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Fagrskinna’s and Heimskringla’s version represents classical saga narra­
tive. the accounts are objective, in the sense that the author remains neu­
tral and abstains from comment; visual, in their vivid description of per­
sons and events; and dramatic, in letting the persons confront one another
with brief, succinct, intensely meaningful sentences, delivered in a calm
tone and often with understatement in a way that heightens the drama, as
in Óláfr’s words to Hákon. The sagas generally prefer direct speech, in
contrast to classical Latin prose, which prefers indirect. In this way, the
actors in the drama are presented on the stage without interference from
the author. Irony is often used. king Sverrir’s speeches and sayings are
particularly famous for this,18 but irony is also found in other sagas, as in
Heimskringla’s story of Ásbjǫrn selsbani’s fatal expedition from Northern
Norway to Sola in the south to buy grain from his uncle Erlingr Skjálgsson.
When Ásbjǫrn returns empty-handed, having been humiliated by King
óláfr’s ármaðr Selþórir, and declines his other uncle Þórir hundr’s invita­
tion to spend Christmas with him, Þórir comments:
There is … a great difference between us kinsmen of Ásbjorn in the
honor he does us … seeing the effort he put forth this summer to
visit Erling and his kin; whereas now he disdains to come to me
who lives next door to him! I don’t know but he fears that Seal-
thórir be there on every islet.19
the saga style also seems to suggest a closer connection to the material,
visible world, than the learned, Latin tradition. Not that the sagas excel in
description for its own sake; there are few descriptions of nature, and
when descriptions do occur, there is always a practical reason, depicting a
battleground or showing the difficulty in crossing a certain area, for exam­
ple. When necessary, however, such descriptions can be very precise, as for
instance Snorri’s description of how Þórir hundr and the brothers Karli
18 Sverre Bagge, From Gang Leader to the Lord’s Anointed. Kingship in Sverris saga and Hákonar
saga Hákonarsonar. the viking Collection 8 (odense: odense university Press, 1996),
27–29.
19 “bæði er … at mikill er virðinga­munr vár frænda Ásbjarnar, enda gerir hann svá, slíkt starf
sem hann lagði á í sumar, at sœkja kynnit til erlings á jaðar, en hann vill eigi hér fara í næsta
hús til mín; veit ek eigi, hvárt hann hyggr, at Selþórir myni í hverjum hólma fyrir vera”
(Heimskringla II, 249; Hollander, 381).
noRDIC unIQueneSS In tHe MIDDLe AGeS?