Gripla - 20.12.2005, Blaðsíða 139

SIÂN GRØNLIE
KRISTNI SAGA
AND MEDIEVAL CONVERSION HISTORY
INTRODUCTION
There is a wealth of written sources from the Middle Ages about Iceland’s
conversion to Christianity, and a corresponding wealth of critical literature
attempting to reconstruct this key event. Yet the lack of any contemporary
sources to lean on has created enduring uncertainties as to how exactly the
medieval texts should be interpreted: the earliest source for the conversion,
Ari fiorgilsson’s Íslendingabók, was written over one hundred years after the
historical events took place (in circa 1122-33), and the others, which use Ari’s
narrative to varying degrees as a basis for expansion and rewriting, were
written between circa 1190 and 1350. The best known are Oddr Snorrason’s
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar, Kristni saga, the kristniflættir in Óláfs saga Tryggva-
sonar en mesta and Njáls saga.1 Attitudes towards the historical reliability of
these sources have varied greatly, although the general consensus of opinion
has always been that Ari alone is fully trustworthy. It has not, however, proved
possible or desirable to dismiss the other sources altogether, both because
Ari’s account in itself is so unsatisfactory, and because the later works contain
1 The level of dependence on Ari varies, although all later sources draw on his account of the
legal conversion at the Althing. Of the two main manuscripts of Oddr’s Óláfs saga Tryggva-
sonar (127-130), one refers directly to Íslendingabók as a source and the other includes an
account so close to Ari’s that it is sometimes believed to come from the older (lost) version
of his Íslendingabók (Brenner 1878:117-19, Turville-Petre 1953:100). Although some of the
variants in wording may come from this source, it is noticeable that the main additions all
relate to the role of Óláfr Tryggvason and it seems most likely that they were made by a
translator or compiler of Oddr’s work, if not by Oddr himself (see the different opinions
expressed by Groth 1895:lix, Finnur Jónsson 1932:xxxi-ii). Kristni saga refers directly to Ari
in the second part of the saga, but it seems likely that its account of the legal conversion uses
a source based on Ari rather than being directly derivative (ÍF XV:ccvii); the same may be
true of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta and Njáls saga.