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Searchable Version SAGA-BOOK VOL. XXI VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON 1982-85 SAGA-BOOK OF THE VIKING SOCIETY Vol. XXI 1982-1985 CONTENTS ARTICLES PAGE Two LOST SAGAS. Judith Jesch BEINTA 00 PEDER ARRHEBOE: A CASE-STUDY IN FAROESE ORAL TRADITION. John F. West. 15 CHRISTIAN AND PAGAN REFERENCES IN ELEVENTH-CENTURY NORSE POETRY: THE CASEOF ARN6RR JARLASKALD. Diana Edwards 34 "THE COURTLY OLD CARLE": SIR HENRY HOLLAND AND NINETEENTH- CENTURY IcELAND. Andrew Wawn 54 LONGINUS, CHARLEMAGNE, AND ODlNN: WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY, DE GESTIS REGUM ANGLORUM II, 135. Thomas D. Hill 80 UNFRlD: AN ApPROACH TO A DEFINITION. Christine Fell 85 THE READER IN GREms SAGA. Robert Cook 133 ROWING CHANTS AND THE ORIGINS OF DROTTKV£DR HA7TK Richard Perkins 155 YNGVARR'S EXPEDITION TO THE EAST AND A RUSSIAN INSCRIBED STONE CROSS. Jonathan Shepard 222 REVIEWS PAGE INTRODUKTION TIL SAXO. By Anker Teilgard Laugesen. SAXOSTUDIER. Edited by Ivan Boserup. - SAXO GRAMMA­ TICUS. A MEDIEVAL AUTHOR BETWEEN NORSE AND LATIN CULTURE. Edited by Karsten Friis-Jensen. - SAXO GRAMMA­ TICus. KOMPOSITION OCH VARLDSBILD I GESTA DANORUM: By Kurt Johannesson. - KVINNOR OCH MAN I GESTA DANORUM. By Birgit Strand. - SAXO GRAMMATICUS. THE HISTORY OF THE DANES. BOOKS I-IX. Edited and translated by Hilda Ellis Davidson and Peter Fisher. Vols. 1·2. - SAXO GRAMMATICUS. DANORUM REGUM HEROUMQUE HISTORIA. BOOKS X-XVI. Edited and translated by Eric Christiansen. (Peter Foote) 101 SPECVLVM NORROENVM. Edited by Ursula Dronke etai. (David & Ian McDougall) 106 THE LEGEND OFBRYNHILD. By Theodore M. Andersson. (John L. Flood) .. 108 S6LARL16D. TYUlNG OG TOLKINGSGRUNNLAG. By Bjarne Fidjestel. (Margaret Clunies Ross) .. 111 ORIGINALE RlDDARASOGUR ALS TElL ALTNORDISCHER SAGA- LITIERATUR. By Astrid van NahL (Geraldine Barnes) 114 LITURGICA ISLANDlCA. Edited by Lilli Gjerlew. - DER WIENER PSALTER. COD. VIND. 2713. Edited by Heike Uecker. (John Tucker) 115 DER PARTIZIPPERFEKT OER SCHWACHEN JA-VERBEN. By J6n Hilmar Jonsson. (Paul Bibire) 117 DUDO. NORMANUIETS HlSTORIE UNDER DE F0RSTE HERTUGER. Translated by Erling Albreetsen. (Kirsten Williams) 119 KVINNANS EKONOMISKA STALLNING UNDER NORDISK MEDELTIn. Edited by Hedda Gunneng and Birgit Strand. (Judith Jesch) 122 ISLENZKIR SJAVARHIETIIR 1-2. By Luevfk Kristjansson. (Jeffrey Cosser) 124 VIKING AGE DENMARK. By Else Roesdahl. (Stewart Oakley) 124 ARKEOLOGI PA GOTLAND. Edited by Waldemar Falck et at. (James Graham-Campbell) 125 DE KOMMO VIDA. .. By Per Lundstrom. (Helen Clarke) 126 GRfMNIR 1. Edited by Porhallur Vilmundarson. (Sverrir Tomasson) 126 DANAKONUNGA SQGUR. Edited by Bjarni Gucnason. (Anthony Faulkes) 293 EOOA. PROLOGUE AND GYLFAGINNING. By Snorri Sturluson. Edited by Anthony Faulkcs. (Margaret Clunies Ross) 296 THEMEDIEVAL SAGA. By Carol J, Clover, (R, I. Page) 299 FEUD IN THE IcELANDIC SAGA. By Jesse Byoek. (Alison Finlay) 303 ISLANDISCHE MARCHENSAGAS. By Jiirg Glauser. (Judith Jesch) 305 EOOA. A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS. Edited by Robert J. Glen- dinning and Haraldur Bessason. (Margaret Clunies Ross) 307 THE VIKINGS, Edited by R, T, Farrell. (R, I. Page) 308 KINGS AND VIKINGS. By P. H. Sawyer. - THE VIKINGS IN HISTORY, By F, Dooald Logan. (R, W, McTurk) 311 THE TRADITIONAL BALLADS OF IcELAND. By Vesteinn Glason. (1, E, Turville-Petre] 313 UM UPPRUNA SVERRISSOGU. By Lams H, Blondal. (Paul Bibire) 314 KING ARTHUR NORTH-BY-NoRTHWEST. By Marianne E. Kalinke. (Geraldine Barnes) 315 TWO LOST SAGAS By JUDITH JESCH HE lost literature of medieval Iceland has left behind various Ttraces. Some of these are notes or scribblings in the margins of manuscripts, or on their blank pages, cryptic references to sagas we no longer can identify; others can be found in those texts which have survived into our time. Such traces can be analysed to obtain evidence of this lost literature. The purpose of such a study is not merely accumulative, however, to add to the glory of Iceland and the Icelanders by increasing the number of sagas. Studying lost sagas forces us to look more closely at those which still exist, and sheds oblique light on the surviving literature. This article! will consider two instances in which scholars have proposed a lost lslendingasaga as the source of an existing text. Positing a lost source is often a refuge of commentators trying to explain the inexplicable. In the study of Old Norse literature, the question of sources, whether they were written or oral, native or foreign, has been a major topic of discussion and has figured in most of the academic dogfights of the last hundred years. When there is so much dissension about the status of existing sources, the investigation of those which are lost would seem a difficult and unrewarding exercise. Yet most lost sagas are only accessible if they were used, to a greater or lesser degree, in works that still exist, so their investigation cannot be separated from the general problem. Before a lost saga is posited as a source for a particular work, it should first be shown that the work made use of sagas still extant; there must be very good reasons for postulating a lost saga as a source for a text that did not otherwise, as far as we know, draw on earlier works. It is also useful to investigate the way in which extant sagas were used, as this can provide indications as to how the author might have treated a putative lost source. The first place to look for the influence of a lost lslendingasaga is in other lslendingasogur, since their interrelationship and dependence on one another are widely acknowledged. In the case of existing sources, specific verbal parallels can show that the author of a later work was influenced by an earlier one, but this course is not available when the source is a postulated lost saga. 2 Saga-Book of the Viking Society In the absence of an argument from verbal parallels, all other possibilities must be exhausted before a lost saga can be assumed with confidence as a source for an existing one. I believe Sigurour Nordal did not have strong enough reasons for his, admittedly hesitant, assumption that there was once a *I>orsteins saga Kuggasonar which was a source for Bjarnar saga Hitdcelakappa (BorgfirOinga sogur 1938, lxxxi-iii), The possibility that such a saga once existed cannot be denied but most of the points that suggest such a possibility can be explained in some other way. Porsteinn is introduced in ch. 27 of Bjarnar saga: l>orsteinn bet maor ok var Kuggason; hann bj6 i Ljarskogum. Hann var auoigr maor at fe ok vel kynjaor ok p6tti vera ojafnaoarrnaor; hann var mregClr viCl gotga menn ok g60a drengi. Porfinna het kona hans ok var nastabrcecra l>6rdisi, konu Bjarnar. He plays a major part in the rest of the story; first he is co-opted on to 1>6ror's side ofthe feud, then he attempts to mediate between Bjorn and 1>6ror, and finally he makes a settlement for Bjorn's death. According to Nordal (BorgfirOinga sogur 1938, lxxxii), the way in which Porsteinn is introduced suggests that the author knew more about him than he thought necessary to relate, particularly as I>orsteinn's genealogy in the saga is so sketchy. Nordal also believed that some of the characters in the latter part of the work may have come from a lost *I>orsteins saga, arguing that the section which begins with the arrival of Porsteinn on the scene, is much the best part of the saga, in terms of style and artistry iBorgfirbinga sogur 1938, lxxvi). One of the major problems when dealing with Bjarnar saga is that it exists in only one medieval fragment, and several early modern copies, none of which are complete. Even when these are put together, we find the first fivechapters of the saga are summary, and there is a lacuna in the middle. The lack of a detailed introduc­ tion for Porsteinn and his sketchy genealogy may therefore have something to do with manuscript preservation: it is conceivable that such information was in a part of the original text now missing. It is not unknown for a character to be introduced in the beginning of a saga, and then reintroduced when he first plays an active part in events if that is much later. In ch. 34 of Bjarnar saga, Porkell Eyj6lfsson, who plays a major role in the settlement which concludes the narrative, is described as a frtendi and brcebrungrof Porsteinn Kuggason, but the relation­ ship is not explained in more detail. However, Porkell is a well­ known figure from other sagas (he is Guonin's fourth husband in Two Lost Sagas 3 Laxdcela saga) and both he and Porsteinn were grandsons of 1>6ror gellir, and thus members of a well-known family. The author of Bjarnar saga may not have felt the need to explain such a well­ known relationship. Moreover, Nordal himself assumed that the author of Bjarnar saga made use of local genealogies from Breioafjorour as a source (Borgfirbinga sogur 1938, lxxx), and if this was so, he need not have turned to a lost *Porsteins saga to discover the relationship with I>orkell Eyj6lfsson. Nordal thought iBorgfiroinga sogur 1938, lxxxii-iii) that the names of the people (in Bjarnar saga ch. 27) visited by Porsteinn before he was waylaid by the storm at Bjorn's farm could have come from the lost saga: Urn vetrinn eptir, fyrir j6lin, bj6sk Porsteinn til feroar til at scekja j61aveizlu til Dalks ok riOr mi a Strondina ut til I>orgeirs Steinssonar, frenda sins, a Breioabolstao, ok Iatti hann Porstein suorferoar, ef hann vildi hans rao hafa. I>orsteinn vill ekki annat en fara, ok f6r hann meo t6lf menno l>ar var Porfinna, kona hans, mee honum; hon var d6ttir Vermundar 6r Vatnsfiroi, Pau f6ru a Dunkaoarstaoi til gistingar, til Qzurar, fQour Kalfs, en fara urn daginn eptir suer a Knappafellsheloi, en gistu a Hafrsstoourn f Knappadal.
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