Oddr Snorrason, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason —
(forthcoming), ‘ Oddr Snorrason, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=66> (accessed 19 April 2024)
Diana Whaley 2012, ‘Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason (ÓTOdd)’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. clxxiv-clxxv.
Manuscripts
Holm18: Holm perg 18 4° (c. 1300).
310: AM 310 4° (Norwegian, c. 1250-75).
4-7: DG 4-7 (c. 1270). Fragment.
Facsimile and editions: AM 310 1974; Fms 10, ÓTOdd 1932, ÍF 25 (Fær and ÓTOdd).
ÓTOdd is a medieval Icelandic translation of a Latin vita which was composed c. 1180-1200, or conceivably 1177-1206 (Andersson 2003, 4) and is now lost. The vita is attributed in medieval sources to Oddr Snorrason, a monk at the Benedictine house of Þingeyrar in northern Iceland. Oddr’s original Latin text was based both on the reports of oral informants (a list of whom is appended to the ÓTOdd text in 310) and the now-lost written works of Sæmundr Sigfússon and Ari Þorgilsson. His narrative often closely parallels the Historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensum of Theodoricus, but whether this is due to direct influence or common sources is debated (see discussion in Andersson 2003, 1-20). Oddr’s saga focuses on Óláfr as missionary, the apostle of the north, and as forerunner to Óláfr helgi, a John the Baptist to Óláfr helgi’s Christ, and it includes many hagiographic motifs.
The three medieval mss represent three redactions of an anonymous translation into the Old Norse vernacular, and the internal relations between the three, and their relationship to the lost Latin original, have been much debated. The version of the saga in Holm18 has a shorter text, although even it is interpolated, e.g. from Ágr (Fidjestøl 1982, 14). Earlier researchers thought 310 was closer to the original than Holm18 (ÓTOdd 1932, viii-xix; Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson 1936, 57-68; Holtsmark in AM 310 1974, 9). However, the basis for this is challenged by Ólafur Halldórsson (ÍF 25, clxvi-clxx), who finds nothing against the view that the Holm18 scribe retained the text of his original unshortened and for the most part unchanged (ibid., clxix). Holm18 accordingly supplies the main text in ÍF 25. The versions in 310 and 4-7 are further recastings of the Old Norse translation mixed with material from a wide variety of other sources (including two sections from Jvs in 310).
Poetry
Oddr’s original Latin text most likely only contained one stanza: the Latin skaldic stanza which may well be his own translation of Stefnir Lv 1, and is edited as OSnorr Lv in this volume. In the mss of the Old Norse translation of the saga there are twenty-nine stanzas, all in the later part, and drawn mainly from Hallfreðr’s two great panegyrics for Óláfr Tryggvason (Hfr Óldr, Hfr ErfÓl) and from Hókr Eirfl. Stefnir Lv 2 is unique to ÓTOdd and may have been known to the translator from oral tradition. There are fairly strong circumstantial reasons to believe the remaining stanzas were taken from written sources, either by the translator or by one of the three redactors (Fidjestøl 1982, 24-6). Fsk appears to be the main source, and there is persuasive evidence of this in the case of the six stanzas from Hfr Óldr preserved in 310 but not the other ÓTOdd mss (ÍF 25, clxxxii-clxxxiii). For poetry in ÓTOdd relating to events after c. 1035, see SkP II, lxxii.
Kari Ellen Gade 2009, ‘Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason (ÓTOdd)’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
Holm 18: Holm perg 18 4° (c. 1300). No poetry in SkP II.
310: AM 310 4° (Norwegian, c. 1250-75).
4-7: DG 4-7 (c. 1270). No poetry in SkP II.
Facsimile and editions: AM 310 1974; ÓTOdd 1932, ÍF 25 (Fær and ÓTOdd).
Poetry
Sigv Berv 15/7-8 is recorded in 310.
[21] For a full discussion of ÓTOdd, see Introduction to SkP I.
This page is used for different resources. For groups of stanzas such as poems, you will see the verse text and, where published, the translation of each stanza. These are also links to information about the individual stanzas.
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The final section, ‘sources’ is a list of the manuscripts that contain the prose work, as well as manuscripts and prose works linked to stanzas and sections of a text.