Gripla - 20.12.2010, Blaðsíða 227

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that stories were added to the tradition as apocrypha at a late date by story-
tellers intertwining new or borrowed material into the pre-existing tradi-
tion. As the stories did not contradict the audience’s expectation in their
specific content (for example the stories do not claim either Þiðrandi or
Ljótr become goðar, as such a claim might be too easily disproved and con-
tradict oral tradition elsewhere) and fitted well thematically with existing
material, they were easily subsumed into that tradition. Indeed we find
further discrepancies in the lists of sons and, particularly, daughters attrib-
uted to Hallr. One might expect the existence of a saga about Hallr to
reduce some of these discrepancies. Secondly, throughout all the material
relating to Hallr, I have found no specific reference to a saga. If the pre-
served material were dependent on a text that existed in the thirteenth
century, one might expect one of the many references to cite their source,
perhaps using a formula of the sort we find in Þorsteins saga (ÍF XI, 300),
… sem segir í Njáls sǫgu (‘…as is told in Njáls saga’) or as in Landnámabók (ÍF
I, I, 140 and II, 316) … sem segir í sǫgu hans (‘… as is told in his saga’).32
How, then, do we explain such a coherence in this imagined saga? To
do so we must turn to oral tradition. A grounding in history must have
helped shape the story. Although I have sidestepped the question of the
real historical Hallr, that such a man existed there seems little doubt. It is
also likely that he became a goði and had an important role in the political
Christianisation of Iceland. Although the detail is not consistent between
the different preserved accounts, the idea that the 12th/13th century
Icelandic Bishops, the Sturlusons and even Sæmundr inn fróði counted
Hallr among their ancestors seems plausible.33 History, however, might be
32 This phrase appears twice in Sturlubók, the first time referring to an otherwise unknown
saga of Þórðr gellir and the second to a saga relating to Earl Rǫgnvaldr – perhaps
Orkneyinga saga. Examples of this phrase or equivalents are relatively common in the sagas
of Icelanders (see for example ÍF V, 202; ÍF VII, 25, 37 and 62; ÍF XI, 301; ÍF XIII, 82 and
104). It is, however, striking how many of these for which we have no directly correspond-
ing extant text suggesting that in some cases it may be an oral or indeed even an immanent
saga to which is being referred.
33 It is at this point that my confidence in the historical veracity of this depiction of Hallr’s
life wavers, not because I have issue with the likelihood of such notable descendants, but
because there are such obvious political motivations either for the bishops or the ambitious
political/literary family of the Sturlusons to promote positive aspects of Hallr’s life. One
wonders whether some of these named individuals might not have been among those
spreading positive report of Hallr’s role in the conversion and his overall piety and kind
SÍÐU-HALLS SAGA OK SONA HANS