Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series B - 01.06.1962, Síða 130
CXXVlll
the kings’ sagas. A detailed examination of all the inci-
dents and descriptions in the latter part of HÞ reveals
that no single surviving version of the Haralds saga can
have been the author’s source. HÞ agrees now with one
version, now with another. Sometimes it disagrees with
them all and occasionally has material that is not found
anywhere else. There are two possible explanations for
this. One is that the author made use of Msk, Hkr etc.
but altered many details in them and invented a certain
amount of new material. This seems unlikely since all
these details are superfluous in a story where Hemingr
is the hero. The alternative explanation is that the author
used some old, otherwise unknown and now-lost source.
The chief objection to this hypothesis is the improbability
of such a work’s not being known to the authors of the
preserved kings’ sagas. The amount of new material in
HÞ, however, is impressive and a lost source seems the
more satisfactory explanation for its presence there. In
the following treatment of the individual episodes, em-
phasis will be laid on points where HÞ cannot be derived
from existing sources. This will help to give some picture
of the possible lost source.
§ 12. Earl Godwine and his family.
The details of Godwine’s family in HÞ can not have
been taken from any surviving source. Godwine’s wife
is called Ingiríðr, whereas in Haralds saga (Msk, Fsk,
Hkr, Hulda) she is called Gyða. According to HÞ, God-
wine had four sons, Haraldr, Tósti tréspjót, Murukári
and Valþjófr, and a daughter Veigerða or Velgerða55).
55) In fact, Godwine had six sons and three daughters - Swegen,
Harold, Tostig, Gyrth, Leofwine, Wulfnoth, Eadgyth, Gunhild
and Ælfgifu. Morcar was actually the son of Ælfgar, Earl of
Mercia, and Waltheof the younger son of Earl Siward digri of
Northumberland. Cf. E. A. Freeman, History of the Norman
Conquest, 1867-79, II.