Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1979, Side 24

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Fagrskinna and since Fagrskinna contains almost none of the narrative
we have ascertained for the common source, this possibility must also be
ruled out. A third possibility is that Sæmundr’s lost book on the
Norwegian kings is the missing source. I see no reason either to urge or
reject this alternative. A fourth possibility is that Ari t>orgilsson’s
konunga cevi is the source in question and certain circumstances favor
this suggestion, not least of all the faet that Oddr refers to Ari in the
passage under study.6
It has often been assumed that Ari’s konunga cevi was very brief and
the account I am about to ascribe to the book may appear to strain its
capacity. However, Svend Ellehøj has argued plausibly for a larger scale
and the obvious importance of Ari’s work to later historians would seem
to support the idea that it was more than a skeletal outline. That a larger
compass is credible especially for the story of Håkon jarl’s death is
suggested by a sentence in Snorri’s “Prologue.” After listing Ari’s works,
Snorri goes on to say: “Hann rita&i, sem hann sjålfr segir, ævi
Noregskonunga eptir sogu Odds Kolssonar, Hallssonar af Si5u, en Oddr
nam at f>orgeiri afråSskoll, J)eim manni, er vitr var ok svå gamall, at
hann bjo J)å i Ni6arnesi, er Håkon jarl inn riki var drepinn.” In other
words, Ari had his information on the death of Håkon jarl from a man
whose informant, E>orgeirr afrååskollr, was actually on the spot at the
time of the event and in a position to give a first-hand report. It would
therefore not be surprising if Ari’s account were particularly full in this
section.
Another hint of Ari’s involvement is provided by the mention of a
trading center at NiSarnes. Theodoricus refers to it in the following
terms (MHN, p. 17, lines 25-30): “Mox ergo divinitus adjutus [scil. Olaf
Tryggvason] in crastinum profeetus est in loeum, qui dicitur
Nidrosiensis, ubi tune quidem pauculæ domus diversorum negotiatorum
habebantur, nunc vero caput est totius regni, non solum metropolitana
sede, verum etiam reliquiis beatissimi Olavi martyris honorabiliter
sublimata civitas.” Oddr mentions the same trading center, with
variations in the Arnamagnaean and Stockholm MSS. The Arnamag-
naean version reads as follows: “oc helldu {jeir inn um AgJja nes oc til
Ni6ar oss. }jar var nocquot Jjorp sett oc kaupstaér” (ed. F. Jonsson, p.
122). The Stockholm version is fuller: “log5v inn vm Ag5anes ok upp i
Saga Olåfs Tryggvasonar, ed. F. Jonsson, p. 88.