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saga he could lay his hands on to flesh out the earlier section of his history
before he could turn to more trusted sources like Snorri Sturluson.18 His
method was not so much to translate the sagas but recast them in a coher-
ent narrative based on his own retelling of the sweep of norwegian his-
tory. Therefore, Örvar-Odds saga appears in volume 1, Book 6,19 while the
account of Ketill hængur, oddur’s grandfather, is postponed to Book 7.20
Þormóður sees his responsibility to report what he finds in the manu-
scripts (“monumenta”), no matter how unlikely some events may appear
to be, because even these events may hide a kernel of truth.
Qvæcunqve ergò ex fide dignis, aut saltim veri speciem habenti bus,
antiqvitatum monumentis in nostras manus pervenerunt, fideliter
huc transtulimus: ne iis qvidem exclusis, qvæ de primorum seculorum
obscuria rebus vel confusè narrata sunt, vel fabulis propiora vid-
eri forsitan poterant, modò ne apertè falsa aut fidem exsuperantia
Åslaug ommundsen et al., 7 vols. (Bergen: Eide forlag et al., 2008–2014). there has been
considerable interest in Þormóður and his history in the last decade, and two volumes
of conference papers devoted to the topic have been published: aud Irene Jacobsen, et
al., eds., Den nordiske histories fader, Tormod Torfæus, Karmøyseminaret 2002 (Karmøy/
Avaldsnes: Karmøyseminaret, Karmøy kommune, 2004); Anine Kongshavn, ed., Tormod
Torfæus: Mellom Vinland og Ringenes Herre, Karmøyseminaret 2004 (Karmøy/avaldsnes:
Karmøyseminaret, Karmøy kommune, 2006). See also, Karen Skovgaard-Petersen, “the
first Post-Medieval History of norway in Latin: the Historia rerum Norvegicarum
(Copenhagen 1711) by tormod torfæus,” in Germania Latina, Latinitas Teutonica: Politik,
Wissenschaft, humanistische Kultur vom späten Mittelalters bis in unsere Zeit, ed. E. Kessler and
H. C. Kuhn, 2 vols. (Munich: Wilhelm fink, 2003) 2: 707–20. the standard biography of
Þormóður, which first appeared in Copenhagen in 1788 and was written by Jón Eiríksson
(1728–1787), has been re-issued: John Erichsen, Tormod Torfæus: levnetsbeskrivelse, ed.
oddvar nes (Kvernavik: Saga Bok, 2009).
18 this applies particularly to volume one which contains the deeds of people before the
institution of the monarchy (Pars prima, continens res gentis ante monarchiam institutam
gestas) and volume two which contains those things which are reported in norway after
the institution of the Monarchy up to the introduction of the Christian religion (Pars sec-
unda, ea continens, qvæ post Institutam in norvegia Monarchiam ad Introductam eodem
Christianam Religionam gesta sunt).
19 Liber sextus continens vitas Örvar-oddi, Bodvaris Biarkii, et Sörlii robusti; Sectio
prima: De Örvar-oddo (1: 263–74). Vibeke roggen, “old norse Saga versus neo-Latin
History Writing: Some aspects of the Style in torfæus’ Historia Rerum Norvegicarum
(1711),” Humanistica Lovaniensia 55 (2006): 183–94, looks at how Þormóður used this late
thirteenth-century fornaldarsaga and its fantastic narrative.
20 Liber septimus continens vitas … Ketillis Hængi et anis Bogveigeris; Section tertia. Historia
Ketillis Hængi (1: 315–23).
HALLDóR JAKOBSSON ON TRUTH AND FICTION