Gripla - 20.12.2009, Blaðsíða 64

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and varied vocabulary and extensive use of synonyms.27 Moreover, al ­
though both authors have a religious attitude, theological thought is more
explicit in theodoricus, whose digressions serve to relate the history of
Norway to the universal history of salvation.28 theodoricus also includes
considerably more factual information, whereas the author of Historia
Norwegie shows a greater interest in political explanation,29 and seems to
have used classical Latin historiography as his model to a greater extent. In
this respect, he resembles the greatest Latin writer in Scandinavia, Saxo
Grammaticus, who was one of the most accomplished Latin writers of the
Middle Ages, and who developed a highly complex and rhetorical style
modelled particularly on valerius Maximus. Comparable differences can
also be found throughout the rest of europe, for instance in Germany,
where Widukind of Corvey (c. 960) and Lampert of Hersfeld (c. 1080)
represent the classical style, with a greater emphasis on secular matters,
whereas Wipo (c. 1040) and above all Otto of Freising (1140s, 1157/58) are
more explicitly theological.30 However, there is no exact correspondence
between style and contents: there are many intermediate forms and it is
probably too early to attempt a complete categorisation of twelfth-century
Latin historiography.31 If we compare the sagas to the two Norwegian
representatives of Latin historiography, they are closer in style to
theodoricus and closer in content to Historia Norwegie. of the German
authors, Widukind is the one who has most in common with Snorri, in his
occasionally very vivid accounts of individual episodes, his understanding
of political conflicts as mainly the result of individuals competing for
power and defending their own interests, and in his depictions of leader­
ship as based on charismatic qualities rather than a holding of office on
27 eiliv Skard, Målet i Historia Norwegiae, Skrifter utgitt av Det Norske Videnskapsakademi i
Oslo, Hist.­fil. klasse 1930.5 (Oslo: J. Dybwad, 1930); Lars Boje Mortensen, “Introduction,”
Historia Norwegie, 24–28.
28 Bagge, “theodoricus Monachus”, 117–23.
29 Thus, the author explains why the Danish King Sveinn attacked Óláfr Tryggvason, whereas
theodoricus only mentions the fact (Mortensen, “Introduction,” Historia Norwegie, eds.
Inger ekrem and Lars Boje Mortensen (Copenhagen: Museum tusculanum Press, 2003),
27 f.).
30 Sverre Bagge, Kings, Politics, and the Right Order of the World in German Historiography c.
950–1150. Studies in the History of Christian Thought 103 (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 88–94,
98–107, 215–30, 277–96, 376–88.
31 Mortensen, Historia Norwegie, 27.