Legendary Saga of St. Olaf
Encyclopedia
The Legendary Saga of St. Olaf or Helgisaga Óláfs konungs Haraldssonar is one of the kings' sagas
, a 13th century biography of the 11th century Saint Olaf II of Norway
. It is based heavily on the largely lost Oldest Saga of St. Olaf
. The composition is primitive and clumsy and the saga essentially consists of a series of separate anecdotes extracted from skaldic verse. The anonymous author may have been a Norwegian and the saga is preserved in one mid-13th century Norwegian manuscript. It is thought to have been composed in the early 13th century. Snorri Sturluson is believed to have used a work closely similar to the Legendary Saga when he composed his Separate Saga of St. Olaf
and the Heimskringla
.
Kings' sagas
The kings' sagas are Norse sagas which tell of the lives of Scandinavian kings. They were composed in the 12th to 14th centuries in Iceland and Norway....
, a 13th century biography of the 11th century Saint Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised in Nidaros by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. Enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral...
. It is based heavily on the largely lost Oldest Saga of St. Olaf
Oldest Saga of St. Olaf
The Oldest Saga of St. Olaf or the First Saga of St. Olaf is one of the kings' sagas. It is the earliest Norse biography of King Óláfr Haraldsson. Early scholars judged it to be among the very first sagas written, perhaps around 1160, but later scholarship has moved the date up to the end of the...
. The composition is primitive and clumsy and the saga essentially consists of a series of separate anecdotes extracted from skaldic verse. The anonymous author may have been a Norwegian and the saga is preserved in one mid-13th century Norwegian manuscript. It is thought to have been composed in the early 13th century. Snorri Sturluson is believed to have used a work closely similar to the Legendary Saga when he composed his Separate Saga of St. Olaf
Separate Saga of St. Olaf
The Separate Saga of St. Olaf is one of the kings' sagas. It was written about King Olaf II of Norway , later Saint Olaf , patron saint of Norway.-History:...
and the Heimskringla
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 Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
.
External links
- Olafs saga hins helga An 1849 edition of the Old Norse text.