Sæmundr inn fróði Sigfússon

[This article has been updated/rewritten in 2025 to incorporate current research. Please adjust citation accordingly.]

by Jonas Wellendorf

Sæmundr fróði, ‘the Learned’ (Sæmundus multiscius) is widely regarded as the founder of the Icelandic historiographical tradition and an early pillar of the Icelandic Church. Although many works are attributed to him in medieval sources, and post-medieval scholarship has increased this count, none of the texts he may have written appear to have survived..

Biography

Sæmundr fróði Sigfússon (1056–1133) stands at the very beginning of the Icelandic literary tradition and is celebrates for his extensive learning. Brief mentions of Sæmundr and his activities can be found in various vernacular Icelandic texts from the Middle Ages. The first comprehensive treatment of Sæmundr was written by ÁRNI MAGNÚSSON who compiled the scattered medieval references in his Vita Sæmundi multiscii (1787, rpt. 1930).

The years of Sæmundr’s birth and death are recorded in the Icelandic Annales regii (also known as Konungsannáll) (ed. STORM 1888, 108 and 113) and in some of the other annals edited by Storm. The only medieval account focusing on Sæmundr and his activities has the character of a legend. This is the so-called Sæmundar þáttr ‘the tale of Sæmundr’ which is transmitted as part of Jóns saga helga (L-recension) ‘The saga of St. Jón’ (eds. SIGURGEIR STEINGRÍMSSON, ÓLAFUR HALLDÓRSSON, and FOOTE 2003, 339–43). According to the tale, Sæmundr studied abroad, and no news of his whereabouts reached Iceland for many years. The future St. Jón of Hólar managed to track down Sæmundr, who had been studying ókunnig frœði ‘the unknown [i.e., occult] sciences’ with an unnamed master so intensively that he had forgotten everything he had learned while growing up, including his own baptismal name. Jón helped Sæmundr remember what he had forgotten, and together they fled from Sæmundr’s master, who attempted to track him down using magical means. Sæmundr, however, outwitted his master, and the latter, realizing that he had been outsmarted by his student, gave up the pursuits. Sæmundr and Jón returned safely to Iceland. A partial analogue to the account of Sæmundr’s escape has been identified in William of Malmesbury’s Gesta regum anglorum (eds. and transl. MYNORS et al. 1998–1999, II, 277–284) which narrates the escape of Gerbert of Aurillac (the future Pope Silvester II) from a Saracen astrologer in Spain.

While the text of Sæmundar þáttr may date to the thirteenth century (see SIGURGEIR STEINGRÍMSSON et al. 2003, cclxix), Sæmundr’s homecoming was evidently considered an important event much earlier. Ari fróði ‘the Learned’ Þorgilsson found it worth mentioning in his pioneering and succinct history of Iceland and its institutions, Íslendingabók ‘Book of Icelanders’ (ca. 1122–33), writing that during the lawspeakership of Sighvatr Surtsson (i.e. 1076–1083), Sæmundr kom … sunnan af Frakklandi hingat til lands ok lét síðan vígjask til prests (ed. JAKOB BENEDIKTSSON 1986, 20–21) ‘arrived hither in the country from Frakkland in the south and underwent clerical ordination’. Sæmundr’s return from abroad is also recorded in the Icelandic annals. According to the Annales regii, Sæmundr kom ór skóla ‘returned from school’ in 1076 (ed. STORM 1888, 110), while other annals date his return one or two years later and add that his return happened með áeggjan Jóns Ǫgmundarsonar er síðan varð biskup á Hólum (Lögmannsannáll and Oddaverjaannáll, ed. STORM 1888, 251 and 472) ‘thanks to the encouragement of Jón Ǫgmundarson who later became bishop at Hólar’.

The identification of ‘Frakkland’, from which Sæmundr, according to Ari, returned, is unknown. In later sources and modern Icelandic “Frakkland” generally translates as ‘France’, but it seems more likely that Franconia or the Rhineland are the correct identifications (see FOOTE 1984, 114–118, BOOTH 2008, and HELGI SKÚLI KJARTANSSON 2008). Once back in Iceland, Sæmundr quickly gained a position of prominence. His reputation for learning is evident in Íslendingabók where Ari notes in his introductory remarks that he showed a draft of his text to the two bishops who commissioned the work and to Sæmundr for approval, and that he made revisions based on their suggestions (ed. JAKOB BENEDIKTSSON 1986, 3). Ari also credits Sæmundr with playing a central role in the passing of the first tithing law in Iceland (Íslendingabók, ed. JAKOB BENEDIKTSSON 1986, 22). Aditiondally, Sæmundr is said to have advised the Icelandic bishops Ketill Þorsteinsson and Þorlákr Rúnólfsson when they created what eventually became Kristinna laga þáttr ‘the section on Christian Laws’ in the Icelandic Grey Goose laws (Grágás, ed. FINSEN 1852, 36), probably in 1123. Sæmundr is also said to have built a church at his farm Oddi and to have had it dedicated to St. Nicholas (Þorláks saga B, ed. ÁSDÍS EGILSDÓTTIR 2002, 212). His farm Oddi in became an important seat of learning in early Iceland, and his descendants, the Oddaverjar, continued to play a significant role in Icelandic history. Most famously, the historiographer and mythographer Snorri Sturluson was raised at Oddi by Jón Loptsson, the grandson of Sæmundr. The idea that Snorri acquired his extensive historiographical, mythological, and poetological knowledge at Oddi appeals to many scholars.

Works

Scholars generally agree that Sæmundr 1) wrote in Latin and 2) composed a rather short work of history of the Norwegian kings from Haraldr hárfagri (Finehair) to Magnús góði (the Good) (†1047). The main facts on which these assumptions are based are listed below.

• 1) Sæmundr is believed to have written in Latin because he is not mentioned in sources listing early vernacular texts. Thus, the so-called First Grammatical Treatise (from the second half of the 12th century) provides an overview of the types of vernacular writings that existed at the time the treatise was composed. There, mention is made of þau hin spaklegu frœði er Ari Þorgilsson hefir á bœkr sett af skynsamlegu viti (ed. HREINN BENEDIKTSSON 1972, 208; see also p. 246) ‘the sagacious frœði that Ari Þorgilsson has committed to books out of his wise understanding’. Although frœði means ‘learning’, it should be understood here as ‘historical learning’. No mention is made of writings by Sæmundr, which one would expect if he had written in the vernacular. Similarly, the prologue to Óláfs saga ins helga in sérstaka ‘The Separate Saga of St. Óláfr’ opens by stating that Ari ritaði fyrstr manna hér á landi at norrœnu máli frœði, bæði forna ok nýja (ed. BJARNI AÐALBJARNARSON 1945, 419) ‘was the first of men in this country to write frœði, both old and new, in the Norse language.’ Had Sæmundr written in the vernacular, one would again expect him to have been mentioned at this point. Hence, scholars hold that Sæmundr wrote in Latin.

• 2) Attempting to gain a sense of the kind of work Sæmundr wrote, scholars have pointed to the many preserved writings that refer to Sæmundr as their source. However, these references are often phrased in such a way that it is unclear whether a written or oral source is meant. For example, the Icelandic Konungsannáll in the entry dealing with 1047 states: Svá segir Sæmundr prestr hinn fróði at á þessu ári váru svá mikil frost at vargar runnu á ísi milli Noregs ok Danmarkar (ed. STORM 1888, 108) ‘Priest Sæmundr the learned says thus, that in this year there were such great frosts that wolves ran on the ice between Norway and Denmark’. At least in one case, it is certain that a written work is meant: In Oddr Snorrason’s Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar (the saga of Óláfr Tryggvason) it is related how King Óláfr in the second year of his reign, calls an assembly at Dragseidet, Western Norway, and gives good laws. In one of the two manuscripts containing this passage, the text continues: Svá hefir Sæmundr ritat um Óláf konung í sinni bók (ed. ÓLAFUR HALLDÓRSSON 2006, 232) ‘Thus, Sæmundr wrote about King Óláfr in his book’; the second manuscript, however, refers to Sæmundr as a source in more vague terms: Ok slíks sama segir Sæmundr frá Óláfi konungi at… (ed. Ólafur Halldórsson 2006, 232) ‘And Sæmundr says the exact same thing about king Óláfr, that …’ . BJARNI AÐALBJARNARSON (1937, 33–35) argued that this reference to Sæmundr was not part of Oddr’s original text. However, since Oddr originally composed his saga about Óláfr Tryggvason in Latin and the saga is only preserved in the vernacular, it cannot be known for certain whether Oddr actually included a reference to Sæmundr, and if so, whether it referred to a written or oral account, or whether his text was perhaps ambiguous at this point (e.g., Sæmundus refert…?).

A hint regarding the possible scope of Sæmundr’s work is provided by the anonymous genealogical poem Nóregs konungatal ‘The Enumeration of the Kings of Norway’, composed in honor of Jón Loptsson, Sæmundr’s grandson (ca. 1190), and preserved in Flateyjarbók (1387–1394). The poem enumerates the kings of Norway, beginning with Haraldr hárfagri ‘Finehair’ and his father Halfdán svarti ‘the Black’, and ending with King Sverrir. In the concluding stanzas (sts 66–75), significant emphasis is placed on the fact that Jón Loptsson’s mother was the daughter of King Magnús berfœttr (Barelegs). The poem therefore praises Jón by detailing all his royal ancestors and presenting him as a royal figure. Each king is accorded a few stanzas. After the section on Magnús the Good (†1047), almost halfway through the poem, the poet states that he has now recounted the lives of ten kings from Haraldr hárfagri sem Sæmundr sagði inn fróði (st. 36, ed. GADE 2009, 784) ‘as Sæmundr the learned said’. At this point, the poet highlights a clear break in the genealogy of kings, announcing that he will now turn to the branch of the royal family es enn lifir (st. 37, ed. GADE 2009, 785) ‘which is still alive’ (Magnús died without an heir, and his successor Haraldr harðráði ‘Hard-ruler’ traced his ancestry back to Haraldr through a different line). In the following part of the poem (up to st. 65), the poet continues the enumeration of rulers, but now frequently refers to what he has heard or been told in some other manner (st. 43 frák ‘I heard, st. 45 þats þá sagt ‘it is then said’ and þat hefk heyrt ‘I have heard that’, st. 55 þat veit hverr ‘everyone knows’, and st. 56 frák ‘I heard’ (ed. GADE 2009, 789, 790, 795, and 796). Even if such references are conventional, their general absence in the first part of the poem (where there is only one such reference (st. 16 þá hefk heyrt (ed. GADE 2009, 772) ‘then I have heard’) might support the argument that the poet used a single source regarding the lives of the first ten kings, which would have been Sæmundr’s (now lost) work on the Norwegian kings. In providing the length of each king’s rule, Sæmundr might have laid the chronological foundation for the entire history of the early rulers of Norway in his lost work. HERMANNSSON (1932, 35) argues that there would have been no need to insert the reference to Sæmundr in Nóregs konungatal st. 36 if his work had continued beyond the reign of Magnús góði.

However, not all scholars agree: NORTH (2022) and SVERRIR TÓMASSON (2008) both attach greater credence to what Sæmundr, according to late medieval vernacular sources, ‘said’ and suggest that he wrote a universal history, beginning with Creation, rather than a work of local history. This work would have been either in Latin (NORTH 2022) or in the vernacular (SVERRIR TÓMASSON 2008).

Medieval Reception and Transmission

Sæmundr’s reputation grew to such proportions that his name became associated with many texts considered old and important. For instance, the scribe who penned Nóregs konungatal in Flateyjarbók attributed this poem to Sæmundr. Most famously, the poetic Edda has also been attributed to him. Although this attribution had been rejected already by Árni Magnússon in his biography of Sæmundr, editions of the poetic Edda continued to be titled Sæmundar Edda ‘the Edda of Sæmundr’ until the early twentieth century (see e.g., FINNUR JÓNSSON, ed. 1926).

While Sæmundr’s work is lost, a rich legendary tradition revolving around him has been preserved. In the folk tradition, Sæmundr acquired a reputation as a powerful magician, and legends tell of his dealings with the devil, to whom he promised his soul in exchange for obtaining the seat at Oddi. In the end, Sæmundr managed to cheat the devil of his reward. Although this legendary tradition is recorded in post-medieval times, part of its roots lies in the account of how Jón Ǫgmundarson helped Sæmundr escape from his master as described in Sæmundar þáttr (mentioned above). The legendary tradition has been studied by JÓN HNEFILL AÐALSTEINSSON (1994), GUNNELL (1998), and most recently by BRYAN (2021, 117–139).

Bibliography

• ARNI MAGNÚSSON 1787: ‘Vita Sæmundi multiscii vulgo froda’ pp. i–xxviii in Edda rhythmica seu antiquior, vulgo Sæmundina dicta. Hafniae.
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• BRYAN, E. S. 2021: Icelandic Folklore and the Cultural Memory of Religious Change. Leeds.
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