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COPYRIGHT 2002 Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature
One of the many interesting problems connected with the medieval Icelandic sagas has been the question of their value for history. Extreme views that either accepted the sagas as archives of contemporary historical records or else rejected all of them as complete literary fabrications have long since been discarded. Not only must each individual work be studied in order to decide its usefulness to the historian, but even individual episodes within the same saga can differ greatly in their value as history.
The question of historical memory or historical drama is particularly pertinent for an episode in that masterpiece of medieval European literature known as Njals saga. (1) The epic account of the destruction of the saintly Njal and his family was composed by one of the great creative minds of medieval Iceland. The story is made compelling by the interweaving of fiction and fact, and the locations are both within and without Iceland. One especially important episode is found at the end of the saga, and it shifts the action south from Iceland to the Orkneys, the Irish Sea, and Ireland. This is the account of the events leading up to and occurring at the Battle of Clontarf in Ireland. The Clontarf section is almost an epilogue, as the surviving characters meet their fated ends, and the story of the burning of Njal is brought to its conclusion. (2)
Unlike so many events mentioned in saga literature, there is no doubt about the historical truth of the Battle of Clontarf. This battle was fought in Ireland on Good Friday, 23 April 1014. (3) Clontarf is now a neighbourhood within Dublin, a town first settled by Viking raiders in the mid-ninth century (and refounded in the tenth century) that took its name from the Irish description of the anchorage for ships, dub lind (`the black pool'). In the eleventh century Clontarf was a field where the town's cattle grazed; the name is a compound of cluain with tarbh (`the bulls' meadow'). Fighting at the Battle of Clontarf were troops from Britain as well as Ireland. Leading one army was the Irish high king Brian mac Cennetig, known as Brian boruma (`of the cattle tribute'). His ally was Mael Sechnaill II mac Domnaill, lord of the northern Irish confederation of Ui Neill, and previous high king. Opposing Brian was an army led by three captains: Jarl Sigurdr Hlodvison of the Orkneys, King Sigtryggr Olafsson of Dublin, and Sigtryggr's uncle Mael Morda mac Murchada, the provincial king of Leinster.
The Battle of Clontarf marked the end of the career of the high king. Brian had risen from obscurity in the south-west Irish province of Munster to the high kingship of Ireland in less than a quarter of a century, surpassing the previous dominant dynasty, the Ui Neill of Ulster. To finance his ambitions, he was dependent on the revenues generated by the great Viking towns of Ireland such as Dublin, which he had conquered on New Year's Day in the year 1000. (4) To make his hold on the town secure, Brian's daughter Slaine married Sigtryggr of Dublin, and Brian married Sigtryggr's mother Gormflaith, the sister of Mael Morda. Nevertheless, in 1013 Sigtryggr allied with Brian's enemies as the town joined in the general revolt against the high king, which eventually included Mael Morda of Leinster and the northernmost families of Ui Neill. Dublin was the only Viking town that rebelled, and the high king turned all his attentions to recapturing it. A siege in the autumn was unsuccessful, as was an attack in March of 1014. No secret was made of the plans for another attack on the town. Brian and Sigtryggr recruited troops throughout Ireland and Britain; slain while fighting for the high king was a Donald son of Emhin, the mormaer (`great steward') of Mar, in Scotland.
All accounts of the Battle of Clontarf agree that the combat was lengthy and hard-fought, and that the slaughter was dreadful. Medieval Irish historical records claim that it was a brilliant victory for the Irish, but the outcome of the battle suggests that the result was not that decisive. (5) Brian's troops eventually held the field, but they were decimated to such an extent that they could do no more than march home. The Viking stronghold of Dublin, whose capture had been their goal, was untouched by them. Sigtryggr would reign for another twenty-two years. Brian himself was slain as the battle ended. Almost immediately he was cast in the role of an Irish national hero and defender of the Christian faith. The contemporary Annals of Ulster describe him as the Augustus of north-western Europe, and the Irish chronicler Marianus Scotus claims that Brian was slain while at prayer. (6)
Among Icelandic texts, in addition to Njals saga, accounts of the battle are found in Orkneyinga saga and Porsteins saga Sidu-Hallssonar; and there is a reference to it in Snorri Sturluson's Olafs saga Helga in Heimskringla, where it is described as `Brjansorrostu' (`Brian's battle'). (7) Njals saga, however, has the most extensive account of the battle to be found in any work composed outside Ireland. The Clontarf episode begins with the negotiations prior to the battle and the narrative continues for several chapters before concluding with a catalogue of the supernatural apparitions that were seen during and after the slaughter (chs 154-7). Much of the obviously non-literary information can be checked with contemporary sources and the basic account is historically accurate. (8) The folklore and literary embellishments make this episode one of the most memorable in the entire saga.
There is a widespread belief that the information about the Battle of Clontarf found in all the Icelandic sagas comes from a now-lost work that has been named `Brjans saga'. Speculation about a `Brjans saga' has been developing for a long time. In 1866 the Irish historian James Henthorne Todd edited the Irish saga Cocad Gaedel re Gallaib (`War of the Irish against the Vikings'), in which he noted several similarities between the Irish accounts of the Battle of Clontarf and that in Njals saga. (9) In common with the scholarly opinion of his day, Todd believed Njals saga to be a contemporary eleventh-century historical work, and that its information about Clontarf was based on eyewitness reports from the Viking veterans of the conflict. Todd's belief in the original nature of Njals saga precluded him from speculating about the saga's borrowing from other sources. Instead, he devoted his attentions to reconciling the differences between the Irish and Icelandic reports.
Other scholars accepted Todd's views on the importance of the Clontarf episode in Njals saga. In 1883 Karl Lehmann and Hans Schnorr von Carolsfeld published Die Njalssage inbesondere in ihren juristischen Bestandtheilen. (10) They suggested that the Clontarf episode was an interpolation in Njdls saga, and that it was completely dependent on a text that they described as `Brjans saga'. In support of their theory they looked towards the much briefer story about Clontarf that is found in Porsteins saga. (11) To Lehman and Schnorr von Carolsfeld the similarities between the two sagas suggested that their authors had used the same source, i.e. a saga about the Irish high king Brian.
But what was this `Brjans saga' that they believed to be the exemplar common to Njals saga and Porsteins saga? The Norwegian scholar Sophus Bugge believed that he had the answer. In his last work, `Norsk sagaskrivning og sagafortaelling i Irland' (1901-8), he argued that a `Brjans saga' had been composed by the Viking settlers in Dublin from eyewitness reports of the Battle of Clontarf. (12) According to Bugge, this work had found its way to Iceland (where it was used by the author of Njals saga) via the Viking settlements in the islands round northern Britain. Like Todd, Bugge was aware of the similarities between Njals saga and Irish texts. He saw this as vindication of the account of Clontarf as found in Njals saga, and of `Brjans saga' in particular. In part of his essay he speculated on the material in `Brjans saga'. Bugge had died before completing `Norsk sagaskrivning og sagafortaelling i Irland', and it was finished, from his notes, by his son Alexander. In addition to literary considerations, the younger Bugge also saw political development as an integral part of his argument on the transmission of information. (13) Until the middle of the thirteenth century, well into the era when sagas were being composed and committed to writing, the Norwegian colonial empire extended as far as the Irish Sea, terminating at the Isle of Man. Even after the formal ceding of Man and the Hebrides to the Scottish King Alexander III in the Treaty of Perth, the Orkneys and Shetlands continued to be connected politically with Scandinavia.
A contemporary of the Bugges, pere et fils, was Finnur Jonsson. His views on `Brjans saga', within the context of Njals saga, were most prominently disseminated in the magisterial Den oldnorske og oldislandske Litteraturs Historie. Jonsson supported the theory of an oral composition to the sagas, and viewed them as products of tales circulating around the northern world. He saw Njals saga as completely Icelandic in inspiration, although he considered the Clontarf episode to be an interpolation, following Lehman and Schnorr von Carolsfeld. (14) In this respect Jonsson agreed with Sophus Bugge, as both men looked to the Viking colonies round Britain and Ireland for the preservation and transmission of the memories of the Battle of Clontarf. Jonsson believed that these tales had been moulded into a `Brjans saga' circa 1200. A modification of Jonsson's theory came from Einar Ol. Sveinsson in his edition of Njals saga, where a study of the saga convinced him that the author had used written literary sources, among which he included `Brjans saga'. (15)
More recently the existence at any time of a `Brjans saga' has been called into question. Part of the difficulty is that no extant text mentions a `Brjans saga' by name. The closest to an acknowledgement is an aside in Porsteins saga, which notes that Jarl Sigurdr of the Orkneys went to Ireland and fought against King Brian, `sem segir i sogu hans' (`as said in his saga'). As Johannesson and Lonnroth have pointed out, the precise individual is unclear and it could refer as easily to Sigurdr as to Brian; perhaps a Jarl Sigurdr's saga was intended. (16) Other scholars have been less eager to abandon `Brjans saga', and they have considered it not improbable that the author of Njals saga used a single separate saga. (17)
Was there a `Brjans saga' and, if it existed, what information did it contain? In the search for this work a summary of the Clontarf episode in Njals saga is useful. This begins at chapter 154, where Sigtryggr of Dublin has sailed to the Orkneys around Christmas time to ask Jarl Sigurdr for help in the impending battle against the Irish high king Brian. The conflict between them is blamed on Sigtryggr's mother Gormflaith, a woman of great beauty who hates Brian, her former husband, because he divorced her. At this point there is a slight diversion as the family and character of Brian are discussed. Brian is presented as a just and Christian ruler with three sons and two constant companions named Ulf hraeda and Kerpjalfadr.
While he is at Sigurdr's court, in chapter 155, Sigtryggr finds himself a witness to a continuation of the feud that had led to the death of Njal. Kari Solmundarson, Njal's son-in-law, had sailed to the Orkneys in pursuit of the men who had destroyed his wife's family. He learns that Flosi Pordarson, the leader of the Burners (those responsible for the murder of the Njalings), is in the service of Jarl Sigurdr of the Orkneys, a position he took as compensation for his part in the death of Helgi Njalsson, who had been in the jarl's service. Before Kari enters the hall, he hears Gunnarr Lambason, another of the Burners, give a biased account of the death of Skarphedinn, Njal's son. Kari bursts into the hall and kills him, in front of Sigtryggr and Sigurdr. Afterwards, Sigurdr agrees to help Sigtryggr, despite advice to the contrary given by his friends. He promises to arrive on Palm Sunday, but demands marriage to Gormflaith and the kingship of Ireland as the price of his support. Sigtryggr agrees and returns home. He consults with his mother, and then seeks aid from two Vikings on the Isle of Man named Ospakr and Brodir. Brodir is a lapsed Christian with magic armour who agrees to help Sigtryggr and arrive in Dublin before Palm Sunday; once again the price for assistance is marriage to Gormflaith.
The next chapter, chapter 156, is an account of Brodir's troubles after agreeing to assist Sigtryggr. For three nights in a row, Brodir's ship is attacked by phantoms. During the first night boiling blood pours down, while on the second night the crew's weapons come to life and fight among themselves. Finally, on the third evening, they are attacked by ravens with talons and beaks that seem to be made of metal. Brodir then consults with Ospakr who interprets the omens. The noise preceding the phantom army foretells death; the blood represents a great slaughter in the battle symbolized by the weapons, while the ravens are the devils that will drag Brodir and his men to hell. A furious Brodir attempts to capture Ospakr, who evades him after vowing to become a Christian. Ospakr flees to Brian in Ireland, where he tells him everything before being baptized and enlisting in the high king's army.
Only at chapter 157 does the narrative turn to the actual Battle of Clontarf. Sigurdr and Brodir keep their word and are at Dublin by Palm Sunday. Then there is a curious aside. On the Thursday before the battle, a man on a grey-dappled horse appears in Dublin, where he talks to Gormflaith and Brodir. The next morning, Good Friday, the...
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