SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

62 Saga-Book oj the Viking Society
Greenlanders was composed considerably earlier than the
date to which its composition is generally ascribed. It
seems most natural to believe that it is older than the Saga
oj Okifr by Gunnlaugr, which was composed about 1200.
This view would make the Saga oj the Greenlanders one of
the oldest of the Icelandic sagas, written in the days of
Bishop Brandr Ssemundarson (II63-I201).
The likelihood that the account given in the Saga oj the
Greenlanders is both old and historically sound is
strengthened by the fact that Gunnlaugr's story and other
related ones concerning Leifr's missionary activities in
Greenland, instigated by King Olafr, are very dubious.
The oldest sources know nothing at all of the conversion
of Greenland by Olatr, and yet they supply an exhaustive
list of all the lands and peoples he was responsible for
converting. Historia Norwegice says that he converted
the Orkney and Faroe Islanders, the Shetlanders and the
Icelanders, in addition to the Norwegians.P The poetic
List oj the Kings oj Norway (Noregskonungatal) and the
Catalogus rerum Norvegice,13 both of which derive from the
Lives ojthe Kings (Konungacevi) by Ssemundr the Learned,
state that King Olafr christianised five lands whose
names are, however, not given. Agrip again records that
he christianised five lands: Norway, Iceland, Shetland,
the Orkneys and the Faroe Islands.P In a second group
are the related poems, the Lay oj Oldfr Tryggvason
(Oldjs drdpa Tryggvasonar), which is incorrectly attributed
to Hallfreor the Troublesome Poet (vandra:oaskdld) , and
the Rekstejja of Hallar-Steinn. They relate that King
Olafr brought Christianity to five lands: Shetland, the
Islands (i.e. Orkneys), Norway, Greenland and Iceland.l"
The authors of the poems were obviously acquainted with
the tradition that King Olafr converted five lands, but
they were uncertain as to what lands they were and finally
12 Monumenta historica Noroegia (r880), rr6.
13 ibid., r83.
14 Agrip (r880), 37; (r929), 22.
15 Dennorsk-islandskeSkjaldedigtning, A I 546, 575-576; B I 527-528, 570.