Faroese saga

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The Faroese saga ( Old Norse Faereyinga saga , New Faroese Føroyinga søga ) is the oldest source on the history of the Faroe Islands and the most important written source on the Viking Age in the Faroe Islands .

Emergence

It originated in Iceland in the 13th century , and was probably written by a student of Snorri Sturluson . It is about the time of the conquest (9th century) to the Christianization of the Faroe Islands in the 11th century. In the 19th century, the saga was compiled from Icelandic sources in its current form. The Danish archeologist Carl Christian Rafn got the first edition in 1832, to whom the saga got its name Færeyínga saga (with í!). Rafn's work contains a Faroese translation by Pastor Johan Henrik Schrøter in his peculiar orthography ( see there ).

content

The Faroese saga begins with the words (New Faroese):

Grímur Kamban var fyrsti maður ið búsettist í Føroyum .
Hetta var á døgum Haralds Hárfagra ,
tá stór mannfjøld flýddi undan harðræði hansara.

in German:

Grímur Kamban was the first man to settle in the Faroe Islands .
That was in the days of Harald Fairhair ,
when many people fled his lust for power.

It is assumed that that Grímur actually lived and went from Norway to the Faroe Islands in the 9th century , settled in Funningur and thus initiated the Nordic conquest of the archipelago. However, that was before Harald Fairhair's time, probably around 825. Obviously, the Faroese saga confuses this first wave of the conquest with the second wave around 885-890, which was actually an escape from Harald Fairhair's rule.

A free republic of emigrants was established in the Faroe Islands, and they had their own ting in their capital, Tórshavn . This place called Tinganes is still the seat of government today. The Faroese saga contains these and other historical facts, especially the story of Sigmundur Brestisson ( Sigmund ), who Christianized the Faroe Islands around 1000 against the resistance of Trónd from Gøta ( Trond ). Trond's role is so central that the Faroese saga is also called "The Trond saga".

Since the saga was written down by monks, it is of course not impartial, but portrays Sigmund (the Christian) as the good and Trond (the heathen) as the bad. There are also parts of the Faroese saga that are clearly more poetry than truth, but essentially it is the story of the first Faroese and therefore the most important historical source on the Viking Age in the Faroe Islands ( see there ).

chronology

First-mentioned years according to CC Rafn, in brackets according to GVC Young

Torkil Barfrost is expelled from the country
Turið Torkilsdóttir is born
Ravnur Hólmgarðsfari comes to the Faroe Islands and brings Sigmundur and Tóri to Norway ( Sigmundur and Tóri in Norway )
  • 976 (971) - Ravnur releases Sigmundur and Tóri and travels to the Eastern countries (Russia)
  • 978 (973) - Sigmundur and Tóri move from Vík to Dovrefjell
  • 984 (979) - Sigmundur and Tóri come to Hákon Jarl
Tóra Sigmundsdóttir (Sigmund's daughter) is born
  • 985 (980) - Sigmund's fight with Randver
Sigmundur and Tóri are accepted into the entourage of Hákon Jarl
  • 986 (981) - Sigmundur armies in Sweden and Russia and fights with Vandil
Torkil Barfrost is acquitted of exile
Torkil becomes a Sysselmann in Orkedal
  • 988 (983) - Sigmundur and Tóri go back to the Faroe Islands, where they take possession of his paternal inheritance
  • 989 (984) - Sigmundur and Tóri go to Norway to Hákon Jarl, who mediates between them and Tróndur í Gøtu . Sigmundur receives the Faroe Islands as a Norwegian fief.
  • 990 (985) - Sigmundur and Tóri go back to the Faroe Islands and agree that Tróndur should pay off the fine imposed on him in three years.
  • 991 (986) - Sigmundur marries Turið Torkilsdóttir and travels with his family to the Faroe Islands in autumn
  • 992 (987) - Sigmundur makes a short trip to Norway in the summer
  • 993 (988) - Sigmundur travels to Norway in autumn
  • 994 (988?) - Sigmundur takes part in the battle against the Jomswikings on the side of Hákon Jarl
  • 997 - King Olav Tryggvason sends a message to Sigmundur in the Faroe Islands that he should come to him in Norway and that if he joins him, Olav will make him the most powerful man in the Faroe Islands
  • 998 - Sigmundur returns to the Faroe Islands and proclaims Christianity on behalf of the king ( see Christianization of the Faroe Islands )
  • 999 - Tróndur í Gøtu is forcibly baptized by Sigmundur and the Faroese are formally Christianized
  • 1000 - Sigmundur meets King Olav Tryggvason for the last time in Norway and pays him tribute from the Faroe Islands
  • 1001 - Sigmundur visits the Jarle Erik and Svend who renew his fiefdom over the Faroe Islands
  • 1002 (1005) - Tróndur attacks Sigmundur. The latter flees and is murdered in Sandvík by Torgrímur Illi
  • 1024 - Løgmaður Gilli travels to Norway with Leivur Øssursson and Tórálvur Sigmundsson at the behest of King Olav the Saint .
  • 1026 - Tórálvur is murdered in Norway
  • 1027 - Karl von Møre moves to the Faroe Islands to solve the murder
  • 1028 - Karl Möre is on the Thing in Torshavn slain
  • 1029 - The three perpetrators Sigurd Torlaksen , Tord the Small and Gaut the Red come back to the Faroe Islands. Gille and Leivur place themselves under the protection of Tróndur í Gøtu, who lifted the banishment of his three relatives and divided the Faroe Islands into three parts.
  • 1035 - Leivur Øssursson takes revenge on the three. Tróndur dies in mourning over the loss, and Leivur becomes the first Christian ruler of the Faroe Islands, who gets them as a fief from Magnus the Good . End of the Viking Age in the Faroe Islands.

literature

Printed editions

(Holdings of the National Library of the Faroe Islands , selection)

  • Carl Christian Rafn : Færeyínga Saga eller Færøboernes Historie in the Icelandic basic text med færøisk og dansk Oversættelse . Copenhagen 1832 (New edition Tórshavn: Offset-prent, Emil Thomsen, 1972 - 284 p.) (Icelandic, Faroese by Johan Henrik Schrøter , Danish)
  • Føroyingasøga / útløgd úr íslandskum av VU Hammershaimb . Tórshavn, 1884 . 137 p. (First edition in New Faroese, further editions 1919 and 1951)
  • Føringasøga / útløgd and Umarbeid of nýggjum by C. Holm Isaksen. Tórshavn: 1904 . 116 pp.
  • Færeyingasaga. The Icelandic saga om færingerne / på ny udgiven af Det kongelige nordiske oldskriftselskab . Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskriftselskab, 1927 . - xix, 84 pp. (Danish)
  • Føroyingasøga / umsett hava Heðin Brú and Rikard Long . Tórshavn: Skúlabókagrunnurin, 1962 - 105 pp. (Faroese)
  • The Faroe Islanders' saga / translated and annotated by George Johnston; edited by Michael Macklem; drawings by William Heinesen . Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1975 . - 144 pp. (English)
  • Færeyinga saga / Ólafur Halldórsson bjó til prentunar; Jón Böðvarsson samdi Verkefni fyrir skóla. Reykjavík: Iðunn, 1978 - 180 p. (Icelandic)
  • Færinge saga / med tegninger af Sven Havsteen-Mikkelsen; In the oversight of Ole Jacobsen and in a letter from Jørgen Haugan. Copenhagen: Forum, 1981 - 143 pp. (Danish)
  • La saga des Féroïens / traduit de l'Islandais by Jean Renaud; préface de Regis Boyer. Paris: Aubier Montaigne, 1983 - 133 pp. (French)
  • The Faroese saga / translated from Icelandic by Klaus Kiesewetter. Ålborg: 1987 - 103 pp. (German)
  • Färinga sagan / inledd och översatt av Bo Almqvist; förord ​​av Olov Isaksson; photographer av Sören Hallgren. Hedemora: Gidlunds Bokförlag, 1992 - 205 pp. (Swedish)
  • Føroyinga søga / Sven Havsteen-Mikkelsen teknaði; Bjarni Niclasen týddi; Jørgen Haugan skrivaði eftirmæli. Tórshavn: Føroya skúlabókagrunnur, 1995 - 148 p. (Faroese. 2nd edition, current) (New: PDF download 2005)
  • Føroyinga søga [ljóðbók (cassette tape)] / Høgni Joensen lesur. Tórshavn: Ljóðbókanevndin, 2003 - 5 kassettubond í 1 húsa (audio book in Faroese, approx. 5 hours)

Spending on the Internet

Secondary literature

  • GVC Young: Fra vikingetiden til reformationen . Copenhagen: Rosenkilde og Bagger, 1982 (Original title: From the Vikings to the Reformation )