Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar: Difference between revisions

'''''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar''''' is the name of several [[kings' sagas]] on the life of [[Óláfr Tryggvason]], a 10th century Norwegian kings. Versions were written by [[Oddr Snorrason]]; [[Gunnlaugr Leifsson]]; in the ''[[Flateyjarbók]]''; as well as being recorded by [[Snorri Sturluson]] in ''[[Heimskringla]]''; the most detailed version is ''[[Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta]]'' [The Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason] .

==Versions==

There are several version of the saga, some now lost. It is thought that both [[Snorri Sturluson]] (in the ''[[Heimskringla]]'') and the author of ''[[Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta]]'' made use of [[Oddr Snorrason]]'s 12th century latin version work.

It is difficult to tell how closely the Old Norse translation(s) of Oddr's ''Óláfs saga'' resembles the Latin original but it clearly owes a debt to [[hagiography]], presenting King Óláfr as the apostle to the Norwegians.<ref>[http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/yngvar.htm ''Yngvars saga víðförla'']</ref>

===Oddr Snorrason===

''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar'' by [[Oddr Snorrason]] was recorded in the 12th century in [[latin]].

Its subject is the 10th-century Norwegian king [[Óláfr Tryggvason]]. The original work has been almost completely lost but a translation into [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] is preserved in two nearly complete versions and a fragment of a third. The work is often referred to as '''''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar'''''. Oddr made use of previous written works including those of [[Sæmundr fróði]] and [[Ari Þorgilsson]] as well as ''[[Acta sanctorum in Selio]]'' and possibly ''[[Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium]]''.{{sfn|Hoops|2003|p=66}}

===Gunnlaugr Leifsson===

[[Gunnlaugr Leifsson]] composed a Latin biography of King [[Óláfr Tryggvason]]. This work is now lost but it is believed to have been an expansion of the Latin ''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar'' written by his monastic brother, [[Oddr Snorrason]]. [[Snorri Sturluson]] made use of Gunnlaugr's work when composing his ''[[Heimskringla]]'' and sections of Gunnlaugr's work were incorporated into ''[[Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta]]''.{{snf|Simpson|2004|p=166}}

===Heimskringla===

''Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar'' is recorded in the c.1230s ''[[Heimskringla]]'' by [[Snorri Sturluson]].

===Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta===

{{main|Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta}}

The ''[[Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta]]'' also known as ''Mesta'' or the ''Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason'' is an extended biography of [[Óláfr Tryggvason]].

It contains detail on the conversion (to christianity) of the king Óláfr Tryggvason and of the skald [[Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld]]. The work uses [[Snorri Sturluson]]'s ''[[Heimskringla]]'', with increased narrative detail, including information from the saga 'biographies' by both [[Oddr Snorrason]] and [[Gunnlaugr Leifsson]], and other works. The work was compiled c. 1300.

===Flateyjarbók===

A version of the ''Mesta'' (''[[Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta]]'') is recorded in the ''[[Flateyjarbók]]'' of c.1390.

==See also==

* ''[[The Saga of King Olaf]]'', by [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

===Sources===

*{{citation| last = Simpson| first = Jacqueline | title = Olaf Tryggvason versus the Powers of Darkness | work = The Witch Figure: Folklore Essays by a Group of Scholars in England Honouring the 75th Birthday of Katherine M Briggs| editor-first = Venetia | editor-last = Newall | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 0-415-33074-2| origyear = 1973 | year = 2004 | pages = 165-187}}

*{{citation| editor-last = Hoops | editor-first = Johannes | year =2003 | title = Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde | volume = 22| publisher = Walter de Gruyter | isbn = 3-11-017351-4}}

===Manuscripts ===

;Oddr Snorrason

* AM 310 4to

* Stock. Perg. 4to no. 18

* Uppsala University Library, DG 4-7

;Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta

* AM 53 fol.

* AM 54 fol.

* AM 61 fol.

* GKS 1005 fol. (''[[Flateyjarbók]]'')

* Stock. Perg. fol. no. 1 (''[[Bergsbók]]'')

=== Editions ===

;Oddr Snorrason

* {{Cite book|title = Saga Ólafs Tryggvasonar af Oddr Snorrason munk|last = |first = |publisher = |year = 1932|isbn = |location = Copenhagen|pages = |editor-last = Finnur Jónsson|editor-first = |editor-link = Finnur Jónsson}}

* {{Cite book|title = Saga Olafs konungs Tryggvasonar er ritaði Oddr muncer|last = |first = |publisher = Grøndahl &Søn|year = 1985|isbn = |location = Christiania|pages = 49–50|editor-last = Groth|editor-first = P.}}

* {{Cite book|title = Konunga sögur|last = |first = |publisher = Íslendingasaganaútgáfan|year = 1957|isbn = |location = |pages = 80–85|editor-last = Guðni Jónsson|editor-first = |editor-link = Guðni Jónsson|volume = Volume 1/3}}

* {{Cite book|title = Olav Tryggvasons saga etter AM 310 qv.|last = |first = |publisher = Selskapet til utgivelse av gamle norske håndskrifter|year = 1974|isbn = |location = Oslo|pages = |editor-last = Holtsmark|editor-first = Anne|editor-link = Anne Holtsmark}}

* {{Cite book|title = Saga Olafs konungs Tryggvasunar: Kong Olaf Tryggvesöns saga forfattet paa latin henimod slutningen af det tolfte arrhundrede af Odd Snorreson|last = |first = |publisher = Brøgger & Christie|year = 1853|isbn = |location = Christiania|pages = 25–26|url = https://archive.org/details/sagaolafskonung00snorgoog|editor-last = Munch|editor-first = P. A.|editor-link = Peter Andreas Munch}}

;Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta

* {{Cite book|title = Flateyjarbók (Codex Flateyensis: MS No 1005 fol. in the Old Royal Collection in the Royal Library of Copenhagen|last = |first = |publisher = Levin & Munksgaard|year = 1930|isbn = |location = Copenhagen|pages = |editor-last = Finnur Jónsson|editor-first = |editor-link = Finnur Jónsson}}

* {{Cite book|title = Bergsbók: Perg. fol. nr. 1 in the Royal Library, Stockholm|last = |first = |publisher = Rosenhilde and Bagger|year = 1963|isbn = |location = Copenhagen|pages = |editor-last = Lindblad|editor-first = Gustaf}}

* {{Cite book|title = Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta|last = |first = |publisher = Munksgaard|year = 1958{{ndash}}61|isbn = |location = Copenhagen|pages = 313–322|series = Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, Ser. A|volume = Volumes 1-2|editor-last = Ólafur Halldórsson|editor-first = }}

* {{Cite book|title = The great saga of Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf the Saint: AM 61 fol.|last = |first = |publisher = Rosenkilde and Bagger|year = 1982|isbn = |location = Copenhagen|pages = |editor-last = Ólafur Halldórsson|editor-first = }}

=== Translation ===

;Oddr Snorrason

* {{Cite book|title = The saga of Olaf Tryggvason by Oddr Snorrason|last = Andersson|first = Theodore M.|publisher = Cornell University Press|year = 2003|isbn = 0801441498|location = Ithaca|pages = 77–79 |series = Islandica|volume = 52|url = https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4oEKvSLTZx4C&lpg=PA142&ots=9bdKM_yQJX&dq=albanus%20sunniva&pg=PA77#v=onepage&q&f=false}}

[[Category:Kings' sagas]]