Legendary Saga of St. Olaf

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.[1] The anonymous author may have been a Norwegian and the saga is preserved in one mid-13th century Norwegian manuscript.[2] It is thought to have been composed in the early 13th century.[3] 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.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ Andersson 2006, p. 14.
  2. ^ Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson 1941, p. XIII.
  3. ^ Finlay 2004, p. 9.
  4. ^ Hoops 1999, p. 243.

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External links