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INTEODUOTION. 67
tory of the Orkneian Jarls from the end of the ninth
to the middle of the thirteenth century, and the
Fsereyinga-saga, strictly the biography of the two
chieftains, Thrand and Sigmnnd Brestason ; but as
they gain authority over the Faroes", if becomes
also a history of the islands themselves. It em-
braces the end of the tenth and the beginning of
the eleventh centuries, and appears to have been
written in the twelfth. The events which it relates
still live in the mouths of the Faroe people.
The Local and Family Histories and Biographies
are far more numerous, as well as more entertain-
ing and instructive. They give an insight into the
private life of the people, and although they usually
contain events of trifling importance, such as fam-
ily quarrels, deeds of vengeance, legal trials, jour-
neys to Iceland, Norway, England, &c., yet in
vivacity of manner, freshness of delineation, and
simplicity of style they are very attractive. They
are, in effect, Romances, but Romances which have
a historical foundation, and, making allowance for
poetical decorations, are strictly historical in their
minutest details. It is in fact their minute individ-
ualization of events, circumstances, and characters,
together with the manner of narration, which gives
them-the character of Romances. The most import-
ant among those written in the twelfth century
are : 1. Yiga-Styrs-saga, the history of the chieftain
Agrip, who on account of his quarrelsome disposition
and deeds of blood was called Viga-Styr, and
was finally slain by Gest, the son of one of his vic-
tims. His son Thorhall then pursues Gest for a long