Um landnám Gríms Kambans í Føroyum

Abstract

The editions of Færeyinga saga are all based on Flateyarbók. In the first chapter of the saga in that manuscript it is stated that Grímr kamban was the first man to settle in the Faroes, and that he settled there in the days of King Haraldr hárfagri; but from genealogies, in Landnámabók and elsewhere, it is clear that Grímr kamban lived long before the days of King Haraldr. Scholars have thus agreed that the dating of this first settlement in Færeyinga saga is wrong. Finnur Jónsson thought it doubtful that the first chapter of Færeyinga saga was original (c/.Færeyingasaga, Copenhagen 1927, p. ix), but from the relationship of the text to Laxdæla saga we may conclude that this first chapter is at least as old as the original version of the saga. The sentence referring to Grímr kamban and his settlement in the Faroes is in Flateyarbók taken from a manuscript of Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta; from the text of AM 62 fol., a sister manuscript to Flateyarbók, it can be seen that the text of their common original was corrupt, and this has been corrected by the scribe of Flateyarbók to read: 'hann (i. e. Grímr kamban) bygde fystr Færeyiar a dpgum Haralldz híns harfagra. ba flydu' etc. AM 61 fol., however, and other manuscripts which agree with it at this point, clearly preserve the text of Færeyinga saga intact: 'Sva er sagt at Grimr kamban bygði fyrstr manna Færeyiar. En a dpgum Haralldz ens harfagra flyðu fyrir hans Riki fiplði manna.'

The settlement of Grímr kamban was thus not in fact assigned to a definite date in Færeyinga saga, and the author probably knew of this settlement from oral tradition.