Gripla - 01.01.1984, Blaðsíða 260

256
GRIPLA
The sagas derived from Saxo are interesting not for the material they
contain, which is nothing new, but for the ways in which the authors
allowed themselves varying degrees of liberty in their use of this ma-
terial. They did not suffer any inhibitions about combining Saxo’s ac-
counts with alternative or complementary Icelandic versions, where
these existed, and indeed felt free to combine their traditional sources
with any other kind of material they had in the interests of producing
entertaining sagas. These sagas reflect the changed tastes of the later
period, with their spun-out adventures, numerous battles and romantic
bias. Although they may seem wearying by modern standards they
would have been less so when read aloud, and their audience certainly
enjoyed them.
Those sagas which have diverged most from Saxo are those that do
not concern heroes well-known to Icelanders through their own litera-
ture. Saxo’s work was not, generally speaking, given the same status as
were the medieval Icelandic works. This can be seen not only in the
manner in which the authors felt free to use his accounts as they thought
fit if no related Icelandic accounts existed, but also in that, when contra-
dictory versions of events occur in Saxo and in the Icelandic sources,
preference was given to the native version.
Saxo’s work was apparently never well-known in Iceland. Although
it circulated in both early Danish translations and in Latin editions, it
may be assumed that only a few people read them. The educated Páll
Pálsson of Reykjavík copied the tale of the first voyage of Thorkillus in
about 1860 (Lbs. 228 8vo), and knew that it came from Saxo, but he
apparently did not have access to the entire work. The energetic Magnús
Jónsson, in spite of his knowledge of medieval Icelandic literature,
seems to have not even been aware that Gesta Danorum existed.
Those who did know Saxo’s work were probably mainly men who
had had a formal education, often partly abroad. It is of interest that
when attempts have been made to trace the authors of these sagas and
rímur, it often transpires that they were learned men, ministers of relig-
ion or government officials. It is known too from other sources, that
such men were responsible not only for composing sagas derived from
Saxo, but also similar works. This tells us something of the status these
sagas had as literary works. (It is also of interest that Gísli Konráðsson
did not hesitate to include some of them among the alternative ‘norræn-
ar heimildir’ he cites in his translation of Saxo.)