Færeyinga Saga
Encyclopedia
Norse saga
The sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...
of Faroemen
Faroese people
The Faroese or Faroe Islanders are a Germanic ethnic group native to the Faeroe Islands. The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins.About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countries, particularly in Denmark, Iceland and Norway....
, is the story of how the Faroes were converted to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and became a part of the Kingdom of Norway.
Summary
It was written in IcelandIceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
shortly after 1200. The author is unknown and the original manuscript is lost to history, but passages of the original manuscript have been copied in other sagas, especially in three manuscripts: Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar or the Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason can refer to several different kings' sagas.* Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason* Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Gunnlaugr Leifsson...
, Flateyjarbók
Flateyjarbók
The Flatey Book, is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name Codex Flateyensis.- Description :...
, and a manuscript registered as AM 62 fol.
The different sagas differ somewhat on the first settlement of Faroe. Historians have understood from the beginning of Færeyinga Saga in Flateyjarbók
Flateyjarbók
The Flatey Book, is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name Codex Flateyensis.- Description :...
that Grímur Kamban settled in Faroe when Harald Hårfagre
Harald I of Norway
Harald Fairhair or Harald Finehair , , son of Halfdan the Black, was the first king of Norway.-Background:Little is known of the historical Harald...
was king of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. This does not correspond with the writings of Dicuil
Dicuil
Dicuil, Irish monk and geographer, born in the second half of the 8th century.-Background:The exact dates of Dicuil's birth and death unknown...
.
However, the version from Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar does correspond with the writings of Dicuil
Dicuil
Dicuil, Irish monk and geographer, born in the second half of the 8th century.-Background:The exact dates of Dicuil's birth and death unknown...
. The opening text is as follows:
- There was a man named Grímr Kamban; He first settled in Faroe. But in the days of Harold Fairhair many men fled before the king’s overbearing.
The first man to settle in Faroe is, according to this text, Grímr Kamban
Grímr Kamban
Grímur Kamban was, according to the Færeyinga saga, the first man to set foot in the Faroe Islands. The name was written Grímr in Old Norse and is often referred to as Grim in the English literature....
, a man with a Norse first name and an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
last name. This suggests that he might come from settlements to the south in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
. He most probably was not Norwegian.
The text says that many men fled from Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
when Harald Hårfagre
Harald I of Norway
Harald Fairhair or Harald Finehair , , son of Halfdan the Black, was the first king of Norway.-Background:Little is known of the historical Harald...
was king there. But it also says that the isles were settled before that (possibly for hundreds of years, although most historians do not think so).
The Norwegians who fled from Harald Hårfagre must have known about the isles before leaving Norway. If Grímr Kamban settled some time before, this could explain the Norwegians knowing about Faroe.
According to Dicuil
Dicuil
Dicuil, Irish monk and geographer, born in the second half of the 8th century.-Background:The exact dates of Dicuil's birth and death unknown...
, Irish monks (papar
Papar
The Papar were, according to early Icelandic historical sources, a group of Irish or Scottish monks resident in parts of Iceland at the time of the arrival of the Norsemen...
) lived in Faroe before Vikings came from Norway.
Source
- Færeyínga saga eller Færøboernes historie i den islandske grundtekst med færøisk og dansk oversættelse Carl Christian RafnCarl Christian RafnCarl Christian Rafn was a Danish historian, translator and antiquarian. His scholarship to a large extent focused on translation of Old Norse literature and related Northern European ancient history...
, ed., Danish tr. Johan Hen(d)rik Schrøter, Faroese tr. (Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz 1832)
Related reading
- Debes, Hans Jacob. Føroya søga 1. Norðurlond og Føroyar. (pp. 89-100. Føroya skúlabókagrunnur) 1990.
- Havsteen-Mikkelsen, Sven Føroyinga søga (Bjarni Niclasen, týddi; Jørgen Haugan, skrivaði eftirmæli. (Tórshavn: Føroya skúlabókagrunnur) 1995