Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/31

 which a nation has no existence, is but a congregation of individuals. However low the literature may be in its intellectual merit, it will nationalise the living materials of a population into a mass animated with common feeling. During the five centuries in which the Northmen were riding over the seas, and conquering wheresoever they landed, the literature of the people they overcame was locked up in a dead language, and within the walls of monasteries. But the Northmen had a literature of their own, rude as it was; and the Anglo-Saxon race had none, none at least belonging to the people. The following list will show the reader that in the five centuries between the days of the Venerable Bede and those of Matthew Paris, that is from the 9th to the end of the 13th century, the northern branch of the common race was not destitute of intellectuality, notwithstanding all their paganism and barbarism, and had a literature adapted to their national spirit, and wonderfully extensive. The list is taken from that given by Thormod Torfæus, in his "Series Dynastarum et Regum Daniæ," from that given by Müller in his "Sagabibliothek," and from that of Biorn Haldorson. The notes on the date and contents are extracted chiefly from Müller's work. The words historical or fabulous indicate only that the work is founded on facts apparently, or is a work of fiction.


 * Adonius Saga (of a king and duke in Syria). Fabulous.
 * Alafleks Saga (of a son of a King Richard of England). Fabulous.
 * Amloda Saga (of Hamlet, freely translated from Saxo). Fabulous.
 * Alexander Mikla Saga (of Alexander the Great, translated by Bishop Brand Johnson, by order of Hakon Hakonson). Historical.
 * Andra Rimur,—rhymes of or concerning Andreas. Ans Saga (of An Bueswinger). Mythologico-Historical.
 * Asmundar ok Tryggve Rinur. Arna Biskups Saga (of Bishop Arne, flourished 1260). Historical.
 * Arans Saga Hiorleifs sonar (of Aran son of Hiorleif). Historical.