Af Hákoni Hlaðarjarli Sigurðarsyni

Abstract

This paper brings together, from various accounts of Jarl Hákon Sigur›arson and King Óláfur Tryggvason in the preserved sagas of Norwegian kings, incidents which point to traces of tales which might have been based on the following motif: men who suspect that someone is out to kill them try to prevent the suspicion from becoming true, but a series of such attempts creates a situation in which the suspicion actually does come true. The conclusion of the article turns to Danish holders of power in ninth and tenth century Norway, pointing out that King Eiríkur in Jutland, said in Heimskringla and other sources to be the father of Ragnhildur, the wife of Harald Fairhaired, was the same as the person referred to in Icelandic translations of Latin sources as Hárekur, in Latin Hericus, Ericus in Danish sources.