THE
HEIMSKRINGLA;
OR,
CHRONICLE OF THE KINGS OF NORWAY,
PREFACE OF SNORRO STURLESON.
In this book I have had old stories written down, as I have heard them told by intelligent people, concerning chiefs who have held dominion in the northern countries, and who spoke the Danish tongue; and also concerning some of their family branches, according to what has been told me. Some of this is found in ancient family registers, in which the pedigrees of kings and other personages of high birth are reckoned up, and part is written down after old songs and ballads which our forefathers had for their amusement. Now, although we cannot just say what truth there may be in these, yet we have the certainty that old and wise men held them to be true.
Thiodolf hinn Frode[1] of Huina was the scald of
- ↑ Family surnames were not in use, and scarcely are so now, among the Northmen. Olaf the son of Harald was called Olaf Haraldson; Olaf's son Magnus, Magnus Olafsson; and his son Hakon, Hakon Magnusson: thus dropping altogether any common name with the family predecessors. This custom necessarily made the tracing of family connection difficult, and dependent upon the memory of scalds or others. The appellations Fair-haired, Black, &c., have been given to help in distinguishing individuals of the same name from each other. HinnFrode the Wise, the Much-knowing,— the Polyhistor, as it is trans
