Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1965, Page 300
of the same source. Furthermore, certain personally formed remarks by
Theodoricus are refound in the Ågrip in an impersonal form. The only
reasonable conclusion therefore seems to be that the author of the Ågrip
utilized Theodoricus’s work as a direct source.
The relationship between the Ågrip and the Historia Norvegiæ cannot
on the basis of an isolated comparison between the texts of the two works
be determined with equal certainty. With Indrebø it can be laid dowm
that the author of the Ågrip used a source which was either identical
with the Historia Norvegiæ or closely corresponded to it, but it is more
difficult to make a choice between these two possibilities. Neither the
reasons adduced by Berntsen and ASalbjamarson in support of the view
that the authors of the two works used the same source, nor the argu-
ments on which Storm supported his assumption that the author of the
Ågrip used the Historia Norvegiæ directly, can be recognized as con-
clusive proof. The connexion with the work of Adam of Bremen and
English historiography displayed by the Ågrip on various points must
not, as assumed by Storm, be due to use of the Historia Norvegiæ as a
source, but may have appeared by use of Ari Forgilsson’s båk.
The idea that the author of the Ågrip used Ari as his source, has
within previous research been supported by Gjessing and Schreiner, but
has not been widely accepted. Certain of the cases of agreement pointed
out by Gjessing between the chronology of the Ågrip and that of Ari
must, however, be considered weighty evidence in favour of the view
that the author of the Ågrip knew Ari’s work, and a comparison be-
tween the related sections in the Historia Norvegiæ-Ågrip and the cor-
responding information in Icelandic literature corroborates this view.
Especially two points are of interest in this connexion. In the mention
of Harald Fairhair’s sons the Ågrip shows signs of having used two dif-
ferent sources, one of which corresponded to the Historia Norvegiæ with-
out being identical with it, and a comparison with the mention of King
Harald’s sons in Snorri Sturluson’s Olaf s saga hins helga shows that
Snorri, too, must be assumed to have used this source. Therefore, it
seems reasonable to identify it with Ari’s bok, which must be considered
the source common to the descriptions of the Yngling Kings in Snorri’s
work and in the Historia Norvegiæ.
The other very important point is the mention in the Ågrip of the
failure of crops during the reign of Harald Greyskin. This mention cor-
responds to the description in the Historia Norvegiæ, but at the same
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