The King and His Retainers. Some Notes on Interpolations in the Flateyjarbók Version of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31261/SPiP.2019.15.02Keywords:
Óláfr Tryggvason, Old Norse literature, þættir, textual variants, images of rulersAbstract
The article examines the interpolations in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta (the greatest saga of Óláfr Tryggvason) in the Flateyjarbók manuscript, concerning those men in the King Óláfr Tryggvason’s who fought in the sea battle of Svǫlðr. The article first presents the sources and various editions of the saga. The point of departure in the analysis is the list of Óláfr’s entourage of the royal ship Ormrinn langi in the older edition of the saga. Only some of those men appear also in other parts of the saga. Modifications in the Flateyjarbók manuscript encompass both the interpolations of names on the list of the entourage and additional stories in the narrative before the battle. In this way, the modifications intensify coherence and narrative multilayered structure of the saga of Óláfr Tryggvason.
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