Battle of Svolder - Sources

Sources

The Battle of Svolder is mentioned in a number of historical sources. The earliest written work is by Adam of Bremen (ca. 1080), who wrote from a Danish point of view as his source was King Svein II of Denmark. The later Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus made use of and expanded Adam of Bremen's account in his Gesta Danorum (ca. 1200).

In Norway the three synoptic histories, Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium, Historia Norwegie and Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum (ca. 1190), all give a short account of the battle. The Icelandic kings' sagas offer a much more extensive treatment, starting with Oddr Snorrason's Saga of Olaf Tryggvason (ca. 1190). Working from skaldic poetry, oral history, learned European examples and an uninhibited imagination, Oddr constructed an elaborate account of the battle. This was taken up by the later Icelandic sagas, Fagrskinna and Heimskringla (ca. 1220), both of which add quotations of skaldic verse. Three Icelandic poems from around 1200 also have some historical interest: Nóregs konungatal, Rekstefja and Óláfs drápa Tryggvasonar. The immense Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta (ca. 1300) combines several of the above sources to form the last, longest and least reliable saga account.

Contemporary skaldic poetry which refers to the battle includes a work by Hallfreðr the Troublesome Poet, who was in Olaf Tryggvason's service. Hallfreðr was not present at the battle but gathered information about it afterwards for a eulogy on Olaf. On Jarl Eirik's side, a number of stanzas are preserved by Halldórr the Unchristian, who speaks of the battle as happening "last year" and dwells on the scene of Eirik capturing the Long Serpent. Some verses on the battle are also preserved in Þórðr Kolbeinsson's elegy on Eirik, probably composed around 1015. Finally, Skúli Þórsteinsson fought with Eirik in the battle and spoke of it in verse in his old age.

While historians value contemporary skaldic poetry highly as the most accurate source available, it must be remembered that the poems are not preserved independently but as quotations in the kings' sagas. After two centuries of oral preservation, there is often doubt that a verse was accurately remembered and correctly attributed. Furthermore, skaldic poetry did not primarily aim at giving information but at artistically rendering facts already known to the hearers. Historians frequently fall back on the less reliable but more detailed accounts of the sagas.