Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1979, Qupperneq 21
11
(MHN, p. 17, lines 1-5)
(AM 310,4 , p. 93)
. . .; cumque diu reluctaretur, fertur
quod Olavus rapuerit Jilium ejus de
loco, ubi nutriebatur, puerulum anno-
rum trium. Thorfin nomine, contes-
tans se eum immolaturum in con-
spectu patris, insuper et juges inten-
tans inimicitias, nisi assensum præ-
beat.
Ok er Olafr sa at hann uilldi sua
praliga hallda sin atrunad. E>a tok
Olafr s. hans ungan er Huelpr het er
par var up foddr meå virctum. Olafr
konungr lagjti hann asaxit langskip-
inu oc bra suerSi oc ba6 J)a j. kiosa
huart hann uill helldr sia son siN
hogguiN Jirir augum ser ef hann neitar
trunni.
In addition to showing a textual affinity to Oddr, Theodoricus’ version
(and presumably the common source) suggests why Oddr chose to delay
the conversion episode until a later time in his account. According to
Theodoricus, Sigurér jarl treats Olaf as if he were already king (pp. 16-
17): “At ille promisit se quidem ei fore subjectum ut regi, si eum ad
christianismum non cogeret; ...” This reaction might appear to make
better sense after Håkon jarl’s death and Olafs official accession to the
throne. Oddr altered the sequence to accommodate such a view.
That the common source X was a written account and not oral
tradition is assured by the verbal congruities between Oddr and
Theodoricus. But the assumption of a written source for Theodoricus
(beyond the Catalogus Regum Norwagiensium) is contrary to the now
universally held view that Theodoricus used only oral traditions and had
no written Icelandic sources.4 This opinion is based chiefly on
Theodoricus’ own disclaimer in Chapter 1 (MHN, p. 6):
Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo quinquagesimo
octavo regnavit Haraldus pulchre-comatus, filius Halfdan nigri. Hic
4 See, forexample, Rudolf Meissner, Die Strengieikar (Halle: Niemeyer, 1902), pp. 31-38;
Sigurbur Nordal, Om Olaf den helliges saga (København: Gad, 1914), pp. 9-18; Toralf
Berntsen, Fra sagn til saga (Kristiania: Gyldendal, 1923), pp. 26-27; Bjarni
Abalbjarnarson, Om de norske kongers sagaer, pp. 5-6, 49-54; Siegfried Beyschlag,
Konungasogur: Untersuchungen zur Konigssaga bis Snorri (Kopenhagen: Munksgaard,
1950), pp. 122-28; Svend Ellehøj, Studier over den ældste norrøne historieskrivning
(København: Munksgaard, 1965), pp. 177-78. The case for Icelandic written sources was
argued in particular by A. Gjessing, Undersøgelse af kongesagaens Jremvtext (Christiania:
Brøgger, 1873), II, 51-56 and Finnur Jonsson, “Ågrip,” Aarboger (1928), pp. 263-66. On
the question of whether Theodoricus’ words “in illa terra, ubi nullus antiquitatum unquam
scriptor fuerit” {MHN, p. 23) refer to Iceland or Norway see Ellehøj, p. 178 and the
literature cited there. 1 read them lo mean Norway.