Gripla - 20.12.2016, Page 100

GRIPLA100
4. Genealogy and the Fragmentary version
one way audiences have been invited to engage with a saga is, according
to Kathryn Hume, through the genealogies at the beginning and end of a
saga; these genealogies establish a chronological link between the action
of the saga and the members of the audience.26 The Fragmentary version
of Þórðar saga hreðu has interesting genealogies at both the beginning and
end which have received some scholarly attention. for instance, the open-
ing genealogy includes the story of úlfljótur bringing the Gulaþing law
to Iceland – ulfljótur being, according to this genealogy, the son of Þóra,
who is the sister of Þórður’s father Þórður Hörðakárason – in an account
that differs from other accounts.27 the closing genealogy has also been of
considerable scholarly interest: it is cited by the Íslenzk fornrit editors and
others in relation to the provenance of manuscript aM 564 4to, which
contains not only Þórðar saga hreðu but also the earliest versions of several
other Íslendingasögur.28 the closing genealogy of the fragmentary version
is critical because it names not only Jón Hákonarson but also his wife
Ingileif, establishing a strong link between the manuscript and the known
compiler of Flateyjarbók.29 Gísli Sigurðsson analyzed the closing geneal-
ogy of this saga as a demonstration of Jón Hákonarson’s knowledge of and
reliance upon oral sources.30
the closing genealogy of the fragmentary version of Þórðar saga hreðu
does not just list Jón and his wife, it also makes a genealogical link be-
tween Þórður hreða and Þórður kakali.31 the latter was the member of
26 Kathryn Hume, “Beginnings and Endings in the Icelandic family Sagas,”The Modern
Language Review 68 (1973): 593–606.
27 Jón Hnefill Aðalsteinsson, Blót í norrænum sið. Rýnt í forn trúarbrögð með þjóðfræðilegri aðferð
(reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 1997), 163.
28 “formáli,” xliii. the Íslenzk fornrit editors believed aM 564 4to to be the book Árni
Magnusson called Vatnshyrnabók, but it is now believed to be a copy of that book, and
called therefore Pseudo-Vatnshyrna. See McKinnell, “the reconstruction of Psuedo-
Vatnshyrna.”
29 Jóhannes Halldórsson, “formáli,” l. See also Elizabeth ashman rowe, The Development of
Flateyjarbók: Iceland and the Dynastic Crisis of 1389 (odense: the university of Southern
Denmark, 2005), 404.
30 Gísli Sigurðsson, The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral Tradition: A Discourse on Method,
trans. nicholas Jones (Cambridge Ma: Milman Parry Collection of oral Literature, Har-
vard University, 2004), 165.
31 “Brot af Þórðar sögu hreðu,” 246–247.