Brjáns saga
Encyclopedia
Brjáns saga is a hypothetical early specimen of Old Norse literature
. According to the hypothesis certain episodes in Njáls saga and Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar
drew on this lost saga.
There is no external evidence of this saga's existence, though it was postulated by the Icelandic scholar Einar Olafur Sveinsson, who edited Njals saga in 1954. He believed it could have been written as early as the 1190's and used by the author of Orkneyinga saga, who wrote in about 1200.
A controversial approach by the Irish academic Donnchadh Ó Corráin
has received a certain popularity in that he believed that the likely date of composition of the original Brjáns saga was around 1100 when Magnus Barelegs posed a threat to Irish interests (Clarke et al. ,1998, p. 449). He believed that the hypothetical saga was written in Dublin in response to the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib as the Hiberno-Norse Dubliners' way of saying that they were loyal to the descendants of Brian. He uses a reference in Thorsteins saga Sidu-Hallssonar to Brian as evidence for the saga's existence: "The earl thanked him for his words. After that they traveled to Ireland and fought with king Brian, and there many remarkable events happened at the same time as is said in his Saga."
Old Norse literature
Old Norse literature refers to the vernacular literature of the Scandinavian peoples up to ca. 1350. It chiefly consists of Icelandic writings.See:* Old Norse poetry* Edda* Norse saga* Icelanders' sagas* Kings' sagas* Legendary sagas...
. According to the hypothesis certain episodes in Njáls saga and Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar
Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar
-External links:**...
drew on this lost saga.
There is no external evidence of this saga's existence, though it was postulated by the Icelandic scholar Einar Olafur Sveinsson, who edited Njals saga in 1954. He believed it could have been written as early as the 1190's and used by the author of Orkneyinga saga, who wrote in about 1200.
A controversial approach by the Irish academic Donnchadh Ó Corráin
Donnchadh Ó Corráin
Donnchadh Ó Corráin is an Irish historian and Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at University College Cork. He is an early Irish and mediaeval historian and has published on the Viking Wars, Ireland in the pre-Hiberno-Norman period and the origin of Irish language names.-Works:Ó Corráin's...
has received a certain popularity in that he believed that the likely date of composition of the original Brjáns saga was around 1100 when Magnus Barelegs posed a threat to Irish interests (Clarke et al. ,1998, p. 449). He believed that the hypothetical saga was written in Dublin in response to the Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib as the Hiberno-Norse Dubliners' way of saying that they were loyal to the descendants of Brian. He uses a reference in Thorsteins saga Sidu-Hallssonar to Brian as evidence for the saga's existence: "The earl thanked him for his words. After that they traveled to Ireland and fought with king Brian, and there many remarkable events happened at the same time as is said in his Saga."
External links
- http://brjanssaga.blogspot.com/ - Translation of the Njáls saga extract
- PDF of Ó Corráin's paper