''Brandkrossa þáttr'' (The Tale of Brandkrossi) is a short
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
tale (''
þáttr
The ''þættir'' (Old Norse singular ''þáttr'', literally meaning a "strand" of rope or yarn)O'Donoghue (2004:226). are short stories written mostly in Iceland during the 13th and 14th centuries.
The majority of ''þættir'' occur in two compend ...
'') which serves as a prologue to ''
Droplaugarsona saga Droplaugarsona saga () is one of the Icelanders' sagas, probably written in the 13th century.
The saga takes place near Lagarfljót in the east of Iceland about 1000 AD.
It tells the story of Grim (''Grímr'') and Helge (''Helgi''), sons of th ...
''.
Whereas ''Droplaugarsona saga'' details the descendants of Helgi Droplaugarson, ''Brandkrossa þáttr'' focuses on the forebears of his enemy Helgi Asbjarnarson, including his father Asbjorn, son of Hrafnkel, the subject of ''
Hrafnkels saga
''Hrafnkels saga'' (; ) or ''Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða'' (O.N.: ; Ice.: ) is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It tells of struggles between chieftains and farmers in the east of Iceland in the 10th century. The eponymous main character, Hrafnkell, s ...
''.
Although beginning with Hrafnkel, the author of ''Brandkrossa þáttr'' does not appear to have known ''Hrafnkels saga'' and used a version of ''
Landnámabók
(, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.
is divided into five parts and ove ...
'' as a source instead.
The ''þáttr'' takes its name from Brandkrossi, an ox owned by Grímr, ancestor of the sons of Droplaug.
The ''þáttr'' falls into two part, the second of which is more fantastic.
One day Grímr's ox Brandkrossi flies into a rage and swims out to sea. Grímr travels to
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
where he meets Geitir, whose father was a troll. Grímr marries Geitir's daughter Droplaug, and it is revealed that it was Geitir who caused Brandkrossi to disappear. Geitir sends Grímr away with many gifts including the hide of Brandkrossi stuffed with grain. A version of this episode is told in ''
Fljótsdæla saga Fljótsdæla saga () is one of the Icelandic sagas. It was probably the last one written, perhaps from the 1400s or 1500s. The text is known from several manuscripts which are from the early 1600s. It was probably written by an author in the east ...
'' and has parallels with the giant episodes in ''
Kjalnesinga saga'' and ''
Hálfdanar þáttr svarta''.
The ''þáttr'' survives in paper manuscripts, the earliest from the 17th century, all of which stem from a now lost manuscript.
Finlay suggests that as ''Brandkrossa þáttr'' is likely to have been associated with ''Droplaugarsona saga'' in manuscripts, the source for these paper copies is probably AM 162c fol, a single leaf which contains a fragment of ''Droplaugarsona saga.''
Bibliography
Manuscripts
* JS 435 4to
* Thott 1768 4to
* AM 164k fol
Editions
*
*
Translations
*
*
*
References
{{Þættir
Þættir