Gripla - 01.01.1975, Page 166

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GRIPLA
vísur. It is very little evidence to work from, and rather deceptive. Let
us try to see if a closer examination of the texts can give us more.
We can begin with the runes, since their magic value is generally
admitted.2 They appear three times in Sturlunga (Prestssaga Guð-
mundar Góða, ch. 13, íslendinga Saga, ch. 112 and 150) and twice in
Hákonar Saga Hákonarsonar (p. 191). But a comparison with Egla
or Grettla is significant: never in Sturlunga are their socalled magical
virtues mentioned. In three of these five examples, the word is used
simply to denote inscription, and íslendinga Saga, ch. 150 seems de-
cisive: Oddr Sveinbjamarson sends to Snorri Sturluson a letter written
in Pope Gregory’s Dialogues, where it occurs at all possible oppurtun-
of mnes). But nobody was able to read them! On the contrary, we
see in Sturlu Þáttr, ch. 3, how Sturla Þórðarson uses runes in a de-
risive way.
We may content ourselves with speaking only en passant of the
very numerous details conceming prophecies, secondsight and the like.
There is practically no important character in the samtíðarsögur who
is not gifted with this special power. I have studied the question else-
where.3 Of course, this faculty could belong to Northem antiquities
and could even show remnants of shamanism. But we must remember
that this is, par excellence, the attribute of saints and martyrs in medi-
eval hagiography. And, to give a more precise source, it is a set theme
in Pope Gregory’s Dialogues, where it occurs at all possible opportun-
ities. Heilagra Manna Sögur and Postola Sögur show that this kind of
literature was fairly well known in Iceland and there is no need to
labour the point further. The position with regard to such features is
exactly the same as with dreams, another conventional point in the
sagas, and probably of the same origin: they appear to be a some-
what obligatory element or device, which is given a purely literary
utilization. Here, we are far from Völuspá or Fáfnismál! For the rest,
the characters who are the most endowed with the prophetic gift are
the three saint bishops of Iceland!
1 am not saying that there are no pagan magical practices recorded
in the samtíðarsögur: they are certainly present and have been duly
2 G. Turville-Petre: Origins of Icelandic Literature, Oxford, 1953, p. 17; L.
Musset: Introduction á la runologie, Paris, 1965, does not agree.
3 In: The influence of Pope Gregory’s Dialogues . . ., op. cit.