*Þórðar saga kakala hin mikla: Reconstructing the Lost Original of a Saga from the Sturlunga Compilation

Introduction

Scholars of pre-modern literature are becoming increasingly aware of the necessity to include the study of lost texts within literary histories (Matthews 2020, 230). The study of lost literary works (literary chamenology) can make use of techniques belonging to the field of textual criticism such as stemmatics but is able to go beyond them in reconstructing the contents, and not necessarily form, when—for example—disentangling remnants of source texts from compilations. This mode of study has long been practiced in Bible Studies, for example, by the proponents of the documentary hypothesis.

In this article, I attempt to lay out the contents of the lost original of a component text of the fourteenth-century Sturlunga saga, namely: Þórðar saga kakala (*Þórðar saga kakala hin mikla). The approach taken to reconstructing the content of the lost original of Þórðar saga kakala in this article is an inversion of redaction criticism. It seeks after the contents of the source text, *Þórðar saga kakala hin mikla, by taking the contents of Þórðar saga kakala in the extant manuscripts and reversing the compilational and editorial processes in play throughout its transmission history. This critique makes use of the categories of evidence used in textual criticism (external and internal evidence) but is not interested in the production of an edition of the lost original.

Literature Review

Nearly all the earliest modern scholars were of the view that Þórðar saga kakala covers more or less the same time line as *Þórðar saga kakala hin mikla. Björn M. Ólsen expressed the view that *Þórðar saga kakala hin mikla encompassed an account of the years 1242 to 1256, while Pétur Sigurðsson claimed it covered an even shorter period, suggesting the original saga encompassed the period 1242 to 1250 or possibly only 1247 (Björn M. Ólsen 1902, 348; Pétur Sigurðsson 1933–1935, 91, 148, 151).

However, their successors Kristian Kålund and Jón Jóhannesson took the opposite view and separately declared the opening of Þórðar saga kakala to be unnatural and unusual, conjecturing that it opened with Þórður's birth and upbringing as well as his sojourn in Norway between 1237 and 1242 (Kålund 1901, 296ff.; Jón Jóhannesson 1946, xli).

Úlfar Bragason has noted that most scholars today are in agreement with Kristian Kålund and Jón Jóhannesson that the narrative of *Þórðar saga kakala hin mikla reported on a much longer period of history than Þórðar saga kakala (Úlfar Bragason 2010, 101). Be that as it may, it is considered that *Þórðar saga kakala hin mikla need not necessarily have been much more lengthy than Þórðar saga kakala in terms of word count.

The only researcher in recent times to express a belief that Þórðar saga kakala is essentially representative of the content of the original saga is Einar Már Jónsson, who thinks the narrative had been left unfinished by its author in 1249 (Einar Már Jónsson 2006, 51). I do not give much regard to Einar's resurrection of this traditional view, but it is nevertheless important for us to assess whether or not the now dominant modern view of *Þórðar saga kakala hin mikla's content is supported by the evidence.

Synopsis of Þórðar saga kakala (from White 2020b, 12–4)

Þórðar saga kakala begins in medias res. Chapter 1 is a prologue of sorts, summarizing events in Iceland following the seizure of two of Þórður's cousins, Órækja Snorrason and Sturla Þórðarson, at Hvítárbrú in the year 1242. The chapter reports that Órækja and Gissur Þorvaldsson traveled abroad and tells how Kolbeinn ungi subjugated the Western Quarter of Iceland to his leadership. Chapter 2 describes Þórður kakali's arrival back in Iceland in September 1242. Chapters 2–5 provide an account of Þórður's attempt to gather support...