“Ancient Traditions” in Sverris saga: The Background of an Episode in Sverris saga and a Note on the Dating of Rómverja saga

Hermann Pálsson, in his articles entitled “Bækur æxlast af bókum” and “Boklig lærdom i Sverris saga,” argued that some episodes and expressions found in Sverris saga had a learned background and were inspired by Latin writings.¹ This position is both reasonable and plausible considering what is known about the genesis of Sverris saga; in particular, that parts of the saga, if not the entire saga, were written by Karl Jónsson, abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Munkaþverá in Northern Iceland.² In this article, I will show that Hermann Pálsson was too eager to assign learned origins to aspects of the saga. Furthermore, it will be argued that his best example, the references to forn minni (ancient traditions) and dœmi hvatra manna (the examples of brave men) in an episode of the saga’s nineteenth chapter, does not allude to an episode in Rómverja saga—in turn derived from Lucan’s account of the Roman Civil War in De bello civili (IV, ll. 402–581)—but rather to a Scandinavian (presumably Norwegian) heroic legend. Hermann Pálsson’s thesis has generally been accepted and cited with approval in recent scholarship on both Sverris saga and Rómverja saga. Þorbjörg Helgadóttir writes: “There can be no doubt that the author of Sverris saga knew Rómverja saga.”³ In this article, I will cast doubt on this assertion and show that none of the passages singled out by Hermann Pálsson conclusively shows the author’s familiarity with Rómverja saga.

Section one presents the passages identified by Hermann Pálsson and argues that it is inherently unlikely that the references to forn minni and dœmi hvatra manna in Sverris saga refer to Latin tradition in the context in which they occur. Section two offers a hitherto unnoticed parallel to the episode under discussion in Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta danorum and argues that Saxo and Sverris saga both drew independently from Scandinavian heroic tradition. The final section briefly outlines the consequences of this changed view on the background of the passage in Sverris saga for the dating of Rómverja saga.

1. Ancient Tradition and the Examples of Brave Men

In Chapter 18 of Sverris saga, the narrator expresses concern that his account of Sverrir’s continued good fortune will give rise to disbelief among the envious in his audience. Therefore, he attempts to put their skepticism to shame by recounting Sverrir’s successes as well as his hardships. Victory did not come easy to Sverrir and his men, the Birchlegs:

margan villistíg varð hann at troða ok hans menn áðr bæði væri rekit svá margra ok stórra harma sem hann átti þeim feðgum at gjalda ok hann fengi sína foðurleifð sótta af slíku stórmenni sem í mót var, en eigi meira liði en hann hafði.

(Sverris saga, p. 31)

(For many a wretched road had Sverri and his men to tramp, before he had avenged the many grievous sorrows which he had to requite the King and his father the Earl, and before he was able to win by the sword the inheritance of his fathers from his powerful opponents with the small force at his command.)

(The Saga of King Sverrir, p. 23)⁴

“The difficult journey” has already become a recurring theme at this point in the saga. It almost seems as if Sverrir suffers great woe and difficulties every time he moves from one place to another, never managing to bring or acquire food and appropriate clothing needed for subsistence.⁵ However, the narrator insists that the hardships culminate in the journey he is about to relate: “kom þó aldri svá mikill ákafi alls konar óhœginda, bæði af mœði ok illviðri, svefnleysi ok matleysi, á hond Sverri konungi sem í þessi ferð” (p. 31) (yet he never was so tried by weariness and bad weather, by loss of sleep...