Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1965, Síða 293

a common basis, which, if anything, was written. The relationship be-
tween the Royal Chronicle, the Historia Norvegiæ, and the Ynglinga
saga must also be explained by common dependence on a lost written
source, which in this case dealt with the Yngling Kings, and correspond-
ingly a number of agreements between the chronicle and other West
Norse writings must be explained. The Royal Chronicle, the Historia
Norvegiæ and the Knytlinga saga seem to render this common source
most accurately.
The lost work which thus must be supposed to have been the source
of the Royal Chronicle, must have been composed in West Norse, and
there is much in favour of accepting Schiick’s proposal and identifying
it with Ari Torgilsson’s conunga ævi. At any rate it is a case of a widely
distributed work from the twelfth century, which like the Islendingabok
comprised the period to about 1120. By mentioning Ingjaldr hinn illrdSi
the Royal Chronicle furthermore shows a connexion with Ari’s extant
list of the Ynglings. The part of Ari’s work which was preferably used
by the author of the Royal Chronicle seems to have been in the nature
of a Skjoldung chronicle, in which not only the Danish branch was
mentioned, but the Swedish branch as well. The later Icelandic Skjold-
unga saga must also be supposed to have picked up material from there,
although it largely follows a deviating tradition, which presumably must
be referred back to Oddi (Sæmundr?).
Chapter III. West Norse Literature on the Yngling Kings. Within nine-
teenth century research the Yngling series in the Historia Norvegiæ was
generally considered to be based on Ari, but most later scholars have
kept aloof from this view and pointed out other possibilities. The Yngling
series in the Historia Norvegiæ and the Islendingabok, however, show
so close a relationship that a literary connexion must be supposed to
have existed, though it cannot be assumed that the author of the
Historia Norvegiæ utilized Ari’s extant work as his source. The most
obvious explanation of the relationship seems to be that the Historia
Norvegiæ was based on a lost Yngling chronicle, which was closely re-
lated to the list of names recorded in the Islendingabok. A surer under-
standing is obtained when the other West Norse literature on the Yngling
Rings is adduced in the consideration. The most important works are
PjoSolfr’s poem YngHngatal, Snorri Sturluson’s Ynglinga saga, the
293