How the Sagas of Icelanders Were Read in the Fourteenth Century: Bjarnar saga hítdælakappa within the Tradition of the Kings’ Sagas
National Research University “Higher School of Economics”
Financing: This article has been prepared within the framework of the project “Language, Literature, and Culture in Historical and Social Perspective” that has received funding from the Basic Research Program at HSE University.
For citation: Glebova, Daria S. How the Sagas of Icelanders Were Read in the Fourteenth Century: Bjarnar saga hítdælakappa within the Tradition of the Kings’ Sagas // Graphosphaera. 2026. Vol. 6. № 1. P. 63–83. URL: http://writing.igh.ru/index.php?id=2026-6-1-63-83
DOI: 10.32608/2782-5272-2026-6-1-63-83
Abstract: The article examines Bjarnar saga Hítdælakappa in the context of its transmission within the fourteenth-century compilation Bæjarbók á Rauðasandi (AM 73b fol), based on the Separate Saga of St Óláfr. The saga fragment in this codex is not a passive excerpt: the form of textual reproduction and editorial insertions reveal the compiler’s individual narrative strategy and their active engagement with the material. The analysis shows that in Bæjarbók á Rauðasandi the þættir about Icelanders form a sequence of stories in which prominent Icelanders – Þórðr Kolbeinsson, Þorkell Eyjólfsson, and Þorgeirr Hávarsson – consistently disregard Óláfr’s admonitions and subsequently face punishment, whether moral collapse or death. Within this sequence, Bjarnar saga becomes part of a didactic narrative in which Björn and Þórðr are presented as contrasting examples of behaviour in their interactions with St Óláfr. The study demonstrates how a fourteenth-century compilation shapes the early reception of the saga and how the saga functions within the tradition of the Konungasögur.
Key words: medieval reception, manuscript variation, narrative strategy, medieval scribes, manuscript composition, þættir, Old Icelandic compilations, the Separate Saga of St Óláfr
Литература / References
Глебова Д. С. Нарративный модус в историографических памятниках Древней Руси и Древней Скандинавии. Дисс... к.филолог.н. М., 2021. [Glebova D. S. Narrativnyj modus v istoriograficheskih pamyatnikah Drevnej Rusi i Drevnej Skandinavii (Narrative Mode in the Historical Writing of Early Rus’ and Medieval Scandinavia). PhD thesis. Moscow, 2021.]
Глебова Д. С. О чем говорят «красивыми словами» в древнеисландской книжности? // Шаги/Steps. 2024. Т. 10. № 2. С. 234–255. [Glebova D. S. O chem govoryat «krasivymi slovami» v drevneislandskoj knizhnosti? (What do they talk about “in fair words” in Old Norse-Icelandic literature?) // Shagi/Steps. 2024. Т. 10. № 2. S. 234–255.] (а)
Глебова Д. С. «At mæla fagrt ok hyggja flátt»: к рецепции эддической образности в сагах об исландцах (случай Bjarnar saga hítdælakappa) // Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология. 2024. Т. XXVIII. № 2. С. 1712–1724. [Glebova D. S. «At mæla fagrt ok hyggja flátt»: k recepcii eddicheskoj obraznosti v sagah ob islandcah (sluchaj Bjarnar saga hítdælakappa) («At mæla fagrt ok hyggja flátt»: To the Reception of Eddic Imagery in the Sagas of Icelanders (A Case of Bjarnar saga hítdælakappa)) // Indoevropejskoe yazykoznanie i klassicheskaya filologiya. 2024. T. XXVIII. № 2. S. 1712–1724.] (б)
Гуревич Е. А. Древнескандинавская новелла: поэтика «прядей об исландцах». М., 2004. [Gurevich E. A. Drevneskandinavskaya novella: poetika «pryadej ob islandcah» (Old Norse Novella: The Poetics of íslendinga þættir). Moscow, 2004.]
Джаксон Т. Н. Исландские королевские саги о Восточной Европе. Тексты, перевод, комментарий. Издание второе, в одной книге, исправленное и дополненное. М., 2012. 779 с. [Jackson T. N. Islandskie korolevskie sagi o Vostochnoj Evrope. Teksty, perevod, kommentarij. Izdanie vtoroe, v odoj knige, ispravlennoe i dopolnennoe (Icelandic Kings’ Sagas about Eastern Europe. Texts, Translation, Commentary. Second Edition, in One Book, Revised and Supplemented). Moscow, 2012. 779 s.]
Снорри Стурлусон. Круг Земной. М., 1980. [Snorri Sturluson. Krug Zemnoj (Heimskringla). Moscow, 1980.]
Andersson T. M. Kings’ Sagas (Konungasögur) // Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Critical Guide / Ed. by C. J. Clover, J. Lindow. Ithaca; New York; London, 1985. P. 197–238.
Bjarnar saga Hítdælakappa // Borgfirðinga sögur / Sígurður Nordal, Guðni Jónsson gafu út. Reykjavík, 1938. (Íslenzk Fornrit; III). Bls. 111–211.
Boer R. C. Einleitung // Bjarnar saga Hítdælakappa / Hrsg. von R. C. Boer. Halle, 1893. S. i–xliii.
Clunies Ross M. Íslendingasögur // The Cambridge History of Old Norse-Icelandic Literature / Ed. by H. O’Donoghue, E. Parker. Cambridge, 2024.
Creating the Medieval Saga: Versions, Variability and Editorial Interpretations of Old Norse Saga Literature / Ed. by E. Lethbridge, J. Quinn. Odense, 2010.
Dating the Sagas: Reviews and Revisions / Ed. by. E. Mundal. Copenhagen, 2013.
Drechsler S. Illuminated Manuscript Production in Medieval Iceland. Literary and Artistic Activities of the Monastery at Helgafell in the Fourteenth Century. Turnhout, 2021.
Driscoll M. J. The Words on the Page: Thoughts on Philology, Old and New // Creating the Medieval Saga: Versions, Variability and Editorial Interpretations of Old Norse Saga Literature / Ed. by E. Leithbridge, J. Quinn. Odense, 2010. P. 87–104.
Einar Ól. Sveinsson. Dating the Icelandic Sagas. London, 1958.
Finlay A. Interpretation or Over-interpretation: The Dating of Two Íslendingasögur // Gripla. 2003. № 14. P. 61–91.
Glebova D. The mode of retelling: Bjarnar saga Hítdælakappa in Bæjarbók á Rauðasandi // Series Publications in Folklore Studies. Pre-Print Papers of the 18th International Saga Conference: Sagas and the Circum-Baltic Arena (Helsinki and Tallinn, 7–14 August 2022). Helsinki, 2022. P. 102–105.
Glebova D. Same Meaning, Different Words: Retelling as a Mode of Transmission in Old Norse-Icelandic Konungasögur Tradition // New Light on Formulas in Oral Poetry and Prose / Ed. by D. Sävborg, B. Ø. Thorvaldsen. Turnhout, 2023. P. 259–285.
Grønlie S. The Saint and the Saga Hero: Hagiography and Early Icelandic Literature. Cambridge, 2017.
IED – An Icelandic-English Dictionary / Init. by R. Cleasby, rev., enlar. & compl. by Guðbrand Vígfússon. Suppl. by W.A. Craigie. Oxford, 1874.
Jónas Kristjánsson. Eddas and Sagas: Iceland´s Medieval Literature / Transl. by P. Foote. Reykjavík, 1997.
Kålund K. Katalog over Den Arnamagnæanske Håndskriftsamling. København, 1888–1894. B. I–II.
Kålund K. Katalog over de oldnorsk-islandske håndskrifter i det store kongelige bibliotek og i universitetsbiblioteket (udenfor den Arnamagnæanske samling) samt den Arnamagnæanske samlings tilvækst 1894–1899. København, 1900.
Landnámabók // Íslendingabók. Landnámabók / Jakob Benediktsson gаf út. Reykjavík, 1986. (Íslenzk fornit; I). Bls. 29–398.
Laxdæla saga / Einar Ól. Sveinsson gaf ut. Reykjavík, 1934. (Íslenzk fornit; V).
Males M. Fóstbræðra saga: A Missing Link? // Gripla. 2020. Vol. 31. P. 71–104.
Males M. The Dating of “Hávamál” // Maal og Minne. 2024. T. 116 (1). P. 81–117.
Rowe E. A. The Development of Flateyjarbók. Iceland and the Norwegian Dynastic Crisis of 1389. Odense, 2005.
Sígurður Nordal. Formáli // Borgfirðinga sögur / Sígurður Nordal, Guðni Jónsson gafu út. Reykjavík, 1938. (Íslenzk Fornrit; III). Bls. lxiii–xcvii.
Simon J. C. A Critical Edition of Bjarnar saga Hítdælakappa. Unpublished PhD thesis. London, 1966. Vol. I–II.
Stefán Karlsson. Sagas of Icelandic Bishops: Fragments of Eight Manuscripts. Copenhagen, 1967.
Den store saga om Olav den Hellige: efter pergamenthåndskrift i Kungiliga biblioteket i Stockholm nr. 2 4to med varianter fra Andre Håndskrifter / Udg. av O. A. Johnsen, Jón Helgason. Oslo, 1941. B. I–II.
Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir. Expanding Horizons: Recent Trends in Old Norse-Icelandic Manuscript Studies // New Medieval Literatures. 2012. № 14. P. 203–233.
Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir, Lethbridge E. Njáls saga Editions and Textual Variance // New Studies in the Manuscript Transmission of Njáls saga / Ed. by E. Lethbridge, Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir. Kalamazoo, 2018. P. 1–28.
Tirosh Y. On the Receiving End: The Role of Scholarship, Memory, and Genre in Constructing Ljósvetninga Saga. PhD Thesis, University of Iceland. Reykjavík, 2019.
Torfi H. Tulinius. Dating Eyrbyggja saga: The Value of “Circumstantial” Evidence for Determining the Time of Composition of Sagas About Early Icelanders // Dating the Sagas: Reviews and Revisions / Ed. by. E. Mundal. Copenhagen, 2013. P. 115–132.
Vox medii aevi. 2020. Vol. 1–2 (6–7): Вариация. Индивидуальность и традиция в языке Средневековья.
Поступила в редакцию / Received: 30.11.2025
Поступила после рецензирования / Revised: 10.12.2025
Принята к публикации / Accepted: 19.12.2025
