The king's own authorised saga. For 1199 and 1200 it describes Sverre's war with the Bagler party of Bishop Nikolás Arnesson and their king Inge Magnusson: the sea fight at Strindsjø in 1199, the Bagler holding Viken and Oslo, Sverre's winter campaigns, the fighting around Bergen and Nidaros, the exiled Archbishop Eirik in Denmark, and the papal excommunication and interdict that Sverre answered with his own propaganda. Detailed, dated by seasons rather than days, and written to justify Sverre.
About this source
- Title
- Sverris saga
- Author
- Karl Jónsson and a continuator
- Author's dates
- Karl Jónsson, abbot of Þingeyrar, died 1212 or 1213; the continuator wrote in the 1210s
- Written
- begun about 1185 under Sverre's own supervision, completed about 1210 to 1220
- Language
- Old Norse
- Covers
- 1177 to 1202
- Kind
- Saga
The heimskringla.no text could not be reached during this task. Sephton 1899 is public domain but only a lending copy was found.
Where to read it
Editions
- G. Indrebø (ed.), Sverris saga etter Cod. AM 327 4to (Kristiania 1920)
- Þorleifur Hauksson (ed.), Sverris saga, Íslenzk fornrit 30 (Reykjavík 2007); not free (not freely online)
Translations
- J. Sephton (trans.), Sverrissaga: The Saga of King Sverri of Norway (London 1899), English; no free copy verified (the 1994 reprint on the Internet Archive is lending only) (not freely online)
- A. Bugge and G. Storm (trans.), Norges kongesagaer, vol. 3: Sverres saga (Kristiania 1914), Norwegian