On the Receiving End The Role of Scholarship, Memory, and Genre in Constructing Ljósvetninga saga Yoav Tirosh Dissertation towards the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Iceland School of Humanities Faculty of Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies October 2019 Íslensku- og menningardeild Háskóla Íslands hefur metið ritgerð þessa hæfa til varnar við doktorspróf í íslenskum bókmenntum Reykjavík, 21. ágúst 2019 Torfi Tulinius deildarforseti The Faculty of Icelandic and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Iceland has declared this dissertation eligible for a defence leading to a Ph.D. degree in Icelandic Literature Doctoral Committee: Ármann Jakobsson, supervisor Pernille Hermann Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir On the Receiving End © Yoav Tirosh Reykjavik 2019 Dissertation for a doctoral degree at the University of Iceland. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author. ISBN 978-9935-9491-2-7 Printing: Háskólaprent Contents Abstract v Útdráttur vii Acknowledgements ix Prologue: Lentils and Lenses—Intent, Audience, and Genre 1 1. Introduction 5 1.1 Ljósvetninga saga’s Plot in the A-redaction and C-redaction 6 1.2 How to Approach Ljósvetninga saga 8 1.2.1 How to Approach This Thesis 9 1.2.2 Material Philology 13 1.2.3 Authorship and Intentionality 16 1.3 The Manuscripts 20 1.3.1 AM 561 4to 21 1.3.2 AM 162 C fol. 26 2. The Part About the Critics 51 2.1 The Debate on Ljósvetninga saga’s Origins in Nineteenth- and Twentieth- Century Scholarship 52 2.1.1 Early Discussion of Ljósvetninga saga: A Compilation of Loosely Connected Episodes 52 2.1.2 Þáttr theory 54 2.1.3 Freeprose and Ljósvetninga saga as a “Unique” Example of Oral Variance: The Primacy of the C-redaction 57 2.1.4 Bookprose and Ljósvetninga saga as a Misrepresented and Authored Text: The Primacy of the A-redaction 62 2.1.5 The Oral vs. Literary Composition Compromise and the Re- Establishment of the C-redaction’s Primacy 69 i 2.2 Dating Ljósvetninga saga? 76 2.3 A New Look at the Ljósvetninga saga–Brennu-Njáls saga Connection 82 2.4 Conclusion 96 3. Are Each of the Redactions Internally Consistent? 101 3.1 Chs. 1–4: Where the Feud Between Guðmundr inn ríki and the Sons of Þorgeirr Ljósvetningagoði Is Initiated 104 3.1.1 Ǫlvir’s Daughter, Sǫlmundr, and Ófeigr 104 3.1.2 Jarl Hákon Enlists Guðmundr inn ríki and Þorgeirr Ljósvetningagoði’s Help 107 3.1.3 Guðmundr and Þorgeirr Contend with the Þorgeirssynir 110 3.2 The “Þættir”: Where Guðmundr inn ríki Gets Involved in the Northeastern Inner-Family Dispute 111 3.2.1 Sǫrla þáttr 112 3.2.2 Ófeigs þáttr and Vǫðu-Brands þáttr 115 3.3 Chs. 13–18: Where Guðmundr inn ríki Plots Against Þórir Helgason and Þorkell hákr Þorgeirsson 119 3.3.1 The Wedding and the Insult 120 3.3.2 Guðmundr’s Case against Akra-Þórir 122 3.3.3 Guðmundr’s Case Against Þórir Helgason 125 3.3.4 Guðmundr Uses Rindill Against Þorkell hákr 137 3.4 Chs. 18–21 (Including the Part Only Extant in the C-Redaction) 142 3.4.1 Þorkell’s Death 142 3.4.2 Vengeance for Rindill 143 3.4.3 Guðmundr’s Death 148 3.5 Chs. 22–31: Where Eyjólfr Guðmundsson Takes Over the Narrative 154 3.5.1 Eyjólfr Guðmundarson Struggles with His Brother Koðrán to Inherit Möðruvellir 154 3.5.2 The Battle at Kakalahóll 156 3.5.3 Legal Proceedings After the Battle 158 3.5.4 Chronological Discrepancies 159 3.5.5 The Feud’s End 163 3.6 Ch. 32: Which Ends with an Abrupt 165 3.7 Conclusion 166 ii 4. The Part About Memory 171 4.1 Introduction 171 4.2 Barði Guðmundsson and the Search for an Author 173 4.3 Synchronic and Diachronic Approaches to the Past 180 4.3.1 A Synchronic Reading of Ljósvetninga saga: Lundarbrekkumálið 183 4.3.2 A Synchronic Reading of Ljósvetninga saga: AM 162 c fol. and Guðmundur Arason hinn ríki 194 4.3.3 A Diachronic Reading of Ljósvetninga saga: AM 162 c fol. and the Fifteenth Century 201 4.3.4 A Diachronic Reading of Ljósvetninga saga: AM 561 4to and the Fourteenth-Century fin de siècle 207 4.4 Conclusion 210 5. The Part about the Genres 213 5.1 Genre in Old Norse Studies 217 5.2 Towards a Definition of the Íslendingasögur 221 5.3 Post-Classical Íslendingasögur 228 5.3.1 Gull-Þóris saga 233 5.3.2 Finnboga saga 236 5.3.3 Do Ljósvetninga saga, Gull-Þóris saga, and Finnboga saga Belong to the Same Genre? 246 5.4 Location, Location, Location? Genre in its Manuscript Context 247 5.4.1 AM 561 4to Organizing Principle: Regional History with Entertaining Interlude 253 5.4.2 First AM 162 c fol. Organizing Principle: Plot Expansion 256 5.4.3 Second AM 162 c fol. Organizing Principle: Power as Theme 260 5.5 Conclusion 264 6. Conclusion and Final Thoughts 267 Appendix: Ljósvetninga saga’s Manuscripts 275 Bibliography 279 Manuscripts 279 Primary sources 280 Secondary sources 284 iii Abstract Ljósvetninga saga takes place in Northern Iceland during the tenth and elev- enth centuries and focuses on the political maneuverings of the chieftain Guðmundr inn ríki Eyjólfsson and his son Eyjólfr. Most of the academic debate surrounding Ljósvetninga saga has focused on the issue of its origins. This saga, most likely written in the thirteenth century, is atypical in that it has two seperate redactions that offer highly divergent information and narratives in several segments, dividing the saga between the A-redaction, based on the late fourteenth–early fifteenth-century manuscript AM 561 4to, and the C-redaction, based on the mid-fifteenth-century manuscript AM 162 c fol. and its approximately fifty post-medieval paper copies. The divergent redactions are the source of much speculation about the text’s origins, split between an interpretation of oral composition, commonly re- ferred to as Freeprose, and one of written composition, commonly referred to as Bookprose. These two understandings of the saga are also tied to two different editions of the saga, which have been alternately used to elevate one redaction over the other. Theodore Andersson’s attempt to shift the debate toward a compromise between Freeprose and Bookprose has only been partially successful, due, among other reasons, to his continued ele- vation of one redaction (the C-redaction). This thesis approaches both re- dactions as independent, internally-coherent texts rather than stressing their literary relationship. The thesis deals with its primary question: How did the reception of Ljósvetninga saga influence its construction? It shows that Ljósvetninga saga has been constantly rewritten over time by its oral perform- ers, its literary authors, its scribes, its publishers, and its scholars. In the introduction, the thesis establishes its material philology ap- proach, presents its assumptions about medieval authorship and intention- ality, and argues for the use of the paper manuscript AM 485 4to as the v base manuscript for its treatment of C-redaction. The scholarly debate about the saga is presented with special attention paid to matters of origins and dating, examining Ljósvetninga saga’s relationship with Brennu-Njáls saga, and what is gained from a literary connection between the two. A literary interpretation of both redactions as texts that have their own intrinsic value is provided, showing how each of these texts creates meaning using internal connections, including the C-redaction’s þættir. Ljósvetninga saga is used as a tool to discuss the role of cultural memory in composition and interpretation, with a stress on the scholar Barði Guðmundsson, AM 162 c fol.’s fifteenth-century scribe Ólafur Loftsson, and AM 561 4to’s hypo- thetical fourteenth-century context. The thesis offers a synchronic and a diachronic reading: the first treats memory as a template for events and people contemporaneous with the author, whereas the second acknowl- edges both past and present as significant for interpretation. The thesis also examines Ljósvetninga saga in its generic context, questioning and ex- panding the definition of the Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Early Icelanders) cat- egory, and rejecting the usefulness of the term ‘post-classical’ Íslendingasögur altogether. Using Rick Altman’s concept of generic crossroads, the thesis analyses both redactions’ manuscripts’ approach to the issue of power. This thesis reveals how scholarly preconceptions guided the reception of a specific saga, Ljósvetninga saga, and contributes to a wider understand- ing of how saga, Old Norse, medieval, and general literature are each con- stantly changing and unstable, both in their preservation, and in the ways they are presented to the general public and scholarly community. vi Útdráttur Ljósvetninga saga gerist á Norðurlandi á tíundu og elleftu öld og fjallar fyrst og fremst um pólitískar fléttur höfðingjans Guðmundar hins ríka Eyjólfs- sonar og sonar hans Eyjólfs. Fræðileg umræða um Ljósvetninga sögu hefur öðru fremur einblínt á uppruna hennar. Sagan, sem talin er rituð á þrettándu öld, er óvenjuleg að því leyti að hún er varðveitt í tveim gerðum sem mjög eru frábrugðnar um ýmis atriði og atburði. Þannig skiptist sagan í A-gerð, sem byggð er á handritinu AM 561 4to frá seinni hluta fjórtándu aldar eða upphafi þeirrar fimmtándu, og í C-gerð, sem byggð er á han- dritinu AM 162 c fol. frá miðri fimmtándu öld og um það bil fimmtíu pappírsafritum sem rituð eru eftir siðbreytingu. Hinar frábrugðnu gerðir sögunnar hafa orðið tilefni til mikilla vangaveltna um uppruna sögunnar og skiptar skoðanir þar um. Ein skoðun er sú að sagan sé upprunnin í munnlegri geymd og er kennd við skóla sagnfestukenningarinnar, en ön- nur skoðun er sú að sagan sé frumsamin á bókfell og er hún kennd við bókfestukenninguna.