SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

A Fragment oj Viking History
accuracy of the pedigree from Halfdan hvitbein, provided
the poem has come down to us uncorrupted in this part.
In the pattr aj Upplendinga Konungum» Ingjaldr, the
father of Olafr the White, is said to be the son of Helgi,
son of Gul'5r0l'5r, son of Halfdan hvitbein - that is, it has
one generation less than Ari, making :Porsteinn the Red
and Haraldr Fairhair fifth in descent from Halfdan
hvitbein, which is chronologically possible. Finally,
Laxdcela Saga amd F ostbrcesra Saga both describe
Ingjaldr as the son of Fr6l'5i "the Valiant, whom the
Svertlingar slew".
It is obvious that the genealogy of 6lafr the White was
far from consistent from an early date, and it is therefore
likely that some error found its way into it at an early
stage. The genealogy of 1slendingab6k is the most
reliable, for Ari the Learned traces his own family in it;
but in view of the chronological discrepancy already
mentioned, it is unlikely that he was the inventor of the
link between his family and the Ynglingar. In this
section he most probably followed old genealogies of his
forebears, the men of Breiriifjorour, though whence these
were derived and how reliable they were is something
that can never be known. However, we are free to make
guesses, and I now propose to give my guess. It is based
on the premises that the three Olafs are one and the same
man; that Ynglingatal is correct from Halfdan hvitbein
onwards; and that the law of repetition of personal names
and events applies in the completion of genealogies,
irrespective of chronology, as is apparent in many ancient
family trees.
I imagine that the children of the settler Olafr jeilan
would have known their ancestry back through five
generations, and would have traced it thus: Olafr jeilan,
:Porsteinn the Red, Olafr the White, Gul'5r0l'5r, Halfdan
hvitbein.
• Finnur ]6nsson and Eirikur ]6nsson, Hauksb6k (1892-6), 456-7.