Saga - 1996, Blaðsíða 356

354
RITFREGNIR
ratives into the mainstream of medieval writings, and his work deserves
wide reading among scholars in European literature. Obviously, its great
est appeal will be to Old Norse scholars, and hopefully the book will ^
translated into English or Icelandic so it can fully participate in the dis
course among specialists. That may offer the occasion to correct a
minor blemishes. As a still functioning skjaldmey Hervör was not marrie .
and Ormarr is her foster father, not her husband (p. 282); Egill's fathef
does not deny him permission to go to a wedding but to a party at hi®
grandfather's (237); Grágás is inadvertently referred to as a „droit royal
(198, but see 146); „troisiéme" should be „quatriéme" (151); Snorri coul
not seriously have contemplated marrying Solveig before she became
Sturla's wife in 1223 (254) because his wife Herdís was alive until 1233-
Although she and Snorri had been estranged for almost twenty years, a
divorce had not been arranged. Snorri, therefore, did not enter a secon
marriage with Hallveig in 1224 (219), but merely lived with her from that
time until her death in 1241. A wealthy woman, she was the gran
daughter of his benefactor Jón Loftsson. The French publisher has han
dled the Icelandic letters well but a few mistakes unfortunately occur m
the table of contents. The bibliography is brief, and an index would e
useful.
As all brilliant interpretations, Torfi's book will cause controversy
and
discussion. Nobody claims any longer that the fornaldarsögur and t e
íslendingasögur be read as evidence of ancient pagan society, but many
will still search for continuity between the pagan and the Christia11
worlds. Written in the thirteenth century but describing ancient eventS'
most Icelandic texts allow the reader to move backward or forward in
time. Torfi has consistently chosen the second option, but as his analyslS
(particularly of Hervarar saga) shows, he is aware of the other possibihty-
He is undoubtedly correct in emphasizing the contemporary context,
a complete understanding of the texts cannot be obtained unless the tw°
perspectives are kept in delicate balance. To appreciate Torfi's work, bovV
ever, the reader does not have to agree with his perspective, but the c°n
sistency of his stance elicits admiration. ,
His perspective, nonetheless, may tempt him to overemphasize 0 >
the similarities between the French and the Icelandic nobility in mater>
culture and the Christian piety of the local protagonists during the t
teenth century. Under directions from the Fourth Lateran Council in ' '
Bishop Magnús instructed Icelandic priests in 1224 to enforce Penanot
and confession and to withhold the sacrament for those who did n
comply. It is doubtful that this regulation prompted Snorri to refrain fr°
fighting his brother and nephew in 1236. Sturlunga saga, which provi
the information, does not allow us to determine how close this eV
occurred to Easter, and the reason sounds more like a convenient exc