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[OMACL release #15a]The Heimskringla, by Snorri Sturlson*****************************************************************THE ONLINE MEDIEVAL AND CLASSICAL LIBRARYThe Online Medieval and Classical Library (OMACL) is an archivebeing assembled as a service to the Internet. The purpose ofthis archive is to provide a free and easy way for the averagecomputer user to access some of the most important works ofClassical and Medieval civilization.Unless otherwise noted, all OMACL texts are PUBLIC DOMAIN in theUnited States. Because copyright laws vary from country tocountry, OMACL does not make any representation as to copyrightstatus outside of the United States. Please check with thecopyright laws of your country before posting this text.OMACL encourages the free distribution of its texts, providedthat they are distributed in their entirety. OMACL also asksthat if you plan on using its texts as source material for yourown research, please cite us as such.OMACL can be reached at:INTERNET --DeTroyes@EnterAct.COMFTP --ftp://ukanaix.cc.ukans.eduAnonymous login, then set for directory:pub/history/Europe/Medieval/translationsWWW --http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Some texts have also been released, in slightly different form,via PROJECT GUTENBURG. For information about Project Gutenburgtexts, contact Michael Hart at HART@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu*****************************************************************HeimskringlaorThe Chronicle of the Kings of NorwaybySnorri Sturlson(c.1179-1241)Originally written in Old Norse, app. 1225 A.D., by the poet andhistorian Snorri Sturlson. English translation by Samuel Laing(London, 1844).The text of this edition is based on that published as
 
"Heimskringla: A History of the Norse Kings" (Norroena Society,London, 1907), except for "Ynglinga Saga", which for reasonsunknown is curiously absent from the Norroena Society edition."Ynglinga Saga" text taken from Laing's original edition (London,1844).This electronic edition was edited, proofed, and prepared byDouglas B. Killings (DeTroyes@AOL.COM), April 1996. Somecorrections and "Ynglinga Saga" added courtesy of Ms. DianeBrendan, May 1996.*****************************************************************PREPARER'S NOTE:The "Heimskringla" of Snorri Sturlason is a collection of sagasconcerning the various rulers of Norway, from about A.D. 850 tothe year A.D. 1177.The Sagas covered in this work are the following:1. Ynglinga Saga2. Halfdan the Black Saga3. Harald Harfager's Saga4. Hakon the Good's Saga5. Saga of King Harald Grafeld and of Earl Hakon Son of Sigurd6. King Olaf Trygvason's Saga7. Saga of Olaf Haraldson (St. Olaf)8. Saga of Magnus the Good9. Saga of Harald Hardrade10. Saga of Olaf Kyrre11. Magnus Barefoot's Saga12. Saga of Sigurd the Crusader and His Brothers Eystein and Olaf13. Saga of Magnus the Blind and of Harald Gille14. Saga of Sigurd, Inge, and Eystein, the Sons of Harald15. Saga of Hakon Herdebreid ("Hakon the Broad-Shouldered")16. Magnus Erlingson's SagaWhile scholars and historians continue to debate the historicalaccuracy of Sturlason's work, the "Heimskringla" is stillconsidered an important original source for information on theViking Age, a period which Sturlason covers almost in itsentirety.SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:ORIGINAL TEXT --Athalbjarnarson, Bjarni (ed.): "Heimskringla" vol. I-III(Reykjavik, 1946-51).OTHER TRANSLATIONS --Hollander, Lee M.: "Heimskringla" (University of Texas Press,1964)Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Palsson: "King Harald's Saga"(Penguin Classics, London, 1966). "Saga of Harald Hardrade"
 
only.Morris, William and Eirikr Magnusson: "Heimskingla", in "SagaLibrary", vol III-VI (London, 1893).RECOMMENDED READING --Jones, Gwyn: "A History of the Vikings" (Oxford University Press,Oxford, 1968; Revised, 1984).*****************************************************************PREFACE OF SNORRE STURLASON.In this book I have had old stories written down, as I have heardthem told by intelligent people, concerning chiefs who have haveheld dominion in the northern countries, and who spoke the Danishtongue; and also concerning some of their family branches,according to what has been told me. Some of this is found inancient family registers, in which the pedigrees of kings andother personages of high birth are reckoned up, and part iswritten down after old songs and ballads which our forefathershad for their amusement. Now, although we cannot just say whattruth there may be in these, yet we have the certainty that oldand wise men held them to be true.Thjodolf of Hvin was the skald of Harald Harfager, and hecomposed a poem for King Rognvald the Mountain-high, which iscalled "Ynglingatal." This Rognvald was a son of OlafGeirstadalf, the brother of King Halfdan the Black. In thispoem thirty of his forefathers are reckoned up, and the death andburial-place of each are given. He begins with Fjolner, a son ofYngvefrey, whom the Swedes, long after his time, worshipped andsacrificed to, and from whom the race or family of the Ynglingstake their name.Eyvind Skaldaspiller also reckoned up the ancestors of Earl Hakonthe Great in a poem called "Haleygjatal", composed about Hakon;and therein he mentions Saeming, a son of Yngvefrey, and helikewise tells of the death and funeral rites of each. The livesand times of the Yngling race were written from Thjodolf'srelation enlarged afterwards by the accounts of intelligentpeople.As to funeral rites, the earliest age is called the Age ofBurning; because all the dead were consumed by fire, and overtheir ashes were raised standing stones. But after Frey wasburied under a cairn at Upsala, many chiefs raised cairns, ascommonly as stones, to the memory of their relatives.The Age of Cairns began properly in Denmark after Dan Milkillatehad raised for himself a burial cairn, and ordered that he shouldbe buried in it on his death, with his royal ornaments andarmour, his horse and saddle-furniture, and other valuable goods;and many of his descendants followed his example. But theburning of the dead continued, long after that time, to be thecustom of the Swedes and Northmen. Iceland was occupied in thetime that Harald Harfager was the King of Norway. There were
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