Morkinskinna

A folio of Morkinskinna manuscript

Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275.

The name Morkinskinna means "mouldy parchment" and is originally the name of the manuscript book in which the saga has been preserved. The book itself, GKS^[1] 1009 fol, is currently in the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen. It was brought to Denmark from Iceland by Þormóður Torfason (Tormod Torfæus) in 1662.

The saga was published in English in 2000 in a translation by Theodore M. Andersson and Kari Ellen Gade. The Íslenzk fornrit edition appeared in 2011.

Contents

The saga starts in 1025 or 1026 and in its received form, ends suddenly in 1157, after the death of King Sigurðr II. Originally, the work may have been longer, possibly continuing until 1177, when the narratives of Fagrskinna and Heimskringla, which use Morkinskinna as one of their sources, end. Apart from giving the main saga, the text is lavishly interspersed with citations from skaldic verse (about 270 stanzas)^[2] and includes a number of short Icelandic tales known as þættir.^[3] The following is an overview of the chapters in Morkinskinna, chronologically subdivided by the reigns of the kings of Norway:^[4]

Magnús I (r. 1035-1047)

1. Here begins the saga of Magnús and Haraldr [his uncle]

2. Concerning Sveinn

3. Concerning King Magnús's feasts

4. Concerning King Magnús

5. Concerning the declaration of war against Magnús and concerning the Duke

6. King Magnús in Jutland

7. King Magnús's stay in Jutland

8. How King Haraldr set sail when he came to Skáney

9. Concerning Haraldr's travels

10. Concerning Norðbrikt [=Haraldr]'s travels

11. Concerning a declaration of war

12. Concerning the raids of Norðbrikt and jarl Gyrgir

13. Haraldr's journey to Jerusalem

14. Concerning King Magnús's meeting with Haraldr

15. The slandering of Þorkell

16. Concerning King Magnús

17. How King Magnús bestowed a jarldom on Ormr

18. On the dispute between the kings

19. Concerning the kings

20. Concerning Þorsteinn Hallsson

21. Concerning the kings

22. The good counsels of King Haraldr

23. Concerning King Magnús and Margét

24. Hreiðars þáttr ["The tale of Hreiðarr"]

25. How the kings harried and how the king's mother granted a captive his life

26. King Magnús dies [1047]

27. Haraldr's thingmeeting

28. King Magnús's funeral voyage

Haraldr III (r. 1047-1066)

29. Haraldr's thingmeeting

30. Halldórs þáttr Snorrasonar

31. [On King Haraldr's campaign in Denmark]

32. Concerning King Haraldr

33. Concerning the disagreement between the king and Einarr Þambarskelfir

34. Concerning an Icelander

35. Concerning King Haraldr's wise counsels

36. How Auðunn from the Westfjords brought King Sveinn a bear [Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka]

37. Concerning King Haraldr and the Upplanders

38. Concerning King Haraldr and Brandr örvi (the Open-Handed)

39. Concerning King Haraldr

40. Concerning the storytelling of an Icelander [Íslendings þáttr sögufróða]

41. Concerning Þorvarðr krákunel's gift of a sail to King Haraldr

42. Concerning King Haraldr and Hákon

43. Sneglu-Halla þáttr.

44. [The king encounters a man in a boat]

45. [Concerning King Haraldr and a dear friend of Tryggvi Óláfsson]

46. [Concerning Gizurr Ísleifsson]

47. Concerning Stúfr enn blindi

48. Concerning Oddr Ófeigsson

49. How it came about that King Haraldr journeyed to the West

50. The treachery against King Haraldr

51. Óláfr Haraldsson's return to Norway

52. The death of King Harold Godwinson [1066]

Óláfr III (r. 1067-1093)

53. The saga of King Óláfr kyrri "the Quiet"

54. Concerning King Óláfr and the Kráku-karl (Crow Man)

Magnús III (r. 1093-1103)

55. The Saga of King Magnús berfœttr

56. Concerning King Magnús and Sveinki Steinarsson

57. Concerning King Magnús's harrying

58. Concerning King Magnús

59. Concerning King Magnús's death

Sigurðr I, Óláfr and Eysteinn I (r. 1103-1130)

60. The beginning of the rule of King Magnús's sons

61. The story of King Sigurðr's adventures

62. Concerning the gifts of Emperor Kirjalax (Alexius I Konnenos)

63. Concerning King Sigurðr's feast

64. Concerning King Eysteinn

65. Concerning King Eysteinn and Ívarr

66. Concerning the king's genealogies

67. Concerning King Sigurðr's dream

68. The dealings of King Eysteinn and Ingimarr with Ásu-Þorðr

69. The death of King Óláfr Magnússon [1115]

70. An account of legal dealings between King Sigurðr and King Eysteinn (Þinga saga)

71. The contest of the kings

72. Concerning Þórarinn stuttfeldr

73. Concerning the death of King Eysteinn [1123]

74. Concerning King Sigurðr and Óttarr

75. Concerning King Sigurðr and Erlendr

76. Concerning Haraldr gilli

77. Concerning King Sigurðr and Áslák hani (Rooster)

78. Concerning King Sigurðr

79. Concerning the bet between Magnús and Haraldr

80. Concerning King Sigurðr and Bishop Magni

81. The Death of King Sigurðr [1130]

Haraldr IV (r. 1130-6) and Magnús IV (r. 1130-5, 1137-9)

82. Concerning Haraldr and Magnús

83. The gifts of King Haraldr to Bishop Magnús

84. The story of Sigurðr slembidjákn

85. Concerning Sigurðr slembir

86. The slaying of King Haraldr [by Sigurðr slembidjákn in 1136]

87. Concerning King Sigurðr slembir

Sigurðr II (1136-1155)

88. Concerning King Haraldr's sons

89. Concerning Sigurðr

90. Concerning King Sigurðr slembir

91. King Ingi's letter

92. Concerning Sigurðr slembir

93. Concerning King Sigurðr slembir

94. The slaying of Óttarr birtingr

95. [no title]

96. Concerning King Sigurðr

97. Concerning King Eysteinn

98. The slaying of Geirsteinn

99. [no title]

100. Concerning the death of King Sigurðr [1155]

Notes

1. Den gamle kongelige Samling.
2. For these texts, see Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages.
3. On the nature and function of these þættir in Morkinskinna, see Ármann Jakobsson, "The Amplified Saga."
4. The following chapter headings are based on Andersson's and Gade's translation of the text.

Primary sources

• Finnur Jónsson (ed.). Morkinskinna. Copenhagen: Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur, 1932. Available online from Septentrionalia.
• Ármann Jakobsson and Þórður Ingi Guðjónsson (ed.). Morkinskinna I-II. Íslenzk fornrit 23–24. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2011.
• Andersson, Theodore Murdock and Kari Ellen Gade (trs.). Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000. With introduction. ISBN 0-8014-3694-X

Further reading

• Ármann Jakobsson, "Den kluntede afskriver: Finnur Jónsson og Morkinskinna." Opuscula 11 (2003): 289–306.
• Ármann Jakobsson, Staður í nýjum heimi. Konungasagan Morkinskinna. Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 2002.
• Ármann Jakobsson, "The Amplified Saga: Structural Disunity in Morkinskinna." Medium Ævum 70.1 (2001): 29-46.
• Ármann Jakobsson, "The Individual and the Ideal: The Representation of Royalty in Morkinskinna." Journal of English and Germanic Philology 99.1 (2000): 71-86.
• Ármann Jakobsson, "Rundt om kongen. En genvurdering af Morkinskinna." Maal og Minne 1 (1999): 71-90. Available online.
• Ármann Jakobsson, "King and Subject in Morkinskinna." Skandinavistik 28 (1998): 101-117.
• Indrebø, Gustav, "Harald haardraade in Morkinskinna." In Festskrift til Finnur Jónsson, ed. Johs. Brøndum-Nielsen et al. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard, 192. 173-80.
• Kalinke, Marianne, "Sigurðar saga jórsalafara: The Fictionalization of Fact in Morkinskinna." Scandinavian Studies 56.2 (1984): 152-67.
• Sandaaker, Odd, "Ágrip og Morkinskinna. Teksthistoriske randnotar." Maal og Minne (1996). 31-56.

External links

• Finnur Jónsson. (Ed.) (1932). Morkinskinna. Copenhagen: Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur. Available in pdf format at septentrionalia.net.
• New Íslenzk fornrit edition
• Comprehensive list of skaldic poetry cited in Morkinskinna, Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages.
• Proverbs and proverbial materials in Morkinskinna