Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/67

Rh right when he says: "When we take into consideration his (lesser) Islendingabók and the probable character of his Landnamabók (in its original form) we are forced to the conclusion that this work on the kings of Norway was a brief one, and that its chief purpose was to present a chronological table of events, in order that it in the same manner as his (lesser) Islendingabók for the Icelandic sagas might serve as a guide to a critical study of the history of the Norwegian kings." To the same original greater Islendingabók belonged also a third historical work, namely, the "Kristnisaga," on the introduction of Christianity in Iceland, and on later historical events in that island down to the year 1121. But this work is now extant in a form quite different from the original, the matter pertaining to church history, which in Are's work was mixed up with facts of general or secular history, having been separated, remodelled and having received various additions that are not from Are. A somewhat older contemporary of Are, the priest Sæmund Sigfusson (born 1056, died 1133), the same person who without a scrap of evidence has been called the author and compiler of the Elder Edda, contributed much toward giving a firm foundation to history by fixing the chronology of each reign of the rulers of Norway from Harald Fairhair to Magnus the Good (850-1047), and in the sagas he is frequently mentioned as authority in this respect. Sæmund does not appear to have written any great work himself, at least there is none extant. Through his great grandson, Jon Loptsson, his learning was handed down to Snorre Sturleson, and the bulk of what this greatest of all old sagamen has preserved for us doubtless comes by way of Jon Loptsson from Sæmund.

Worthy of mention here is also (Sagas of the Bishops), a series of narratives of the lives and works of the first Icelandic bishops, to which are added various collections of legends.