''Brjáns saga'' (also ''Brjánssaga'') is a hypothetical early specimen of

Old Norse literature Old Norse literature refers to the vernacular literature of the Scandinavian people up to c. 1350. It mainly consists of Icelandic writings. In Britain From the 8th to the 15th centuries, Vikings and Norse settlers and their descendants colon ...

. According to the hypothesis, certain episodes in ''

Njáls saga ''Njáls saga'' ( ), also ''Njála'' ( ), or ''Brennu-Njáls saga'' ( ) (Which can be translated as ''The Story of Burnt Njáll'', or ''The Saga of Njáll the Burner''), is a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 a ...

'' and '' Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar'' drew on this lost saga. There is no external evidence of this saga's existence, though it was postulated by the Icelandic scholar

Einar Ólafur Sveinsson Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, often abbreviated Einar Ól. Sveinsson (12 December 1899 – 18 April 1984) was an Icelandic scholar of Old Norse literature who was Professor of Icelandic Literature at the University of Iceland. His writings on and ed ...

, who edited ''Njál's saga'' in 1954. He believed it could have been written as early as the 1190s, and used by the author of ''

Orkneyinga saga The ''Orkneyinga saga'' (Old Norse: ; ; also called the ''History of the Earls of Orkney'' and ''Jarls' Saga'') is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly No ...

'', who wrote in about 1200. A controversial approach by the Irish academic

Donnchadh Ó Corráin Donnchadh Ó Corráin (28 February 1942 – 25 October 2017) was an Republic of Ireland, Irish historian and professor emeritus of medieval history at University College Cork. He earned his BA in history and Irish from UCC, graduating in 1964. ...

has attracted notice. He believed that the likely date of composition of the original ''Brjáns saga'' was around 1100, when

Magnus Barelegs Magnus III Olafsson (Old Norse: ''Magnús Óláfsson'', Norwegian: ''Magnus Olavsson''; 1073 – 24 August 1103), better known as Magnus Barefoot (Old Norse: ''Magnús berfœttr'', Norwegian: ''Magnus Berrføtt''), was the King of Norway ...

posed a threat to Irish interests (Clarke ''et al.'', 1998, p. 449). He believed that the hypothetical saga was written in Dublin in response to the ''

Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib ''Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib'' ("The War of the Irish with the Foreigners") is a medieval Irish text that tells of the depredations of the Vikings and Uí Ímair dynasty in Ireland and the Irish king Brian Boru's great war against them, begin ...

'' as the Hiberno-Norse Dubliners' way of saying that they were loyal to the descendants of Brian. He uses a reference to Brian in '' Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar'' as evidence for the saga's existence: "The earl thanked him for his words. After that they traveled to Ireland and fought with king Brian, and there many remarkable events happened at the same time as is said in his Saga."

References

* Howard B. Clarke, M. Ní Mhaonaigh and R Ó Floinn (eds), ''Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age'', Four Courts Press, Dublin (1998) * Kennedy, John. ''The Íslendingasögur and Ireland''. https://web.archive.org/web/20080620005609/http://www.dur.ac.uk/medieval.www/sagaconf/kennedy.htm

External links

Translation of the ''Njáls Saga'' extract

PDF of Ó Corráin's paper
Sagas O'Brien dynasty Lost books {{saga-stub

See also

References

External links