''Hryggjarstykki'' (Mid 12th c.

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 settlement ...

: ; ) is a

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography * Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland *Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

kings' saga written in

in the mid-twelfth century and dealing with near-contemporary events. The author was Eiríkr Oddsson, an Icelander about whom little is known. The work is cited by

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

in ''

Heimskringla ''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derive ...

'', where its reliability is emphasized. :Eirík wrote the book which is called ''Hryggjarstykki''. In that book we are told about Harald Gilli and his two sons; also of Magnús the Blind and of

Sigurd Slembe Sigurd Magnusson Slembe (or Slembedjakn) (died 12 November 1139) was a Norwegian pretender to the throne. He was the subject of ''Sigurd Slembe'', the historical drama written by the Norwegian playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1862. Biograp ...

, down to their death. Eirík was a man of good understanding and had at that time been long in Norway. Some of his account he wrote according to what he was told by Hákon Maw, a landed-man under the two sons of Harald. Hákon and his sons took part in all these fights and counsels. Eirík mentions still other men who told him about these events, men who were both of good understanding and reliable. They were close by, so that they heard or saw what was happening. But some things he wrote according to what he himself heard or saw. Eiríkr's account is also cited in '' Morkinskinna'' in a similar manner. :Now the story turns to the sons of King Haraldr, Ingi and

Sigurðr Sigurd ( non, Sigurðr ) or Siegfried (Middle High German: ''Sîvrit'') is a legendary hero of Germanic heroic legend, who killed a dragon and was later murdered. It is possible he was inspired by one or more figures from the Frankish Merovin ...

, according to the account of the wise and discriminating man Eiríkr Oddsson. The tale is mostly from the report of the district chieftain Hákon magi, who presided and told of these events when they were first written down. He himself and his sons participated in these expeditions and most of the battles. He knew the men who are named here. He who wrote the story also named several truthful men as sources for the account. The author of '' Fagrskinna'' also made use of ''Hryggjarstykki'' though he did not explicitly cite it. It has been suggested that ''Morkinskinna'', ''Heimskringla'' and ''Fagrskinna'' made use of three different versions of Eiríkr's work. Unlike most of the later kings' sagas ''Hryggjarstykki'' may have been an exclusively prose work, though it seems to have made some use of

skaldic poetry A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditional ...

. Earlier scholars believed the work had covered a substantial part of the 12th century, starting in the 1130s and going up to the 1160s or 1170s but more recent analysis indicates that ''Hryggjarstykki'' may only have covered the years 1136-1139. Its time of composition would then be around 1150, possibly making it the earliest

saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to th ...

.Clover 2005:214.

Notes

References

* Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade (editors and translators) (2000).
Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157)
'.

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in ...

. * Clover, Carol J. and John Lindow (2005). ''Old Norse-Icelandic Literature : A Critical Guide.'' University of Toronto Press. * Finlay, Alison (editor and translator) (2004). ''Fagrskinna, a Catalogue of the Kings of Norway''. Brill Academic Publishers. * Snorri Sturluson (translated by Lee M. Hollander). (1991).
Heimskringla : History of the Kings of Norway
'.

University of Texas Press The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books and journals in several areas, including Latin American studies, Te ...

. {{ISBN, 0-292-73061-6 Kings' sagas