Hallfreðar saga vandræðaskálds is one of the Icelanders' sagas

Icelanders' sagas

The Sagas of Icelanders —many of which are also known as family sagas—are prose histories mostly describing events that took place in Iceland in the 10th and early 11th centuries, during the so-called Saga Age. They are the best-known specimens of Icelandic literature.The Icelanders'...

. It relates the story of Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld

Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld

Hallfreðr Óttarsson or Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld was an Icelandic skald. He is the protagonist of Hallfreðar saga according to which he was the court poet first of Hákon Sigurðarson, then of Óláfr Tryggvason and finally of Eiríkr Hákonarson...

, an Icelandic poet active around the year 1000. The saga has some resemblance to the sagas of other poets, such as Kormáks saga

Kormáks saga

Kormáks saga is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It tells of the tenth-century Icelandic poet, Kormákr Ögmundarson, and Steingerðr, the love of his life. The saga preserves a significant amount of poetry attributed to Kormákr, much of it dealing with his love for Steingerðr. Though the saga is...

and Gunnlaugs saga

Gunnlaugs saga

Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu or the Saga of Gunnlaugr Serpent-Tongue is one of the Icelanders' sagas. Composed at the end of the 13th century it is preserved complete in a slightly younger manuscript. It contains 25 verses of skaldic poetry attributed to the main characters...

, but in Hallfreðar saga there is less emphasis on the romantic relationships of the skald

Skald

The skald was a member of a group of poets, whose courtly poetry is associated with the courts of Scandinavian and Icelandic leaders during the Viking Age, who composed and performed renditions of aspects of what we now characterise as Old Norse poetry .The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is...

. Instead the saga dwells on the troubled conversion of Hallfreðr from paganism

Norse paganism

Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...

 to Christianity

Germanic Christianity

The Germanic people underwent gradual Christianization in the course of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. By the 8th century, England and the Frankish Empire were Christian, and by AD 1100 Germanic paganism had also ceased to have political influence in Scandinavia.-History:In the 4th...

 and his relationship with king Óláfr Tryggvason and other Norwegian rulers.

The saga is preserved in several 14th century manuscripts, including Möðruvallabók

Möðruvallabók

Möðruvallabók or AM 132 fol is an Icelandic manuscript from the mid-14th century, inscribed on vellum. It contains the following Icelandic sagas in this order:*Njáls saga*Egils saga*Finnboga saga ramma*Bandamanna saga*Kormáks saga*Víga-Glúms saga...

 and Flateyjarbók

Flateyjarbók

The Flatey Book, is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name Codex Flateyensis.- Description :...

, with significant difference between the versions.

External links

• Hallfreðar saga vandræðaskálds Möðruvallabók version
• Hallfreðar saga vandræðaskálds Version from Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta
  Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta
  Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta or The Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvasonis one of the kings' sagas, an extended biography of King Óláfr Tryggvason....
  
  
• Proverbs in Hallfreðar saga vandræðaskálds
• Full text at the Icelandic Saga Database