Gripla - 01.01.2000, Blaðsíða 187

GIFFARÐSÞÁTTR
185
ticiples with the auxiliary hafa,13 From a linguistic point of view, then, we may
conclude that the stanzas in the Giffarðr episode were probably composed be-
fore 1150. Furthermore, the prose contains no linguistic features that are in-
consistent with the style of the author of ÆMsk.
Magnús’s Swedish campaigns are described in Theodoricus’s Historia de
antiquitate regum Norwagiensium (61), in Ágrip (ÍF XXIX:45), as well as in
the later compendia, but, as stated above, the Giffarðr episode is only found
in Morkinskinna. In Heimskringla Snorri rearranges the narrative and re-
writes the sections pertaining to Magnús’s expeditions to Sweden (ÍF
XXVIII:225-29), and the author of Fagrskinna leaves out all information
about Giffarðr (/F XXIX:310-11). That circumstance, combined with the fact
that the initial sections in Morkinskinna’s Giffarðr episode contain interpo-
lations from Ágrip (Morkinskinna 1932:323-24), has prompted the con-
clusion that the episode was incorporated into Morkinskinna after that ver-
sion was interpolated from Ágrip, and, furthermore, that Fagrskinna repre-
sents the uninterpolated text of ÆMsk.14
A look at the text of Fagrskinna, however, reveals that that version, rather
than reproducing the text of ÆMsk, must have been drastically abbreviated.
The motivation for Magnús’s first campaign was his wish to annex certain
districts in Götaland, and this is explicitly stated in Theodoricus’s Historia
(61), in Ágrip (ÍF XXIX:45), in Heimskringla (/F XXVIII:225-26), and in
Morkinskinna (Morkinskinna 1932:323). In the latter version that information
is incorporated into Giffarðsþáttr, and the wording is similar to that of Ágrip
(IF XXIX:45). Fagrskinna, however, fails to include any information about
Magnús’s claim to the Swedish districts at this point. After the Giffarðr epi-
sode Fagrskinna follows the Morkinskinna text almost verbatim, and both
texts describe the peace treaty between Ingi and Magnús in identical terms: as
part of the settlement Magnús was to marry Ingi’s daughter, Margréta, and
“she received as dowry those districts in Götaland which they had contended
about” (Morkinskinna 1932:329; ÍF XXIX:312).15 In Morkinskinna there is
no discrepancy between that statement and the initial information about
Magnús’s claim to the Swedish districts (Morkinskinna 1932:323). Fagr-
13 “[H]afi niddan Giffarð” (Morkinskinna 1932:325.32 [emphasis added]). Compare the simi-
lar construction “heftr sá ok, er ritaði sijguna, fleiri sannorða menn nefnda til þessar frásagn-
ar” (tZ»W:419.14-5 [emphasis added]). For a discussion of this construction, see Nygaard
1966:190-91.
14 See n. 4 above. See also Bjami Aðalbjamarson in 1F XXVllI:xlvii n. 3.
15 "... ok fylgði henni heiman jarðir þær í Gautlandi sem þeir hijfðu deilt um” (Morkinskinna
1932:329); “... ok fylgðu henni heiman jarðir þær ok (he)ruð er þeir hgfðu áðr um deilt” (ÍF
XXIX:312).