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brothers Helgi and “Gunnvaldr, father of Borkell, who was married
to Helga, daughter of Borgeirr of Vibimyrr” (H-B., chapter 1).
Sigurbur Nordal mentions this in his preface (p.xvi). He consi-
ders it rather hard to believe that the author of the saga used Land-
nåmabok, but considers it more likely that he used some “loose
genealogical records”. The difference between these two interpre-
tations is very slight.
One could add one more proof to the assumption of Bjorn M.
Olsen that the author of Hænsa-Boris saga used Landnamabok or
similar materials of personal history: When it is a matter of people
not named in Landnamabok, he knows nothing about their lineage
or origins, and he does well even to know their names. He does
not name even one of the thirty tenants of Blund-Ketill. The name
of the farmer Ornolfr was created from the name of the farm Orn-
olfsdalr. The very best example is the main hero himself, Hænsa-
Borir, but of him the saga says only this when he is introduced:
“There was a man called Borir. He was poor and not very popular
among men”, and so forth. Borir is not mentioned in Landnamabok.
Sometimes it seems as if the writer of the saga took characters from
his sources who appear once but do not reappear in the saga. An
example is the chieftain Torf i Yalbrandsson who is only named in
the first chapter. Perhaps the author originally intended to mention
him again later, but he never did.
There seems to be no risk in accepting the verdict of Bjorn M.
(3lsen that Hænsa-Boris saga may have used an older Landnåma
text alongside the oral tradition that was its most respeeted source.
But may we not fancy that we should take this a little further: Is
it not conceivable that the author of Hænsa-Boris saga always re-
bed on Landnåmabok where there are affinities between the two
texts? Need we take into account at all the faet that there are
additions in Sturlubok adopted from Hænsa-Boris saga ?
Before continuing, it is necessary to mention certain side issues
that grow out of this problem. These make it necessary to take
Maurer’s research into doser consideration even if all later scholars
have endorsed his conclusions.
Konrad Maurer points out that in the Icelandic lawbook Jonsbok,
written in Norway at the behest of King Magnus the Lawgiver and