Studia Islandica - 01.06.1937, Page 53

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to use names derived from the families of foreign princes, or
names of Kings and heroes of old, many of which had never
been fashionable in Iceland before. With the introduction of
such fanciful names, the fast rules of name-giving, which pre-
vailed among the earlier Icelanders, are altogether broken;
this indicates a certain laxity of outlook. These names also
betray an affection for the sagas about the Skjöldungar and
the Völsungar. Randalín indicates a particular association with
Ragnars Saga (see my paper Nafngiftir Oddaverjar, in Bidrag
till nordisk filologi tillágnade Emil Olson, p. 190 ff.). Then
coines the romance of chivalry. About 1270 one of the Odda-
verjar is given the name Karlamagnús. About the same time
the ecclesiastical authorities succeeded in crushing the family’s
chief financial support, and already several years before they
had surrendered their political power to the King of Norway.
Thus ends the story of the Oddaverjar.