CHAPTER XLIV.

REVENGE 584

A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL SAGAS QUOTED IN THE VIKING AGE, INCLUDING THE PERIODS WITH WHICH THEY DEAL.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────── Name of Saga. │ Century with which │ they deal. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────── │These are Mythical, The Earlier Edda │ and no accurate │ date can be affixed │ to them. │ ” The Later Edda │ ” │ Fórnaldarsögur contains:— │ Völsunga │Partly Mythical. Hervara │ ” Thorstein Vikingsson’s (father of Fridthjof)│ ” Ketil Hæng’s sons │ ” Grim Lodinkinnis’ │ ” Fridthjof’s │ ” │ Hrolf Kraki’s │VI.(?) Half’s │VI.(?) Sögubrot │VI.-VII.(?) Ragnar Lodbrok’s │VIII.(?) Ragnar Lodbrok’s Sons’ │VIII.(?) │ Norna Gest’s │No date can be Gautrek’s │ assigned to these. Orvar Odd’s │ ” Herraud and Bosi’s │ ” Egil and Asmund’s │ ” Hjalmter and Ölver’s │ ” Göngu Hrelf’s │ ” An Bosveigi’s │ ”

⁂ The above dates are all more or less conjectural, and the Sagas are chiefly valuable as illustrating manners and customs.

Egil’s │Middle of IX. to end │ of X. Njala’s │End of X. to │ beginning of XI. Laxdæla │IX.-XI. (886–1030). Eyrbyggja │IX.-XI. (890–1031). │ Islandinga Sögur contains:— │ I. Hord’s Saga │X. (950–990). II. Hœnsa Thoris’ Saga │X.-XI.(990–1010). III. Gunnlaug Ormstunga’s Saga │X.-XI. IV. Viga Styr’s Saga │X.-XI. V. Kjalnesinga Saga │IX.-XI. VI. Gisli Súrsson │X. │ Droplaugarsona Saga │X. │ Hrafnkel Freysgodi │X. │ Bjorn Hitdæla Kappi │First half of XI. │ Kormak’s │X. │ Fornsögur contains:— │ I. Vatnsdæla Saga │IX.-XI. (c. │ 870–1000). II. Floamanna Saga │X. (c. 985–990). III. Hallfred’s Saga │End of X. │ Gretti’s Saga │X.-XI. (Grettir died │ 1031). │ Viga Glum │X. │ Vallaljots │Beginning of XI. │ Vapnfirdinga │IX.-X. │ Thorskfirdinga, or Gullthóri’s │X. (c. 900–930). │ Heidar Viga (continuation of Viga Styr’s) │First half of XI. │ Fœreyinga │X.-XI. (c. 960–1040). │ Finnbogi Rami’s │X. │ Eirek the Red │ │ Thátt of Styrbjörn (nephew of Eirek the │ Victorious, who fell at the battle of │X. Fyrisvellir, 983) │ │ │IX.-X. (the Landnama │ colonisation of │ Iceland). │ Islendinga bok │IX.-XI. (c. │ 874–1118). Ljosvetninga │990–1050. Vemund’s Saga │End of X. century. Svarfdœla │First half of X. │ century. │ Biskupa Sögur contains:— │ Kristni Saga │X.-XII. (c. │ 980–1120). Sturlunga │XII.-XIII. (c. │ 1120–1284). │ Fornmanna Sögur contains:— │ I. Sagas of Kings of Norway │ II. Jomsvikinga Saga │X. III. Knytlinga Saga │XI.-XII. IV. Fagrskinna (short history of Kings of Norway│IX.-XII. from Halfdan the Black to Sverrir) │ │ │Written in first half │ of XIII. cent., Heimskringla Saga contains the Ynglinga Saga, the│ giving history of great work of Snorri Sturluson │ the Kings of Norway │ and Sweden from │ Odin down to 1177. │ Flateyjarbok contains lives of Kings of Norway, │ etc. │ │ Fostbrædra Saga │XI. (c. 1015–30). │ Konung’s Skuggsja │XIII. │ Rimbegla │XIV. │ Orkneyinga │IX.-XIII. (c. │ 870–1206). ─────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────

A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL KINGS OF DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN, SOME OF WHOM HAVE SAGAS OF THEIR OWN.

KINGS OF DENMARK.

│ A.D. Gorm │ 900–940 Harald Bluetooth │ 945–985 Svein Tjuguskegg │ 985–1014 Harald │ 1014–1018 Knut the Great │ 1018–1035 Hörda Knut │ 1035–1042 Magnus the Good, ruled over Denmark and Norway │ 1042–1047 Svein Ulfsson │ 1047–1075

KINGS OF NORWAY.

(Mostly petty Kings.)

│ A.D. Halfdan the Black, died │ 860 Harald Fairhair, reigned│ 860–930 Eirik Bloodaxe ” │ 930–934 Hakon the Good ” │ 934–960 Harald Grafeld (greyskin) ” │ 960–965 Hakon Jarl the Great, the hero of the battle of ” │ Gomsviking, │ 965–995 Olaf Tryggvason ” │ 995–1000 Eirik Jarl ” │ 1000–1015 St Olaf ” │ 1015–1028 Knut the Great ” │ 1028–1035 Magnus the Good ” │ 1035–1047 Harald Hardradi ” │ 1047–1066 Olaf the Quiet ” │ 1066–1093 Magnus Barefoot ” │ 1093–1103 Three sons:—Eystein, Olaf, Sigurd Jórsalafari │ 1103–1130 Civil war—Harald Gilli, Magnus the Blind, and others │ 1130–1162 Magnus Erlingsson │ 1162–1184 Sverrir (Sigurdson) │ 1184–1202

KINGS OF SWEDEN.

(Not mentioned in the Odinic Genealogies, vol. i. p. 67.)

│ A.D. Ivar Vidfadmi │ Kings of Harald Hilditönn │ Sweden and Sigurd Hring │ Denmark. Ragnar Lodbrók │ ” │ Björn Ironside │ Eirik and Refil │ Eymund and Björn │ 800–830 Olaf and Eymund │ c. 850 Eyrik Eymundsson died │ c. 882 Björn Eiriksson and Hring │ 900–950 Eirik the Victorious │ c. 950–994 Olaf Skaut-konung │ c. 994–1022 Önund Jakob │ c. 1022–1050 Eymund the Old │ c. 1050–1060 Steinkel Rögnvaldson │ c. 1060–1066

THE VIKING AGE.