An account of Óláfr's life was written in Latin in the 12th century by the Benedictine monkOddr Snorrason. It is considered to be the first full-length Icelandic saga.[1] Oddr made use of previous written works including those of Sæmundr fróði and Ari Þorgilsson as well as Acta sanctorum in Selio and possibly Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium. His original work has been lost, but a translation into Old Norse, known as Odds saga munks, is preserved in two nearly complete versions and a fragment of a third.[2] It is difficult to tell how closely the translation reflects the Latin original, but it clearly owes a debt to hagiography, presenting King Óláfr as the apostle to the Norwegians.[3]
It contains detail on Óláfr's conversion to Christianity and of his efforts to convert Norway, including many stories, among them that of the skald Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld. It builds on Snorri Sturluson's saga in Heimskringla and also on Snorri's Óláfs saga helga, with increased narrative detail, including information from both Oddr Snorrason and Gunnlaugr Leifsson's Latin lives, and other works including many þættir, or tales. The writer included from Oddr's account that Óláfr did not die at the Battle of Svolder, but lived to present King Ethelred of England with a book recounting his life and that of seven "other saints".[5]
Simpson, Jacqueline (2004) [1973], Newall, Venetia (ed.), "Olaf Tryggvason versus the Powers of Darkness", The Witch Figure: Folklore Essays by a Group of Scholars in England Honouring the 75th Birthday of Katherine M Briggs, Routledge, pp. 165–187, ISBN0-415-33074-2
Hoops, Johannes, ed. (2003), Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde (in German), vol. 22, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN3-11-017351-4
Jakobsson, Ármann; Jakobsson, Sverrir, eds. (2017), The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas
Turville-Petre, G. (1953), Origins of Icelandic Literature, Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, ISBN9780198111146
Vries, Jan de (1967), Altnordische Literaturgeschichte (in German), vol. 2 (2nd ed.), Walter de Gruyter, ISBN9783110001709
Finnur Jónsson, ed. (1930). Flateyjarbók (Codex Flateyensis: MS No 1005 fol. in the Old Royal Collection in the Royal Library of Copenhagen. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard.
Lindblad, Gustaf, ed. (1963). Bergsbók: Perg. fol. nr. 1 in the Royal Library, Stockholm. Copenhagen: Rosenhilde and Bagger.
Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. (1958–61). Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta. Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, Ser. A. Vol. 1–2. Copenhagen: Munksgaard. pp. 313–322.
Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. (1982). The great saga of Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf the Saint: AM 61 fol. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger.