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.
70 THE VIKING PERIOD
III.
The resemblance which we have noted between Icelandic
and Irish customs seem to justify us in suggesting that they
may be due in part to some influence exercised by the one
people upon the other. There is in fact a certain amount
of evidence which renders such influence probable. We
know that Irish poets and storytellers were welcome guests
at the court of the Scandinavian kings in Ireland. In an
elegy on Mathgamain, Brian’s brother,
1
one of the Munster
bards, says he finds it difficult to reproach the foreigners
because of his friendship with Dubhcena, Ivarr’s son. 1
And during the lifetime of Brian, Mac L/iag, Brian’s chief
poet, and Mac Coisse, poet and storyteller to Maelsechnaill
II., visited the court of Sigtryggr and remained there for
a whole year. On their departure they gave expression
to their feelings of regret in a poetical dialogue :
Mac Liag : It is time for us to return to our homes,
We have been here a whole year ;
Though short to you and me may seem
This our sojourn in Dublin,
Brian of Banba deems it too long
That he listens not to my eloquence.
8
Another poem of Mac I/iag’s, in which he addresses the
Scandinavians of Dublin as
"
the descendants of the
warriors of Norway," was also composed in Dublin, at the
court of
’
Olaf of the golden shields,’ soon after the battle
of Clontarf. 4
1
Mathgamain was murdered at the instigation of King Ivarr of
Limerick in 976.
*Wav of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, pp. 98-99.
8
O’Curry, op. cit., II., p. 128
’Ibid., II., p. 125.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
