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74 mTEODucnoN.
liDgar" (Knutides, descendants of Canute). It was
written, partly from older sources, by Olaf Thor-
darsson (died 1259), who composed a fragment of
tlie Prose Edda. Although the events mostly take
place in Christian times, yet it is not wanting in
poetic beauties, and even the greater part of the
first chapter is taken from the lays of Eirik Jarl
and Sven EstriSson, the Court. Skalds of Knut the
Great.
Of the Sagas relating to Norway we have
1. Saga Olafs Tryggvasonar, Olaf Tryggvason's
Saga, in two different works, both independent of
Snorri's, and undertaken before it. One is by Monk
Oddur (d. 1200), the other by Monk Gunlaug, a
younger cotemporary of the former. Both were
written in Latin, and of both we have only Icelandic
translations. Olaf Tryggvasoli was the founder
of Christianity in l^orwaj, and in his history there
are various references to Heathendom, which he
was actively engaged in driving out by force. Both
these works afford a rich mine for the mythologist,
inasmuch as they unfold the decay of heathen life
in the North, and its transition to Christianity.
Gunlaug's work is also interesting from the great
number of inlaid Skaldic Songs.
2. Saga Olafs bins IIelga,'the Saga of Olaf the
Saint. This King continued the work of conversion
begun by his predecessor, and hence this Saga has
for us a similar interest to the preceding one, al-
though in a less degree. It contains songs of Sig-
hvat, Ottar the Swarthy, and others,
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