Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta or The Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason
is one of the kings' sagas

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....

, an extended biography of King Óláfr Tryggvason.
Composed around 1300 it takes Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson

Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...

's 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...

as its base but expands the narrative greatly with content from the previous biographies of the king by Oddr Snorrason

Oddr Snorrason

The Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar of Oddr Snorrason whose name is also sometimes Anglicized as Odd Snorrason was a Latin royal biography attributed to a 12th century Icelandic Benedictine monk at the Þingeyrar monastery ....

 and Gunnlaugr Leifsson

Gunnlaugr Leifsson

Gunnlaugr Leifsson was an Icelandic scholar, writer and poet. He was a Benedictine monk at the Þingeyrar monastery in the north of Iceland.-Biography :Gunnlaugr composed a Latin biography of King Óláfr Tryggvason...

 as well as less directly related material.

The saga is preserved in a number of manuscripts which can be divided into two groups; an earlier redaction preserved in the manuscripts AM 53 fol., AM 54 fol., AM 61 fol., Bergsbók

Bergsbók

Bergsbók is an Icelandic manuscript from the early 15th century. It contains the kings' sagas Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta, a long version of Óláfs saga helga and several short texts and poems, mostly associated with the two kings. The redaction of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta is of the...

and Húsafellsbók. The second group is a younger redaction preserved in AM 62 fol. 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 :...

.

The saga incorporates a number of þættir

Short tales of Icelanders

The þættir are short stories written mostly in Iceland during the 13th and 14th centuries....

and shorter sagas

Norse saga

The sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...

, some preserved nowhere else.

External links

• The Saga of King Olaf Tryggwason An 1895 English translation
• Hèr hefr upp Sögu Ólafs konúngs Tryggvasonar Text based primarily on AM 61 fol.