The Online Library of Liberty A Project Of Liberty Fund, Inc. Snorre Sturlason, The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, vol. 1 [1220] The Online Library Of Liberty This E-Book (PDF format) is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private, non-profit, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. 2010 was the 50th anniversary year of the founding of Liberty Fund. It is part of the Online Library of Liberty web site http://oll.libertyfund.org, which was established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. To find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, to see other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of the hundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web site. This title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over 1,000 books and quotes about liberty and power, and is available free of charge upon request. The cuneiform inscription that appears in the logo and serves as a design element in all Liberty Fund books and web sites is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, in present day Iraq. To find out more about Liberty Fund, Inc., or the Online Library of Liberty Project, please contact the Director at [email protected]. LIBERTY FUND, INC. 8335 Allison Pointe Trail, Suite 300 Indianapolis, Indiana 46250-1684 Online Library of Liberty: The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, vol. 1 Edition Used: The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings by Snorre Sturlason. Done into English out of the Icelandic by Samuel Laing, revised with notes by Hon. Rasmus B. Anderson (London: Norroena Society, 1907). Vol. 1. Author: Snorre Sturlason Introduction: Samuel Laing Translator: Rasmus B. Anderson About This Title: Vol. 1 of 3. The Heimskringla presents the German mythical god, Odin, as an actual historical figure and the first Norse king. Sturluson traced the history of sixteen famous Nordic kings from this ancient figure through Halvdan the Black (ca. 839-ca. 860) and Magnus V Erlingsson (r. 1162-1184). PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 2 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1703 Online Library of Liberty: The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, vol. 1 About Liberty Fund: Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. Copyright Information: The text is in the public domain. Fair Use Statement: This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 3 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1703 Online Library of Liberty: The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, vol. 1 Table Of Contents The Heimskringla; Or , Chronicle of the Kings of Norway. Preface of Snorre Sturlason. Halfdan the Black Saga. Harald Harfager's Saga. Hakon the Good's Saga. Saga of King Harald Grafeld and of Earl Hakon Son of Sigurd. King Olaf Trygvason's Saga. Saga of Olaf Haraldson. 1 of the Royal Edition There are but four hundred and fifty complete sets made for the world, of which this is copy No. 9 NORRŒNA anglo-saxon classics PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 4 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1703 Online Library of Liberty: The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, vol. 1 [Back to Table of Contents] VALDEMAR II. RECEIVING DAGMAR AT RIBE, 1205. (From a painting by Th. Wegener.) Valdemar II., known as the Victorious, was first married to Margrete of Bohemia, whom the Danes afterwards, in their admiration of her gentleness and beauty, called Dagmar, which signifies “Day's Maiden.” So great a favorite was she with the people that the fame of her virtues was celebrated in their national ballads, “the Kæmpeviser.” It was for many years believed that from her tomb in Ring-stead Abbey issued at midnight the softest strains of heavenly music. The illustration represents her reception as Valdemar's bride and welcome to Denmark by the people. See page 142. THE HEIMSKRINGLA; Or, CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OF NORWAY. PREFACE OF SNORRE STURLASON. In this book I have had old stories written down, as I have heard them told by intelligent people, concerning chiefs who have held dominion in the northern countries, and who spoke the Danish tongue; and also concerning some of their family branches, according to what has been told me. Some of this is found in ancient family registers, in which the pedigrees of kings and other personages of high birth are reckoned up, and part is written down after old songs and ballads which our forefathers had for their amusement. Now, although we cannot just say what truth there may be in these, yet we have the certainty that old and wise men held them to be true. Thjodolf of Hvin was the skald of Harald Harfager, and he composed a poem for King Rognvald the Mountain-high, which is called “Ynglingatal.” This Rognvald was a son of Olaf Geirstadaalf, the brother of King Halfdan the Black. In this poem thirty of his forefathers are reckoned up, and the death and burial-place of each are given. He begins with Fjolner, a son of Yngvefrey, whom the Swedes, long after his time, worshipped and sacrificed to, and from whom the race or family of the Ynglings take their name. Eyvind Skaldaspiller also reckoned up the ancestors of Earl Hakon the Great in a poem called “Haleygjatal,” composed about Hakon; and therein he mentions Sæming, a son of Yngvefrey, and he likewise tells of the death and funeral rites of each. The PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 5 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1703 Online Library of Liberty: The Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings, vol. 1 lives and times of the Yngling race were written from Thjodolf's relation enlarged afterwards by the accounts of intelligent people. As to funeral rites, the earliest age is called the Age of Burning; because all the dead were consumed by fire, and over their ashes were raised standing stones. But after Frey was buried under a cairn at Upsala, many chiefs raised cairns, as commonly as stones, to the memory of their relatives. The Age of Cairns began properly in Denmark after Dan Milkillate had raised for himself a burial-cairn, and ordered that he should be buried in it on his death, with his royal ornaments and armour, his horse and saddle-furniture, and other valuable goods; and many of his descendants followed his example. But the burning of the dead continued, long after that time, to be the custom of the Swedes and Northmen. Iceland was occupied in the time that Harald Harfager was the King of Norway. There were skalds in Harald's court whose poems the people know by heart even at the present day, together with all the songs about the kings who have ruled in Norway since his time; and we rest the foundations of our story principally upon the songs which were sung in the presence of the chiefs themselves or of their sons, and take all to be true that is found in such poems about their feats and battles: for although it be the fashion with skalds to praise most those in whose presence they are standing, yet no one would dare to relate to a chief what he, and all those who heard it, knew to be a false and imaginary, not a true account of his deeds; because that would be mockery, not praise. Of The Priest Are Frode. The priest Are Frode (the learned), a son of Thorgils the son of Geller, was the first man in this country who wrote down in the Norse language narratives of events both old and new. In the beginning of his book he wrote principally about the first settlements in Iceland, the laws and government, and next of the lagmen, and how long each had administered the law; and he reckoned the years at first, until the time when Christianity was introduced into Iceland, and afterwards reckoned from that to his own times. To this he added many other subjects, such as the lives and times of kings of Norway and Denmark, and also of England; besides accounts of great events which have taken place in this country itself. His narratives are considered by many men of knowledge to be the most remarkable of all; because he was a man of good understanding, and so old that his birth was as far back as the year after Harald Sigurdson's fall. He wrote, as he himself says, the lives and times of the kings of Norway from the report of Od Kolson, a grandson of Hal of Sida. Od again took his information from Thorgeir Afradskol, who was an intelligent man, and so old that when Earl Hakon the Great was killed he was dwelling at Nidarnes—the same place at which King Olaf Trygvason afterwards laid the foundation of the merchant town of Nidaros (i. e. Throndhjem) which is now there. The priest Are came, when seven years old, to Haukadal to Hal Thorarinson, and was there fourteen years.