Output details

Heimskringla I: the beginnings to Óláfr Tryggvason

This is the first part of a new translation in three volumes of Heimskringla, the collection of sagas covering the history of Norway from its legendary beginnings up to 1177, which is one of the greatest literary achievements of medieval Iceland. The translation is based on the text of the three-volume Íslenzk fornrit edition of Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson, and records the page numbers of that edition to enable it to be used alongside the Icelandic text. The prose has been translated as closely as possible, only departing from the sentence structure of the original where this is unavoidable, in order to give the reader as much as possible of the flavour of the original narrative. The complexity of the verses has been reproduced through the preservation of alliteration and the literal rendition of kennings. These are glossed in footnotes which also note their original Icelandic forms. In these ways the translators have aimed both to convey some of the literary qualities of the text, and to give an accurate impression of it to those using it as a historical source. The Introduction and the translation of Ynglinga saga are by Alison Finlay, who also translated all the verses. The remaining prose has been translated by Anthony Faulkes.