Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. Literary Influence. The Sagas of Iceland and Ireland
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
58 THE VIKING PERIOD
a short account of the settlement of Iceland with notices
of the more important events, and accounts of the succession
of lawmen and bishops, was written a few years later, though
the form in which it has come down to us is that of an
abbreviated text written about the year 1130. This work,
the foundation of all subsequent historical writing in
Iceland, contains some short notices, which apparently
had been handed down by tradition, but these stories,
usually known as sagas, would seem to have been written
down somewhat later. Indeed until the close of the twelfth
century the language employed for historical writings in
Iceland, as elsewhere, was for the most part L/atin.
Though the writing of the sagas did not begin until the
latter part of the twelfth century, sagas in some form
or other must have been in existence much earlier, carried
on from generation to generation by oral tradition. This
faculty of reciting sagas was a special characteristic of the
Icelanders, by whom it was carefully cultivated. In the
preface to his Historia Danica Saxo acknowledges his
indebtedness to the
"
men of Thule," who "
account it a
delight to learn and to consign to remembrance the history
of all nations, deeming it as great a glory to set forth the
excellence of others as to display their own. Their stores,
which are stocked with attestations of historical events,
I have examined somewhat closely and have woven together
no small portion of the present work by following their
narrative." 1
That the art of storytelling did not decline in Iceland
even after the majority of the sagas were written down is
First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticns.
Translated by Oliver Elton fed. by F. York Powell, p. 5). It is not
clear whether Saxo had Icelandic manuscripts before him, but his
words leave no doubt that he was aware of the fact that stories
had been carried on by oral tradition.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
