjó›, ok ﬂeir Sveinn bró›ir hans.
XIV. <E>n Hkon jarl ré› eigi firir ﬂví einn fyr Nóregi athann ætti eftir ﬂá at taka er næst hƒf›u á›r fyrir hónum
konungar verit, nema fyrir styrks sakar ok megins, ok athann var vitr ma›r, ﬂóat hann snøri viti sínu til ills, ok fyrir
ﬂess annars sakar at ætt ƒll Gunnhildarsuna var ﬂá farin ok
sløkk› náliga, ok ﬂóat hón væri nƒkkur, ﬂá var ƒllum
mƒnnum á henni hatr ok vænti sér ﬂá betra, ok gafsk vn
at lygi.
XV. <E>n hann átti ﬂó ætterni til konungs ﬂess at telja
langfe›gum er Hersir hét. Hann var konungr í Naumudali.
Hét kona hans Vig›a, er enn heitir in eftir Vig›a í Naumudali.
En Hersir missti hennar ok vildi t‡na sér eftir hana, efdœmi fyndis<k> til at ﬂat hef›i nekkverr konungr fyrrigƒrt. En dœmi fundusk til at jarl hef›i ﬂat gƒrt, en eigi atkonungr hef›i ﬂat gƒrt. Ok hann fór ﬂá á haug nekkvern okveltisk fyrir ofan, ok kva›sk ﬂá hafa velzk ór konungs
nafni, ok heng›i sik sí›an í jarls nafni, ok vildi hans
afspringr sí›an ávallt eigi vi› konungs nafni taka. En
a here approximately a line and a half of text (4.7 cm) has been erased.

History of the kings of Norway

25

ground. When the jarl heard this he wished not to be
tortured by his enemies and had the thrall slit his throat,44
and thus a man who had lived a life of filth ended, in ahouse of filth, his days and his rule. The head was taken to
Kaupangr. And when the men came down from Steinbjƒrg
the fjord was full of ships, as all the people had received
the call to battle, so Hákon’s life could be taken.45
The head was then moved to Hólmr, and there every
man threw a stone at it. The thrall Karkr had come forwardwith the head, and for this he expected to be given his life,
but he was hanged nevertheless.46 It was in the spring that
Hákon died.
At that same time Óláfr Tryggvason came to Norwayfrom England. Eiríkr Hákonarson fled the country to Sweden with his brother Sveinn, and there they joined Óláfr
the Swede.
XIV. Jarl Hákon had not ruled alone over Norway throughright of descent from those who had been kings before
him, but rather as a result of strength and force, andbecause he was a wise man, though he turned his wisdom
to evil; and furthermore because the sons of Gunnhildr andtheir kin were all gone and had nearly all been killed, andthough there were some of their kin, all men hated them,and had hoped for better, though they hoped in vain.
XV. Yet he had had, among his ancestors, a king whosename was Hersir. He had been king in Naumudalr. His
wife was called Vig›a and the river in Naumudalr is still
called Vig›a after her.47 Hersir suffered her loss and wishedto kill himself after her if an instance could be found of aking having done this before. It was found that a jarl had
done so, but never a king. He went then to the top of amound and rolled down, saying he had thus rolled from thekingship, and then he hanged himself as a jarl and for thisreason his descendants would afterwards never take the26Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

sƒnnendia til ﬂessa má heyra í Hleygjatali er Eyvindr orti,
er kalla›r var skáldaspillir.
XVI. <E>n til ríkis eftir Hkon jarl steig Óláfr Tryggvasunr,ok tígna›i sik konungs nafni í Nóregi, er ættar rétt átti af
Haraldi hárfagra, ﬂvíat Óláfr hét sunr Haralds, er fa›ir var
Tryggva, er of daga Gunnhildarsuna tók konungs nafn okvald á Raumaríki, ok var ﬂar tekinn af lífi á Sótanesi ok er
ﬂar heyg›r, ok kalla menn ﬂarb Tryggvareyr. En aftak hanssegja eigi allir einum hætti. Sumir kenna búƒndum, at
ﬂeim ﬂótti yfirbo› hans hart ok drpu hann á ﬂingi. Sumirsegja at hann skyldi gera sætt vi› fƒ›urbró›ursunu sína, ok
tóku ﬂeir hann af me› svikum ok illræ›um Gunnhildar
konungamó›ur, ok trúa ﬂví flestir.
XVII. <E>n eftir fráfall hans ﬂá fl‡›i Estrí›,c er Tryggvi
haf›i fengit á Upplƒndum, braut til Orkneyja me› Óláfi
ﬂrévetrum, syni sínum ok Tryggva, at for›ask bæ›i fláræ›i
Gunnhildar ok suna hennar ok Hkonar jarls, er ƒll kipp›usk
ﬂá ennd um Nóreg, ﬂvíat eigi vru ﬂá enn synir Gunnhildar
af lífi teknir. Ok kom hón til Orkneyja me› ﬂrimr skipsƒgnum.
En me› ﬂví at eigi mátti leynask fer› hennar, ok martkunni til svika gerask, ﬂá sendi hón barnit á braut me›
manni ﬂeim er sumir kalla ﬁórólf lúsarskegg [ooooooooooo],eok haf›i hann barnit á launungu á braut til Nóregs, ok fluttime› miklum ótta til Svíﬂjó›ar. Ok ór Svíﬂjó›f vildi hannfara til Hólmgar›s, ﬂvíat ﬂar var nƒkkvut ætterni hans. Enﬂá kvmu Eistr at skipi ﬂví er hann var á, ok var sumtg
drepit af, en sumt hertekit, fóstri hans drepinn, en hannhertekinn fyr ey ﬂeiri er heitir Eys‡sla, en sí›an seldr í nau›.
a written s√nnendi; perhaps simply an error for sannendi.
b added above the line.
c written æstriﬂ, the Danish form of Ástrí›r.
d added above the line.
e here Storm read sumir loﬂskeggi (Ágrip 1880, 108).
f MS sviﬂior.
g written here and four words on sumpt.

History of the kings of Norway

27

name of king. The truth of this can be heard in the Háleygjatal,
which Eyvindr composed, who was called skáldaspillir.48
XVI. After Hákon jarl Óláfr Tryggvason ascended thethrone and assumed the name of king in Norway, to which
he had right through descent from Haraldr hárfagri, because one of Haraldr’s sons was named Óláfr, who was thefather of Tryggvi, who in the days of the sons of Gunnhildr
held the title and authority of king in Raumaríki. He waskilled on Sótanes and there buried and men call this place
Tryggvareyrr.49 But not all tell of his slaying in the same
way: some blame the farmers, that they felt his rule to beharsh and killed him at assembly; some say that he wasabout to be reconciled with his cousins, and that they
killed him through the treachery and wicked counsel ofGunnhildr konungamó›ir, and most believe this.
XVII. After his death, Ástrí›r, whom Tryggvi had marriedin Upplƒnd, fled to Orkney with Óláfr, their three-year-old
son,50 in order to avoid both the treachery of Gunnhildr
and her sons and that of Jarl Hákon, who were all still
struggling for control of Norway, for the sons of Gunnhildr
had not yet been slain. Ástrí›r came to Orkney with threefully-manned ships, but because her voyage could not be
concealed and much perfidy could befall them, she sent
the child away with the man whom some call ﬁórólfr
lúsarskegg.51 He took the child in secrecy to Norway andthence, in great fear, to Sweden. He wished to go from
Sweden to Hólmgar›r, for some of Óláfr’s kin were there.52
Men from Estonia came on board their ship and killedsome men and took others hostage. ﬁórólfr was killed andÓláfr taken hostage near the island called Eys‡sla,53 andafterwards sold into slavery.

28Ágrip af NóregskonungasƒgumXVIII. <E>n gu›, er ﬂetta barn haf›i kosit til stórra hluta,
stillti hónum til lausnar me› ﬂeim hætti at ma›r kom til
Eistlands, sendima›r konungs af Hólmgar›i, er var sendr
at taka skatt af landinu, ok var frændi barnsins ok leystifrænda sinn ok haf›i til Hólmgar›s, ok var hann ﬂar umb
hrí› svá at ekki var margra manna vitor› á hans ætterni. En
ﬂá er hann var .xij. vetra gamall, ﬂá ger›isk svá til at um
dag nekkvern á torgi, ﬂá kenndi hann í hendi manni øxi ﬂá
er ﬁórólfr haf›i haft, ok leita›i eftir atbur›um hvé hónum
hef›i sú øx komit, ok var› af hins ansvƒrum sannfró›r at
ﬂat var bæ›i øx fóstra hans ok svá bani, ok tók øxina ór
hendi hónum ok drap ﬂann er ﬂangat haf›i, ok hefndi svá
fóstra síns. En ﬂar var mannhelgr mikil ok miklar vi›lƒgur
vi› manns aftak, ok fekk hann ﬂat til rá›s at hann hljóp áhald dróttningarinnar, ok me› bœn hennar, ok af ﬂví athvatligt ﬂótti vera verkit manni .xij. vetra gƒmlum at vinna,
ok af ﬂví at sannlig ﬂótti hefndin vera, ﬂá ﬂá hann miskunn
af konunginum, ok tók sí›an at vaxa vitor› of hann ok svá
metor› ok allt yfirlæti. En sí›an er á lei› á stundina, ﬂá var
hónum fengit li› ok skipastóll, ok fór hann bæ›i á eittlanda ok ƒnnur lƒnd ok herja›i, ok auku›u flokk hans bráttNor›menn ok Gautar ok Danir, ok vann nú stórvirki, ok
afla›i sér me› ﬂví fræg›ar ok gó›s or›lags.
XIX. <H>ann dr‡g›i ví›a herskap bæ›i á Vendlandib ok áFlæmingjalandi, á Englandi ok á Skotlandi, á Írlandi oká mƒrgum ƒ›rum lƒndum, haf›i i›uliga vetrsetu sína á
Vennlandi í borg ﬂeiri er hét Jómsborg. En hvégi lengi sem
hann dr‡g›i slíkt athæfi, ﬂá gør›isk svá til of sí›ir at hannlendi ﬂar vi› í einum sta› í Englandi sem var einn mikill
gu›s vinr ok sá einsetuma›r ok frægr af gó›um vísendum
a MS á eít land, with o added above the a (= lƒnd); Brieskorn (1909, 147–48) suggests
this should be read á Eistlƒnd, the plural being used to refer to the area covered by thepresent-day Baltic republics.
b Dahlerup (Ágrip 1880, 109) suggests emending to frislande, and Bugge (1873, 9)
adding oc a frislande.

History of the kings of Norway

29

XVIII. But God, who had chosen this child for great things,
saw to his release in this way: a man came to Estonia, anambassador from the king in Hólmgar›r, sent to collecttribute in that country. He was the child’s kinsman, and heransomed his kinsman and brought him to Hólmgar›r.
There he remained a while and few knew of his descent.
When he was twelve years old,54 it happened one day
in the market place that he recognised in a man’s hand theaxe ﬁórólfr had had, and he asked the man under whatcircumstances he had come to possess the axe. From his
answers Óláfr knew for certain that this was both his
fosterfather’s axe and also his slayer. He took the axe fromhis hands and killed him who had brought it there, thus
avenging his fosterfather.
Inviolability of the person was there highly regarded,
and there were great penalties for manslaughter, and Óláfr
resolved then to seek the support of the queen. Throughher petition and because it was thought a manly deed fora twelve-year-old to have performed—and because it wasconsidered a just revenge—he was granted the king’s pardon. Thereafter, as report of him increased, so also did his
esteem and honour. And as time went on he was given men
and ships and went harrying from land to land. Norwegians, Gauts55 and Danes quickly swelled his flock, andthrough great feats he won for himself fame and good
repute.
XIX. He harried widely, both in Wendland and Flanders,in England and in Scotland, in Ireland and in many othercountries,56 generally wintering in Wendland, in the town
called Jómsborg.57 But however long he kept up suchpractice, it happened finally that he came to a place inEngland58 where there lived a great man of God, a hermit,
famed for good and wide learning. Óláfr wished to test30Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

ok margfró›um. Ok f‡stisk Óláfr at freista ﬂess ok ger›ieinn sinn ﬂjónustumann í konungs búna›i hans hjálpræ›aat leita sér undir konungs nafni, ok fekk ﬂessur ansvƒr:‘Eigi ertu konungr, en ﬂat er rá› mitt attu sér trúr konungiﬂínum.’ Ok f‡sti Óláf ok at meirr hann at finna er hann
haf›i heyrt slík andsvƒr, ﬂvíat nú tók ím af hónum at hannvar sannr própheti. En í hans vi›rtalan ok ﬂess ens gó›amanns fortƒlu, ﬂá mælti hann vi› hann me› ﬂessum or›um
af heilagri vitrun ok hifneskri frams‡n: ‘ﬁú mont vera,’kva› hann, ‘ágætr konungr ok ágæt verk vinna. ﬁú muntmƒrgum ﬂjó›um til trúar koma ok til skírnar, montu bæ›iﬂér í ﬂví ok svá mƒrgum ƒ›rum hjálpa. Ok til ﬂess attu
ifisk eigi um ﬂessur mín ansvƒr, ﬂá montu ﬂetta til marks
hafa: ﬂú munt vi› skip ﬂín svikum mœta ok flokkum, ok
mon á bardaga reitask, ok montu t‡na nƒkkvuru li›i ok
sjálfr sár fá, ok montu af ﬂví sári banvænn vera ok á skildi
til skips borinn. En af ﬂessu sári montu heill ver›a <i>nnan.vij. nátta, ok brátt eftir ﬂat vi› skírn taka.’ Allt gekksk
eftir ﬂessi sƒgu, ok kom hann svá til trúar, ﬂví næst til
Nóregs, ok haf›i me› sér Sigur› byskup, er til ﬂess var
víg›r at bo›a l‡›um gu›s nafn, ok enn nekkvera lær›amenn, ﬁangbrand prest ok ﬁormó›, ok enn nekkver djkn.
Ok of kristnis bo› kom hann fysta ﬂingi á í Mostr áHƒr›ulandi, ok var au›velt at flytja, bæ›i at gu› studdi okmƒnnum haf›i verit lei› áﬂján Hkonar illa, ok tók ﬂar al‡›r vi› trú, en Óláfr vi› ríki. Hann haf›i .vij. vetr ok .xx.
er hann kom í Nóreg, ok á ﬂeim .v. vetrum er hann bar
konungs nafn í Nóregi krisna›ib hann .v. lƒnd: Nóreg okÍsland ok Hjaltland, Ork<n>eyjar ok it .v.c Færeyjar, ok
reisti fyrst kirkjur á sjálf
 síns hƒfu›bólum, ok felldi blót
ok blótdrykkjur, ok lét í sta› koma í vild vi› l‡›inna MS –
ﬂ (i. e. ﬂat).
b i. e. kristna›i, cf. below, pp. 34 and 74.
c first written vj, but the j has been erased.

History of the kings of Norway

31

him and sent one of his retainers dressed in kingly clothing
to seek helping advice in the name of king, and he received
this answer: ‘You are no king, but it is my advice that you
be loyal to your king.’ And when Óláfr heard such ananswer he desired even more to meet him, for now he wasin no doubt that he was a true prophet.59 In the course ofthat good man’s conversation and persuasion he spoke toÓláfr with these words of holy revelation and heavenly
foresight: ‘You will be,’ he said, ‘an excellent king and do
excellent works, and you will bring many peoples to faithand baptism, and in this way you will benefit both yourself
and many others. And so that you may not doubt mywords, you shall take this as a sign: at your ships you willmeet with treachery and bands of men. It will end in battle
and you will lose some of your men and you yourself bewounded. As a result of this wound you will be near death,and you will be borne on a shield to your ship. But fromthis wound you will recover within seven nights, and soonafterward you will receive baptism.’60 All happened as
had been told, and in this way Óláfr came to the faith andthen to Norway, and brought with him Bishop Sigur›r,
who had been ordained to proclaim the name of God to thepeople; and still other learned men, the priest ﬁangbrandr
and ﬁormó›r 61 and also several deacons. He first proclaimed the Christian faith at an assembly at Mostr inHƒr›aland—and it was easy to preach, both because it was
supported by God and because men had grown tired of thetyranny of Hákon illi62—and there the people took thefaith and Óláfr the kingdom.
He was twenty-seven years old when he came to Norway,63 and during the five years he bore the name of kingin Norway he Christianised five countries: Norway, Iceland, Shetland, Orkney and the fifth, the Faeroes.64 He
first raised churches on his own estates and he abolishedpagan feasts and sacrifices, in place of which, as a favour

32Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

htí›ardrykkjur jól ok páskar, Jóansmessu mungát, ok haustƒl
at Míkjálsmessu. Óláfr var mikill ma›r, hár, s‡niligr, hvítr
á hárslit allana, rétthær›r ok manna snøriligastr ok bezt at
sér gƒrr í allri korteisi.
XX. <E>n brátt eftir ﬂetta kvánga›isk Óláfr ok tók systur
Sveins tjúguskeggs Danakonungs, er ﬁyri hét, er hertogi
nekkverr í Vinnlandi haf›i festab nau›ga, ok heldusk fyr
ﬂví eigi ﬂau festarml. En eftir samkvmu ﬂeira ﬂá veitti
Sveinn konungr áhald ﬂingum ﬂeim er ját vru, ok skilatme› systur hans, ok ﬂótti Óláfi konungi sú neisa me›
sneypu. Ok at hefna ﬂess ﬂá safna›i hann her til Danmarkar
ok bei› li›sins í landamæri, ok me› ﬂví at seinka›isk
kváma ﬂeira, ﬂá helt hann yfir til Vin›lands me› .xi. einum
skipum ok vænti li›s eftir sér. En ﬂá er sú vn var› atlygi—af ﬂví at flokkrinn vendi ﬂegar aftr, er hann var ór
landi—ﬂá ætla›isk hann at afla sér gengis í Vin›landi af
sínum sannvinum, er hónum hƒf›u í útilegu hollir vinir
verit ok tryggvir félagar. En ﬂat tóskc eigi, ﬂvíat Sveinn
konungr haf›i kvatt til li›s me› sér Óláf Svíakonung ok
Eirík, sun Hkonar illa, ok kvmu ﬂessir at hónum fyrir
Sjólandi me› tveimd skipum ok átta tøgum skipa. Sveinn
haf›i .xxx. skipa ok Óláfr .xxx. skipa, Eiríkr .ii. ok .xx., oklag›i at hónum fyrst Sveinn me› .xxx. skipa, ok fór manntjón
mikla, ok vendi aftr me› sneypu. En ﬂví næst lag›i tilÓláfr enn svenski me› jƒfnu li›i vi› Svein, ok bar aftr
jafna sneypu. Sí›an lag›i Eiríkr at ok bar øfra skjƒld. En
til falls Óláfs konungs var ekki vitat. Hitt var sét, at ﬂá ermjƒk réna›i orrostan, at hann stó› lífs ﬂá enn í lyftinginni
á Orminum langa, er haf›i tvau rúm ok .xxx. En ﬂá er
Eiríkr skyldi ganga upp í stafninn á leit hans, ﬂá sleri ljósi
fyrir hann sem elding væri, en konungrinn sjálfr horfinn era á hárslit allan] written in a slightly younger hand over an erasure.
b following this word an s has been written, but partially erased.
c i. e. tóksk.
d tveim] written tvém or tvéin.

History of the kings of Norway

33

to the people, he ordained the holiday feasts Yule andEaster, St John’s Mass ale and an autumn-ale at Michaelmas.
Óláfr was a big man, tall and handsome, with straight,
light hair and beard, and of all men he was the quickest andbest versed in all courtly behaviour.
XX. Soon after this Óláfr married the sister of Sveinn
tjúguskegg, king of the Danes, whose name was ﬁyri andwhom a duke in Wendland had forcibly betrothed to himself, for which reason the betrothal had not stood.65
After the wedding King Sveinn withheld the thingspromised in dowry with his sister, and King Óláfr considered this a disgrace. To seek vengeance he collected anarmy to go to Denmark and awaited forces on the coast,66
but because their arrival was delayed, he sailed to Wendlandwith only eleven ships, expecting the army to follow him.
But when his hope was not realised, because the men had
turned back as soon as he was out of the country, heintended to gather support in Wendland among his truefriends, who had been faithful friends and trusted companions with him on viking expeditions. But this proved unsuccessful, for King Sveinn had called upon Óláfr, King of
the Swedes, and Eiríkr, son of Hákon illi, and they cameagainst him off Sjóland with eighty-two ships: Sveinn had
thirty ships, Óláfr thirty and Eiríkr twenty-two. Sveinn
came first against him with thirty ships, but suffered great
losses and turned back with disgrace. Then came Óláfr the
Swede with equal strength, and he met with equal disgrace. Lastly came Eiríkr and he won the day.67
But of the fall of King Óláfr nothing was known. It wasseen that as the fighting lessened he stood, still alive, on
the high-deck astern on the Long Serpent, which had thirtytwo rowing-places.68 But when Eiríkr went to the stern of
the ship in search of the king, a light flashed before him,as though it were lightning, and when the light disap-

34Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

ljósit hvarf af. Sumir menn geta hann á báti braut hafa
komizk, ok segja at hann hafi verit sénn sí›an í munklífinƒkkvuru á Jórsalalandi. En sumir geta at hann hafi fyrirbor› fallit. En hvatki er lífi hans hefir lukt, ﬂá er ﬂat líkiligt
at gu› hafi slina.
XXI. <E>n me› ﬂví at Sveini ﬂótti ﬂá sem hann hef›i unnit
Nóreg me› aftaki Óláfs, ﬂá játti hann Eiríki ok Sveini,sunum Hkonar, Nóregi, ok helt Eiríkr einn landi sí›an
Sveinn fell á frá, Danakonungr. Ok ﬂá er Eiríkr haf›i alls
st‡rt Nóregi .xii. vetr me› jarls nafni, ﬂá gaf hann upp
Hkoni syni sínum landit, en hann fór til Englands vestr ok
ré›sk í li› me› Knúti, mági sínum, er hann vann England,ok dó ﬂar af bló›rs er hónum var úfr skorinn.
XXII. <E>n svá mikla kostan ok stund sem Óláfr Tryggvasunr
lag›i á at fremja krisnia—er vi› ekki vétta spar›isk,b ﬂat er
gu›i væri tígn í ok kristninni styrkr—svá lƒg›u ﬂeir fe›gar
allt megin fram at drekkja kristninni, ok svác gæfisk, ef
eigi hef›i gu› ﬂá sína miskunn til sent me› tilkvmu Óláfs
<Haraldssunar> grœnska, er ﬂat mund haf›i hug sinn mjƒká veraldar sigri, sem hér má brátt heyra, ok veik sí›an trú
sinni til kristni ok laut af sta›festu trúar eilífa sælu okhelgi. En at menn viti ætterni hans til ríkis, ﬂá má hér nú
heyra.
XXIII. <H>araldr, fa›ir Óláfs ens helga, hann var sunrGu›rø›ar, en Gu›rø›r sunr Bjarnar, en Bjƒrn sunr Haralds
hárfagra, er fyrsti einvaldskonungr var yfir Nóregi. En
mart er sagt frá ví›lendi fer›ar Óláfs, en hvégi ví›a erhann fór, ﬂá sótti hann ﬂegar aft<r> er gu› vildi opna ríki
fyrir hónum, ok kom hann siglandi vestan af Englandi me›a i. e. kristni.
bwritten sparﬂist. If this is not simply a scribal error (t for c) it is among the earliest
examples of the later medio-passive ending -st in Icelandic; even so it may derive fromthe exemplar. See Kjartan G. Ottósson 1992, 93.
c added in the margin.

History of the kings of Norway

35

peared, the king himself was gone. Some suppose he got
away in a boat and say that he was seen afterwards in amonastery in the Holy Land, but others think that he fell
overboard. But whatever ended his life, it is likely that
God has the soul.
XXI. Because Sveinn felt that he had won Norway throughÓláfr’s death he granted it to Eiríkr and Sveinn, Jarl Hákon’ssons,69 and Eiríkr ruled the country alone after King Sveinnof Denmark died.70 And when Eiríkr had ruled Norway
twelve winters in all with the title of jarl, he left thecountry to his son Hákon and went west to England,71
where he took service in the army of his brother-in-law
Knútr,72 when he conquered England, and there bled todeath when his uvula was cut.73
XXII. But as much pain and effort as Óláfr Tryggvason
had put into forwarding Christianity—and he spared nothing which was to the honour of God and the strengtheningof the Christian faith—so Eiríkr and his son put all theirstrength into the quelling of it; and this would have cometo pass had not God’s mercy been manifested in the arrivalof Óláfr, son of Haraldr grenski,74 who at that time had his
mind much set on worldly victory, as will soon be heard.75
He later turned his faith to Christianity and through his
steadfast belief gained eternal bliss and sanctity.
And that men may know of his ancestral birthright tothe realm, this may now be heard.
XXIII. Haraldr, father of St Óláfr, was the son of Gu›rø›r,
and Gu›rø›r the son of Bjƒrn, and Bjƒrn the son of Haraldr
hárfagri, who was the first sole monarch of Norway.
Much is said about the extent of Óláfr’s travels, but
however widely he travelled, he returned when God wishedto make the kingdom available to him,76 and he came from36Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

knƒrrum tveim, ok kom at vi› Sælu ok sigldi sí›an í
Sau›ungasund. Ok svá sem gu› skipa›i til, ﬂá var sén fƒrHkonar, er ﬂá st‡r›i landi eftir Eirík fƒ›ur sinn, .xv. vetra
gamall, enn vænsti ma›r, ok stefndi í Sau›ungasund, sem
allra manna lei› var í ﬂat mund, ok óvitandi at Óláfr digri
lá fyrir, ok haf›i eigi Hkon li› meira en langskip eitt ok
skútu eina. En ﬂá er konungrinn var› varr vi› fer› hans,lag›i hann sínu megin sundsins hvru skipinu. En ﬂá er
Hkon røri á ﬂá, heimtusk brátt skip hans saman, ok var›hann ﬂar hantekinna, ok ﬂá hann líf ok svá li› hans allt af
konunginum, ok fyrsvór landit Nóreg Óláfi eilífliga. ﬁáhƒf›u ﬂeir fe›gar Eiríkr ok Hkon landi rá›it .xiiij. vetrme› jarls nafni ok Sveinn Hkonarsunr. Enn helgi Óláfr
gaf hónum Hkoni Su›reyjar, sem sumir segja, ok styrk›ihann svá at ﬂeira var hann halzi ok ﬂar var hann konungrme›an hann lif›i.
XXIV. <E>n ﬂá tók inn helgi Óláfr vi› Nóregs ríki ok
styrk›i ríki sitt me› kristni ok ƒllum gó›um si›um, ok bar
ﬂó me› mikilli óhœg›, ﬂvíat margir leitu›u á innan lands
ok útan, allra helzt fyr kristnis sakar er hann bau›. Hann
var enn fyrsta vetr lengstum me› Sigur›i mági sínum áUpplƒndum, en of várit eftir sótti Sveinn jarl me› herskildi
í land hans, ok heldu orrostu fyr Nesjum pálmadag vi›
Grenmar, ok vann Óláfr sigr. ﬁar fell mikill hlutr li›

Sveins, en Sveinn helt undan. Einarr ﬂambaskelmir kasta›iakkeri í skip Sveins ok sigldi me› hann nau›gan á braut
til Danmarkar. Sí›an fór Sveinn austr í Gar›a, ok kom
aldregi aftr.
XXV. <S>í›an ba› Óláfr dóttur Óláfs sœnska, Ástrí›ar,systur Ingiger›ar,b er fyrr var heitin hónum, ok brá fa›ir
a i. e. handtekinn; cf. p. 56.
b MS ingi riﬂar.

History of the kings of Norway

37

the west, sailing from England with two ships, and madeland at Sæla and then sailed into Sau›ungasund.
And as God had ordained, Hákon’s approach could beseen—fifteen years old and a very handsome man, he thenruled the country after his father Eiríkr—and he headed for
Sau›ungasund, at that time a common route, and was
unaware that Óláfr digri lay ahead. He had no more forces
than one longship and a small cutter. When the king realised that Hákon was coming, he placed his ships one oneither side of the strait. And when Hákon rowed up tothem, his ships immediately pulled towards each other and
Hákon was there taken captive.77 He and all his men were
granted life by the king, and Hákon pledged Norway toÓláfr for all time.
Eiríkr and his son Hákon had then ruled Norway for
fourteen years with a jarl’s title, together with Sveinn
Hákonarson. St Óláfr gave Hákon the Hebrides, according
to some, and supported him so that he was able to keep
them, and he was king there for as long as he lived.78
XXIV. And so St Óláfr became king of Norway and strengthened his kingdom through Christianity and good ways,
although with great difficulty, for there were many who
opposed him, both within and without Norway, particularly because of the Christian faith he preached.
He spent most of the first winter with his stepfather
Sigur›r in Upplƒnd.79 The following spring Jarl Sveinn
attacked the country and they met in battle on Palm Sunday off Nesjar by Grenmarr and the victory was Óláfr’s.80
There fell a great part of Sveinn’s army, but Sveinn himself escaped. Einarr ﬂambarskelmir81 cast an anchor onto
Sveinn’s ship and forced him to sail away to Denmark.
Thereafter Sveinn went east to Gar›ar82 and never returned.
XXV. Later Óláfr asked for the hand of Ástrí›r, the daughter of Óláfr sœnski and the sister of Ingiger›r, to whom he38Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

hennar heitum ﬂeim fyr rei›i sakar, ok gifti Jaritláfi Austrvegs
konungi, ok gat Óláfr digri me› henni bƒrn. En ﬂeiraørnefni e›a ørfer›ir vitum vér eigi, nema um Gunnhildi
dóttur ﬂeira, er tók Ottó hertogi á Saxlandi. Óláfr var frí›rs‡num ok listuligr, jarpta [o] hár haf›i hann ok rau›ara
skegg, ri›vaxinnb me›alma›r, [oo]c ekki hr. Hann var á.xx.d aldri er hann kom í Nóreg, ok s‡ndisk vitrum mƒnnum
í Nóregi hann mikit afbrag› í vizku sinni, ok ƒllum vaskleik
um hvern mann fram.
XXVI. <E>n á ﬂessu méli ré› Knútr fyr Englandi, er hann
haf›i unnit me› hjlp ok me› fulltingi ens helga Óláfs, ok
launa›i inum helga Óláfi eigi betr en hann bar fé undirhƒf›ingja er í Nóregi vru—sem sí›an reyndisk—at ﬂeir
skyldu svíkja landit undan hónum. Var í ﬂeiri tƒlu Erlingr
á Sóla, Kálfr á Eggju, ﬁórir hundr ok margir a›rir. En ﬂá
er inn helgi Óláfr fór austr til móts vi› Knút konung, ﬂámœtti hann Erlingi ok vænti at hann værie til li›veizlu
kominn í mótf hónum. En hann ré› til konungs ﬂá me›bardaga, ok helt orrostu vi› hann, ok vann inn helgi Óláfr
sigr, ok var› Erlingr svá nau›staddr at engi var annarr
kostr en hann hljóp á miskunn konungs, ok hann veitti
hónum vƒrn ﬂá er a›rir sóttu at hónum. En Áslákr hét ma›r
Fitjaskalli, er stafnbúi var konungs. Hann gekk aftr á skip
ok haf›i undir skauti sér leyniliga handøxi, ok var› engi
fyrr varr vi› en hann haf›i hƒggvit hann í hƒfu› banasár,ok kva› svá at or›i: ‘Svá skal marka ní›inginn!’ En
konungrinn svara›i: ‘Nú hefir ﬂú hƒggvit Nóreg ór hendi
mér.’ En ﬂá var› hann varr af ﬂeim mƒnnum er ﬂar tók
hann at allir stœrstu menn í landinu vru í svikum vi›
a MS apparently jarpr, suggesting an original jarpr á hár.
b haf›i . . . ri›vaxinn] these words are written over an erasure.
c probably en.
d written in the margin in the same hand is [a] tvitv[gs] aldri.
e written vari, probably simply an error.
f -veizlu . . . mót] the word náliga is written in the margin next to this line, apparently

History of the kings of Norway

39

had previously been betrothed. Her father had broken off
that betrothal out of anger and had given her to Yaroslav,
king of Russia.83 Óláfr digri had some children by Ástrí›r,
but with the exception of their daughter Gunnhildr, whom
Duke Otto of Saxony married, their names and fates are
unknown.84
Óláfr was handsome and good-looking, with reddishbrown hair and a redder beard, squarely built and of medium height, not tall. He was in his twentieth year when hecame to Norway, and to wise men in Norway he seemed
outstanding in his wisdom and in all valour surpassing
other men.
XXVI. At this time Knútr ruled England, which he had
won with the help and support of St Óláfr,85 but he rewarded him no better than by bribing the chieftains who
were in Norway into betraying the country away from him,as later happened. Among these chieftains were Erlingr ofSóli, Kálfr of Egg, ﬁórir hundr and many others. And
when St Óláfr went east against King Knútr he met Erlingr,
whom he supposed to be there to support him, but Erlingr
turned against him and fought him in battle.86 St Óláfr won
the victory and Erlingr was in such straits that there was noalternative but to go and put himself at the king’s mercy,
and the king protected him when others attacked him. But
a man named Áslákr Fitjaskalli,87 the king’s forecastleman,walked to the stern of the ship with a hand-axe concealed
under his cloak, and before anyone had noticed, he struck
Erlingr a mortal wound on the head and spoke these words:‘Thus shall the nithing88 be branded.’ The king answered:‘Now you have struck Norway from my hand.’ And fromthe men he captured there, the king learned that all themost important men in the country were involved in his
in the same hand. It does not, however, appear to fit into this or any of the surrounding
sentences.

40Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

hann. Ok snørisk hann ﬂá nor›r í fjƒr› ﬂann er heitir
Sleygsarfjƒr›r, inn frá Borgund,a ok gekk ﬂar af skipum ok
upp at dal ﬂeim er heitir Valdalr, ok helt sí›an ór landi áfjƒgrtánda vetri síz hann kom í land,b ok ﬂví næst í Austrvega,
ok haf›i sun sinn me› sér, Magnús gó›a.
XXVII. <E>n Knútr skipar ﬂá í ríki fyrst Hkoni systursyni
sínum, ok gísla›i land undir sik af allra baztra manna
sunum, en lag›i fólki› til áﬂjánar ok til hl‡›skyldis.c En
Hkon fórsk um várit eftir í Englandshafi, en er Knútr frá
ﬂat, ﬂá setti hann Svein, sun sinn, ok Álfífu mó›ur hans í
ríkit.
XXVIII. <V>ar ﬂá í fyrstu svá mikit danskra manna metor›
at eins ﬂeira vitni skyldi rinda tíu Nor›manna.d Engi skyldi
ná af landi at fara nema me› konungs leyfi, en ef fœri ﬂá
felli undir konung eignir ﬂess. En hverr er mann vægiskyldi hafa fyrvegit landi ok lausum eyri. Ef ma›r var› íútleg› ok tœm›isk hónum arfr, ﬂá eigna›isk konungr arf
ﬂann.
XXIX. <A>t jólum skyldi hverr búandi konungi fá af arni
hverjum mæli malts ok lær af oxa ﬂrévetrum—ﬂat var
kallat vinar e toddi—ok spann smjƒrs, ok húsfreyja hver
rykkjartó—ﬂat var lín órengtf svá mikit at spennt fengi
umb mesta fingri ok lengsta. Búendr skyldirg ok at gera
hús ﬂau ƒll er konungr vildi hafa á bústƒ›um sínum. Sjƒ
menn skylduh gera einn li›fœran, ok gera fyrir hvern er .v.
vetra gamall væri, ok ﬂar eftir hƒmlur eiga. Hverr ma›r er
a MS borgung.
b á . . . land] added in the margin in the same hand.
c the first element of this word is normally l‡›- (from l‡›r, ‘people’), but is writtenwith an h both here and on the next page, probably due to folk-etymology relating it tohl‡›a, ‘obey ’.
d first written thus and then changed, incorrectly, to norﬂmenn.
e this should probably read vinjar ; see Seip 1955, 163; Noreen 1923, § 383.
f this should perhaps be read órennt; cf. áeggjan and Eggjar-Kálfr, both written with
-eng- (notes e on p. 4 and a on p. 42).

History of the kings of Norway

41

betrayal. He turned north into the fjord called Sleygsarfjƒr›r,
in from Borgund, and there he left his ships and went up
the valley called Valdalr and thereafter he left the country,
in the fourteenth winter after his arrival in the country, andwent to Russia and he took with him his son, Magnús gó›i.
XXVII. Knútr first set his nephew Hákon over the kingdom and secured the country by taking hostage the sons of
the most important men, and he oppressed the people andmade them do him homage. But Hákon drowned the following spring in the North Sea and when Knútr received
word of this he set his son Sveinn and Ælfgyfu, Sveinn’s
mother, over the kingdom.89
XXVIII. There was in the beginning such high regard for
Danish men that the testimony of one of them would
overturn that of ten Norwegians. No one could leave thecountry without the king’s permission, but if anyone didleave, his possessions were forfeit to the king. And whosoever killed a man would lose land and chattels, and if aman were in outlawry and succeeded to inheritance, that
inheritance was the king’s.
XXIX. At Yule each farmer was to give the king a measureof malt for each hearth, a ham from a three-year-old ox—
this was called ‘a bit of the meadow’90—and a measure ofbutter; and each housewife should supply a ‘lady’s tow’91—
that was as much clean flax as could be clasped between
thumb and middle finger. The farmers were also to build
all the houses the king wished to have on his estates. Eachseven men were to outfit one able-bodied man—and thisincluded all who had reached the age of five—who would
thereafter man an oar.92 Each man who went fishing was
g i. e. vru skyldir.
h thus MS; some editors, e. g. Finnur Jónsson (Ágrip 1929, 30), have emended toskyldi.

42Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

á haf røri skyld<i> gjalda konungi landvƒr›u hva›an sem
hann røri, en ﬂat eru fimm fiskar. Skip hvert er fœri af
landi braut skyldi konungr hla›a rúm yfir ﬂvert skip. Ma›rhverr er til Íslands fœri skyldi gjalda landaura, hérlenzkr
ok útlenzkr. Ok helzk sjá hl‡›skyldi til ﬂess er Sigur›r
konungr Jórsalafari gaf af ok brœ›r hans flestar ﬂessaránau›ir.
XXX. <E>n ﬂó at sjá nau› ok illing lægi á landi, ﬂá treystusk
menn eigi uppreist at veita fyrir suna sinna sakar er í
gísling vru.
XXXI. <E>n eftir ﬂetta ﬂá sœkir inn helgi Óláfr aftr í landum Svíﬂjó›, ok kom af Jamtalandi til ﬁrndheims, ok komni›r í Veradali, ok tók ﬂá Eggjar-Kálfr a uppreist á mót
hónum ok efldi orrostu me› ƒllu megni, bæ›i fyrir kapps
sakar ok illsku, ok fekk me› sér fjƒlmenni, allra helzt fyr
ﬂess sakar at kristnibo› hans kœmi eigi á landit, er menn
vissu at hann myndi n‡ bjó›ab ok styrkja me› ƒllu megni,
sem fyrr haf›i hann gert, ok fekk ﬂó ﬂat til or›s at gó›ra
manna synir skyldu eigi fyrir gísl [oooo]c vera, ok helt
orrostu vi› Óláf konung á Stiklastƒ›um. ﬁeir vru hƒf›ingjar
fyr li›i ﬁrœnda me› Kálfi: ﬁórir hundr, Erlendr ór Ger›i,Áslákr af Finneyjum. En me› Óláfi vru í fer› Haraldr
bró›ir hans, .xv. vetra gamall, enn vænsti ma›r ok mikill
vexti,d Rƒgnvaldr Brúsasunr, ok Bjƒrn enn digri. Í ﬂeiri
orrostu fell Erlendr ór Ger›i fyrstr manna ór ﬁrœnda li›i.
ﬁat var ok snemma orrostu er Óláfr konungr fell. Hann
haf›i sver› í hendi, en hvárki haf›i hann hjálm né brynju.
Hann fekk [oo] sár af húskarli Kálfs á kné. ﬁá hneig hann[oooooo] ok bazk fyrir ok skaut ni›r sver›inu. ﬁórir hundra written engiar calfr.
b n‡ bjó›a] the preposition á may be missing before n‡, or this could be a compoundverb, otherwise unattested; n‡ could conceivably also be the adjective (with kristnibo›).
c here four letters have been partially erased ; Storm believed them to have been slom
(the sl would be in that case a dittography), but Dahlerup (Ágrip 1880, 113) isHistory of the kings of Norway

43

to pay the king a ‘land bundle’ from wherever he put out,
and this was five fish. On each ship sailing from thecountry the king was to load a space across the ship. Eachman who sailed to Iceland, native or foreign,93 was to pay
a land tax. These obligations remained until Sigur›r Jórsalafari
and his brothers abolished most of these impositions.94
XXX. And even though such evil and oppression lay on
the country, men dared not rise up for the sake of theirsons who were held hostage.
XXXI. Later St Óláfr returned to Norway through Sweden
and came from Jamtaland to ﬁrándheimr and came downin Veradalr, and then Kálfr of Egg, because of his malevolence and eagerness to fight, rose against him and preparedfor battle with all his might. He gained the support ofmany men, mostly those who wished to keep Óláfr’s Christianpreaching from the country, for they knew that he would
again preach it and support it with all his power as he haddone before. But Kálfr gave as his pretext that the sons ofgood men should not be held hostage and fought KingÓláfr in battle at Stiklasta›ir.95
These were the chieftains leading the ﬁrœndir’s army
with Kálfr: ﬁórir hundr, Erlendr of Ger›i, Áslákr of Finneyjar.
On Óláfr’s side were his brother Haraldr, fifteen years ofage, a handsome man of great stature, Rƒgnvaldr Brúsason
and Bjƒrn digri.96
In that battle Erlendr of Ger›i fell first of the ﬁrœndir’sarmy. It was also early in the battle that King Óláfr fell. He
had a sword in his hand, but had neither helmet nor mailcoat. He was wounded in the knee by one of Kálfr’s men.
He sank down and prayed and threw down his sword. ﬁórirunconvinced. The first two letters appear to have ascenders and could therefore be sl;they could, however, also be fl, ft or st, and the third and fourth letters look more likevr than om. None of these combinations produces anything that fits the context, however.
d enn . . . vexti] written over an erasure.

44Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

ok ﬁorsteinn knarrasmi›r bru banor› af Óláfi konungi.
Ok steig svá enn helgi Óláfr af ﬂeiri orrostu ór ﬂessu ríki
í himinríki. Bjƒrn enn digri fell at hƒf›i konunginum, enﬁorsteinn knarrasmi›r var ﬂegar drepinn á fœtr konunginum.
Í ﬂeiri orrostu fell Áslákr af Finneyjum, ok fjƒl›i manna afﬁrœnda li›i.
XXXII. <E>n ﬂá tók landsfólkit eftir fall konungs fulligavi› vesƒld ﬂangat út er Sveinn var ok Álfífa. Ok var ﬂáhƒrmuligt undir ﬂví ríki at búa, bæ›i me› ófrelsi ok me›óárani, er fólkit lif›i meir vi› búfjár mat en manna, fyr ﬂví
at aldregi var ár á ﬂeira dƒgum, sem heyra má í vísu ﬂessi
er Sigvatr kva›:
3. Álfífu mon æviungr drengr muna lengi
er oxa mat tuinni skaf sem hafrar;
annat var, ﬂá er Óláfr
ógnbanda›r ré› landi,
hverr átti ﬂá hrósaa
hjalmar hlƒ›nub korni.
XXXIII. <E>n inn helgi Óláfr bar ﬂessa heims .xv. vetr
konungs nafn í Nóregi til ﬂess er hann fell. ﬁá var hannhálffertøgr at aldri, ok var ﬂá er hann fell frá bur› dróttinsvárs ﬂúshundra› vetra ok .ix. vetr ok .xx. En í orrostu ﬂeiri
er inn helgi Óláfr fell í, ﬂá var› Haraldr bró›ir hans sárr.
Hann fl‡›i eftir fall hans braut ‡r landi okc í Austrvega ok
svá til Miklagar›s, ok segja sumir at hann tœki konungs
nafn í Nóregi,d en sumir synja.
a following this word there is a space, large enough for about eight letters, which
seems to have been left blank by the scribe.
b hjalmar hlƒ›nu] most editors see this as a corruption of hjálmﬂornu›u.
c braut . . . ok] written over an erasure. There is a full stop after hans, which suggeststhat the next word was either ok or en.
d í Nóregi] added above the line.

History of the kings of Norway

45

hundr and ﬁorsteinn knarrasmi›r dealt King Óláfr his deathblow. And thus in that battle St Óláfr rose from this kingdom to the kingdom of heaven. Bjƒrn digri fell before theking and ﬁorsteinn knarrasmi›r was killed right on the
king’s heels. In this battle Áslákr of Finneyjar fell andmany men of the ﬁrœndir’s army.
XXXII. After the death of the king, the people’s miserybecame complete under Sveinn and Ælfgyfu. It was miserable living under their rule, both because of their tyranny and the bad seasons, when the people lived more off
cattle fodder than the food of men, because the seasons
were never good in their time, as can be heard from thisverse by Sighvatr:97
3. Ælfgyfu’s timelong will the young man remember,when they at home ate ox’s food,and like the goats, ate rind;different it was when Óláfr,
the warrior, ruled the land,
then everyone could enjoy
stacks of dry corn.
XXXIII. St Óláfr had borne in this world the name of kingin Norway for fifteen years when he fell. He was thenthirty-five years of age and it was, when he fell, one
thousand and twenty-nine winters from the birth of Our
Lord.98 In the battle in which St Óláfr fell his brother
Haraldr was wounded, and after Óláfr’s death he fled thecountry to Russia and went thereafter to Mikligar›r, andsome say that he claimed the kingly title in Norway, butothers deny this.99

46Ágrip af NóregskonungasƒgumXXXIV. <E>n ﬂá er gu› tók at birta jartegnum um inn
helga Óláf, ﬂá ré›usk <inir> bƒztu menn til at fara ór landiat sœkja Magnús, sun ins helga Óláfs, ﬂvíat menn fundumisræ›i sín ok i›ru›usk, ok vildu ﬂá ﬂat bœta á syni hanser ﬂeir hƒf›u á sjlfum hónum brotit, ok sóttu í Austrvega
til Jaritláfs konungs, ok bru til ﬂess allra baztra mannaor›sending ok bœnarsta› at hann skyldi til lands sœkja.
Ok vru hƒf›ing<j>ar í ﬂeiri fƒr Rƒgnvaldr jarl, Einarr
ﬂambaskelmir, Sveinn bryggjufót<r>, Kálfr Árnasunr. En
ﬂeira bœn var eigi fyrr heyr› né framgeng en ﬂeir unnu
hónum land ok trúna›, ﬂvíat Ingiger›r dróttning stó› á móti.
XXXV. <E>n ﬂví næst kømr hann í land fjórum vetrum
eftir fall fƒ›ur síns Óláfs konungs, ok me› ﬂví at ﬂau
Sveinn ok Álfífa vissu manna ﬂokka vi› hann ok óvinsæl›sína, ﬂá fl‡›u ﬂau til Danmarkar. En Magnús konungr tókvi› ríki me› alﬂ‡›u ﬂokka of sí›ir, ﬂóat me› margs angriværi fyrst, ﬂvíat hann hóf ríki sitt me› har›ræ›i fyr œskusinnar sakara ok ágirndar r›uneytis. Hann var náliga .xi.
vetra er hann kom í land. Hann átti ﬂing í Ni›arósi, okreisti me› freku sakargift vi› ﬁrœndi alla, ok stungu allir
nefi í skinnfeld ok veittu allir ﬂƒgn, en engi andsvƒr. Stó›
upp ﬂá ma›r, Atli at nafni, ok mælti eigi fleiri or› en
ﬂessur: ‘Svá skorpnar skór at fœti mér at ek má eigi ór sta›komask.’ En Sigvatr kva› ﬂar ﬂegar vísu ﬂessa:
4. Hætt er ﬂat er allir ætla,á›r skal vi› ﬂví rá›a,hárir menn er ek heyri,hót, skjƒldungi á móti.
Gneyftb er ﬂat, er hƒf›um hniftac
heldr ok ni›r í feldi,a sinnar sakar] MS sacar sinar, but with superscript letters to indicate inversion.
b gneyft] frequently emended to greypt.
c hnifta] MS hniftir; frequently emended to hneppta.

History of the kings of Norway

47

XXXIV. When God began to provide miraculous proof ofSt Óláfr,100 the most important men decided to go abroad
and fetch Magnús, St Óláfr’s son, for men had realised their
mistake and had repented and wished to make up to Óláfr’s
son the offence that they had caused Óláfr himself to suffer.
They went to Russia to King Yaroslav, bearing the message of all the most important men and their request that
he return to Norway. The leading men on this expedition
were Jarl Rƒgnvaldr, Einarr ﬂambarskelmir, Sveinn bryggjufótr and Kálfr Árnason. But their request was neither heard
nor granted until they had pledged Magnús both the country
and their loyalty, because Queen Ingiger›r was opposed.
XXXV. He returned to Norway four years after the deathof his father King Óláfr, and Sveinn and Ælfgyfu, knowing of his favour with the people and of their own unpopularity, fled to Denmark. And Magnús took the kingdom
with the good will of the people in the end, though in the
beginning he was the cause of many grievances, for because of his youth and the ambition of his advisers hebegan his rule harshly.101 He was nearly eleven years oldwhen he came to the country.
He held assembly in Ni›aróss and began by acrimoniously making accusations against all the ﬁrœndir, and they
all stuck their noses in their cloaks, and were silent andgave no answer. Then a man named Atli stood up and said
no more words than these: ‘So shrinks the shoe on my footthat I cannot move.’
Sighvatr spoke this verse then and there:
4. Dangerous is the threat—this must first be dealt with—when all the elders, as I hear,
would rise against their king.
It is dangerous too
when the assembled men bow their heads

48Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

slegit hefir ﬂƒgn á ﬂegna,
ﬂingmenn nƒsum stinga.
Ok raufsk ﬂing ﬂat me› <ﬂeima> hætti at konungr ba› alla
menn finnask ﬂar um morgininn. Ok fannsk ﬂá í hansor›um at gu› haf›i skipt skapi hans, ok var ﬂá freka snúin
til miskunnar. Hét ƒllum mƒnnum gœzku ok efndi sem
hann hét, e›a betr, ok afla›isk hónum af ﬂví vinsæl<d>mikil, ok nafn ﬂat at hann var kalla›r Mƒgnús gó›i.
XXXVI. <E>n ﬂá er hann haf›i nƒkkvura vetr landi st‡rt,lƒgum skipat, ok ƒllum gó›um si›um ok kristni styrkt, ﬂá
minntisk hann á rƒngyndi ﬂau er vi› fƒ›ur hans hƒf›u verit
gƒr, ok helt her til Danmarkar, er allir vru fullfúsir fyrir
hefnda sakar. En ﬂá var Sveinn frá fallinn í Danmƒrku ok
svá Knútr fa›ir hans í Englandi, ok ré› ﬂá fyrir Danmƒrku
bró›ir Sveins, Hƒr›a-Knútr at nafni,a ok helt her á móti
Magnúsi ok fundusk í Brenneyjum. Fóru vitrir menn áme›al ok mæltu til sættar, ok ger›u me› ﬂeima hætti atme› ﬂví at Knúti ﬂótti sem hann ætti rétt tilmæli til Nóregs,ﬂá haf›i fa›ir hans aflat ok bró›ir hans at setit—Mƒgnúsiﬂótti ok illt misheldi ﬂat er fa›ir hans haf›i haft af Knúti,
svikb ok lands flótta ok lífs aftak—ﬂá sløru ﬂeir ﬂó máli íﬂá sætt at sá ﬂeira er lengr lif›i skyldi taka vi› b›um
landum, ok hvárr sínu ríki rá›a me›an bá›ir lif›i ﬂeir, ok
settu gísla, ok anda›isk Knútr fyrri, en Mƒgnús tók ﬂá vi›Danmƒrk fyr útan gagnmæli, ﬂvíat synir bƒztu mannavru í gíslinginni.
XXXVII. <E>n ﬂá er Sveinn, sunr Úlfs ok Ástrí›ar, systur
Knúts ríkja, spur›i ﬂetta í England, ﬂá afla›i hann alla
vega hers er hann mátti. En Mƒgnús <fór> at móti ok
funnusk á skipum vi› nes ﬂat er kallat er Helganes ok
a written nafNi (cf. note b, p. 8 above).
b MS svit.

History of the kings of Norway

49

and stick their noses in their cloaks;
the thanes are struck silent.102
And the assembly broke up with the king’s request that
all meet there the following morning. And then it could beheard from his words that God had changed his dispositionand his acrimony was turned then to mercy. He promised
all men kindness and kept what he had promised, or better,and as a result gained great popularity and the name bywhich he was called: Magnús gó›i.
XXXVI. After he had ruled the country for several years,
established laws and good customs and strengthened Christianity, he remembered the injustices that had been done
his father and went with an army to Denmark. They were
all eager to go for the sake of revenge.
But in Denmark Sveinn had died and so had his father
Knútr in England, and Denmark was then ruled by Sveinn’s
brother, who was called Hƒr›a-Knútr,103 and he led anarmy against Magnús and they met at Brenneyjar. Wise
men acted as intermediaries and an agreement was proposed and made in such a way that since Hƒr›a-Knútr
thought that he had rightful claim to Norway because hisfather had won it and his brother had ruled it—and Magnús
thought too that his father had suffered great wrong at thehands of Knútr, betrayal, exile, death—this agreement wasreached: the one who lived the longer was to rule bothcountries, but each would rule his own kingdom whileboth lived.104 Then hostages were exchanged. Knútr diedfirst,105 and Magnús then took Denmark without opposition, because the sons of the most important men were
held hostage.
XXXVII. When Sveinn, son of Úlfr and Knútr ríki’s sisterÁstrí›r,106 heard news of this in England, he gathered
forces together from wherever he could. Magnús cameagainst him and they met with their ships off the peninsula50Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

heldu bardaga, ok fl‡›i Sveinn til Vinnlands ok efldi ﬂa›an
her annat sinni, hva›an ok er hann mátti fá, ok helt ﬂeim
her til Danmarkar, svát Mƒgnús haf›i skƒmmu á›r vitor›af, ok fyrir ﬂví lítinn vi›búna›, ok ótta›isk af li›leysi, ok
bjósk ﬂó sem hann mátti til vi›rtƒku.
XXXVIII. <E>n of nóttina er hann skyldi berjask of morguninn,
ok hónum var ótti mikill á rá›i sínu, ﬂá birtisk hónum fa›irhans í draumi, ok ba› hann ekki óttask, sag›i hónum athann skyldi sigr vinna, ok svá gafsk. Mœttusk ﬂeir um
morguninn á hei›i ﬂeiri er Hl‡rskógshei›r heitir, er liggrvi› Skotborgar, ok skipa›i Mƒgnús svá li›i sínu í fylkingar,
sem inn helgi Óláfr haf›i á›r í draumi kennt hónum, ok á
ﬂeiri tí› gekk hann at berjask er hann haf›i á›r sagt hónumof nóttina. ﬁat var ﬂá er sól var í landsu›ri, ok kom fylking
hans á arm fylkingu Sveins, ok snørisk hón ƒll fyrir, ok
fekk Sveinn af mƒrgu ﬂví mikinn ska›a er hann haf›i á›rtil sigrs ætlat, ﬂvíat hann haf›i øxnuma skipat í odd á li›isínu, ok bundit spjót á bak, en fjalar fyr augu. En nautinsnørusk fyrst á frá, ok veik svá til at Sveinn var netja›r
me›al nautaflokksins ok flokks Mƒgnúss, ok fekk inn
mesta Sveinnb mannska›a, en hann freltiskc me› flótta, ok
rak Mƒgnús lengi me› annan mann Svein ok flokk hans.
En ﬂat var or›lag Sveins sagt ok hans manna at ef allir
ber›isk svá sem sá enn frí›i ma›r enn ungi í silkiskyrtunni,ﬂá hef›i ekki barn undan komizk, en ﬂat var konungrinnsjálfr, ok vendi aftr sí›an til hers síns, ok ur›u allir hónum
fegnir. En á›r hƒf›u ﬂeir óttazk fall hans, er hann dval›isk
svá lengi at reka flokkinn me› eins manns hjlp. En Sveinn
sótti sér fri›land. Mƒgnús konungr sitr nú í Danmƒrku
me› kyrr› ok me› fullum fri›i.
a written voxnom; presumably an error.
b inn mesta Sveinn] the word-order Sveinn inn mesta would be more natural.
c i. e. frelstisk (cf. p. 66, three lines up).

History of the kings of Norway

51

called Helganes and there fought.107 Sveinn fled to Wendland
and there gathered an army a second time, also from wherever
he could. He brought this army to Denmark in such a waythat Magnús remained unaware of his coming until shortly
beforehand and had therefore made little preparation and
was afraid that his men would be too few. He neverthelessprepared as best he could for defence.
XXXVIII. During the night before the morning he was tofight, as he was greatly apprehensive about his situation, hisfather appeared to him in a dream and told him not to fear andtold him that he would gain victory, and so it came to pass.
They met that morning on the heath called Hl‡rskógshei›r,which lies near Skotborgará,108 and Magnús arrayed hisforces in detachments as St Óláfr had instructed him in the
dream and went into battle at the time Óláfr had told him
to during the night. That was when the sun was in thesoutheast, and his forces came upon one wing of Sveinn’sarmy, who all turned, and Sveinn was harmed greatly bymany of the things that he had intended to bring him
victory, because he had had oxen placed at the front of hisranks, with spears tied to their backs and wooden boards
before their eyes, but the cattle turned back and so it
happened that Sveinn was trapped between the herd ofcattle and Magnús’s troops. Sveinn suffered the greater
losses and escaped through flight, and Magnús and one
other man pursued Sveinn and his forces for a long time.
Sveinn and his men said that if all had fought as had thehandsome young man in the silken shirt, then not a childwould have got away—and that man was the king himself.
Magnús then turned back to his men and all were relievedto see him. Earlier they had feared that he had been killed,when he had been so long in pursuing Sveinn’s army with thehelp of only one man. Sveinn sought asylum. King Magnús
now ruled Denmark in peace and complete tranquillity.

52Ágrip af NóregskonungasƒgumXXXIX. <E>n nú er á stundina lí›r, ﬂá sœkir Haraldr,
bró›ir ens helga Óláfs, heim ór Gar›i um Austrveg ákaupskipi, vel búinn at fé ok at gørsimum, ok lendi at íDanmƒrk, ﬂar er konungrinn Mƒgnús vissi hvárki til hansné til skips hans, ok háttar svá at hann kom ﬂar í nnd sem
konungrinn var, ok kom ﬂeim rá›gjafa konungs Mƒgnúss
á funda vi› sik er Úlfr hét stalleri, ok tala›i vi› hann mál
Haralds sem hann væri sendima›r Haralds, en eigi sjálfr
Haraldr. Ba› hann sí›an at Úlfr skyldi frétta konunginn
Mƒgnús hvessu hann myndi taka vi› fƒ›urbrœ›r sínum ef
hann sœtti í land aftr; kva› ver›leika mikinn á vera at velværi vi› hónum tekit. ‘Tel ek til ﬂess,’ kva› hann, ‘skyldu
ﬂeira ok fylg› ﬂá er hann haf›i veitt enum helga Óláfi,brœ›r sínum ok fƒ›ur Mƒgnúss,’ kva› ok Harald vera
vizkanb mann ok styrkjan, ok mƒrg ok mikil stórvirki hafa
dr‡gt útan lands, ma›r ok nú vel at fé búinn ok at gersimum,
ok af ƒllu ﬂessu mega hann mikinn styrk veita frænda
sínum, ok mega standa ok til mikils vanda ef hans vi›rtakaværi eigi me› veg. En Úlfr tók gla›liga vi› ﬂessu ørendi.
Konungrinn Mƒgnús tók ok gla›liga undir, kva› sik af
ƒllum gó›um drengjum er hann haf›i me› sér vætta mikils
styr<k>s ok gó›s r›uneytis, en myklu mest ﬂar sem fƒ›urbró›ir
hans var. En eftir ﬂessur ansvƒr konungs sœkir Haraldr til
skips, en ﬂví næst á fund frænda síns, ok kenndi Úlfr ﬂann
enn mikla mann ok inn listuliga ﬂá vera Harald er á›r haf›ikallaz<k> sendima›r Haralds. Var hér nú sí›an mikill fagna›arfundr frænda, ok tekr Haraldr vi› hlfum Nóregi, ok tilsœkir sem bæ›i leiddi hann til ætterni ok svá gó› gjƒf gó›skonungs, ﬂvíat Haraldr var sunr Sigur›ar s‡rar, en Sigur›r
sunr Hálfdanar—er sumir kƒllu›u heikilnef, en sumir hvítbein—en Hálfdan sunr Sygur›arc hrísa, er var sunr Haralds hárfagra.
a first written fundi, but i erased.
b apparently first written uitran, but ‘corrected’ by changing r to ﬂ and adding c
above the line (uitﬂcan).
c written sugurﬂar; Syg- for Sig- in personal names was particularly common in
Norway (cf. Noreen 1923, § 77.5 a Anm. 3 ).

History of the kings of Norway

53

XXXIX. But as time went on, Haraldr, brother of St Óláfr,
returned home from Mikligar›r through Russia on a merchant ship, well provided with treasure and goods,109 andhe landed in Denmark at a place where King Magnús knew
nothing of him or of his ship. And so it happened that hecame near to where the king was and got one of King
Magnús’s advisers, whose name was Úlfr stalleri,110 tomeet with him, and he discussed with him Haraldr’s situation, as though he were Haraldr’s messenger rather thanHaraldr himself. He then asked Úlfr to enquire as to how
King Magnús might receive his father’s brother if he wereto return to the country and said that he very much deserved to be well received. ‘The reason for this,’ he said,‘as I see it, is that they are kinsmen and because of the
support he gave St Óláfr, his brother and Magnús’s father.’He also said Haraldr was a wise and powerful man who
had done many great deeds abroad, a man now also wellprovided with money and treasure, and through this hecould give his nephew much support. But if he were notreceived with honour, great ill could come of it.
Úlfr undertook this errand gladly and King Magnús
responded favourably and said that he expected muchsupport and good counsel from all the good men he hadwith him, but especially from his uncle.
After the king’s answer, Haraldr returned to his ship andproceeded then to meet his nephew. Then Úlfr realised thatthe great and handsome man who had earlier called himself
Haraldr’s messenger was Haraldr himself. It was then a very
joyful meeting for the kinsmen,111 and Haraldr accepted halfof Norway and took it as he had right to, both by descent andbecause of the good king’s good gift, because Haraldr was
the son of Sigur›r s‡r and Sigur›r son of Hálfdan, whomsome called heikilnef 112 and others hvítbeinn, and Hálfdan
the son of Sigur›r hrísi, who was the son of Haraldr hárfagri.

54Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

XL. <E>n Mƒgnús ré› sí›an Danmƒrk ok hlfum Nóregi
me› kyrr› ok me›a ró fyrir útan allt ákall me›an hannlif›i, ok ré› alls hvrutveggja ríkinu .xiij. vetr me› ﬂeim
sex er hann haf›i Danmƒrk, ok fekk sótt á Sjólandi okanda›isk ﬂar vetri sí›arr en Haraldr kœmi í land, fƒ›urbró›ir
hans. ﬁá haf›i hann náliga .iiij. vetr ok .xx.b En lík hansvar fœrt nor›r í ﬁrndheim ok ni›<r> settc í Kristskirkju,
ﬂar sem fa›ir hans hvílir. Ok var ﬂetta h<v>rutveggja landinu
mikill harmdau›i, ﬂvíat engi lif›i afspringr eftir hann nemaein dóttir, er hann fell í frá á ungum aldri. En í sótt sinni
ger›i hann ﬁóri, bró›ur sinn sammœ›ra, til Sveins Úlfssunarme› ﬂeim hætti at hann sag›i hónum eigi andlát hans,sag›i heldr svá at hann haf›i hónum gefit upp ríkit. En
Sveinn ﬂóttisk ﬂó vita andlát hans ok tók me› blí›u vi›
mikilli gjƒf ok sótti til ok lét standa alla ﬂá skipan er hann
haf›i skipat í ríkinu, ok svá gjafar bæ›i vi› ﬁóri bró›urhans ok svá vi› alla a›ra.
XLI. <E>n Haraldr konungr tekrd nú einn vi›e ƒllum Nóregi
ok st‡r›i me› her›u mikilli ok ﬂó me› gó›um fri›i, ok var
eigi sá annarr konungr er ƒllum mƒnnum stœ›i agi jammikill
af fyr vizku sakir ok [oooooo] atgervi. En Haraldr kvánga›isk
brátt er hann kom í land, ok tók bró›urdóttur manns ﬂess
er Fi›r hét, er bjó austr á Ranríki, kynstórr ma›r ok at au›vel búinn, ok veitti hann mági sínum, Haraldr konungr,fveizlur miklar, ok ger›isk svá til enn sí›an at hann vildi
ﬂær rjúfa, ok ger›isk af ﬂví misdeild me› ﬂeim, ok sóttiFi›rg ór landi me› frændagengi sitt, ok sótti til Sveins
konungs í Danmƒrku me› .vij. langskipum ok ﬂá af hónum
jarls nafn, vísa›i heim ﬂeim sem fylgt hƒf›u hónum, vildi
a added above the line.
b following this the words at aldri have been partially erased and En written in the space.
c ni›r sett] written niﬂ setr, but with the r partially erased, suggesting the scribe may simply
have put it in the wrong place (cf. p. 64, line 5 ) ; alternatively, ni› might be a variant form.
d following this is written einn, partially erased.
e MS uil.
f Haraldr konungr] MS haraldi konungi.
–, i. e. sí›an, or, more likely, sí›ar.
g reading uncertain; either fiﬂ or ˙iﬂHistory of the kings of Norway

55

XL. Thereafter Magnús ruled Denmark and half of Norway in peace and tranquillity without further claims for as
long as he lived. He ruled both kingdoms thirteen wintersin all, including the six he ruled Denmark, and he fell ill
in Sjóland and died there a year after his uncle Haraldr’s
return.113 He was then nearly twenty-four years old. His
body was moved north to ﬁrándheimr and buried in
Kristskirkja, where his father rests.114 His death was muchlamented in both countries, for no offspring survived him
but for one daughter,115 dying as he did at this early age.
But while he had lain ill, he had sent his half-brotherﬁórir to Sveinn Úlfsson; ﬁórir was not to tell Sveinn that
King Magnús had died, but rather that he had given him
the kingdom. But Sveinn realised that Magnús had diedand accepted the great gift joyfully. He took the kingdom
and allowed to stand all the arrangements Magnús had
made in the kingdom, and also the gifts to his brother ﬁórirand to everyone else.
XLI. King Haraldr now took sole rule over all Norway andruled with great severity, yet peacefully. There was notanother king who, because of his wisdom and his accomplishments, inspired as much awe in all his people.
Soon after coming to Norway, Haraldr married theniece of a man named Finnr, a man of good family andgreat wealth who lived to the east in Ranríki.116 King
Haraldr granted his wife’s uncle great revenues, but later
it happened that he wished to put a stop to these and they
quarrelled as a result.117 Finnr thereafter left the country
with his kinsfolk and went to King Sveinn in Denmarkwith seven longships and received from him the title ofjarl. He sent home those who had accompanied him, for hedid not wish that they should lose their property or theirwives or children. He and Sveinn gathered together forces56Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

eigi at ﬂeir léti eignir sínar, svági konur e›a bƒrn. En
Sveinn ok hann drógu sveit saman ok fóru me› her í
Nóreg, ok Haraldr konungr at móti, ok mœttusk vi› Nizi
í Danmƒrk á Hallandi, ok lá Haraldr vi› ey ﬂá er inn er vi›
meginland, ok hug›usk ﬂeir Sveinn at sitja hónum vatn,
ﬂvíat eigi vissu menn vatn í eynni. En Haraldr konungr lét
leita ef ormr kvikr fyndisk í eynni, ok hann fannsk ok varmœddr sí›an vi› eld at rá›i konungs, at hann skyldi ﬂyrsta
sem mest. Var sí›an ﬂr›r bundinn vi› spor›inn ok hannlauss látinn. Sótti hann ﬂegar til vats at drekka ok var svá
vatn fundit. En ﬂá er Haraldr ﬂóttisk vi›r búinn, ﬂá lag›ihann til bardaga ﬂegar li› hans var komit, ﬂat er hann lá ábi›, ok var Sveinn sigra›r me› miklu mannspelli, ok fl‡›iundan me› fámenni. En Fi›r var› hantekinn ok fri›r gefinn,
ok fluttisk heim me› Haraldi til eigna sinna.
XLII. <E>n ﬂá er Haraldr haf›i .xix. vetr rá›it fyrir Nóregi
ƒllum síz Mƒgnús fell í frá, ﬂá kømr ma›r af Englandi,
Tósti at nafni. Hann var jarl ok bró›ir Haralds Go›inasonar,
ﬂess er ﬂá ré› fyr Englandi, ok jamborinn til lands vi›
Harald, ok ﬂó ƒllu svip›r, ok beiddisk li›veizlu af Haraldi
ok hét hónum hlfu Englandi ef ﬂeir fengi unnit. Ok Haraldr
helt ﬂangat her me› hónum, ok unnu ﬂeir allt Nor›imbraland.
En Englands konungr var ﬂá í Normandie, ok ﬂegar er
hann spyrr, ﬂá skundar hann aftr me› her, ok kom ﬂá svá
á óvart at li› ﬂeira var flest á skipum, en ﬂeir vpnlausir
náliga er uppi vru, fyr útan hƒggvpn ok hlíf›arvpn. ﬁásnørusk ﬂeir í eina fylking allir, ok bjoggusk vi›, en
konungrinn sjálfr sat á hesti ok rei› me›an hann fylk›ili›inu, en hestrinn fell undir hónum ok varp hónum af
baki. En konungrinn mælti er hann stó› upp: ‘Sjaldan fór
svá, ﬂá er vel vildi,’ kva› hann, ok svá var ok sem konungrinn

History of the kings of Norway

57

and went with an army to Norway. King Haraldr cameagainst them and they met by the Niz in Halland in Denmark.118 Haraldr lay by an island near to the mainland.
Sveinn and Finnr thought to cut him off from fresh water,
because no one thought there was water on the island. King
Haraldr had men search for a live snake on the island. One
was found and, following the king’s direction, then exhausted
by a fire so that it should get as thirsty as possible.119 They
then tied a string to its tail and set it free. It immediatelysought drinking water and in this way water was found.
When Haraldr felt himself prepared and the men forwhom he had been waiting arrived, he went into battle.
Sveinn was defeated and suffered great losses and fledwith a few men. But Finnr was captured and pardoned andreturned home with Haraldr to his estates.
XLII. When Haraldr had ruled all Norway for nineteen
years after the death of Magnús, a man came from England
named Tostig.120 He was a jarl and the brother of Harold
Godwineson, who then ruled in England, and though hisright of birth was equal to Harold’s he was deprived ofeverything. He asked support of Haraldr and promised him
half of England if they should win it. Haraldr took hisarmy there with Tostig and they won all of Northumbria.
The king of England was then in Normandy, but assoon as he heard news of this he hurried back with an army
and came so unexpectedly upon them that most of their
troops were on board their ships, and those on land nearly
unarmed but for striking weapons and weapons of defence. They all came together in one formation and madeready. Haraldr of Norway was on horseback and rode as hearrayed his troops. The horse stumbled and threw him off.
The king said as he stood up: ‘Seldom has it gone thus
when fate was favourable.’121 And it happened as the king58Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

sag›i, at hann var› eigi ljúgspár, fyrir ﬂví at í ﬂeim bardaga
enum sama of daginn fella bæ›i Haraldr konungr ok Tósti
jarl ok mikit li› me› ﬂeim, en ﬂat fl‡›i til skipa er undankom. Var foringi fyrir li›i ﬂví Óláfr, sunr Haralds, ennvænsti ma›r,b náliga .xx., er búandi var kalla›r fyr spek›arsakar ok hógværis. En hann beiddisk [oooo]c gri›a af Haraldi
ok svá líkama fƒ›ur síns, ok ﬂá hvárt tveggja, fluttisk
sí›an [me› Pli jarli]d í Orkneyjar, en um várit eftir til
Nóregs ok jar›a›i [lík hans]e í Máríukirkju í Ni›arósi—en
nú liggr hann á Elgjusetri—ﬂvíat ﬂat ﬂótti fallit at hannfylg›i kirkju ﬂeiri er hann haf›i látit gera, en Eysteinn
erkibyskup lét ﬂangat fara hreinlífismƒnnum undir hendr,
ok auka›i me› ﬂví ﬂá eign a›ra er hann sjálfr haf›i ﬂangat
gefit.
XLIII. En ﬂá .xij. mána›r er Haraldr var vestr ok ﬂeir
fe›gar, ﬂá ré› sunr hans fyrir Nóregi me›an, sá <er> Mƒgnús
hét, enn frí›asti ma›r, ok skipta ﬂeir brœ›r ok Óláfr nú ríki
sín á mi›al. En vnu skjótara,f .ij. vetrum sí›arr, fellMƒgnús á frá ok átti son eftir, ﬂann er Hkon hét, ok var
sá fenginn Steigar-ﬁóri til fóstrs. En Óláfr ré› einn fyr
Nóregi .iiij. vetr ok .xx. sí›an, ok var um enkis konungsævi eftir Harald hárfagra Nóregr í slíkri farsælu sem umhans daga, ok skipa›i hann mƒrgum ﬂeim mlum til væg›arer Haraldr haf›i me› freku reist ok haldit. Hann var mildr
af gulli ok af silfri ok gó›um gripum ok gersimum, en
fastaldrg á jƒr›um. Olli vit hans ﬂví ok hitt, at hann sá atkonungdóminum gegndi, ok eru mƒrg hans verk gó› at inna.

a following this word there is a space, large enough for four or five letters.
b something intended to follow this word is written in the margin; it cannot now be
made out, but Storm was in his time able to read er var at aldri (Ágrip 1880, 117).
c here four or five letters have been erased; Dahlerup (Ágrip 1880, 117) suggests oc
fec.
d sí›an . . . jarli] there appears to have been an attempt made to erase these words.

History of the kings of Norway

59

had said, and his prophecy was not false, for that day inthat same battle both he and Jarl Tostig fell and many withthem. Those who escaped fled to the ships. The leader ofthis group was Óláfr, Haraldr’s son, a fine man, nearlytwenty years old. He was called ‘búandi’ because he wasquiet and gentle.122 He asked quarter of Harold and also
for the body of his father and was granted both. He thenwent to Orkney with Jarl Páll and the following spring
to Norway. He buried Haraldr’s body in Maríukirkja inNi›aróss—he now lies at Elgjusetr—because it was thought
fitting that he remain with the church that he himself
had had built. Archbishop Eysteinn had him moved there
into the care of the monks and thus added to the otherpossessions he had himself given them.123
XLIII. The twelve months Haraldr and Óláfr were in thewest, Haraldr’s son, the one named Magnús, ruled Norway, a most handsome man, and he and his brother Óláfr
now divided the kingdom between them. But, sooner than
expected, two years later, Magnús died, leaving a son
named Hákon, who was then fostered by Steigar-ﬁórir.
Thereafter Óláfr ruled Norway alone for twenty-four years,
and during no king’s lifetime since Haraldr hárfagri had
Norway seen such prosperity as in his day. He mitigatedmuch which Haraldr har›rá›i had harshly begun and kept
up. He was open-handed with gold and silver, valuables
and treasures, but tight-fisted with land. The reason forthis was his good sense and also that he saw that thiswould benefit his kingdom. And there are many of his
good deeds to be related.

e lík hans] added above the line; now all but unreadable.
f corrected by the scribe from sciotare, a Norwegianism (see Noreen 1923, § 442.1),
which Seip (1955, 133 ) assumes derives from the exemplar.
g i. e. fasthaldr.

60Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

XLIV. <H>ann ger›i upp steinkirkju at byskupsstólinum íNi›arósi yfir líkam ens helga Óláfs frænda síns, ok bjó
hana til lyk›a. Ok hver hans gœzka hafi veri› ok ástsem›vi› l‡›inn, ﬂá má skilja af or›um ﬂeim er hann mælti dagnƒkkurn í Miklagildi. Var hann kátr ok í skapi gó›u, okger›usk ﬂeir til er ﬂetta mæltu: ‘Hérnú, fƒgnu›r er oss á,konungr, attu ert svá kátr.’ En hann svara›i: ‘Hví,’ kva›
hann, ‘skal ek nú eigi vera kátr, er ek sé bæ›i á l‡› mínumkæti ok frelsi, ok sit ek í samkundu ﬂeiri er helgu› erhelgum fƒ›urbró›ur mínum. Um daga fƒ›ur míns ﬂá varl‡›r undir aga miklum ok ótta, ok flu flestir menn gull sittok gersimar, en ek sé nú at á hverjum skínn er á, ok er ﬂeira
frelsi mín gle›i.’ Var ok svá gótt um hans daga at fyr útanorrostu ﬂá fri›a›i hann fyrir sér ok fyrir l‡› sínum útanlands, ok stó› hans næstu nágrƒnnum ﬂó ógn af hónum, at
hann væri hœgr ok hógværr, sem skáldit segr:a
5. Var›i ógnar or›umÓláfr ok fri›mlumjƒr› svá at engi ﬂor›iallvalda til kalla.
XLV. <E>n ﬂá er hann haf›i rá›it Nóregi .vij. vetr ok .xx.
me› ﬂeim enum fyrstab er hann var vestr eftir fall Haralds,
er Mƒgnús bró›ir hans var í Nóregi, ﬂá s‡k›isk hann á bœ
ﬂeim er heitir Haukbœr, austr á Ranríki, ﬂar sem hann tók
veizlu, ok anda›isk ﬂar, ok var líkamr hans fluttr nor›r íNi›arós ok var jar›a›rc í kirkju ﬂeiri er hann haf›i látit gera.
XLVI.<E>n hér eftir stígr Mƒgnús berleggr,d sunr hans, tilríkis. Hann var ﬂá náliga tvítugr er hann tók konungs nafn
eftir fƒ›ur sinne—ok Hkon frændi hans annarr, er Steigarﬁórir haf›i at fœ›a sem sag›i fyrr; hann var vel hálfﬂrítøgr
a apparently written sego.

b MS frysta.

c written iarﬂar, possibly only a slip, but on the loss of /›/ before another consonant

see Seip 1955, 157–60.
d báin or béin, i. e. berbeinn, is written above Mƒgnús, apparently in a younger hand.
e Hann . . . sinn] written over an erasure.

History of the kings of Norway

61

XLIV. At the bishop’s seat in Ni›aróss he erected a stone
church over the body of his uncle St Óláfr and saw to its
completion.124 And how great his kindness and love for his
people were can be seen from the words he spoke one day
at Miklagildi.125 He was merry and in excellent humour,and some ventured to say: ‘See now, it is pleasing to us,
King, that you are so merry.’ And he answered: ‘Why
should I not be merry when I see my people both happy
and free, and I sit here at this feast in honour of my saintly
uncle? In my father’s day men lived in great awe and fear,
and most hid their gold and treasures, but now I see that on
every man shine his possessions. Their freedom is myjoy.’
It was so good during his days that he made peaceabroad without battle, both for himself and for his people.
And even though he was quiet and gentle, his nearest
neighbours stood in fear of him, as the poet says:
5. Through threatening words
and peace-speechesÓláfr defended his country
so that no king dared claim it.126
XLV. When he had ruled Norway for twenty-seven years,
including the year he was in the west after the death ofHaraldr and his brother Magnús was in Norway, he wastaken ill at the farm called Haukbœr, eastward in Ranríki,
where he was being feasted. He died there and his bodywas taken north to Ni›aróss and there buried in the church
he had had built.
XLVI. Thereafter his son Magnús berleggr took the kingdom.127 He was nearly twenty when he took the kingly
title after his father—along with his cousin Hákon, who
had been fostered by Steigar-ﬁórir, as was said before; he62Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

ﬂá—ok vru einn vetr bá›ir ok ﬂann í Ni›arósi, ok varMƒgnús í konungs gar›i en Hkon í Skúlagar›i ni›r frá
Klémetskirkju, ok helt svá jólavist. ﬁá nam Hkon af
jólagjafar ok skyldir allar ok landaura gjald vi› ﬁrœndi okvi› Upplendinga alla ﬂá er vi› hónum tóku, ok bœtti ﬂarí mót mƒrgu ƒ›ru rétt landsmanna. En ﬂá tók fyr ﬂessa sƒk
hugr Mƒgnúss at óróask, er hann ﬂóttisk hafa minna af
landi ok lands skƒttum en fa›ir hans haf›i haft e›a fƒ›urbró›ire›a forellar.a ﬁótti hónum sinn hlutr eigi sí›r upp gefinn í
ﬂessi gjƒf ﬂeim til sœm›ar en Hkonar, ﬂóttisk í ﬂví óvir›rok mishaldinn af frænda sínum ok r›um ﬂeira ﬁóris beggja.
Var› ﬂeim ok á ﬂví mikill uggr, hversu Magnúsi myndi
líka, fyr ﬂví at hann helt allan vetrinn .vij. langskipum í
opinni vƒk í Kaupangi. En um várit náliga kyndilmessu ﬂálag›i hann braut á náttarﬂeli ok tjƒldu›um skipum ok ljós
undir, ok lag›i til Hefringar, bjó ﬂar of nóttina, ok ger›ielda stóra á landi uppi. En ﬂá hug›i Hkon ok li› ﬂat er íbœnum var at ﬂat væri gƒrt til svika, ok lét blása li›i út, ok
sótti allr Kaupangrs l‡›r til, ok vru í samna›ib of nóttina.
En um morguninn er l‡sti, er Mƒgnús sá allsherjar li› á
Eyrunum, ﬂá helt hann út ór fir›inum ok svá su›r íGolaﬂingslƒg.
XLVII. <E>n Hkon byrja›i fer› sína í Vík austr, ok helt
mót í Kaupangi á›r ok sat á hesti ok hét ƒllum mƒnnum
vingan ok svá ba›, kva› sér vera skugga á vilja frænda
síns. Ok allir menn hétu hónum vingan me› gó›um vilja
ok fylg› ef ﬂyrfti. Ok fylg›i hónum l‡›r allr undir Steinbjƒrg
út, en hann fluttisk ﬂá til fjalls upp ok fór dag einn eftir
rjúpu einni er flaug undan hónum er hann rei›. ﬁá var›a more normally forellrar (cf. p. 20 above), but cf. forella(r), pp. 66 and 74 below (seealso Seip 1955, 279 ).
b written sampnaﬂe.

History of the kings of Norway

63

was then in his late twenties—and both ruled one winterand spent it in Ni›aróss, Magnús in the king’s residence
and Hákon in Skúlagar›r,128 down from Klémetskirkja,129
and there he celebrated the Christmas feast. Hákon abolished all Christmas dues, duties and land taxes for thoseﬁrœndir and Upplendingar who acknowledged him as king,and in return for this he enhanced the people’s rights inmany other ways. Magnús became uneasy at this, because
he felt the income from his lands and taxes to be less thanthat of his father, his uncle and his forebears. He felt thatwhat was rightfully his, no less than Hákon’s own, hadbeen given up to the honour of the ﬁrœndir and Upplendingar.
He felt dishonoured and wronged by his cousin and by his
and ﬁórir’s schemes.
They greatly feared Magnús’s response to these measures, because the whole winter he kept seven longships at
an opening in the ice at Kaupangr. But that spring, near
Candlemas, he left during the night with the ships tented
and with lights under the tents and made for Hefring.130 He
stayed there the night and built huge fires ashore. Hákon
and the men who were in the town suspected treachery andcalled together an army, and all the townsmen gathered
together and remained in readiness throughout the night.
But in the morning when it got light and Magnús saw the
public troops on Eyrar, he sailed out of the fjord and south
to Gulaﬂingslƒg.
XLVII. Hákon held a meeting in Kaupangr before undertaking the journey eastward to Vík. He sat on horseback
and promised every man friendship and asked the same inreturn and said he was unsure of his cousin’s intentions.
All willingly promised him friendship and, if necessary,
support. All the people accompanied him up to Steinbjƒrg.
He then went onto the mountain.131 One day he followeda ptarmigan which flew away from him as he rode. And he64Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

hann sjúkr ok fekk banasótt ok anda›isk ﬂar á fjallinu, okkvmu á hálfs mána›ar fresti aftr tí›indin til Kaupangs.
Ok menn skyldu ganga í móti líki hans, ok gekk allr l‡›r
á móti ok flestr allr grátandi, ﬂvíat allir menn unnu hónum
hugstum, en lík hans var ni›r sett í Kristskirkju.
XLVIII. <E>n eftir fráfall Hkonar ﬂá mátti ﬁórir eigi
víkva skapi sínu til Mƒgnúss, er ﬂá tók vi› ríki, ok reisti
upp mann ﬂann er Sveinn var kalla›r, sunr Haralds flettis,
fyr ofmetna›ar sakar, ok efldusk af Upplƒndum ok kvmuni›r í Raumsdali ok á Sunnmœri, ok ƒflu›u ﬂar skipa ok
heldu nor›r í ﬁrndheim sí›an. En ﬂá er Sigur›r ullstrengr
spur›i ok margir a›rir konungs vinir ﬂessa uppreist Steigarﬁóris ok fjándskap, ﬂá sƒfnu›u ﬂeir me› ƒrvarskur› ƒlluli›i í móti ﬁóri er ﬂeir mttu, ok stefndu ﬂví li›i til Viggjar.
En Sveinn ok ﬁórir heldu ﬂangat li›i sínu, ok bƒr›usk vi›
ﬂá Sigur› ok n›u uppgƒngu ok ur›u øfri ok veittu mikit
mannspell. En Sigur›r fl‡›i á fund konungs Mƒgnúss, er
ﬂeir fluttusk til Kaupangs, ok hvarfu›u í fir›inum ﬂeirﬁórir eftir. En ﬂá er ﬂeir ﬁórir vru búnir ór fir›inum oklagt skipum sínum í Hefring,a ﬂá kom Mƒgnús konungrútan í fjƒr›inn. En ﬂeir ﬁórir lƒg›u skipum sínum yfir áVagnvíkastrƒnd, ok fl‡›u af skipum ok kvmu ni›r í dal
ﬂeim er heitir ﬁexdalr í Seljuhverfi, ok var ﬁórir borinn íbƒrum yfir fjallit. Sƒfnu›ub skipum sí›an ok fluttusk áHlogaland, en konungrinn Mƒgnús eftir ﬂeim, ok sá hvárr
flokkrinn annan á fir›i ﬂeim er Harmr heitir. Lƒg›u hinirsí›an til Hesjutúna. ﬁeir ﬁórir hug›usk hafa fengit meginland,en ﬂat var ey, ok ur›u ﬂar margir handteknir me› Steigar-ﬁóri,en hann sjálfr sí›an heng›r í hólmi ﬂeim er Vambarhólmr
heitir. ﬁá mælti ﬁórir, er hann sá gálgann: ‘Ill eru ill r›,’ okkva› ﬂetta á›r hann væri heng›r ok snaran látin á hálsinn:a í Hefring] thus also Morkinskinna and Fagrskinna; Heimskringla has vi› Hefring,which seems more logical.
b after this liﬂi is written, but with points underneath to indicate deletion.

History of the kings of Norway

65

then fell ill and this was his death-sickness and he died
there on the mountain. Word reached Kaupangr a fortnight
later. It was requested that the people should go to meet his
body and all the townspeople went, nearly all of themcrying, for all men had heartfelt love for him. His bodywas buried in Kristskirkja.
XLVIII. But after the death of Hákon, ﬁórir could not support
Magnús, who then took over the kingdom, and he arrogantly
put forward a man called Sveinn, the son of Haraldr flettir.132
They gathered support in Upplƒnd and came to Raumsdalr
and Sunnmœrr and there obtained ships, proceeding thennorth to ﬁrándheimr. When Sigur›r ullstrengr and many othersof the king’s friends received word of Steigar-ﬁórir’s rebellion
and enmity they summoned all the forces they could against
him and turned their army towards Vigg. Sveinn and ﬁórirbrought their army there and fought Sigur›r, and theysucceeded in getting ashore and won the victory, killing
many men. Sigur›r fled to King Magnús, and ﬁórir and his
men sailed to Kaupangr and there sailed back and forth in
the fjord, waiting. When they had positioned their ships by
Hefring and were ready to sail out of the fjord King Magnús
sailed into it. But ﬁórir and his men took their ships overto Vagnvíkastrƒnd133 and there left them and they came
down to the valley called ﬁexdalr in Seljuhverfi. ﬁórir was
carried over the mountain on a litter.134 Thereafter theygathered ships and went to Hálogaland, but King Magnús
came after them and the armies sighted each other on thefjord called Harmr. ﬁórir and his men then went to Hesjutún.
They thought they had reached the mainland, but it was anisland, and there Steigar-ﬁórir was captured and manywith him. ﬁórir himself was then hanged on an islet called
Vambarhólmr. When he saw the gallows he said: ‘Bad isa bad plan,’ and before he was hanged and the noose put
round his neck he spoke this verse:

66Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

6. Vrum félagar fjórir
for›um, einn vi› st‡ri.
En Egill Áskelssunr á Forlandi, enn vaskasti ma›r, var ok
ﬂar drepinn ok heng›r me› ﬁóri, ﬂvíat hann vildi eigi fl‡ja
frá Ingibjƒrgu konu sinni, ¯gmundardóttur, systur Skopta.
ﬁá mælti konungrinn Mƒgnús, er hann Egill hekk á gálganum:‘Illa koma hónum gó›ir frændr í hald.’ En Sveinn fl‡›i í
haf út ok svá til Danmarkar, ok var ﬂar til ﬂess er hann komí sætt vi› Eystein konung, sun Mƒgnúss, er hann tók í sættok gør›i skutilsvein sinn ok haf›i í kærleik ok í virktum.
En Mƒgnús konungr haf›i ﬂá ríki einn saman ok ankannalaust,
ok fri›a›i vel fyr landi sínu, ok eyddi ƒllum víkingum okútilegumƒnnum, ok var ma›r herskár ok rƒskr ok starfsamr,
ok líkari í ƒllu Haraldi fƒ›urfe›r sínum í skaplyndi helduren fƒ›ur sínum. Allir vru ﬂeir miklir menn ok frí›irs‡num.a
XLIX. <M>ƒgnús fór margar herfarar ok fekk ﬂat fyrst tilákalls á Gautland austr, at hann kva› Dal ok Véar okVƒr›ynjar me› réttu eiga at liggja til Nóregs, kva› sínaforella haft hafa for›um, ok settisk konungrinn sí›an vi›
landamæri me› miklu li›i ok bjó í tjƒldum, ok hug›isk tilárei›ar á Gautland. En ﬂá er Ingi konungr frá ﬂat, ﬂásamna›i hann brátt li›i saman ok stefndi á fund hans. En
ﬂá er konunginum Mƒgnúsi kom sƒnn njósn of fer› hans,ﬂá eggju›u hƒf›ingjar aftrhvarfs, en hann ﬂekk›isk eigi
ﬂat, ok helt á mót konunginum Inga fyrr en hann ver›i ok
á náttarﬂeli ok ger›i mikinn mannska›a, en konungrinn
Ingi freltisk me› flótta. En sí›an var máli snúit til sættar,
ok tók Mƒgnús konungr Margrétu, dóttur Inga konungs,
ok ﬂessar eignir me› er hann kalla›i á›r til.
a Allir . . . s‡num] written twice in the margin, the first for the most part erased.

History of the kings of Norway

67

6. Four fellows were we once,
one at the helm.135
Egill Áskelsson from Forland, a very brave man, was also
killed and hanged there with ﬁórir because he would notleave his wife Ingibjƒrg ¯gmundardóttir, Skopti’s sister.
As Egill hung from the gallows, King Magnús said: ‘Good
kin are of little benefit to him.’136
Sveinn fled out to sea and on to Denmark and remained
there till he was reconciled with Magnús’s son King Eysteinn,
who made peace with him and made him his page137 andheld him in favour and affection.
King Magnús ruled alone and uncontested, kept his
land in peace and rid the country of all vikings and outlaws. He was a warlike man, doughty and industrious, andin disposition he was in every respect more like his grandfather Haraldr than like his father. They were all tall andhandsome men.
XLIX. Magnús went on many campaigns. His first claim
was eastwards against Gautland, saying that Dalr, Véar
and Var›ynjar rightfully belonged to Norway, as his forefathers had ruled them in the past. He took up position at
the border with a great army camped in tents and intended
to mount an invasion of Gautland. When King Ingi138
received word of this he soon gathered together an army
and went to meet him.
But when King Magnús heard true report of his movements, the chieftains urged that they turn back, but hewould not consent to this and attacked King Ingi earlier
than he expected, and at night, and killed many men, but
King Ingi escaped through flight. Afterwards they came toan agreement whereby Magnús took King Ingi’s daughter
Margrét and with her those lands to which he had earlier
laid claim.139

68Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

L. <Í> ﬂessi herfƒr vru me› Mƒgnúsi konungi ¯gmundr
Skoptasunr, Sigur›r Sigur›arsunr ok Sigur›r ullstrengr okmargir a›rir. [E]n eftir ﬂetta leitar konungrinn Mƒgnús í
Orkneyjar me› li›i. Vru ﬂá me› hónum ﬂessir hƒf›ingjar:
Dagr, fa›ir Gregóris, Ví›ku›r Jóanssunr, Úlfr Ranasunr,
bró›ir Sigur›ar, fƒ›ur Nikulauss, ok margir a›rir stórirhƒf›ingjar. Tekr hann í Orkneyjum sí›an jarlinn Erlendme› sér ok Mƒgnús, sun hans, áttján vetra gamlan, er nú
er heilagr, lag›isk út sí›an í herna› fyr Skotland ok fyr
Bretland, ok drap í ﬂeiri jarl ﬂann er Hugi hét enn digri.
Hann <var> skotinn í auga, ok gekk ﬂar af til heljar. En
hinn er skotit haf›i kasta›i boganum til konungs, at ﬂví ersumir segja, ok kva› svá at or›i, at ‘heill skotit herra!’—kenndi ﬂat skot konunginum. Vendi heim ór ﬂessi herfƒr
me› hlƒ›num skipum gulls ok silfrs ok gersima.
LI. <E>n fm vetrum sí›arr gør›isk hann vestr til Írlandsme› skipastóli ok ferr me› miklu li›i ok ætlar at vinna
landit ok vann nekkvern lut í fyrstunni. Dirf›isk hann af
ﬂví ok ger›isk sí›an óvarari, me› ﬂví at í fyrstu gekk
hónum me› vildum, sem Haraldi fƒ›urfe›r hans er hannfell á Englandi. Drógu hann til lífláts ok in sƒmu svik,
ﬂvíat Írir sƒmnu›u á mót Mƒgnúsi konungi óvígjum herme› leynd umb aftaninn fyr Barthólómeúsmessu, ﬂá er
ﬂeir gengu frá skipum á land upp at hƒggva strandhƒgg.
Fundu ﬂeir eigi fyrr en li›it kom á mi›al ﬂeira ok skipanna,en ﬂeir konungrinn lítt vi› búnir at herklæ›um, ﬂvíat
konungrinn var upp genginn í silkihjúp ok hjálm á hƒf›i,sver›i gyr›r ok spjót í hendi, <í> stighosum—svá var hannoft vanr—ok fell í ﬂessi Mƒgnús konungr ok mikit li› me›hónum. ﬁar heitir á Úla›sstíri er hann fell, ok Eyvindr
Finn[s]sunr fell ﬂar me› hónum ok margir a›rir stórirhƒf›ingjar. Var Ví›ku›r staddr næst konunginum ok fekk

History of the kings of Norway

69

L. With King Magnús on this expedition were ¯gmundr
Skoptason, Sigur›r Sigur›arson, Sigur›r ullstrengr andmany others.
Thereafter King Magnús made for Orkney with an army.
These chieftains were with him: Dagr, the father of Gregóríús,
Ví›kunnr Jóansson, Úlfr Hranason, the brother of Sigur›r,
who was Nikulaus’s father, and many other importantchieftains.140 In Orkney he took with him Jarl Erlendr andhis eighteen-year-old son Magnús, who is now a saint.141
They harried the coasts of Scotland and Wales, and on that
expedition killed a jarl named Hugi digri.142 He was shotin the eye and died as a result. The one who shot the arrow
threw the bow to the king and, according to some accounts, remarked: ‘Well shot, Sir,’ thus attributing it to theking. Magnús returned home from this expedition with his
ships laden with gold, silver and costly things.
LI. A few years later he set out west to Ireland with a fleetof ships, taking a large force of men, intending to conquer
that country.143 He won a part of it straight away and as aresult grew bolder and then became more unwary, because
all went well for him in the beginning, just as it had for his
grandfather Haraldr, when he fell in England. And thesame treachery drew him to his death, for the Irish raisedin secrecy an overwhelming army against King Magnús on
St Bartholomew’s Eve,144 when he and his men had goneashore from their ships to make a strand-raid. The firstthing they knew was that the army had come between themand their ships. The king and his men had little armour, forthe king had gone ashore wearing a silk doublet and on hishead a helmet, girt with a sword and with a spear in his
hand, and he wore gaiters, as was his custom. King Magnús
fell on this expedition and many men with him. Where hedied is called Ulster, and Eyvindr Finnsson145 died therewith him, along with many other great chieftains.

70Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

sr ﬂrjú,a en ﬂá er konungrinn Mƒgnús sá sér vísan bana,ﬂá ba› hann Ví›kunn hjálpa sér me› flótta, ok sótti hannﬂá ok ﬂat li› annat sem undan komsk til skipa, ok svá heim
í land aftr. Fekk hann sí›an af ﬂví mikit metor› af sunum
hans, at hann haf›i svá vel ﬂar haft sik. ﬁá var M‡rjartak
Kondjálfasunr yfirkonungr á Írlandi. Hans dóttur átti Sigur›rMƒgnússunr nekkvera stund. Hón hét Bja›munjo. Mƒgnús
berleggr vas alls konungr .x. vetr.
LII. <E>n eftir Mƒgnús ﬂá stígab til ríkis synir hans ﬂrír,
Eysteinn ok Sigur›r ok Óláfr, allir gó›ir menn ok listuligir,
róir menn, hœgsamir ok fri›samir, ok er mart gótt okd‡rligt frá ﬂeim at segja. Var Óláfs ﬂó of litla rí› vi›
freistat, ﬂvíat hann lif›i eigi lengr en tólf vetr eftir fráfall
fƒ›ur síns, anda›isk í Kaupangi seytján vetra gamall, ok
var jar›a›r í Kristskirkju, ok hƒrmu›u allir menn hansfráfall. En í fyrstu, er ﬂeir brœ›r sitja í ríki ﬂrír, Eysteinn
ok Sigur›r ok Óláfr, ﬂá f‡sir Sigur› at fer›ask ór landi til
Jórsala me› rá›i brœ›ra sinna ok bƒztu manna í landinu.
En at kaupa sér gu›s miskunn ok vinsæld vi› alﬂ‡›u, ﬂá
tóku ﬂeir allir brœ›r af áﬂjánar ok ánau›ir ok illar álƒgur
er frekir konungar ok jarlar hƒf›u lagt á l‡›inn, sem fyrr
var sagt.
LIII. <N>ú leiddu ﬂeir brœ›r svá ánau›i til frelsis, en sí›anfer›a›isk Sigur›r konungr ór landi til Jórsala me› sex tøgu
skipa fjórum vetrum eftir fráfall Mƒgnúss fƒ›ur síns, ok
haf›i me› sér fjƒlmennt ok gó›mennt—ok ﬂó ﬂá eina er
fara vildu—sat á Englandi enn fyrsta vetrinn, en annan út
til Jórsala, ok sætti ﬂar mikilli tígn, ok ﬂá ﬂar d‡rligar
gørsimar.

a written ﬂrio.
b tiga repeated, but with points underneath to indicate deletion.

History of the kings of Norway

71

Ví›kunnr stood nearest to the king and received threewounds, and King Magnús asked him to save himself by
flight when he saw for certain that he himself would die.
Ví›kunnr and the others who managed to escape returnedto their ships and then back home to Norway. For having
behaved so well Ví›kunnr later received great honour
from the sons of Magnús.
At that time M‡rjartak Kondjálfason ruled as high kingin Ireland. Sigur›r Magnússon was married to his daughter
for a time. Her name was Bja›munjo.146 Magnús berleggr
was king ten years in all.
LII. After Magnús, his three sons Eysteinn, Sigur›r andÓláfr succeeded to the kingdom. They were all good men,handsome, gentle men, quiet and peace-loving, and there
is much good and splendid to be said about them. Trial
was made of Óláfr only a short time, however, for he lived
but twelve winters after his father’s death. He died in
Kaupangr at the age of seventeen and was buried in
Kristskirkja. His death was mourned by all.
But in the beginning, when the three brothers Eysteinn,
Sigur›r and Óláfr, ruled, Sigur›r got the urge to leave
Norway and travel to Jerusalem, and his brothers and themost important men in the country agreed to this.
To gain for themselves the mercy of God and the favourof the people, all the brothers abolished harsh and oppressive measures and onerous taxes which impudent kingsand jarls had imposed on the people, as has been told.147
LIII. In this way the brothers now changed oppression to
freedom. Then four years after the death of his father Magnús,
King Sigur›r travelled abroad to Jerusalem with sixty ships.
He had with him a large and goodly company, though only
those who wanted to go. He stayed in England the first winterand spent the next on the journey to Jerusalem, where he wasreceived with great honour and given splendid treasures.148

72Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

LIV. <B>eiddisk konungrinn af krossinum helga ok ƒ›la›isk,
en eigi ﬂó fyrr en tólf menn ok sjálfr hann enn ﬂrettándi
svru at hann skyldi fremja kristni me› ƒllum mætti sínum,ok erkibyskupsstól koma í land ef hann mætti, ok at krossinn
skyldi ﬂar vera sem inn helgi Óláfr hvíldi, ok at hannskyldi tíund fremja ok sjálfr gera. Ok helt hann ﬂessu
sumu, ﬂvíat tíund fram›i hann, en hinu brá hann, er til
mikils geigs myndi standa, ef eigi hef›i gu› ﬂann geig me›
jartegnum leyst; reisti kirkju vi› landsenda ok setti ﬂar
krossinn náliga undir vald hei›inna manna—sem sí›angafsk—hug›i ﬂar til lands gæzlu ok var› at misræ›um.
Kómu ﬂar hei›nir menn ok brenndu kirkjuna, tóku krossinn
ok kennimanninn ok fluttua hvártveggja braut. Kom sí›an
at inum hei›num hiti svá mikill at ﬂeir ﬂóttusk náliga
brenna, ok óttu›usk ﬂann atbur› sem skyssi, en prestrinn
segir ﬂeim at sá bruni kømr af gu›s megni ok af kraft ens[he]lgab kross, ok ﬂeir skutu ﬂá báti ok settu bæ›i til lands,
krossinn ok prestinn. Ok me› ﬂví at prestinum ﬂótti eigi
heilt at setja hann annat sinni undir sama vá›a, ﬂá flutti
hann krossinn á launungu nor›r til sta›arins til ins helgaÓláfs, sem hann var svarinn, ok nú er hann sí›an.
LV. <E>n mart var ok annat gótt í fer› hans. Sigr vannhann á nekkverum borgum hei›num, ok hét til tƒku einnar
ﬂeirar at fella af kjƒttuc á ﬂváttdegi í Nóregi. Til Miklagar›s
fór hann ok hlaut ﬂar mikla tígn af vi›rtƒku keisarans ok
stórar gjafir, ok lét ﬂar eftir til minna ﬂarvistar sinnar skip
sín, ok tók af skipi sínu einu hƒfu› mikil ok fjárver› oksetti á Pétrskirkju. En heim í Nóreg sœkir hann um Ungeralandok Saxland, of Danmƒrk eftir ﬂrjá vetr er hann fór ór landi,a MS flvctu.
b added in the margin; now scarcely legible.
c first element written quiot, over which a k has been added.

History of the kings of Norway73

LIV. The king asked for a fragment of the True Cross andwas given one, but not until twelve men, and he himself
the thirteenth, had sworn that he would advance Christianity with all his might and establish an archbishop’s see in
his country if he could, and furthermore that the Cross
would be kept where St Óláfr lay, and that a tithe, which
he himself was to pay as well, would be levied. And hekept to some of this, for he imposed a tithe, but the rest he disregarded, and this would have caused great harm had not
God intervened miraculously. Sigur›r built a church on thefrontier,149 and put the Cross there, almost in the heathen’s
hands—as later happened150—thinking this would act toprotect the country, but this proved ill-advised, for theheathens came, burned the church and captured the Cross
and the priest and took both away. Thereafter such a great
heat came upon the heathens that they thought themselves
almost burning and this terrified them as a bad omen, andthe priest told them that this fire came from God’s might
and the power of the Holy Cross, so they put out a dinghyand put both the Cross and the priest ashore. The priest
thought it unwise to subject the Cross a second time tosuch danger and moved it in secrecy north to the place
where it had been sworn on oath that it would be kept, tothe shrine of St Óláfr, and there it has remained ever since.
LV. There were many other good things on Sigur›r’s
journey. He won victories over several heathen towns andvowed to ban the eating of meat on Saturdays in Norway
if he took one of them.
He went to Mikligar›r and received much honour there
from the emperor's reception and great gifts. He left his
ships there as a memorial of his visit. He took off one ofhis ships several great and costly figure-heads and put
them on the church of St Peter. He returned to Norway
through Hungary, Saxony and Denmark three years after

74Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

ok fagna›i allr l‡›r kvmu hans. ﬁá var hann tvítugr erhann kom aftr í land ór ﬂessi fer›, ok var or›inn enntí›asti. Vetri var Eysteinn ellri ﬂeira brœ›ra, en Óláfr ﬂá
.xij. vetra gamall. Eru enn margir hsta›ir skr‡ddir af
ﬂeim gørsimum er ﬂá flutti Si . . .a
LVI. . . . ok lƒg›u vistagjald á Smálƒnd, .xv.c. nauta, ok
tóku vi› krisni.b Ok vendi sí›an Sigur›r konungr heimme› mƒrgum stórum gørsimumc ok fjárhlutum er hann
haf›i aflat í ﬂeiri, ok var sjá lei›angr kalla›r Kalmarnadlei›angr. Sjá lei›angr var sumrie fyrr en myrkr et mikla.
Gør›isk ﬂá gótt of hans daga bæ›i of ár ok of margfaldaa›ra gœzku, nema ﬂat einu var at, at hann mátti varla skapi
sínu st‡ra, ﬂá er at hónum kom óhœgyndi, ﬂá er á lei› upp.
En ﬂó ﬂótti hann allra konunga d‡rligastr vera ok merkiligastr,
ok allra helzt [oo]f af fer› sinni. Hann var ok inn ríkuligsti
ma›r, ok manna hæstr, sem fa›ir hans ok forellar. Unni
hann l‡› sínum, en l‡›rinn hónum, ok birti hann st sinnime›g ﬂessum kvi›lingi:
7. Búendr ﬂykkja mér baztir,
byggt land ok fri›r standi.
LVII. En af ﬂví trausti erh hann ﬂóttisk hafa af ástsem›l‡›sins, ﬂá lét hann sér lifanda sverja Magnúsi syni sínum
landit í ƒllum Nóregi. Hann var frillui sunr, ok allra manna
væ<n>str ﬂeira er verit hafi.
LVIII. <E>n eftir ﬂetta ﬂá sœkir sá ma›r vestan af Írlandi
er Haraldr hét gillikrist, ok kalla›isk sunr Mƒgnúss ok
a there is a leaf missing in the MS here.
b i. e. kristni.
c written geRsimum; ør has been added over the line.
d MS carlmarna (perhaps a folk-etymology rather than a scribal error ).
e written sumpri, the p perhaps corrected from r.
f probably the word af.
g MS adds √st si Ni, struck out.
h MS en.
i the first l has apparently been ‘corrected ’ from ﬂ.

History of the kings of Norway75

he had left, and all the people rejoiced at his return. He
was twenty when he returned to Norway after this journeyand he had become most famous.
Eysteinn was a year older than Sigur›r, and Óláfr wasthen twelve years old.
There are still many holy places adorned with the treasures King Si[gur›r] brought . . .151
LVI. . . . and levied a food-tax of fifteen-hundred cattle onSmálƒnd; and the people accepted Christianity.152 King
Sigur›r then returned home with much treasure and booty
gathered on that expedition. It was called the Kalmarnar
expedition and took place the summer before the great
darkness.153
Sigur›r’s time was a good one, both in terms of harvests and many other beneficial things, with the one exception that he could hardly control his temper when hesuffered attacks154 as he grew older. But he was nevertheless regarded as the most splendid and remarkable of all
kings, and in particular because of his journey. He wasalso a very fine-looking man and very tall, as his father
and forefathers had been. He loved his people, and theyhim, and he expressed his affection in this verse:
7. Farmers I find best;
may farmed land and peace endure.
LVII. Because of the support he felt he had through thepeople’s love, Sigur›r had the whole of Norway swear
allegiance to his son Magnús while he still lived. Magnús
was the son of a mistress and was the finest man there hasever been.155
LVIII. But after this there came a man from the west from
Ireland named Haraldr gillikrist,156 and he claimed to be76Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

bró›ir Sigur›ar, bau› til ﬂess sƒnnur, ok konungrinn ﬂekk›isk,
meir me› einvilja sínum en me› vitra manna rá›i, ok tra›Haraldr .ix. plógjrn sindrandi, ok var› skírr, var sí›an í
gó›u yfirlæti me› brœ›r sínum, ﬂvíat ma›rinn var vaskra[oooo] ok li›mannligr [oooo], hr vƒxtum ok inn vakrligsti
s‡num. <E>n ei›ar stó›u sem unnir vru um Mƒgnús.
Haraldr vann ok ei› á›r hann næ›i skírslum at hann skyldi
ekki til ríkis kalla me›an Mƒgnús lif›i, ok vildi konungrinnme› ﬂeim ei›staf sta›festa ei› l‡›sins ok ríki sunar síns okvá›a úti byrgja ok stefja manntjón. En ﬂessar skírslir vru
gervar á Sæheimi, ok s‡ndisk mƒnnum skírslirnarb frekeflt,caf ﬂví at hann bar til fa›ernis en eigi til ríkis, er hann haf›ifyrir svarit. En brátt eftir ﬂetta anda›isk konungrinn austrí ·sló, en Haraldr ok Mƒgnús vru í Túnsbergi, ok vru
ﬂegar or› gƒr út til Mƒgnúss, ok hann hvata›i fer› sinni
inn til ·slóar ok komsk hann svá at gørsimum. En líkamr
Sigur›ar konungs var jar›a›r í Hallvar›skirkju, ﬂá er hann
haf›i alls rá›it Nóregi .vij. vetr ok .xx.
LIX. <N>ú vill Mƒgnús einn í ríki setjask, sem hónum
vísar me› réttu tilskipan fƒ›ur hans ok ei›r alﬂ‡›u, enHaraldi gezk eigi at ﬂví ok kallar til hálfs ríkis, ok vill
hvárki muna ei›a sína né skipan bró›ur síns. Ok gerisk nú
á fyrstu .vij. nóttum me› ﬂeim ósamﬂykki, ok dregsk nú í
tvá sta›i hir›in ok hƒf›ingjar ok alﬂ‡›a, ok fekksk Haraldi
af ﬂví œrit li› ok . . .d
LX. . . . fóstrar ﬂeira, ok hƒf›u ﬂeir eina hir› bá›ir, Ingi
konungr ok Sigur›r konungr, en Eysteinn konungr einnsér. Ok er ﬂessir hƒf›ingjar ƒndu›usk allir, [ooooooo] era written over an erasure in different ink.
b MS scirslirner.
c written frechelft; this is a nonce-word ; one might have expected the form frekefldar,
though maybe a word like gƒrvar or fram›ar should be understood or supplied.
d here there are probably four leaves missing, after which a new hand begins.

History of the kings of Norway

77

the son of Magnús and Sigur›r’s brother, and offered togive evidence of this.157 The king gave him leave to do so,more because it was his will than by the advice of his
counsellors. Haraldr walked over nine glowing hot ploughshares and was clean, and was afterwards made much ofby his brother, for he was valiant and doughty, tall andvery lively in appearance. But the oaths regarding Magnús
still stood.
Before he was allowed to submit to ordeal, Haraldr had
also sworn an oath that he would make no claim to thethrone while Magnús lived. With this oath the king wished
to confirm the oath of the people and thus secure his son’srule and so keep trouble at bay and prevent loss of life.
These ordeals were carried out at Sæheimr,158 and people thought them excessive, for Haraldr had submitted toordeal in order to prove his paternity and not his right tothe throne, which he had already forsworn.
Soon after this the king died east in Oslo, while Haraldr
and Magnús were in Túnsberg, and word was immediately
sent to Magnús and he hurried to Oslo and in this way
gained the treasure. The body of King Sigur›r was buried
in Hallvar›skirkja, when he had ruled Norway twentyseven winters in all.
LIX. It was then Magnús’s intention to rule alone, as hisfather’s arrangement and the oath of the people entitled
him to, but Haraldr was not pleased with this and laidclaim to half the kingdom, choosing to remember neither
his oaths nor his brother’s arrangement. During the firstweek there arose disagreement between them, and thecourt, the chieftains and the people split into two groups.
Haraldr gained plenty of support as a result and . . .159
LX. . . . their fosterfathers. King Ingi and King Sigur›rshared one following together and King Eysteinn160 had
one of his own, but soon after, with the deaths of all the78Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

me› sínum rá›um hƒf›u [oooooooooo] drengiliga st‡rt ríkinu
me› ﬂeim eptir landslƒgum ﬂeira—[Sá›a-Gyr›r]a ok ·mundi,ﬁjóstólfr ·lasunr ok Óttarr birtingr, er átti Ingirí›i, mó›ur
Inga konungs, ok ¯gmundr sviptir ok ¯gmundr dengir,bró›ir Erlings skakka, sunr Kyrpinga-Orms, er bæ›i var
miklu tígnari at metor›um Erlingi me›an ﬂeir lif›u bá›ir
ok ellri at vetratali—ﬂá skil›u ﬂeir brœ›r, Sigur›r ok Ingi,
brá›liga eptir ﬂat hir› sína. Sigur›r konungr var mikill
ma›r vexti ok li›mannligr, ramr at afli, marglyndr okmálsnjallr, vandlyndr ok vanstilltr, hraustr ok gla›r. Eysteinn
konungr var hár ma›r ok styrkr [oooo] ok bermlugr, slœgvitr,
undirhyggjuma›r, fastr ok fégjarn, svartr ok skrúfhárr.
Ingi konungr var hvítr ma›r ok vænn í andliti, vanheill,
ryggbrotinn ok visna›i fótr annarr, svá at hann fór mjƒkhaltr, ﬂ‡›r ok ﬂekkr vi› sína menn. Sigur›r konungr var
ofstopama›r mikill of alla hluti ok óeirama›r ﬂegars hannóx upp, ok svá ﬂeir Eysteinn bá›ir brœ›r, ok var ﬂat nær
sanni nøkkvi er Eysteinn var, en hann ﬂótti ﬂó allra fégjarnastr
ﬂeira. Ingi konungr var vinsæll vi› alﬂ‡›u. Ok nƒkkuru
eptir andlát r›uneytis konunganna ger›isk sá atbur›r atma›r hét Geirsteinn ok átti .ij. sonu, Hjarranda ok Hísing,ok hans dóttir var frilla Sigur›ar konungs ok ﬂeir í kærleikumvi› hann. Geirsteinn var óeir›arma›r mikill ok ranglátr,
sat í trausti konungsins. Skammtb í frá hónum bjó gƒfug
ekkja er Gy›a hét, systir Ragnhild<a>r, er átti Dagr Eilífssunr
austan ór Vík. Hón var skƒrungr mikill. Geirsteinn ferr opt
á hennar fund ok vill gjarna fá hennar st, en ﬂat var nhennar vilja, ok ﬂá ylm›iskc hann í móti ok segr ﬂví munu

a there is an erasure here of about nine letters; this is Storm’s reading (Ágrip
1880, 124).
b written scampt.
c MS vlinﬂsc, suggesting that the scribe did not understand his exemplar.

History of the kings of Norway

79

following chieftains, who had, through their counsel, governed the kingdom with them bravely and in accordancewith the law of the land: [Sá›a-Gyr›r], Ámundi, ﬁjóstólfr
Álason, Óttarr birtingr—who was married to Ingirí›r, King
Ingi’s mother—¯gmundr sviptir and ¯gmundr dengir—
who was the brother of Erlingr skakki Kyrpinga-Ormssonand both older than Erlingr in years and the one whoachieved by far the greater honour while they both lived—
the brothers Sigur›r and Ingi divided their court.161
King Sigur›r was a tall man and doughty, strong, temperamental and eloquent, irascible and intemperate, valiant and merry. King Eysteinn was tall, strong and outspoken, a crafty, guileful man, mean and miserly, dark andcurly-haired. King Ingi was fair and had a handsome face,poor in health, with a broken back and one withered leg,so that he walked with a great limp.162 He was kindly andamiable towards his men.
King Sigur›r was an overbearing man in every way andan unruly man when he grew up. And so was his brother
Eysteinn, though it was rather more true in his case for hewas considered the most avaricious of them all. King Ingi
was popular with the people.
A little after the deaths of the kings’ counsellors, thiscame to pass:163 there was a man named Geirsteinn who
had two sons, Hjarrandi and Hísingr, and a daughter who
was the mistress of King Sigur›r, and they were on intimate terms with him. Geirsteinn was an unruly man andunjust. He was in the king’s favour.
A short way away from him lived a noble widow named
Gy›a. Her sister was Ragnhildr, who was married to Dagr
Eilífsson from Vík in the east. She was a woman of outstanding character and Geirsteinn often went to see her
and was eager to gain her love, but she was unwilling. As
a result he went into a rage and said that refusing him

80Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

vera misrá›it. Er ﬂat et fyrsta rá› hans ok brag› at hannlætr reka fé hennar í akra sína ok gaf ﬂar fyrir sakar henni,
ok ﬂar me› lætr hann me› kappi fylgja sínu fé í hennar
akra, ok gera henni miklar meizlur á marga vega. Ok er
hón sér hans óﬂokka svá mikinn ok sér ska›a gƒrvan, ﬂámælir hón vi› sína vini at hón missir mjƒk gƒfgra sinna
vina ok forsjámanna, er hón skal svá marga vega óvir›vera. ﬁá sag›i sá ma›r henni er Gyr›r hét—hann var ﬂar
upp fœddr vi› henni ok gó›rar ættar ok vaskligr ma›r—‘Fróva,’ segr hann, ‘ﬂat er satt er ﬂú mælir. Mikit vanhald
hefir ﬂú af ﬂessum manni be›it, en sjm vér at hér til víkrﬂú máli er vérrum at hafa atger›ir.’ Ok ﬂat bar at einn dag
er hón gekk of bœ sinn at hón sá mart fé í sínum ƒkrum okmart gera mikinn ska›a. ﬁá ver›r hón rei›, tekr eitt spjót
ok hleypr út ok vendir ﬂangat til sem féit var. Nú kømr í
móti henni Gyr›r ok tekr af henni spjótit ok gengr í mót
fénu ok rekr á braut ok yfir brú er á var ánni milli bœjanna,
ok nú kømr í móti hónum Geirsteinn, ok hleypr ﬂegar athónum ok segir, at ﬂeir hafa of dregit fram ﬂræla, er slíkir
skulu hónum jafnask, ok leggr til hans. Gyr›r berr af sér
lagit ok høggr til hans í mót á vinstri sí›u, ok veitir hónum
banasár, ferr sí›an á fund Gy›u ok segr svá búit. Hón hefir
ok ﬂá búit hesta .ij., annan vi› fé, en hónum annan til
rei›ar . . .aa the manuscript breaks off here.

History of the kings of Norway

81

would prove to be a mistake. His first plan and scheme wasto have all her cattle driven onto his corn-fields and lay theblame for this on her; then in retaliation he had his cattle
led onto her corn-fields and in many ways caused her great
injury.
When she saw how great was his malevolence, and thedamage he had done her, she said to her friends how
greatly she felt let down by her noble friends and guardians, that she should now be slighted in so many ways. A
man named Gyr›r who had been brought up in her neighbourhood and was of good family and a brave man, thensaid to her: ‘Lady,’ he said, ‘what you say is true: you havesuffered very bad treatment at the hands of this man. But
I see that you direct your speech to me, expecting me to act
upon it.’ And it happened one day as she walked round herfarm, that she saw many cattle in her corn-fields and manycausing great damage. She became angry and took a spear
and ran out and made for where the cattle were. Gyr›rcame out to meet her, took the spear from her and walked
over toward the cattle, driving them away and over thebridge spanning the river that divided the farms. Geirsteinn came to meet him and ran toward him immediately,saying that they had promoted slaves too highly if people
like him were to be measured against him, and he thrust at
Gyr›r. Gyr›r parried the blow and struck in return on theleft hand side, dealing him a death wound. He then went
to see Gy›a and told her what had happened. She hadalready prepared two horses, one with money and the otherfor him to ride . . .

NOTES TO THE TRANSLATION
1. According to Snorri (Heimskringla I 97, 122) and most of the othersources, Haraldr vows neither to cut nor comb his hair till he is kingof all Norway. This vow is absent from the story as preserved here, but
may have appeared in that part of the manuscript now wanting at the
beginning. It is said that when Haraldr’s hair finally was cut, ten years
later, he was redubbed hárfagri, ‘fine-hair’.
2. The Scandinavians retained jól, the name of their pre-Christian
mid-winter feast, or forms of it, as the name of the Christian celebration which gradually replaced it. The Old Icelandic jólmánu›r, ‘yulemonth’, was the third month of winter, lasting from mid-December tomid-January. Thus it corresponds to the OE geol, the twin months
around the winter solstice, a sense preserved in the modern English
Yule and Yule-tide. On Old Norse–Icelandic time-reckoning generally
see ﬁorsteinn Vilhjálmsson 1990, especially 16–24, and Árni Björnsson
1990; or, in English, Hastrup 1985, 17–49 and references there.
Jólnir as a name for Ó›inn appears elsewhere, but is not common.
Snorri, quoting Eyvindr skáldaspillir, gives the plural form jólnar asa name for the gods in general (Edda Snorra Sturlusonar 1931, 166).
In Flateyjarbók (I 564), Ó›inn’s name is (correctly) derived from thatof the feast, and not, as here, the other way round.
Vi›rir, Hár and ﬁri›i are probably the best attested of Ó›inn’s two
hundred-odd names. Vi›rir is related to ve›r, ‘weather’, meaning ‘he
who rules the weather’ (cf. Flateyjarbók I 564). Hár(r) and ﬁri›i,‘High’ (or ‘Hoary’, or ‘One-eyed’) and ‘Third’, appear frequently, forexample in Snorri’s Gylfaginning (Edda Snorra Sturlusonar 1931, 10–
16 et passim) as two members of a much-debated pagan trinity (seeLorenz 1984, 81–83). The third member, Jafnhár, ‘Equally High’, ishere omitted. On Ó›inn’s various names see Turville-Petre 1964, 61–63.
3. Hálfdan svarti was the son of Gu›rø›r, king in Vestfold. Haraldr
hárfagri was Hálfdan’s son by his second wife Ragnhildr, daughter of
Sigur›r hjƒrtr, king in Hringaríki (now Ringerike). According to tradition, Hálfdan was forty at the time of his death and Haraldr ten at thetime of his accession (cf. Ágrip’s own ‘by the age of twenty he was thefirst king to gain all Norway’ and ‘ten winters he fought’). Beginningwith Ari fró›i, the Icelandic sources—and Ágrip, though whether on
the basis of Ari’s chronology remains a point of contention—seem toreckon Haraldr’s birth to have been not later than 851 or 852 (seeNotes to the translation

83Íslendingabók xxxv), a date historians agree must be too early. The
problems surrounding dates for the earliest kings of Norway arecomplex; discussion can be found in Heimskringla I lxxi–lxxxi; Jón
Jóhannesson 1956, 26–27 (1974, 13–15); Ólafía Einarsdóttir 1964,
59–61; Íslendingabók xxxv–xxxviii; and Andersen 1977, 79–84.
4. In other sources (e. g. Heimskringla I 91–92) a Yule-feast is specified; presumably the reason for the digression on the origin of theword jól in the preceding paragraph.
5. There is a large mound in Ringerike called Halvdanshaugen. Fagrskinna(58) and Ágrip agree that Hálfdan was buried there, but in Heimskringla(I 93) and other sources his body is said to have been divided into
three (or four) parts, so that one part of him could be buried in eachpart of his kingdom. This is not known to have been a practice in
Norway in heathen times, and the story is not generally credited.
6. The place here called Hafrsvágr is known in other sources as
Hafrsfjƒr›r (i. e. ‘Goat’s fjord’ as opposed to ‘bay’). Finnur Jónsson(1928, 281) suggested that the author could here have been working
from a Latin source in which the name appeared as Capri sinus,
which, being unfamiliar with the original name, he rendered back into
Norse as Hafrsvágr.
7. Oddmjór, ‘thin (i. e. narrow) at the point’. This poem is otherwise
unknown, nor does the half-verse cited here appear elsewhere. Bjarni
Einarsson (Ágrip 1984, xlvii; 4) suggests the name might have been
applied to the poem because it was thought to end abruptly.
8. ON Skjƒldungr, a descendant of the legendary Skjƒldr, Beowulf’s
Scyld Scefing, founder of the Scylding dynasty of Denmark; here used
as a heiti (poetic synonym) for king (Lexicon Poeticum 510); hence
my translation ‘Scylding-king’.
9. Skei›arbrandr was the word for the decorated piece of wood on theside of a warship’s prow. It is used here to mean simply ship, and istherefore not, strictly speaking, a kenning, but rather an example ofsynecdoche. The author of Ágrip misinterprets the term, however,taking the second element as the personal name Brandr. This has been
cited as evidence for Norwegian authorship, the locus classicus being
Turville-Petre’s observation that ‘an educated Icelander of that day
would be sufficiently well trained in scaldic diction to avoid such
obvious pitfalls’ (1953, 173). But even if one accepts Turville-Petre’s84Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

view of medieval Icelanders, it must be said in defence of our author—and medieval Norwegians in general—that names of this sort
(genitive plus proper name) were in no way uncommon (e. g. SkallaGrímr), whereas the term skei›arbrandr appears only twice in thewhole of skaldic literature, here, and in str. 7/3–4 of the poem Hrynhenda
by Arnórr ﬁór›arson jarlaskáld (Skjd. A I 334; B I 307), as thedeterminant in the kenning skyldir skei›arbrands, ‘a sailor’ (Lexicon
Poeticum 504). There is, moreover, a general resemblance, first pointed
out by Munch (Ágrip 1834, 274–75), between the first two lines ofOddmjór and the two lines in Hrynhenda that contain the kenning:‘skyldir [or in some manuscripts ‘skjƒldungr’] stƒkk me› skœ›anﬂokka / skei›arbrands fyr ﬂér ór landi’. Sveinbjörn Egilsson (Ágrip
1841, 351) noted in addition a resemblance between the second
couplet of Oddmjór and two lines from Arnórr’s Magnúsdrápa, str. 7:‘Ná›i siklingr sí›an / snjallr ok Danmƒrk allri’ (Skjd. A I 340; B I312), suggesting that the whole verse cited here is simply a conflation of
the two.
It is also interesting, however, that the author of Ágrip seems tohave more information on ‘Brandr’ than can be gleaned from the halfverse he cites, suggesting that the other half-verse—assuming there tohave been one—may have contained references to Denmark andWendland. On the other hand the author may merely have felt obliged
to say more about this king Brandr and simply invented for him what
seemed a probable fate for Haraldr’s final enemy.
10. Haraldr’s sons are also said to be twenty in Heimskringla, but a
few of the names, and many of the nicknames, differ. Historia Norvegiæ
names sixteen sons, thirteen of whom also appear in Ágrip. Ágrip also
includes one, Eysteinn, presumably Haraldr’s son by Svanhildr (seebelow), not mentioned by Snorri. Haraldr’s various sons are listed
here in roughly chronological order. Forms in Heimskringla, where
different, are given in brackets.
By Ása Hákonardóttir: Go›ormr (Guthormr), Hálfdan svarti (‘theblack’); Heimskringla also lists Hálfdan hvíti (‘the white’) andSig(f)rø›r, neither of whom is mentioned in Ágrip.
By Gy›a Eiríksdóttir: Hrœrekr, Tryggvi (Sigtryggr in Heimskringla,
both named in Ágrip), Fró›i; Heimskringla also lists ﬁorgils (sometimes
written ﬁorgísl), and in Snorri’s Separate Óláfs saga helga (6)Gunnrø›r, ‘whom some call Gu›rø›r’ (actually the same name) is
said to be Haraldr’s son by Gy›a, together with Guthormr andNotes to the translation

85Hrœrekr. A daughter Álof (Ólof) is also mentioned in both
Heimskringla and Ágrip.
By Ragnhildr Eiríksdóttir: Eiríkr bló›øx, ‘blood-axe’; the cognomen
is thought generally to refer to his murdering so many of his
brothers—he is called fratrum interfector by Theodoricus (7)—but
in Fagrskinna (79) his nickname is explained as referring to his
Viking days.
By Svanhildr Eysteinsdóttir: Óláfr digrbeinn, ‘stout-leg’ (called
Geirsta›aálfr, ‘the elf of Geirsta›ir’, in Heimskringla (I 119); theÓláfr Geirsta›aálfr after whom this one was named also had thenickname digrbeinn, according to the ‘Legendary Saga’ (1982,30)); Bjƒrn kaupma›r, ‘merchant’, whom some call buna, themeaning of which is not entirely clear (Finnur Jónsson, Ágrip
1929, 3, note 2, gives it as ‘entw. “knochenröhre” oder “klumpfuß”’(cf. Lind 1920–21, 49; Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon 1989, 92), andCleasby–Vigfússon 1957, 86, as ‘one with the stocking hanging
down his leg, ungartered’; Snorri (Heimskringla I 140) says thatBjƒrn’s brothers called him farma›r or kaupma›r, ‘sailor’ or ‘merchant’); Rƒgnvaldr, or Ragnarr, called reykill (rykkill in Heimskringla
I 119), possibly related to rykkja, ‘to pull’ (Lind 1920–21, 299).
By Áshildr Hringsdóttir: Dagr, Hringr, Gu›rø›r, called skirja,
probably ‘cow’ (see Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon 1989, 846), but
tentatively related by Lind (1920–21, 327) to Norwegian (nynorsk)
skjerja, ‘to screech with laughter’. Heimskringla also mentions adaughter, Ingiger›r.
By Snjófrí›r (Snæfrí›r) Svásadóttir: Sigur›r hrísi, probably related to hrísungr, ‘an illegitimate son’, or, more properly, ‘a son
begotten in the woods’ (Fritzner 1886–96, II 61; Lind 1920–21,
157–58), Hálfdan hvítbeinn, ‘white-leg’ (called háleggr or (in averse) Háfœta, ‘high-leg’, in Heimskringla), Gu›rø›r ljómi, ‘lustre’, Rƒgnvaldr (réttilbeini, ‘straight-leg’, in Heimskringla, confused with Ragnarr rykkill in Ágrip; see note 12 below), Hákon
gó›i, ‘the good’, so called only in Ágrip and Fagrskinna (and oncein Heimskringla), but otherwise known as A›alsteinsfóstri, as hewas brought up by King Æthelstan of England. He was not Haraldr’s
son by Snjófrí›r according to Snorri, but by ﬁóra Mo(r)strstƒng.
11. Snjófrí›r: Snorri (Heimskringla I 126) uses the variant form Snæfrí›r,and calls her father Svási merely ‘the Lapp’, rather than ‘king of theLapps’. In Flateyjarbók (I 582), where there is no indication that heis Snjófrí›r’s father, he is said to be a dwarf.

86Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

12. The awkwardness of this passage has led some scholars to postulate the existence of a Latin source for it, in which the Norse termsei›ma›r was included and then glossed, presumably with something
like vocatus est seidmadr, id est propheta. Finnur Jónsson (Ágrip
1929, 3) went as far as to suggest that this source might even havebeen the lost book of Sæmundr fró›i (see Introduction, p. xv). Ulset(1983, 116–18) points out, however, that in Ágrip chapter XIX, where
the text closely parallels that of Historia Norvegiæ, the author uses theloan-word própheti, whereas, having once translated it as spáma›r, hemight reasonably be expected to do so again. Ulset is of the opinion
that the author has confounded two persons, Rƒgnvaldr and Ragnarr,
one of whom was called skratti (normally sei›skratti), the other sei›ma›r,
from the word sei›r, ‘charm’ or ‘spell’. Both words signified ‘wizard’or ‘warlock’ in medieval usage. Loath to omit one of the terms, ourauthor decided to define one of them more closely, although in fact
they are more or less synonymous. Bjarni Einarsson (Ágrip 1984, xxii)
has suggested instead that the author may have preferred to use theloan word própheti in chapter XIX in describing a man of God, having
used the more normal spáma›r here for a pagan wizard.
13. Snorri uses the story of Snjófrí›r in Heimskringla (I 125–27),
beginning here and following Ágrip down to ‘and the kingdom bythem both’ (ch. IV). Stylistically the episode differs markedly fromthe material surrounding it in Heimskringla, and it is tempting to thinkthat Snorri recognised a good story when he heard one and felt no needto alter it. He does, however, include one piece of information notfound in the story as preserved here. After the death of Snæfrí›r, hesays: en litr hennar skipa›isk á engan veg, var hon jafnrjó› sem ﬂá,
er hon var kvik. Konungr sat æ yfir henni ok hug›i, at hon myndi lifna,‘but her colour changed in no way; she was as rosy-cheeked as she had
been in life. The king sat always by her, and believed that she would
revive.’ As was mentioned above, a version of the story also appears
in Flateyjarbók (I 582–83), one differing so significantly from that
preserved in Ágrip that it cannot derive from it. There too we find the
explanation for Haraldr’s behaviour: spread over Snjófrí›r after her
death is the cloth Svásanautr—presumably the gu›vefr and fatna›rmentioned in Ágrip and Heimskringla—which is so charged withmagical properties that Haralldi konungi læitzst hennar likame suo
biartr ok inniligr at hann uillde æigi iarda lata, ‘her body appeared toKing Haraldr so bright and lovely that he would not have her buried’.

Notes to the translation

87

This must therefore have been part of the original story, and Snorri
must therefore have used a version of Ágrip different from—andcloser to the original than—the one now extant. Ólafur Halldórsson(1969) has argued that the Flateyjarbók version of the story derives
from the poem Snjófrí›ardrápa, only the first strophe of which is cited
in Flateyjarbók (I 582; Skjd. A I 5; B I 5), where it is attributed toHaraldr himself. A further five half-strophes attributed to Ormr
Steinﬂórsson and preserved in Edda Snorra Sturlusonar (1931, 92, 94,
146, 147, 176; Skjd. A I, 415–16; B I 385) are, Ólafur maintains, alsopart of this same drápa. Snjófrí›ardrápa and the story as preserved inÁgrip derive from a common source. A sixth half-strophe from thesame poem is found in Magnús Ólafsson’s Edda; see Ólafur Halldórsson(1990).
The story’s ultimate origins in folklore have been investigated byMoe (1925–27, II 168–97), who points out the relationship between
the first part of the story and, for example, the tale of King Vortigern
and Rowena in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae(1985–88, I 67; II 91–92), and, somewhat more distant, between thesecond part and the story of Snow White—called Snofri in Norwegianversions of the tale.
14. The name Hasleyjarsund is not attested elsewhere, the strait inquestion being otherwise referred to as Haugasund (modern Haugesund),but Jan Ragnar Hagland (1989) has argued that Haugasund was originally not the name of the strait, but rather of a place on the coast,
which was later applied to the strait itself, while Hasleyjarsund is theoriginal name, deriving from the name of the island (Hasley, modern
Hasselø, but in earlier dialect forms Hatløy).
15. Gunnhildr was probably the daughter of Gormr gamli, king ofDenmark, and the sister of Haraldr blátƒnn. It was the common Icelandic view, however, that Gunnhildr was the daughter of ¯zurr (cf.
e. g. Heimskringla I 135, Fagrskinna 74, Egils saga 94, Njáls saga
11). His nickname lafskegg, ‘dangling beard’, appears also in Fagrskinna,
but Snorri calls him toti, ‘protuberance’ (cf. English teat etc.), possibly with the same meaning, or in the sense of ‘nose’ or ‘snout’ (cf.
Lind 1920–21, 385). In Historia Norvegiæ (105) Gunnhildr is identified as the daughter of Gormr. The origin of this confusion is not clear,but it may be due, at least in part, to Icelandic hostility toward
Gunnhildr, whom they may have wanted to have had more humble
origins. An interesting, if now somewhat dated, examination of88Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

Gunnhildr and the legends surrounding her is offered by Sigur›ur
Nordal (1941).
Snorri lists the sons of Eiríkr and Gunnhildr as Gamli, Guthormr,
Haraldr gráfeldr (‘grey-cloak’), Ragnfrø›r, Erlingr, Gu›rø›r, Sigur›r
slefa (‘drool’ or, conceivably, ‘snake’, see Lind 1920–21, 339; Ásgeir
Blöndal Magnússon 1989, 890), all of whom are mentioned in Ágrip,
where we also find Hálfdan, Eyvindr, and Gormr. Snorri’s Guthormr
is called in Ágrip Go›ormr, an alternative form of that name; Gormr,
a contracted form of Go›ormr, is what one would expect Eiríkr andGunnhildr’s first-born son to have been named (i. e. after his maternal
grandfather). According to Lind (1905–15, 297–98) Gamli Eiríksson
is the earliest and only certain example of the name Gamli found in
Norway, although there are instances of the strong form, Gamall.
Nicknames could, of course, also be passed on—we have already seen
an example of this in Haraldr’s son Hálfdan svarti—and there areexamples of nicknames becoming proper names in their own right(e. g. Magnús, from Karlamagnús = Charlemagne), so that Gamli and
Gormr could have been the same person (Storm 1893, 216–17).
16. Snorri (Heimskringla I 147) divides the five years of Eiríkr’s reign
the other way, three while Haraldr lived and two thereafter, and thisis the generally accepted view.
17. As was noted above, Gunnhildr’s reputation is thought to havesuffered at the hands of Icelandic historians. But even here, in a work
apparently composed entirely in a Norwegian milieu and most probably by a Norwegian, the portrait is one of a beautiful, wicked,
ambitious, treacherous and cruel woman, who practised sorcery on
more than a few occasions. It may be that the author, like Theodoricus,
got much of his material from Icelanders, and was prepared to accept
their view of the story, but it may also be that Gunnhildr’s reputationin Norway was equally notorious. Both Theodoricus (7) and Historia
Norvegiæ (105–06), for example, blame her for Eiríkr’s unpopularity.
18. According to Heimskringla (I 152 and II 159) and Egils saga(176), Eiríkr went to England by way of Orkney; Theodoricus (7) andHistoria Norvegiæ (105), and Ágrip itself (chapter VII), say he went
directly to England.
19. This heathen wife of Hákon’s is otherwise unknown, but his
daughter ﬁóra is mentioned in Heimskringla (I 192).
20. ﬁrœndir: men from the area of ﬁrándheimr, the modern Trøndelag.

Notes to the translation89

21. Hákon would have been brought up a Christian at the court of his
foster-father, and although he did proclaim his intention to convert thepeople of Norway, and may even have brought English missionaries
with him to Norway, his political good sense seems to have tempered
his religious fervour and there are several stories like these of his
attempting to have his cake and eat it. He would drink toasts to thegods only after making the sign of the cross over the cup (Heimskringla
I 171), or, as here, would wrap the sacrificial horse-liver in cloth soas to bite but not taste it. The chieftains would not accept thesecompromises and in the end Hákon worshipped as his ancestors had
done. Eyvindr skáldaspillir’s Hákonarmál (Skjd. A I 64–68; B I 57–60), composed in his memory, depicts his entry into Valhƒll where heis welcomed as one who has vel um ﬂyrmt véom (‘respected holy
places’).
22. The original reads: hann setti Golaﬂingslƒg eftir rá›agør› ﬁorleifs
spaka, er verit haf›i for›um. Here setti cannot mean established, as
the Gulaﬂingslƒg predated Hákon’s time; nor is it clear what er verit
haf›i for›um refers to (er could be either ‘which’ or ‘who’). Althoughsyntactically it could refer to ﬁorleifr, er would seem more logicallyto refer to lƒg, in which case however one would expect a plural verb,
i. e. hƒf›u. Bjarni Einarsson (Ágrip 1984, li) suggests that something
like ok haga›i í flestu eptir ﬂví could be missing between spaka ander (but cf. Heimskringla I 163).
23. A child would take a metronymic rather than the more common
patronymic when the father was unknown, deceased or less prominent
than the mother (see Hødnebø 1974, 319).
24. The Battle of Fræ›i (modern Frei) is generally reckoned to havebeen fought five years after the battle at Kƒrmt (modern Karmøy).
25. Gamli too fell at Fræ›i (cf. Heimskringla I 180–81), and the story
related here may well derive from an incorrect interpretation of thename Gamlaleir, which probably means ‘old clay’. Although leir(r) is
not common as a second place-name element (see Rygh 1897–1936,
Forord og indledning 65), specific incidents such as this very rarely
give rise to place names (see Dalberg and Sørensen 1972–79, I 196).
26. According to Snorri (Heimskringla I 182), the Battle of Fitjar wasfought when Hákon had been king twenty-six years, and therefore
only six years after Fræ›i, not nine as here. The .ix. of the MS could
be a mistake for .vi., or the author could be reckoning from the Battle

90Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

of Kƒrmt, or it could simply reflect the apparent confusion among
medieval historians as to the number and dates of battles between
Hákon and the sons of Eiríkr. Theodoricus (10) mentions only one
battle, Historia Norvegiæ (107) and Fagrskinna (81–82, 88–93) two.
Snorri and Ágrip agree at least as to number, if not as to date.
27. The name appears in the manuscript as scraygia (which would benormalised ‘skreygja’), but in Heimskringla (I 185, 189–90) and Egils
saga (123), where he is said to be the brother of Queen Gunnhildr, heis called skreyja, the meaning of which may be ‘a sickly-looking man’or ‘a coward’ (Lind 1920–21, 333). Neither seems appropriate to thecharacter described here. Gu›brandur Vigfússon (Cleasby–Vigfússon
1957, 557) suggested ‘a brayer, bragger’, which Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon
(1989, 861–62) is prepared to accept. In Historia Norvegiæ (111) heis called simply ‘Screyia’.
28. ﬁórálfr Skólmsson inn sterki is mentioned in a number of sources,
and is everywhere said to be a man of great strength. Cf. e. g. Heimskringla(I 187), Fagrskinna (74), Grettis saga (187) and Landnámabók (257).
ﬁór›r Sjáreksson composed a drápa on him, of which there are preserved three and a half verses (Skjd. A I 328–29; B I 302–03).
29. Eyvindr Finnsson, known as skáldaspillir (thought to mean ‘plagiarist’) was a Norwegian court poet whose Hákonarmál, mentioned
above, through its resemblance to Eiríksmál (composed in honour of
Eiríkr bló›øx), may have earned him his nickname.
30. Also called Kvernbítr, ‘mill-stone biter’. Cf. Heimskringla I 146:
A›alsteinn konungr gaf Hákoni sver› ﬂat, er hjƒltin váru ór gulli okme›alkaflinn, en brandrinn var ﬂó betri, ﬂar hjó Hákon me› kvernstein til
augans. ﬁat var sí›an kallat Kvernbítr. ﬁat sver› hefir bezt komit til
Nóregs. ﬁat átti Hákon til dau›adags. (‘King Æthelstan gave Hákon asword with a golden hilt and haft, but the blade was even better. With it
Hákon split a millstone to the eye. It was thereafter called Kvernbítr. It
was the best sword ever to have come to Norway. Hákon had it until the
day he died.’)31. This information is not to be found in either Historia Norvegiæ or
Theodoricus, but Snorri (Heimskringla I 152–53) says that King Æthelstan
sent word to Eiríkr offering him a kingdom in England. The AngloSaxon Chronicle (D) for 948 records that the Northumbrians hadreceived Eiríkr as king in York. It is unlikely that he would have been
in England much before 947, and Æthelstan died in the autumn of 939.

Notes to the translation

91

32. Only Ágrip and Historia Norvegiæ (106) place Eiríkr’s death inSpain. Snorri (Heimskringla I 154) and the other Scandinavian historians,
undoubtedly on the authority of Eiríksmál (Fagrskinna 79), say hedied along with five other Norse kings on Stainmoor in Westmoreland(see Seeberg 1978–79). Finnur Jónsson (1920–24, II 614, n. 2) suggests
Span- may be a corruption of Stan- .
33. This number is now virtually unreadable in the manuscript andcould be either .xv. or .xii. A comparison with the other sources is ofno help, as Snorri (Heimskringla I 239) gives the first and Theodoricus(10) the second as the number of years in Haraldr’s reign. There islittle external evidence to support either number. Noregskonungatal(Flateyjarbók II 522), which is thought, as was said, to be based onSæmundr fró›i’s lost book (see Introduction, p. xvi), says that Haraldr
ruled for nine years. According to Historia Norvegiæ (107) he ruled
for fourteen years.
34. kleypr, written cl√pr in the manuscript, may be another form of—or error for—klyppr, ‘squarely-built’, the form found in other sources(Lind 1920–21, 205). Snorri (Heimskringla I 218–19) uses it as aproper name.
35. This sentence is now almost unreadable in the manuscript, theresult of an attempt at some point to rub it out. If the reading is correct,
Ágrip here agrees with Theodoricus (11) in claiming that Haraldr
gráfeldr killed Tryggvi. In chapter XVI, where the text is quite similar
to that of Historia Norvegiæ (110–11), it is said that ‘not all tell of his[i. e. Tryggvi’s] slaying in the same way’.
36. Gull-Haraldr was the son of Knútr Danaást, Haraldr blátƒnn’s
brother. In Jómsvíkinga saga (1969, 73–74; Flateyjarbók I 104–05) it
is said that Haraldr blátƒnn was responsible for his brother Knútr’s
death, as he would later be for his nephew’s.
37. This last speech of Haraldr gráfeldr is not found in Heimskringla
or any of the other major Kings’ Sagas, but does appear in one
manuscript of Jómsvíkinga saga (1969, 82).
38. In the later histories Gunnhildr, as a result of all her sons proclaiming themselves king at one time or another, is referred to as konungamó›ir,‘mother of kings’.
39. As Gunnhildr was probably Haraldr blátƒnn’s sister (see note 15
above), this story—found also in Theodoricus (12–13), Jómsvíkinga92Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

saga (1969, 83–84) and some manuscripts of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonaren mesta (I 170–71; Flateyjarbók I 152–53)—must be seen in the lightof the medieval ‘smear campaign’ against Gunnhildr mentioned above(notes 15 and 17).
40. Snorri (Heimskringla I 295–98) calls him both Karkr and ﬁormó›rkarkr, while he is Skopti karkr in Jómsvíkinga saga (1969, 185, 194)
and Fagrskinna (139), and called just Karkr by Oddr Snorrason (1932,78). The word itself could be related to the Norwegian (nynorsk) word
kark, ‘thick bark’, or to karka, ‘to tie or bind tightly’ (Lind 1920–21,
189; Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon 1989, 447).
41. Ulli is a pet-name for Erlendr (Lind 1905–15, 1056). According to
Snorri (Heimskringla I 295) and the other sources Óláfr Tryggvason
had only shortly before killed Hákon’s son Erlendr, who was waitingby his father’s ships.
42. Literally ‘that all passages were closed’.
43. The author may here be working from two different sources, as
this was already stated at the beginning of the chapter.
44. This is the only version of this story in which Karkr murders
Hákon under orders, rather than on his own initiative (cf. Heimskringla
I 297; Oddr Snorrason 1932, 83). This is perhaps meant further todemean Hákon’s already inglorious death preparatory to the arrival of
the spectacular figure of Óláfr Tryggvason.
45. Hákon’s position had by this time so weakened that with Óláfr’s
return to Norway he found every hand turned against him. Although
his appetite for women was legendary (cf. Heimskringla I 290–91),
the chief reasons for his unpopularity were obviously political (seeAndersen 1977, 101).
46. Karkr is said to have been hanged in most of the other sources, but
in Heimskringla (I 298) he is beheaded.
47. Hersir was the traditional title of a Norwegian chieftain from theearliest times down to about the time of Haraldr hárfagri, when it cameto represent a rank below jarl, ‘earl’ and above hƒl›r, ‘yeoman,
freeholder’ (Fritzner 1886–96, I 804–05; see also Sogner 1961). It ishighly unlikely that Hersir was ever the name of any particular kingand there is no other record of any king bearing this name. Similarly,Vig›a is unknown as a woman’s name but does exist as a river-name(Rygh 1904, 296).

Notes to the translation

93

48. Sixteen verses and half-verses from the poem Háleygjatal (noneof them relating to the incidents described here) have survived in
Heimskringla, Edda Snorra Sturlusonar and Fagrskinna (see Skjd. A
I 68–71; B I 60–62).
49. Tryggvareyrr (or -hreyrr, modern Tryggvarör), is the name of alarge mound thought to date from the Bronze Age on the island
Tryggö (ON Tryggvaey, ‘Tryggvi’s island’), to the west of Sótanes(Sotanäs). In Historia Norvegiæ (110) Tryggvareyrr is said to be on an
island, but other sources, e. g. Oddr Snorrason (1932, 6) agree withÁgrip in placing it on Sótanes itself. The text seems to imply that
Sótanes is in Raumaríki (Romerike), and, if so, is incorrect. It is in
Ranríki (modern Bohuslän), which, according to Snorri (Heimskringla
I 151), is where Tryggvi ruled.
50. Snorri (Heimskringla I 225) has Ástrí›r’s son born on an island ina lake after Tryggvi’s death. But as it was customary for a child bornafter the death of its father to be named after him, that Óláfr wasnamed after his grandfather and not his father lends credence to thestory as it is related here (cf. Storm 1893, 214).
51. There is an erasure following lúsarskegg in which Gustav Storm
was able to make out sumir lo›skeggi, ‘[but] some [call] shaggybeard’ (see textual note). The reason for the erasure may be that since
the author has already introduced ﬁórólfr in chapter IX, there callinghim only lúsaskegg (lúsa- is gen. pl., lúsar- gen. sg.), it might haveseemed odd to mention his other nickname here.
52. Sigur›r Eiríksson, Ástrí›r’s brother, had long been at the court of
Vladimir (ON Valdamarr), son of Grand Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev.
On the Kievan Rus generally see Noonan 1986 and references there.
53. The island Ösel in the Baltic (Estonian: Saaremaa).
54. The year of Óláfr’s birth is usually reckoned to be 968 or 969. It
is said that he was nine years old when he was ransomed by his uncle
and brought to Hólmgar›r, and that he was another nine years at the
court of King Vladimir (cf. Heimskringla I 232). This would then havebeen about the year 980.
55. Gautar, men of Gautland (modern Östergötland and Västergötland)in southern Sweden.
56. There are dozens of stories of Óláfr’s exploits between the time heleft Hólmgar›r (c.986) and his triumphant return to Norway in 994 or94Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

995. Many are unsupported but make interesting reading. Óláfr ismentioned enough in foreign sources, however, to indicate that he wasquite busy during these years. It is probable that he fought at the Battleof Maldon in 991 and with Sveinn tjúguskegg at London in 994 (seethe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (A, E, and F) for 993 and 994). The stories
that he fought in Bornholm, lived in Wendland and plundered western
Europe, however highly embellished, seem also to be based on fact;
see Andersen 1977, 102–06 and references there. For summaries inEnglish see Jones 1968b, 131–33; 1968a; Turville-Petre 1951, 133–35.
57. Jómsborg was supposed to be a town on the south Baltic coast
inhabited by a group of mercenary Vikings known as the Jómsvíkingar.
The principal source of information on them and their town is theearly thirteenth-century Jómsvíkinga saga. For summaries of the debate surrounding Jómsborg and the saga’s historicity see Ólafur
Halldórsson’s introduction to Jómsvíkinga saga 1969, esp. 28–51, or
the introduction to Blake’s edition (1962, especially vii–xv).
58. The Isles of Scilly (ON Syllingar), according to Snorri (Heimskringla
I 266) and most of the other sources.
59. The text has here the loan word própheti (see note 12 above).
60. According to Snorri (Heimskringla I 267), Óláfr and his men werebaptised then and there. A similar story is told in the ‘Legendary Saga’(1982, 64) about Óláfr helgi, who is also said to have met a hermit in
Britain. Both these stories may be based on the story of how Totila,
Visigothic king of Italy, tested the powers of St Benedict of Nursia,
which appears in the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, a work earlytranslated into Norse (see Turville-Petre 1953, 135–36).
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 994 Óláfr
received baptism at Andover with King Æthelred acting as sponsor,
and him ﬂá Anelaf behet, and eac gelæste, ﬂæt he næfre eft to Angelcynne
mid unfri›e cuman nolde.
61. According to Icelandic sources (Njáls saga 256, Kristni saga 14,
and Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta I 149), ﬁangbrandr was the sonof a Saxon count named Vilbaldus. In most sources he is said to comefrom Bremen or Saxony. Theodoricus (15) calls him Theobrand andsays that he is Flemish. ﬁangbrandr was the first foreign missionary to
go to Iceland. He spent two or three winters there, making a few
converts and many enemies, some of whom he slew (cf. Kristni saga
25–26; Íslendingabók 14). He returned to Norway in 998 or 999.

Notes to the translation

95

ﬁormó›r is also mentioned in Kristni saga (38), Íslendingabók (15)and by Oddr Snorrason (1932, 91), but no source contains any information on his origins, although he is said to have accompanied Óláfr
to Norway from England.
62. illi (‘the bad’), i. e. in contradistinction to Hákon gó›i.
63. His age in other sources varies from twenty-two to thirty-three, butÁgrip’s assertion that he was twenty-seven is in keeping with thegenerally accepted chronology.
64. These claims are largely exaggerated. Certainly in the more accessible areas of western Norway and the Vík most people would havebeen at least nominally Christian, but those in the inland districts
would still have been unbaptised and pagan.
Óláfr appears to have been very persuasive. He is known to havethreatened people with mutilation or death if they refused baptism.
But, as we have seen already, the conversion of Norway was a processthat had begun before Óláfr’s return and one far from complete at thetime of his death. It is not really until the death of his namesake, Óláfr
helgi, that one can safely speak of a Christian Norway.
The conversion of Iceland, although in many respects untypical,
is the best documented, and can serve to indicate general trends.
According to Ari fró›i, Christianity was accepted at the Alﬂingi thesame summer as—in fact two or three months before—Óláfr’s death.
Ari also states that Óláfr had been one of the initiators of the conversion, but it cannot be said that he was wholly responsible for it. On
the conversion of Norway see Andersen 1977, for Iceland Strömbäck
1975 and Hastrup 1985, 179–89, and for Scandinavia generally
Sawyer 1987.
65. This was Boleslaw ‘the Brave’, called Búrizláfr (or -leifr) in ON,
who ruled Poland from 992 to 1025 and to whom ﬁyri Haraldsdóttir
had in fact been wedded. Ágrip here agrees with Historia Norvegiæ
(116–17). The story also appears, but in a slightly different form, in
Heimskringla (I 273, 341–43), Oddr Snorrason (1932, 143–47), andFagrskinna (146–47).
66. The word landamæri would normally mean ‘boundary’, ‘borderland’ or ‘frontier’, but must logically here refer to the coast—the coast
obviously also marking the extremities of the country. Margaret Ashdown(1930, 213) points to the similar use of landgemyrce in Beowulf, l. 209(cf. Bosworth–Toller 1898, 618).

96Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

67. This was the Battle of Svƒl›(r), a favourite topic of skaldic poets
and authors of Kings’ Sagas. Its causes, and even its location, remain
the subject of much debate (see Ellehøj 1958; or Andersen 1977, 104–05, for a summary and further references).
68. ON rúm, ‘rooms, places’: Viking ships were divided into rowingplaces, one for each pair of oars. Ormr inn langi, ‘the Long Serpent’,was the most famous ship of the age and by all accounts one of thelargest. Brøgger and Shetelig (1950, 96) state that it had places for
thirty-four pairs of oars and give it an overall length of about fifty metres.
69. King Sveinn retained direct control of the Vík, the area in which
Danish influence was always the greatest. King Óláfr of Sweden wasgiven control of Ranríki in the south-east and four provinces in easternﬁrándheimr, most of which was effectively ruled by Sveinn Hákonarson
as the king’s vassal. Eiríkr Hákonarson ruled the western provinces ofﬁrándheimr and coastal provinces—in other words most of Norway—
although it would be a mistake to underestimate Danish influenceduring this time (see Andersen 1977, 106–09).
70. 1008 was the traditional year for the death of King Sveinn, but
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (E) entry for 1014 informs us that Her on
ﬂissum geare Swegen geendode his dagas to candelmæssan .iii.
No Febr~.
71. The traditional chronology takes 1012 as the year of Hákon’s
succession and there is no reason to doubt this; it is, however, unlikelythat Eiríkr was in England before 1014. He ruled as earl in Northumbria from 1016 until his death in 1023.
72. This was Knútr inn ríki (Canute the Great) who by 1027 could in
his letter to the English people title himself Rex totius Angliae etDenemarchiae et Norregiae et partis Swavorum (Andersen 1977,
129). He had first come to England with his father Sveinn tjúguskegg
in 1013, and following Sveinn’s death a year later increased his power
in England until, with the death of Edmund Ironside on St Andrew’s
Day 1016, feng Cnut cyng to eall Engla landes rice (Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle (D, under 1017)). He ruled until his death on 12 November
1035.
73. This rather unpleasant-sounding cause of death is attested by othersources (Theodoricus 25, Fagrskinna 167, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonaren mesta II 317). Snorri (Heimskringla II 32) says he bled to death but
omits any further detail.

Notes to the translation

97

74. The text as it stands seems to indicate that Óláfr was calledgrœnski, i. e. from Grenland in southern Norway. Óláfr was in fact
known in the early part of his life as Óláfr digri, ‘the stout’, and thesurname grœnski (or grenski) is otherwise associated with his father
Haraldr. Modern editors have therefore supplied the word Haraldssunar.
75. With the exception of the statement ‘much is said about the extent
of Óláfr’s travels’ at the beginning of the next chapter, Ágrip in factsays nothing about Óláfr’s viking years; these make up on the other
hand the last pages of Historia Norvegiæ (119–24).
76. Most of what is said about Óláfr’s travels can be found in the
Víkingarvísur (the title is modern) of Sighvatr ﬁór›arson (Skjd. A I
223–28; B I 213–16; Fell 1981). For a summary in English of Óláfr’s
early years based on the literary sources see Turville-Petre 1951, 140–46.
Óláfr returned to Norway in the autumn of 1015, then about twenty.
77. According to Snorri and the other sources Óláfr places his two
ships on either side of the strait with a thick cable tied between them,which would explain the reciprocal form ‘his ships pulled towards
each other’ (heimtusk saman); cf. the ‘Legendary Saga’ (1982, 68),
where the wording is closest to that of Ágrip; also Fagrskinna (171),
Heimskringla (II 36–37), the Separate Óláfs saga helga (62–64) and
Theodoricus (27).
78. There is no evidence in support of Ágrip’s assertion that Hákon
ruled in the Hebrides.
79. Óláfr’s father, Haraldr grenski, had died shortly after Óláfr wasborn. After his death Óláfr’s mother had married Sigur›r s‡r Hálfdanarson,a king in Hringaríki, part of the area known as Upplƒnd, and it wasthere that Óláfr grew up.
80. Óláfr had been accepted as king only by the farmers of Upplƒnd
and the Vík, but ﬁrándheimr, home of the jarls of Hla›ir, remained
loyal to Sveinn.
Nesjar was not the first meeting of Óláfr and Sveinn; they had met
previously at Ni›aróss, but Óláfr had not been as successful in Sveinn’s
territory as he was to be the following spring in his own. For the
events leading up to Nesjar see Johnsen 1916; or Turville-Petre 1951,
148–50 for a summary.
81. Einarr was arguably the most important chieftain of his age andplayed a prominent role in Norwegian politics for over 50 years. The

98Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

meaning of his nickname, usually written ﬂambarskelfir, is not entirely clear, but the possibilities are interesting enough to warrant
mention here. ﬁambar is the genitive of ﬂƒmb, a word meaning ‘guts,
belly’, particularly with the notion of being blown up or extended, butwhich can also be used to mean ‘gut-string’, particularly bow-string.
In view of Einarr’s reputation as an archer (cf. Heimskringla II 27),
some scholars have opted for this explanation (e. g. Lind 1920–21,
405–06). The second element, written variously skelmir or skelfir,
probably means ‘shaker’—although it could mean ‘devil’—but whether
Einarr shook his belly or his bow-string is unresolved.
82. Gar›ar, literally ‘cities’ (i. e. walled strongholds), the old Scandinavian
term for the Scandinavian settlements in Russia. On the term see
Pritsak 1981, esp. 217–20.
83. Yaroslav, ON Jaritláfr (or Jarizláfr, -leifr), was the son of Vladimir(see note 52 above). He ruled in Kiev from his father’s death in 1016
until his own in 1054. His wife Ingiger›r died in about 1050. For thestory of her betrothal to Óláfr and events following see Heimskringla
II 114–47.
84. Gunnhildr is called Úlfhildr in Heimskringla (II 327–28; III 41)
and elsewhere, and this is likely to be more correct as she is called
Wulfhild in German sources. Otto—Ótta in Heimskringla—was really
Ordulf (1059–72), the son of Bernhard Billung, Duke of Saxony. In
contrast to the male offspring, quite a lot is known of the names andfates of Úlfhildr’s descendants at least, who seem to have made out
reasonably well. Ordulf and Úlfhildr had a son, Magnus (1072–1106),
whose daughter—he had no male offspring—married Duke Henry theBlack of Saxony and Bavaria. Their son was Henry the Proud (d.
1139), father of Henry the Lion (d. 1195), father of Otto, Duke ofBrunswick Luneburg (d. 1252), from whom are descended theHanoverians.
85. This is also mentioned by Guillaume de Jumièges (1914, 81–82)
and Adam of Bremen (1917, 112), and in Historia Norvegiæ (121–22),
but not, for example, by Theodoricus or Snorri.
86. The battle between Óláfr and Erlingr was fought on 21 December
1028 at the island of Bokn, near Tungunes in Ja›arr (modern Jæren).
87. According to Snorri (Heimskringla II 192) Áslákr and Erlingr
were kinsmen.

Notes to the translation

99

88. Legally, ní›ingr designated a person who had committed a crime
which could not be atoned for, and who could therefore be killed with
impunity. The term carried with it a sense of ‘unmanliness’ (if one
takes manliness in the sense of ‘all that may become a man’), hence
its use here of a traitor; treason was unmanly (see Sørensen 1980, esp.
16–39; 1983, 14–32).
89. According to Theodoricus (31) and Snorri (Heimskringla II 335)
Hákon Eiríksson drowned in the Pentland Firth (see Stenton 1971, 405).
Sveinn was Knútr’s son by his English consort Ælfgyfu (ON Álfífa),daughter of Ælfhelm, aldorman of Northampton. This was ‘the otherÆlfgyfu’, not Ælfgyfu, or Emma as she was more commonly called,Æthelred’s widow, whom Knútr married in 1017. See Stenton 1971,
397, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle II 211.
90. Vinartoddi: vinar, more correctly vinjar, is the genitive of vin,‘meadow’, a word occuring otherwise only in proper names, while
toddi is a ‘bit’ or ‘piece’ (Fritzner 1886–96, III 949; 709), and themeaning of the whole is therefore ‘a bit of the meadow’, a part of the
farmer’s yearly produce paid as tax to the king.
91. Rygjartó: rygjar is from rygr, ‘lady’, and tó means ‘unspun woolor flax’ (Fritzner 1886–96, III 141; 709). These terms can also befound in medieval Norwegian law books such as the Frostaﬂingslƒg
(NgL I 257–58). The close similarity between Ágrip and the texts of
the laws themselves suggests that the author was either working froma legal text or was at least familiar with legal terminology (Ágrip
1984, xiii; Andersen 1977, 138).
92. In Norway the unit for the organisation of the levy or conscription
was the hamla (pl. hƒmlur), this being the loop into which the oar was
fitted, representing a single oarsman.
93. The text here has hérlenzkr ok útlenzkr, literally ‘here-landish andout-landish’; Snorri, writing in Iceland, has in the corresponding
passage in Heimskringla (II 400) ﬂarlenzkr ok útlenzkr, ‘there-landish
and out-landish’.
94. Cf. chapter LII below.
95. The traditional date for the Battle of Stiklasta›ir (or in somesources Stiklarsta›ir; modern Stiklestad) was 29 July 1030; see Andersen
1977, 132–33.

100Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

96. Haraldr, later called har›rá›i (‘hard-ruler’), was Óláfr’s halfbrother, son of Sigur›r s‡r (‘sow’) and Ásta Gu›brandsdóttir. Rƒgnvaldr
Brúsason was jarl of Orkney (d. 1045). Bjƒrn digri was Óláfr’s marshal.
97. Sighvatr ﬁór›arson was an Icelander who came to King Óláfr’scourt in about 1015. The verse cited here can also be found in the‘Legendary Saga’ (1982, 208; see also Skjd. A I 274; B I 253).
98. This date, the only attempt at absolute chronology in Ágrip,
derives from Theodoricus (42): occubuit autem beatus Olavus . . .
anno ab incarnatione Domini millesimo vicesimo nono, ut nos certius
indagare potuimus (i. e. ‘as far as we can tell’). Bjarni Einarsson(Ágrip 1984, xxxvi) suggests that this was Theodoricus’s attempt toreconcile the year 1028, found in Acta Sancti Olavi regis et martyris(131–32), and the year 1030, given by Ari fró›i and all later Icelandic
historians as well as by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (E). Interestingly,
Theodoricus begins his next chapter with the observation Sciendum
vero est, in libris nil adeo corruptum ut supputationen numerorum. It
should also be noted that Ágrip’s own (relative) chronology, reckoning from the fall of Óláfr helgi to the Battle of Stamford Bridge(nineteen days before Hastings), would have the Normans invade
England in 1065 (see Ágrip 1984, lix).
99. If by this it is meant that Haraldr claimed the kingship immediately
after Óláfr’s death it is the only one of the sources to say so. If this is
not what is meant, it is not clear what is.
100. Miracles attributed to Óláfr are said to have been reported within
hours of his death at Stiklasta›ir. Óláfr’s body was exhumed—according to some sources it rose to the surface of its own accord—a year andfive days after his death and was found to be uncorrupted (see the‘Legendary Saga’ 1982, especially 220–36; also Turville-Petre 1951,
159–64; Jones 1968a).
101. What his contemporaries viewed as the ‘harshness’ of Magnús’s
first years of rule, a theme in the skaldic poetry of the time (e. g.
Sighvatr’s Bersƒglisvísur and Arnórr ﬁór›arson’s Hrynhenda), wasprobably his taking revenge on his father’s former opponents and his
continuation of the taxation policies instituted by Sveinn and Álfífa(Andersen 1977, 144).
102. This is one of nine strophes cited by Snorri (Heimskringla III
26–30), one of thirteen in the manuscript known as Hulda (fol. 4) andNotes to the translation101

one of sixteen in Flateyjarbók (III 267–69). The poem as a whole is
known as Bersƒglisvísur (or -flokkur), ‘the plain-speaking verses’(Skjd. A I 251–56; B I 234–39).
103. Hƒr›a-Knútr, from Hƒr› in Jutland, was Knútr’s son by Emma of
Normandy, and therefore his only legitimate heir. For an exhaustive
discussion of the name, see Campbell 1949, 97–98.
104. Some historians have denied the existence of this agreement, but
the anonymous Chronicon Roskildense (SmhDmæ. I 22), written c.1140,
agrees with Ágrip on this point (Andersen 1977, 161–62).
105. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (C) for the year 1042 reports:
Hér gefor Har›acnut swa ﬂæt he æt his drince stód. Ond he færinga
feoll to ﬂære eor›an mid egeslicum anginne, ond hine gelæhton ›e
ﬂar neh wæron, ond he sy››an nan word ne gecwæ›. Ond he for›ferde
on vi I D~ I UN .

106. Sveinn is commonly known as Estridsson (Estrid being theDanish form of Ástrí›r). Ástrí›r/Estrid was the daughter of Sveinn
tjúguskegg, and Knútr’s half-sister and also the half-sister of KingÓláfr the Swede. Sveinn grew up in Sweden and went to Englandprobably in the year 1039. Ágrip is the only source of information on
Sveinn’s stay in England. After Magnús’s death Sveinn ruled Denmark until his own death in 1074.
107. According to Snorri (Heimskringla III 56) the battle of Helganes
was fought a full year after the Battle of Hl‡rskógshei›r. Sveinn and
Magnús first met in the autumn of 1042, shortly after Magnús had
been received as king. Their meeting at Gautelfr (modern Göta älv)was peaceful, ending with their pledges of friendship and allegiance.
Sveinn was made jarl, to rule over Denmark as king’s regent as hisfather Úlfr ﬁorgilsson had done before him.
108. Hl‡rskógshei›r (Lyrskovshede) lies in fact about 100 km to thesouth of Skotborgará (now Kongeå), to the northwest of Hedeby inSchleswig.
109. Haraldr came to Sweden in 1045 and to Norway the following
year. Snorri’s Haralds saga Sigur›arsonar (Heimskringla III 68–90)
provides a fictionalised account of Haraldr’s exploits after Stiklasta›ir
as a member of the famous Varangian guard in Constantinople. Sigfús
Blöndal (1954, 108–68; 1978, 54–102) examines all the written sources
pertaining to Haraldr.

102Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

110. Úlfr stalleri was an Icelander, the nephew of Gu›rún Ósvífrsdóttir
of Laxdœla saga. According to Snorri (Heimskringla III 79) he had
been with Haraldr in the Varangian guard, which only underlines theunlikelihood of this story. Úlfr was King Haraldr’s marshal, not Magnús’s.
111. A less joyful meeting is described by Snorri (Heimskringla III 94–102).
112. Heikilnef is a hapax legomenon of uncertain meaning; Lind
1920–21, 140, suggests ‘snippnäsa’ (i. e. ‘pointy-nosed’; cf. Ásgeir
Blöndal Magnússon 1989, 314).
113. Magnús died on 25 October 1047.
114. This sentence bears a striking resemblance to the 39th verse of
Nóregskonungatal (Flateyjarbók II 524), leading some to conclude
that it derives from Sæmundr’s lost book (Ellehøj 1965, 264; see
Introduction p. xvi).
115. Ragnhildr, who later married Hákon Ívarsson, the great-grandsonof Hákon Sigur›arson.
116. ﬁóra, daughter of ﬁórbergr Árnason. His brother Finnr (Fi›r) was
married to Bergljót Hálfdanardóttir, King Haraldr’s niece. Kálfr Árnason,
mentioned above (chapters XXVI and XXXI) was another of thebrothers. Haraldr was already married to Ellisif (Elizabeth), the daughterof Jaroslav and Ingiger›r Óláfsdóttir and it is therefore more likelythat ﬁóra was his mistress than his queen; it was their issue, however,Magnús and Óláfr, that became the more prominent. According to thetext here, Finnr lived austr í Ranríki, ‘east in Ranríki’. This is probably
a mistake in the text, however, as according to Snorri (Heimskringla
III 126) Finnr Árnason lived á Yrjum á Austrátt, i. e. on the farm
Austrátt (moden Austrått) in the area Yrjar, on the northern side of themouth of the Trondheim Fjord. It is not difficult to imagine a copyist
misreading an exemplar which read á Austrátt á Yrjum, particularly as
austrátt can also mean ‘easterly direction’.
117. Snorri bases their quarrel on more complicated yet equally personal grounds (see Heimskringla III 126–35).
118. Halland is in southwestern Sweden, but at this time was politically part of Denmark. Haraldr of Norway and Sveinn of Denmark met
in battle at the mouth of the River Niz on 9 August 1062.
119. mœddr vi› eld: literally ‘exhausted with fire’. This story is notfound in Heimskringla, but is recorded in Morkinskinna, 204–05.

Notes to the translation

103

120. Tostig (ON Tósti) was Harold’s younger brother. He had been
made Earl of Northumbria in 1055, but was expelled from Englandalong with his family and retainers following a revolt in Northumbria
for which it seems he was partially to blame (Stenton 1971, 578–79).
121. Sjaldan fór svá, ﬂá er vel vildi. Theodoricus has Raro . . . talesignum portendit victoriam (57). Snorri (Heimskringla III 186) also
relates the incident, but has the king more optimistically say Fall er
fararheill, ‘a fall is a good omen for a journey’. In Sverris saga (1920,
35) Jarl Erlingr says: Eigi fór ﬂá svá er vel vildi.
122. Óláfr Haraldsson is called bóndi (older form búandi), ‘farmer’,in Ágrip and a few other sources (e. g. Heimskringla III 208), but ismore commonly known as Óláfr kyrri, ‘the quiet’ or ‘the peaceful’(see Lind 1920–21, 36; 231).
123. Elgjusetr (modern Elgeseter, near Trondheim) was an Augustinian monastery founded probably by Archbishop Eysteinn Erlendsson
in about 1170.
124. This was to become the great cathedral of Kristskirkja (modern
Kristkirken), though it was certainly not completed during Óláfr’s
lifetime (see Heimskringla III 204).
125. Miklagildi: ‘the Great Guild’; each guild had a patron saint andthe guildsmen would meet on the saint’s feast day (see Blom 1960).
St Óláfr was the patron saint of Miklagildi; his feast day was 29 July,
the day of the Battle of Stiklasta›ir (see Heimskringla III 204–05).
126. This half-strophe is found also in Heimskringla in the last chapterof Snorri’s Haralds saga Sigur›arsonar (Heimskringla III 202) and inMorkinskinna (292). Its author is unknown.
127. Only Ágrip calls him berleggr, ‘bare-leg’; in Heimskringla andall other sources he is known as Magnús berfœttr or berbeinn, themeaning of which is the same (Lind 1920–21, 21). Snorri explains that
Magnús was called by this name because after returning from ‘west
viking’ he and his men dressed ‘as was the custom in the western lands[i. e. the British Isles]’ and describes what are clearly meant to be
kilts. Bjarni A›albjarnarson (Heimskringla III 229) points out that
nowhere in Snorri’s source material is Magnús’s nickname explained;
it is not known whether kilt-wearing was in fact a custom in Irelandin Magnús’s day, and it is not unlikely that Snorri’s explanation ismerely the one that seemed most likely to him. Cf. also Ágrip, chapter

104Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

LI: ‘he wore gaiters (stighosur), as was his custom.’ For an alternative
explanation of his nickname see Saxo Grammaticus 1931, 342.
128. Skúlagar›r was the old kings’ residence, named after the English
Skúli, foster-father of Óláfr kyrri (see Heimskringla III 197).
129. Klémetskirkja (Klemenskirken) is the oldest church in Trondheim,
built by Óláfr Tryggvason.
130. Hefring (Høvringen): a headland to the west of Trondheim.
131. Dofrafjall (Dovrefjell) according to Snorri (Heimskringla III 212).
132. Sveinn was a Dane according to Snorri (Heimskringla III 213).
133. Vagnvíkastrƒnd (now Leksvikstrand) is immediately across thefjord from Trondheim. The name Vagnvík survives in Vanvikan, thebay at the western end of Leksvikstrand.
134. According to Snorri (Heimskringla III 213), ﬁórir was gamallma›r ok ﬂungfœrr (‘an old man and slow-going’), and, in his own
words, as Snorri reports them (III 216), heill at hƒndum, en hrumr at
fótum, ‘hale of hand but feeble of foot’ (also in Fagrskinna 304).
135. This verse also appears in the other major vernacular Kings’
Sagas, Heimskringla (III 216), Morkinskinna (304), and Fagrskinna(305); see also Skjd. A I 434, B I 403. Perkins (1987) relates it to Old
Norse rowing chants and children’s verses.
136. Snorri (Heimskringla III 217) says of this statement that í ﬂvís‡ndisk, at konungr vildi hafa verit be›inn, at Egill hef›i lifat (‘fromthis it was evident that the king had wanted to be asked to spare
Egill’s life’). Little is known of Egill’s family—in Heimskringla he iscalled Ásláksson, Áskelsson here—but his wife Ingibjƒrg’s family
was among the most prominent in Norway and Magnús might haveexpected them to come forward on Egill’s behalf. This would accountfor the references to Egill’s wife and her family here. But by ‘kin’(frændr) Magnús could also be referring to himself: his grandmother ﬁóra ﬁorbergsdóttir was ¯gmundr’s sister, aunt of Egill’s wife
Ingibjƒrg.
137. Skutilsveinn was a title of honour derived from the ON skutill, ‘aplate or small table’ (from OE scutel, Lat. scutella). Those with thistitle were involved with the everyday running of the king’s household(see Hamre 1971).

Notes to the translation

105

138. Ingi Steinkelsson, who ruled Sweden c.1080–1110.
139. According to Theodoricus (61–62) there were two separate attacks,
the second of which ended in defeat for Magnús. Morkinskinna (324,328) similarly records two battles against Ingi at Fuxerna; Magnús issaid to have been victorious in the first, while the outcome of thesecond is not explicitly stated. In Fagrskinna (310–11) and Heimskringla(III 226–28) there are two campaigns to Sweden, but only one battle
against Ingi, indecisive in Fagrskinna but a defeat for Magnús in Heimskringla.
140. These figures, and those mentioned in the previous sentence,
were all prominent in eleventh-century Norwegian politics.
141. St Magnús of Orkney (d. 1116).
142. Hugi digri (‘the stout’) was Hugh, son of Richard, Viscount of
Avranches, whom King William made Earl of Chester in 1101. Thisaccount is found also in Theodoricus (62), but according to Snorri(Heimskringla III 222), Morkinskinna (319) and other sources it wasanother earl, Hugi prú›i (‘the magnificent’)—Hugh of Montgomery,
Earl of Shrewsbury—whom Magnús killed. See A. Bugge 1914, 38–
40; Charles 1934, 116–22.
143. Irish annals indicate that Magnús was in Ireland by 1102, when
he conquered Dublin and made a pact with Muirchertach (ON M‡rjartak,or in some sources M‡rkjartan) Úa Briain (1086–1119), King of
Munster, arranging for the marriage of his son Sigur›r (then either
nine or twelve depending on the source) and Muirchertach’s daughter,said to have been five years old at the time. Magnús spent the winteron Man, and the following summer joined with Muirchertach in an
attack on Domnall Úa Lochlainn, a king in Ulster. They were badly
defeated in battle on 5 August, and according to Snorri (Heimskringla
III 234–37) were awaiting supplies from Muirchertach in order toreturn to Norway when they were attacked by a large army of Irishmen. Irish annals relate that Magnús was killed by Ulstermen whileraiding there, in County Down, in 1103. See A. Bugge 1914, 30–49;
Ó Corráin 1972, 142–50.
144. Morkinskinna (334) follows Ágrip in this, but in Heimskringla(III 234) Magnús is said to have died on Bartholomew’s Day itself (24August).

106Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

145. Called Eyvindr ƒlbogi, ‘elbow’, in Heimskringla (III 233) andthere said to be the king’s marshal (stallari).
146. In Heimskringla (III 224) M‡rjartak is said to be the son of Kingﬁjálbi rather than Kondjálfi, which may be a scribal error, i. e. konungs
ﬁjálbasonar for Kondjálfasonar. He was in fact Muirchertach, son of
Toirdelbach Úa Briain, grandson of Brian Bóroimhe. His daughter
Biadmuin married Magnús’s son Sigur›r in 1102. Magnús set Sigur›rover Man, but he ruled it possibly less than a year before his father’s
death brought him back to Norway. In Fagrskinna (315) it is said that
Sigur›r left her fyrir vestan haf . . . ok vildi ﬂá ekki eiga hana, ‘in thewest . . . and did not want to be married to her’ (cf. Morkinskinna 337).
147. Cf. chapter XXIX. Snorri does not mention that the brothers
abolished these laws till after his account of Sigur›r’s return from
Jerusalem (Heimskringla III 256).
148. Sigur›r left Norway in 1107 or 1108 and arrived in Palestine in
1110. See Runciman 1951–54, II 92–93, on how Sigur›r helped theFranks besiege Sidon.
149. Vi› landsenda: this was at Konungahella, on the northern side of
the Göta älv. The church was called Krosskirkja.
150. An army of heathen Wends attacked Konungahella in 1135. The
Annales regii or Konungsannáll (Storm 1888, 113) for that year notes
succinctly: Undr í Konungahellu, ‘miracle at Konungahella’; cf.
Heimskringla III 288–96.
151. There is a leaf missing from the manuscript at this point, but the
text of Morkinskinna (352–53) gives a fair idea of what followed.
152. The text that preceded these lines can be reconstructed fromchapter XXIV of Magnússona saga in Heimskringla (III 263–64).
Sigur›r Jórsalafari and the Danish king Níkolás had agreed to meet in
Eyrarsund (Øresund), their intention being to Christianise the peopleof Smálƒnd (Småland). The Danes arrived first and, growing tired of
waiting, decided to return home. This angered Sigur›r, who in retaliation decided to raid Danish possessions in the area, taking the town
Tumaﬂorp (modern Östra Tommarp). They then went on into Sweden
and plundered the market town Kalmarnar (Kalmar) and other parts ofSmálƒnd.
153. There was an eclipse of the sun, total in the vicinity of ﬁrándheimr,
on 11 August 1124.

Notes to the translation

107

154. Óhœgyndi, ‘discomfort’; Sigur›r was subject to fits of madness,called by Snorri sta›leysi, ‘restlessness’, or perhaps ‘instability, lackof self-control’, an example of which he provides in Magnússona saga
(Heimskringla III 262).
155. Magnús was born in 1115, Sigur›r’s son by Borghildr Óláfsdóttir
(Heimskringla III 257–58).
156. From Irish gille-Críst, ‘servant of Christ’. Haraldr is more commonly referred to as gilli. On Haraldr and the events following his
arrival in Norway see Helle 1974, 24–27.
157. In other words he offered to submit to ordeal. Ordeal was often
resorted to in cases such as this where proof could be offered in noother way. The most common form of ordeal was járnbur›r, which
involved carrying red-hot iron, but walking over iron was not unknown. The ordeal normally took place on a Wednesday; the hands
and feet were immediately bandaged and inspected on the following
Saturday. If the wound was clean the man was innocent of the crimeof which he had been accused or the truth of his assertion was granted.
If not the man was judged guilty or accounted a liar. The ordeal was
unknown in Norway before Christian times and seems to have been
introduced from England by missionaries. Ordeals were always conducted under the auspices of the Church. The practice was banned in
1247 (see Hamre 1960).
158. Sæheimr is the modern Sem in Jarlsberg, Vestfold. (It is clearlya different place from the Sæheimr mentioned in ch. VI, which was inNor›hƒr›aland.)
159. There is a lacuna here of four leaves, the contents of which havebeen much discussed. It is unlikely that it contained anything notfound in Snorri’s Magnúss saga blinda ok Haralds gilla (Heimskringla
III 278–302). Ágrip resumes at about the same point as Snorri begins
chapter XXI of his Haraldssona saga (Heimskringla III 330). This
was the beginning of a period of unrest that lasted until the rise topower of King Sverrir (see Helle 1974, 20–47; Gathorne-Hardy 1956).
160. Ingi, Sigur›r and Eysteinn were the three eldest sons (by threedifferent women) of Haraldr gilli.
161. In the manuscript there is a space at the beginning of the list ofnames, before ok ·mundi, where a word of about nine letters has beenerased. Snorri lists the same men in the same order, but names first one

108Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

Sá›a-Gyr›r (which Storm claimed to be able to make out here). Sá›aGyr›r Bár›arson (not the Gyr›r mentioned later in this chapter) was
the foster-father of Sigur›r Haraldsson.
Erlingr skakki was so called because he held his head at an angle as
the result of a battle-wound. He and ¯gmundr dengir were in fact halfbrothers. In Morkinskinna and Heimskringla the comment that ¯gmundr
was ‘the one who achieved by far the greater honour while they both
lived’ is put the other way round, i. e. that lítils ﬂótti vert um Erling,me›an ¯gmundr lif›i, ‘little was thought of Erlingr while ¯gmundr
lived’ (Heimskringla III 330; cf. Morkinskinna 445). Erlingr later
married the daughter of Sigur›r Jórsalafari and became the effective
ruler of Norway after twenty years of chaos during which the sons ofHaraldr gilli had fought among themselves. He was eventually slain
by Sverrir Sigur›arson in 1179.
162. According to Saxo Grammaticus (1931, 446–47), Ingi had been
dropped by his nurse in infancy and was crippled as a result:
Sed infantiæ suæ tempore per incuriam nutricis forte sinu delapsus, ita
humo inflictus est, ut, confracto dorso, reliquum vitæ tempus gibbo
oneratus exigeret. In quo quidem homine excellentis animi venustatem
corporis deformitate affecti ludibrio fœdatam putares neque discernere
queas, maius fortunæ beneficium receperit an opprobrium senserit.’

163. This story is absent from Heimskringla and Fagrskinna but
appears in Morkinskinna (448–53). The text of the story in Morkinskinna
is on the whole fuller and would appear to be more original than that
preserved here (Ágrip 1984, xliii–xliv). The episode centres around
Gregóríús Dagsson, who has not yet been introduced into the story as
it is preserved in Ágrip although his name was mentioned in chapter
L. Gregóríús was the son of Dagr Eilífsson, who is said in the story
to be married to Ragnhildr, the sister of Gy›a. After killing Gersteinn,
Gyr›r flees, seeking shelter with Gregóríús, who protects him fromGersteinn’s sons, when they come seeking revenge, and kills themboth. For this Gregóríús incurs the wrath of King Sigur›r munnr,
which leads ultimately to his becoming King Ingi’s counsellor andgeneral.

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INDEX OF PERSONAL NAMES(References are to the chapter numbers)A›alsteinn (Æthelstan), King of England 2, 5, 7Álfífa (Ælfgifu), mistress of Knútr ríki
27, 32, 35
Ámundi Gyr›isson 60Áslákr of Finneyjar 31
Áslákr Áskelsson, called ‘Fitjaskalli’(‘bald man of Fitjar’) 26Ástrí›r (Estrí›) Eiríksdóttir, motherof Óláfr Tryggvason 17Ástrí›r, daughter of Óláfr sœnski 25Ástrí›r, sister of Knútr ríki 37
Atli 35

Erlingr, son of Eiríkr bló›øx 5, 6
Erlingr Kyrpinga-Ormsson, jarl, called‘inn skakki’ (‘the crooked’) 60
Erlingr Skjálgsson of Sóli 26
Estrí›: see Ástrí›r Eiríksdóttir
Eysteinn Erlendsson, archbishop 42
Eysteinn, son of Haraldr gilli, King of
Norway 1142–57 (with his brothers
Ingi and Sigur›r) 60
Eysteinn, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2
Eysteinn, son of Magnús berleggr, Kingof Norway 1103–22 (with his brothers
Sigur›r and Óláfr) 48, 52, 55
Eyvindr, son of Eiríkr bló›øx 5
Bergljót ﬁórisdóttir, mother of Hákon Eyvindr Finnsson 51
jarl 11
Eyvindr Finnsson, called ‘skáldaspillir’(‘plagiarist’?) 6, 15
Bja›munjo M‡rjartaksdóttir (Biadmuin,daughter of Muirchertach) 51
Eyvindr ¯zurarson, called ‘skreyja’(‘braggart’?) 6Bjƒrn, called ‘hinn digri’ (‘the stout’) 31Bjƒrn, son of Haraldr hárfagri, called‘kaupma›r’ (‘merchant’) or ‘buna’ Fi›r (Finnr) Árnason 41(‘club-foot’?) 2, 5, 23
Fró›i, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2
Dagr Eilífsson 50, 60
Dagr, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2
Eggjar-Kálfr: see Kálfr Árnason of Egg
Egill Áskelsson of Forland 48
Einarr Eindri›ason, called ‘ﬂambarskelmir’ (‘bowstring-shaker’) 24, 34
Eiríkr Hákonarson, jarl, ruled Norway
1000–14, called ‘inn ríki’ (‘the great’)13, 20, 21, 23
Eiríkr Haraldsson, King of Norwayc.940–54, called ‘bló›øx’ (‘bloodaxe’) 2, 5, 7
Erlendr ﬁorfinnsson, jarl in Orkney,father of St Magnús 50
Erlendr of Ger›i 31
Erlingr, called ‘inn gamli’ (‘the old’) 9

Gamli, son of Eiríkr bló›øx 5, 6, 23
Geirsteinn 60
Go›ormr, son of Eiríkr bló›øx 5
Go›ormr, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2Go›rø›r = Gu›rø›r
Gormr, son of Eiríkr bló›øx 5, 6
Gregóríús Dagsson 50
Gu›rún, called ‘Lundasól’ (‘sun ofLundir’) 13
Gu›rø›r Bjarnason, grandfather ofÓláfr helgi 23
Gu›rø›r, son of Eiríkr bló›øx, called‘ljómi’ (‘lustre’) 5, 8Gu›rø›r, son of Haraldr hárfagri, called‘ljómi’ (‘lustre’) 2Gu›rø›r, son of Haraldr hárfagri, called‘skirja’ (‘cow’?) 2

Index of personal names
Gull-Haraldr: see Haraldr Knútsson
Gunnhildr, daughter of Óláfr helgi
25
Gunnhildr ¯zurardóttir, called‘konungamó›ir’ (‘mother of kings’)
5–7, 11, 16, 17
Gunnrø›r, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2
Guthormr = Go›ormr
Gy›a Skoptadóttir 60
Gyr›r 60
Gyr›r Bár›arson, called ‘Sá›a-Gyr›r’ 60
Hákon Eiríksson, jarl 21, 23, 27
Hákon, son of Haraldr hárfagri,
king of Norway c.954–65, called‘A›alsteinsfóstri’ (‘Æthelstan’s
fosterling’) or ‘inn gó›i’ (‘the good’)
2, 5, 6, 8
Hákon Magnússon, King of Norway
1093–94 (with Magnús berleggr),
known as ‘(Steigar-)ﬁórisfóstri’(‘Steigar-ﬁórir’s fosterling’) 43,
46–48
Hákon Sigur›arson, jarl, ruled Norway 975–95, called ‘inn ríki’ (‘thegreat’); also ‘inn illi’ (the bad’) 10–
14, 16, 17, 19–21
Hálfdan, son of Eiríkr bló›øx 5
Hálfdan Gu›rø›arson, called ‘inn svarti’(‘the black’) 1, 2
Hálfdan, son of Haraldr hárfagri, called‘hvítbeinn’ (‘white-leg’) or ‘háfœta’(‘high-leg’) 2
Hálfdan, son of Haraldr hárfagri, called‘inn svarti’ (‘the black’) 2
Hálfdan, son of Sigur›r hrísi, called‘hvítbeinn’ (‘white-leg’) or ‘heikilnefr’ (‘pointy-nose’?) 39
Halldórr of Sker›ingsste›ja 13
Hár(r) (Ó›inn) 1
Haraldr Eiríksson, king of Norway
c.965–75, called ‘gráfeldr’ (‘greycloak’) 5, 6, 8–12
Haraldr ‘flettir’ (‘plunderer’?) 48

117

Haraldr Go›inason (Harold Godwineson), King of England 42
Haraldr Gormsson, King of Denmark,called ‘blátƒnn’ (‘blue-tooth’) 7,
10, 11
Haraldr Gu›rø›arson, called ‘inngrœnski’ (‘from Grenland’), fatherof Óláfr helgi 22, 23
Haraldr Hálfdanarson, king of Norway c.880–940, called ‘hárfagri’(‘fine-hair’) 1–3, 5, 11, 16, 23,
39, 42Haraldr Knútsson, called ‘Gull-Haraldr’(‘gold-Haraldr’) 10
Haraldr, son of Magnús berleggr, Kingof Norway (with Magnús blindi)1130–36, called ‘gillikrist’ or ‘gilli’(‘servant of Christ’) 58, 59
Haraldr Sigur›arson, King of Norway
1046–66, called ‘har›rá›i’ (‘hardruler’) 31, 33, 39–43, 45, 48, 51
Hersir, king in Naumudal, ancestor of
Hákon jarl 15
Hísingr Geirsteinsson 60
Hjarrandi Geirsteinsson 60
Hringr, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2Hrœrekr, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2
Hugi, count, called ‘inn digri’ (‘thestout’) (Hugh, son of Richard, Viscount of Avranches) 50
Hkon = Hákon
Hƒr›a-Knútr: see Knútr, son of Knútr
ríki
Ingi, son of Haraldr gilli, King of
Norway (with his brothers Sigur›r
and Eysteinn) 1136–61, called‘krókhryggr’ (‘hunchback’) 60
Ingi Steinkelsson, King of Sweden 49
Ingibjƒrg ¯gmundardóttir, wife of EgillÁskelsson 48
Ingiger›r, daughter of King Óláfr
Eiríksson of Sweden 25, 34
Ingirí›r Rƒgnvaldsdóttir 60

118Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

Jaritláfr Valdamarsson (Yaroslav),
King of Russia 25, 34
Jólnir (Ó›inn) 1
Kálfr Árnason of Egg 26, 31, 34
Karkr, thrall 13
Knútr Gormsson 10
Knútr, son of Knútr ríki, called ‘Hƒr›aKnútr’ 36
Knútr Sveinsson, called ‘inn ríki’ (‘thegreat’) 21, 26, 27, 36, 37
Kyrpinga-Ormr: see Ormr Sveinsson
Magnús Erlendsson, jarl in Orkney,
saint 50
Magnús Óláfsson, King of Norway(with Hákon Magnússon) 1093–1103,
called ‘berleggr’ or ‘berfœttr’ (‘bareleg’) 46, 48–53, 58
Magnús, son of Óláfr helgi, King of
Norway 1035–47, called ‘inn gó›i’(‘the good’) 26, 34–40, 42, 48
Magnús, son of Sigur›r Jórsalafari,King of Norway (with Haraldr gilli)
1130–35, called ‘inn blindi’ (‘theblind’) 57–59
Magnús, son of Haraldr har›rá›i, Kingof Norway 1066–69 (with his brotherÓláfr) 43, 45
Margrét, daughter of King Ingi of
Sweden, married to Magnús berleggr
49
M‡rjartak Kondjálvason (MuirchertachÚa Briain), King of Munster 51
Mƒgnús = Magnús
Nikulaus Sigur›arson (or Skjaldvararson) 50
Ó›inn 1Óláfr Eiríksson, King of Sweden, called‘inn sœnski’ (‘the Swede’) 13, 20, 25Óláfr Haraldsson, King of Norway
1014–28, called ‘inn digri’ (‘thestout’) and, following his death, ‘inn
helgi’ (‘the saint’) 22–26, 31–35,
38, 39, 44, 54
Óláfr, son of Haraldr har›rá›i, Kingof Norway 1066–93, called ‘inn kyrri’(‘the peaceful’) or ‘búandi’ (‘farmer’)
42–44Óláfr, son of Haraldr hárfagri, called‘digrbeinn’ (‘stout-leg’) 2, 5, 16Óláfr, son of Magnús berleggr, Kingof Norway 1103–15 (with his brothers
Eysteinn and Sigur›r) 52, 55
Óláfr Tryggvason, King of Norway
995–1000 9, 13, 16, 17, 19–22
Ólof Haraldsdóttir 11
Ormr Sveinsson, called ‘KyrpingaOrmr’ 60Óttarr, called ‘birtingr’ (‘bright’ or‘trout’?) 60
Ottó (Ordulf), Duke of Saxony 25
Páll (Pll) ﬁorfinnsson, jarl in Orkney
42
Ragnfrø›r, son of Eiríkr bló›øx 5, 8
Ragnhildr Skoptadóttir, sister of Gy›a60Rƒgnvaldr Brúsason 31, 34
Rƒgnvaldr (Ragnarr), son of Haraldr
hárfagri, called ‘reykill’ (‘puller’?) 2Rƒgnvaldr, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2
Sá›a-Gyr›r: see Gyr›r Bár›arson
Sighvatr ﬁór›arson, poet 32, 35
Sigtryggr, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2
Sigur›r, bishop 19
Sigur›r, son of Eiríkr bló›øx, called‘slefa’ (‘drool’ or ‘snake’?) 5, 8, 9
Sigur›r, son of Hákon gamli, called‘Hyrnajarl’ (‘jarl of Yrjar’: Hyrnais probably for Yrna-, gen. pl. eitherof Yrjar, mod. Ørland, in Nor›mœrr,or of Yrji, otherwise unattested, ‘aninhabitant of Yrjar’) 11

Index of personal names
Sigur›r Hálfdanarson, called ‘s‡r’(probably ‘sow’) 24, 39
Sigur›r, son of Haraldr gilli, King of
Norway (with his brothers Ingi and
Eysteinn) 1136–55, called ‘munnr’(‘mouth’) 60
Sigur›r, son of Haraldr hárfagri, called‘hrísi’ (‘bastard’?) 2, 39
Sigur›r Hranason 50
Sigur›r, son of Magnús berleggr, Kingof Norway (with his brothers Eysteinn
and Óláfr) 1103–30, called ‘Jórsalafari’ (‘crusader’) 29, 51–53, 55,
56, 58Sigur›r Sigur›arson 50
Sigur›r, called ‘ullstrengr’ (‘woolband’) 48, 50
Skei›ar-Brandr 2
Skopti ¯gmundarson 48
Snjófrí›r Svásadóttir 2, 3
Steigar-ﬁórir: see ﬁórir ﬁór›arson
Svási, King of the Lapps 2, 3
Sveinn Álfífuson, son of Knútr ríki,King of Norway 1030–35 27, 32,
35, 36
Sveinn, called ‘bryggjufótr’ (‘pierfoot’?) 34
Sveinn Hákonarson, jarl 13, 21, 23, 24
Sveinn Haraldsson, King of Denmark,called ‘tjúguskegg’ (‘fork-beard’)20, 21
Sveinn, son of Haraldr flettir 48
Sveinn Úlfsson, King of Denmark 37,
38, 40, 41
Sygur›r = Sigur›r

119Úlfr ﬁorgilsson, father of Sveinn, Kingof Denmark 37
Ulli (Erlendr), son of Hákon jarl 13
Vémundr, called ‘vƒlubrjótr’ (‘breakerof sorceresses’ or ‘knuckle-crusher’?) 9Ví›ku›r (-kunnr) Jóansson 50, 51
Vi›rir (Ó›inn) 1
Vig›a, wife of Hersir 15
ﬁangbrandr, priest 19
ﬁjóstólfr Álason 60
ﬁóra, mother of Hákon gó›i, called‘Mostrstƒng’ (‘pole of Mostr’) 6ﬁóra of Remol, mistress of Hákon jarl 13
ﬁórálfr Skólmsson, an Icelander, called‘inn sterki’ (‘the strong’) 6ﬁórir, brother of Magnús gó›i 40
ﬁórir Rƒgnvaldsson, jarl of Mœrr, called‘ﬂegjandi’ (‘the silent’) 11
ﬁórir ﬁór›arson, called ‘Steigar-ﬁórir’43, 46, 48
ﬁórir ﬁórisson, called ‘hundr’ (‘dog’)26, 31
ﬁorkell, called ‘klyppr’ (‘squarelybuilt’?) 9
ﬁorleifr Hƒr›a-Kárason, called ‘inn
spaki’ (‘the wise’) 4, 5
ﬁormó›r, priest 19
ﬁórólfr, called ‘lúsa(r)skegg’ (‘lousebeard’) 9, 17, 18
ﬁorsteinn, called ‘knarrasmi›r’ (‘boatbuilder’) 31
ﬁri›i (Ó›inn) 1
ﬁyri, daughter of Haraldr blátƒnn 20¯gmundr, son of Kyrpinga-Ormr, called‘dengir’ (‘hammerer’?) 60
Tósti Go›inason (Tostig Godwineson)
42¯gmundr Skoptason 50
Tryggvi, son of Haraldr hárfagri 2¯gmundr, called ‘sviptir’ (‘depriver’,‘pirate’?) 60
Tryggvi Óláfsson, King of Norway 9,
16, 17·mundi = Ámundi¯zurr, father of Gunnhildur konungamó›ir, called ‘lafskegg’ (‘danglingÚlfr Hranason 50Úlfr Óspaksson, ‘stalleri’ (‘marshal’) 39
beard’) or ‘toti’ (‘teat’) 5

INDEX OF PLACE-NAMES(References are to the chapter numbers)
Alrekssta›ir (Årstad), Hƒr›aland 6, 9 Ger›i (Gjerde), Hƒr›aland 31
Austrvegr, Austrvegir (eastern Europe, Grenmarr (Langesundsfjorden),Grenland 24
Russia etc.) 25, 26, 33, 34, 39
Gulaﬂingslƒg, Golaﬂingslƒg, districtin western Norway 46
Borgund, Sunnmœrr 26
Brenneyjar, islands near the mouth ofHa›aland (Hadeland), Upplƒnd 1, 2
the Gautelfr, Sweden 36
Hafrsvágr [= Hafrsfjƒr›r (Hasfjord,
Bretland (Britain; Wales) 50
Hafrsfjorden)], Rogaland 2
Byskupssteinn, Fitjar, Hƒr›aland 6
Hákonarhella (Håkonshella), Hƒr›aland
6
Dalr [= Sunndalr (Sundal) and Nor›dalr
Halland, Sweden 41(Nordal)], Sweden 49Danmƒrk (Denmark) 2, 5, 7, 11, 20, Hallvar›skirkja, Oslo 58
Hálogaland (Hålogaland) 48
24, 35–38, 40, 41, 48, 55
Háls í Limafir›i, Denmark 10, 12
Egg (Egge), Sparbyggvafylki, ﬁránd- Harmr (Velfjorden), Hálogaland 48
heimr 26
Hasleyjarsund, Rogaland 4
Eistland (Estonia) 18
Haugar (Haugesund), Rogaland 4
Elgjusetr [= Elgisetr] (Elgeseter), Haukbœr (Håkeby), Ranríki 45
Ni›aróss 42
Hefring (Høvringen), near Ni›aróss
England 2, 5–7, 13, 19, 21–23, 26,
46, 4836, 37, 42, 51–53
Helganes (Helgenæs), Jótland 37
Englandshaf (North Sea) 27
Hesjutún (Hesstun), Hálogaland 48
Eys‡sla (Ösel/Saaremaa), Eistland 17 Hjaltland (Shetland) 19
Eyrar (Ørene), in Ni›aróss 46
Hl‡rskógshei›r (Lyrskovshede), Denmark (but now in Germany) 38
Finney(jar) (Finnøy), Rogaland 31 Hólmgar›r (Novgorod) 17, 18
Fitjar (Fitje), Stor›, Hƒr›aland 6
Hólmr [= Ni›arhólmr], Ni›aróss 13Flæmingjaland (Flanders) 19
Hringaríki (Ringerike), Upplƒnd 1
Forland (Folland), Nor›mœrr 48
Hƒkló [= ¯gló; cf. Rygh 1897–1936,
XV 29] (Skatval), Stjórdœlafylki,Fræ›i (Frædøy/Frei), Nor›mœrr 5
ﬁrándheimr 10Færeyjar (The Faeroes) 19Hƒr›aland (Hordaland) 19
Gamlaleir, Gaulardalr 5Írland (Ireland) 19, 51, 58
Gar›ar [= Gar›aríki, Russia] 24Ísland (Iceland) 19, 29
Gar›r [= Mikligar›r] 39
Gauladalr, Gaulardalr (Gauldalen),Ja›arr (Jæren), Rygjafylki 2
ﬁrándheimr 5, 13
Gautland [i. e. Vestra-Gautland] Jamtaland (Jämtland), Sweden 31(Götaland) 5, 49
Jarlshellir (Jarlshelleren), Gaulardalr 13

Sweden and the BalticIndex of place-names

125

Jómsborg (possibly Wolin in present- Raumaríki (Romerike) 16
day Poland) 19
Raumsdalr (Romsdal) 48
Jórsalaland (The Holy Land) 20
Remol [= Rimul(l)] (Romol), Gaulardalr 13
Jórsalir (Jerusalem) 52, 53
Rogaland 4
Kalmarnar (Kalmar), Smálƒnd, Swe- Rykinvík (Røykenvik), Rƒnd 1
den 56
Rƒnd (Randsfjorden), lake in Ha›aland,Upplƒnd 1
Kaupangr [= Ni›aróss] 13, 46–48, 52
Klémetskirkja, Ni›aróss 46
Sau›ungasund (Sauesundet), Fjalir,
Kristskirkja, Ni›aróss 40, 47, 52
Fir›afylki 23Kƒrmt (Karmøy), Rogaland 5
Saxland (Saxony) 25, 55
Limafjƒr›r (Limfjorden), Denmark Seljuhverfi (Jøssund), Nor›mœrr 48
Selund [older form of Sjóland] 5
10, 12
Sjóland, Sjáland (Sjælland, Zealand),
Lundar (Lunde), Gaulardalr 13
Denmark 20, 40
Skáney (Skåne) 5
Máríukirkja, Ni›aróss 42
Sker›ingsste›ja (Skjerdingstad), GaularMe›alhús (Melhus), Gaulardalr 13
dalr 13
Mikligar›r (Constantinople or ByzanSkotborgará (Kongeå), Jótland 38
tium) 33, 55
Mo(r)str (Moster), Hƒr›aland 6, 19 Skotland (Scotland) 19, 50
Mærin (Mære), Sparbyggvafylki, Skúlagar›r, Ni›aróss 46
Sleygsarfjƒr›r (Storfjorden), Sunnmœrr
ﬁrándheimr 526Mœrr (Møre) 11Smálƒnd (Småland), Sweden 56
Sóli (Sola), Ja›arr, Rygjafylki 26
Naumudalr (Namdalen) 15
Sótanes (Sotenäs), Ranríki 16
Nesjar (Brunlanes), Vestfold 24
Ni›aróss (Trondheim), Strindafylki, Spáníaland (Spain) 7
Steinbjƒrg (Steinberget), near Ni›aróss
ﬁrándheimr 35, 42, 44–46
13, 47
Niz (Nissan), river in Halland, SweSteinn (Stein), Hringaríki, Upplƒnd 1
den 41
Stiklasta›ir (Stiklestad), Veradalr,Nor›hƒr›aland (Nordhordland) 6
ﬁrándheimr 31
Nor›imbraland (Northumbria) 7, 42
Nóregr (Norway) 2, 4–6, 8–11, 13, Stor› (Stord), Hƒr›aland 6
14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23–26, 33, 36, Su›reyjar (Hebrides) 23
39–43, 45, 49, 55, 57, 58
Sunnmœrr (Sunnmøre) 48
Normandie (Normandy) 42
Súrnadalr (Surnadal), Nor›mœrr 5
Svíﬂjó› (Sweden) 13, 17, 31, 36
Orkneyjar (Orkney) 17, 19, 42, 50
Sæheimr (Seim), Hƒr›aland 6
Oslo, ·sló (Oslo), Vingulmƒrk 58
Sæheimr (Jarlsberg?), Vestfold 58
Sæla [= Selja] (Selje), Fir›ir 23
Pétrskirkja (St Peter’s), Mikligar›r 55
Tryggvareyrr, Sótanes, Ranríki 16
Ranríki (Bohuslän), Sweden 41, 45 Túnsberg (Tønsberg), Vestfold 58

126Ágrip af Nóregskonungasƒgum

Úla›sstír (Ulster), Ireland 51
Ungeraland (Hungary) 55
Upplƒnd (Oppland) 17, 24, 48
Vagnvíkastrƒnd (Vanvikan), ﬁrándheimr 48
Valdalr (Valldal), Sunnmœrr 26
Vambarhólmr (Vomba), Hálogaland48
Var›ynjar (Valbo), Sweden 49
Véar (Vedbo), Sweden 49
Veradalr (Verdal), ﬁrándheimr 31
Vestrlƒnd 7
Vig›a, Naumudalr 15
Vigg (Viggja), Orkadalr, ﬁrándheimr
48
Vík [= Víkin] 47, 60
Vin›land, Vinnland, Vennland, Vend-

land (Wendland, Land of the Wends;
in modern Poland and northern Germany) 2, 19, 20, 37Vƒr›ynjar = Var›ynjar
ﬁexdalr (Teksdal), Seljuhverfi, Nor›mœrr 48
ﬁoptyn [= ﬁoptar] (Tofte), Gu›brandsdalar 3
ﬁrándheimr, ﬁrndheimr (Trondheim(en)/Trøndelag) 5, 10, 31, 40,48¯gló (Skatval), Stjórdœlafylki, ﬁrándheimr 10¯gvaldsnes (Avaldsnes), Kƒrmt, Rygjafylki 5·sló = Oslo

INDEX OF OTHER NAMES(References are to the chapter numbers)
Barthólómeúsmessa 51
Danir (Danes) 10, 18
Eistr (Estonians) 17
Gautar (people of Götaland (southern
Sweden)) 18
Golaﬂingslƒg (the law of Gulaﬂing inwestern Norway) 5
Háleygir (people of Hálogaland) 11
Háleygjatal, a poem by Eyvindr
skáldaspillir 15Írir (Irishmen) 51
Jóansmessa 19
Kvernbiti, a sword 6

Míkjálsmessa 19
Miklagildi 44Mœrir (people of Mœrr) 11
Nor›menn (Norwegians) 6, 8, 18,
28
Oddmjór, a poem 2
Ormr inn langi, a ship 20
Upplendingar (people of Upplƒnd,Norway) 46
Vƒrsar (people of Vƒrs, modern Voss,Hƒr›aland) 9ﬁrœndir (people of ﬁrándheimr) 5,
31, 35, 46