Studia Islandica - 01.06.1962, Page 181

Summary
1. The aim of the present investigation. (Pp. 5—14). It is a well
known and deplorable fact that none of the Icelandic so-called family
sagas exist in original manuscripts. Only copies remain to us, and copies
of copies, often from a much later time than the originals. It is com-
monly thought, and with good reason, that the bulk of this literature
was first put on parchment in the 13th century. Scholars have also
established a relative chronology between the great works in the field
with a good deal of plausibility. So we feel on fairly safe ground in
believing, for instance, that Egils saga Skallagrímssonar is from the
beginning of the century, Njáls saga and Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar,
on the other hand, from the end of it. But no author’s name has been
left for us by tradition, and we have no fixed chronological point in
the 13th century development of this unique genre.
Under such circumstances it is no wonder that scholars should have
taken great interest in a possible connection between Snorri Sturluson
(1179—1241) and Egils saga Skallagrímssonar. It was the famous
Danish historian and poet N. F. S. Grundtvig who in the beginning of
the 19th century vaguely suggested that Snorri might have been the
author of Egils saga. But it was not until 1904 that the Icelandic scho-
lar Bjöm M. Ölsen tried to establish that connection systematically.
He pointed out striking similarities in the treatment of historical and
chronological problems in Egils saga on the one hand, and in Snorri’s
authentic works, the Kings’ sagas of Heimskringla, on the other. Ólsen
also underlined the fact that Snorri was a descendent of Egill Skalla-
grímsson, and should have been especially well-informed about his fa-
mous ancestor. Furthermore, Snorri no less than Egill was very much
at home in Norway and had personal experience of Norwegian kings.
He resided as a chieftain on Egill’s old family estate in Borgarfjörður,
and thus had first-hand knowledge of the native scene of the saga. In
short Snorri possessed quite unusual qualifications for writing about
Egill’s life.
12*