HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

34 OMELJANPRITSAK1) The saga can have more than one starting point in presenting the lifeof its hero; in the OsT there are two starting points, the one secular (Ágrip)and the other hagiographie (Oddr, Hkr, OsTm).2) The time intervals given in the sagas are reliable. If differences occur,they can usually be explained as normal copyist's errors, e.g., XI instead ofIX in Oddr's text; iiij = iv instead of vi in OsTm; and atta = viij confusedwith vij in OsTm and Flat.3) The summations by the compilers are usually unreliable since theydepend on two arbitrary choices made by the compiler: the starting pointand the time intervals selected for his purpose.4) None of the compilers of the OsT introduced all of the time intervalsrelevant to the life of ОТ. Oddr used seven time intervals (nos. 1, 2, 3,4, 5,6, 9), whereas Snorri (Hkr) and OsTm both used the same six time intervals(nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7). Oddr omitted intervals 7 and 8, whereas Snorri andOsTm made use of intervals 7 and 4.5) None of the authors of the sagas devoted to ОТ made use of timeinterval 8; this was utilized solely by the compiler of the Ann R.6) All the Icelandic authors have the same starting point (the "hagiographie"),apparently initiated by Ari, who also established the exact date ofOT's death (summation VI).In his summation, however, Ari (and, strangely enough, Oddr) used thesecular criterion (summation V)—"OT's age when he became king ofNorway"—while the other authors of OsT were guided by the religiousstandard (summation IV)—"OT's age when he was baptized."7) ОТ, as a fully developed "hagiographie" hero, was certainly the creationof the Mngeyrar school. Only the Norwegian author of Ágrip, though acleric himself, retained valuable information from the pre-hagiographicperiod: the circumstances of OT's birth, his first three years of life, and whyand by whom Tryggvi, OT's father, was killed. But in the latter case, hewas already quoting, side by side, the second version—that elaborated inthe Mngeyrar monastery.8) Snorri, apparently for literary reasons, disregarded the historicallyreliable data of Ágrip. The "romantic" circumstances of OT's birth anddeath of his father were too precious to be replaced by the "rationalistic"stories of Ágrip. He, therefore, developed starting point B. For the sameartistic considerations, Snorri replaced time intervals 6 and 8 with timeinterval 7. So as not to destroy completely his readers' illusion that ОТmight have lived past his fall in the year 1000, Snorri omits summation VIand an exact date for OT's death.