VSNR Publications

"The Viking Society for Northern Research is making virtually all its publications (and some other related items) from inception in 1893 to the present freely available on this website, though recent titles may not be released until three years from the date of publication."

http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/

"These digital versions are not intended to replace our printed publications, and titles currently in print will remain available to buy in book form as long as there is a demand for them (the list can be seen at www.vsnr.org/publications/ ). The digital versions are intended to make the range of our publications known to a wider public, and may be used for reference purposes, to evaluate books for purchase or for university courses and for private study. The copyright belongs either to the authors or to the Viking Society, as stated at the beginning of each work, and permission must be obtained from the Society to use downloaded versions either in whole or in part for any other purpose."

Morkinskinna

 “Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275. The name Morkinskinna means "mouldy parchment" and is originally the name of the manuscript book in which the saga has been preserved. The book itself, GKS 1009 fol, is currently in the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen. It was brought to Denmark from Iceland by Þormóður Torfason (Tormod Torfæus) in 1662.
The saga starts in 1025 or 1026 and in its received form, ends suddenly in 1157, after the death of King Sigurðr II. Originally, the work may have been longer, possibly continuing until 1177, when the narratives of Fagrskinna and Heimskringla, which use Morkinskinna as one of their sources, end. Apart from giving the main saga, the text is lavishly interspersed with citations from skaldic verse (about 270 stanzas) and includes a number of short Icelandic tales known as þættir.“ [wiki]

Morkinskinna
edited by Carl Unger, 1867
Danish
https://archive.org/details/morkinskinna00unge

Fagrskinna

Fagrskinna  
edited by  Jonsson, Finnur, 1858
Danish

https://archive.org/details/fagrskinna00unkngoog/page/n4/mode/2up

“Fagrskinna is one of the kings' sagas, written around 1220. It takes its name from one of the manuscripts in which it was preserved, Fagrskinna meaning 'Fair Leather', i.e., 'Fair Parchment'. Fagrskinna proper was destroyed by fire, but copies of it and another vellum have been preserved.
An immediate source for the Heimskringla of Snorri Sturluson, Fagrskinna is a central text in the genre of kings' sagas. It contains a vernacular history of Norway from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, from the career of Halfdan the Black to the Battle of Re in 1177, and includes extensive citation of skaldic verses, some of them preserved nowhere else. It has a heavy emphasis on battles, such as the Battle of Hjörungavágr and the Battle of Svolder. The book is often thought to have been written in Norway, either by an Icelander or a Norwegian.” [wiki]
 

Fagrskinna
edited by Munch and Unger, 1847
Icelandic

https://archive.org/details/Fagrskinnakortfa001511452v0FaguReyk/page/n3/mode/2up

Stenton's William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror and the Rule of the Normans,

by Frank Merry Stenton.

1908 edition

From Project Gutenberg

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59444

INTRODUCTION     1
 
CHAPTER I        THE MINORITY OF DUKE WILLIAM AND ITS RESULTS     63
 
CHAPTER II        REBELLION AND INVASION     96
 
CHAPTER III        THE CONQUEST OF MAINE AND THE BRETON WAR     126
 
CHAPTER IV        THE PROBLEM OF THE ENGLISH SUCCESSION     143
 
CHAPTER V        THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONQUEST
                                AND THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS     180
 
CHAPTER VI        FROM HASTINGS TO YORK     211
 
CHAPTER VII        THE DANISH INVASION AND ITS SEQUEL     267
 
CHAPTER VIII        THE CENTRAL YEARS OF THE ENGLISH REIGN     304
 
CHAPTER IX        THE LAST YEARS OF THE CONQUEROR     344
 
CHAPTER X        WILLIAM AND THE CHURCH     376
 
CHAPTER XI        ADMINISTRATION     407
 
CHAPTER XII    DOMESDAY BOOK     457
 
INDEX

 

William of Poitiers, The Life of William

 A volume containing the original text of The Gesta Willelmi, by William of Poitiers can be found on Project Gutenberg, in French. Accordingly, the material here quoted from the volume has been translated via Google and any translation errors arise there.
The same volume contains William of Jumieges (see previous post).

HISTOIRE DES NORMANDS, PAR GUILLAUME DE JUMIÈGE. —
VIE DE GUILLAUME-LE-CONQUÉRANT, PAR GUILLAUME DE POITIERS.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64008

The original Latin text, edited by Giles in 1845,  can be found on Internet Archive.
https://archive.org/details/scriptoresrerum00gilegoog/page/n7/mode/2up

About The Gesta Willelmi from the preface by Giles.
“10. The next work is of a more important character,  being in fact the source from which we obtain most  of our information conceming the life of the first William. The Gesta Willelmi, by William of Poitiers, was first published by Duchesne, among the Scriptores rerum Normannicarum, from a MS. that had been lent  to him by Sir R. Cotton. This MS. was never retumed to its owner, and either perished in the French Revolution or still exists unnoticed on the shelves of some provincial library.
The work was again printed by Maseres in a volume entitled Historiae Anglicanau circa tempvs  conquestus Anglicae a Gulielmo Notho, Normannorum  duce, selecta monumenenta, Lond, 4to. 1807.
The whole  of that volume will be included in the present collection, except the Encomium Emmae, of which the English Historical Society are preparing an edition, and the extracts from Ordericus Vitalis, which it seems unnecessary to reprint, because a new edition of the whole of that author  will no doubt before long issue from the press."
[it begins on page 77]
https://archive.org/details/scriptoresrerum00gilegoog/page/n97/mode/2up?view=theater

Who was William of Poitiers?

Orderic Vitalis gives a biography of WOP in Book IV, chapter VII.
“Thus  far  William  of  Poitiers  carries  his  history,  which, imitating  the  style  of  Sallust,  eloquently  and  acutely  recounts the  acts  of  King  William.  This  author  was  by  birth  a Norman,  being  a  native  of  the  town  of  Preaux,  where  his sister  was  abbess  of  a  convent  of  nuns  dedicated  to  St. Leger.  He  is  called  William  of  Poitiers,  because  in  that city  he  drank  deeply  at  the  fountain  of  learning.  Returning into  his  own  country,  he  became  eminent  as  the  most learned  of  all  his  neighbours  and  fellow  students,  and  made himself  useful  to  Hugh  and  Gislebert,  bishops  of  Lisieux,  in ecclesiastical  affairs,  as  archdeacon  of  that  diocese.  He  had served  with  courage  in  a  military  career  before  he  took orders,  fighting  bravely  for  his  earthly  sovereign,  so  that  he was  the  better  able  to  describe  with  precision  the  scenes  of war,  from  having  himself  been  present  and  encountered their  perils.  As  age  came  on  he  devoted  himself  to  science and  prayer,  and  was  more  capable  of  composing  in  prose  or verse  than  of  preaching.  He  frequently  wrote  clever  and agreeable  poems,  adapted  for  recitation,  submitting  them without  jealousy  to  the  correction  of  his  juniors.  I  have briefly  followed,  in  many  parts,  his  narrative  of  King  William and  his  adherents  without  copying  all  he  has  written, or  attempting  to  imitate  his  elegant  style”.   
https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalhi02ordeuoft/page/46/mode/2up?q=poitiers

The introduction to the Volume states:-
“Guillaume de Poitiers is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished of our ancient historians; he lacks neither the sagacity to disentangle the moral causes of events and the character of the actors, nor the talent to depict them. He knew the Latin historians, and evidently endeavored to imitate them; also Orderic Vital and several of his contemporaries compared him to Sallust; he sometimes reproduces in fact, with enough success, the precision and the energy; but he falls much more often into affectation and obscurity. It is no less a great loss than that of the beginning and the end of his work; the first and last years of King William's life are absolutely missing in all the manuscripts. That of the Cottonian library, which is the most complete and on which Duchesne published his edition, begins in 1035 and ends in 1070."

William of Poitiers on Earl Godwin.
Following a description of the death of Alfred at the beginning of the text, William of Poitiers shows his lack of objectivity regarding Earl Godwin and his offspring.
“We therefore address you a short apostrophe, Godwin, whose name, after your death, survives you infamous and odious. If it were possible, we would like to scare you of the crime you have so wickedly committed. What execrable fury agitates you? With what heart could you meditate, against right and justice, such an abominable crime? Why, the most cruel of homicides, do you commit for the loss of you and yours the smallest betrayal? You congratulate yourself on having done what the laws and customs of the nations furthest removed from Christianity abhor; Alfred's outrages and evils excite your joy, O wickedest of men, and cause the tears of good people to flow. Such things are dismal to report.
But the most glorious Duke William, whose actions, supported by divine help, we will learn of in future ages, will strike with an avenging sword the throat of Harald, so similar to you in cruelty and perfidy. You shed by your treachery the innocent blood of the Normans; but in its turn the iron of the Normans will cause the blood of yours to flow. We would have preferred to bury this inhuman crime in perpetual silence; but we do not believe that even bad actions, necessary for the continuation of history, should be excluded from our writings, as we should forbid ourselves from imitation.”

William of Jumièges, Gesta Normannorum Ducum

 A volume containing the original text of William of Jumieges Gesta Normannorum Ducum can be found on Project Gutenberg, in French. Accordingly, the material here, namely the contents, the introduction and the letter of William of Jumieges, have been translated via Google and any translation errors arise there. The same volume contains William of Poitiers (see next post).

HISTOIRE DES NORMANDS, PAR GUILLAUME DE JUMIÈGE. —
VIE DE GUILLAUME-LE-CONQUÉRANT, PAR GUILLAUME DE POITIERS.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64008

 William the Bastard was descended from Rollo who founded Normandy in the early 900s. The line of descent through the Dukes of Normandy is

Genealogy                                reigned
Rollo                                       911 - 928
William Longsword               927 - 942
Richard I the Fearless            942 - 996
Richard II the Good               996 - 1026
Robert I the magnificent      1027 - 1035
William the Bastard             1028 - 1087

According to Wikipedia “William of Jumièges was the original compiler of the history known as the Gesta Normannorum Ducum ("Deeds of the Dukes of the Normans"), written in about 1070. This was built upon the framework of an earlier history compiled by Dudo of Saint-Quentin, De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum, between c. 996 and c. 1015.’  

Almost nothing is known of William of Jumieges, we have neither birth nor death dates.

Orderic Vitalis names William as “Calculus.” In Book III, chapter V, he states:
“At  the  instigation  of  the  devil,  who  never  ceases  from mischief  to  mankind,  violent  hostilities  broke  out  between. the  French  and  the  Normans.  Henry,  king  of  France,  and Geoffrey  Martel,  the  valiant  count  of  Anjou,  crossed  the frontiers  of  Normandy  with  numerous  forces  and  committed great  ravages.  On  the  other  hand,  William,  the  brave  duke of  Normandy,  was  not  slow  in  taking  ample  revenge  for  the injury  done,  taking  many  of  the  French  and  Angevins prisoners,  putting  some  to  death,  and  throwing  numbers into  prison,  where  they  long  suffered.  The  reader  who  desires to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  particulars  of  the attacks  and  devastations,  which  ensued  on  one  side  or  the other,  will  find  them  described  in  the  works  of  William,  a monk  of  Jumieges,  surnamed  Calculus,  and  William  of Poitiers,  archdeacon  of  Lisieux,  who  have  written  the  history of  Normandy  with  great  care,  and  dedicated  their works  to  William,  then  king  of  England,  whose  favour  they wished  to  secure.”
https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalh01fragoog/page/425/mode/2up?q=calculus&view=theater

William of Jumieges’s Gesta Normannorum Ducum is comprised of eight books and an introductory letter.

Contents
Letter to William, Orthodox King of the English, on the facts and gestures of the Dukes of the Normans.
Book I     How Hastings oppressed Neustria before the arrival of Rollo
Book II    Deeds and gestures of Rollo, First Duke of Normandy
Book III    Of the Second Duke of Normandy, William son of Rollo
Book IV    Of Richard I, son of Duke William
Book V    Of Duke Richard II, son of Richard I
Book VI    Of Richard III and Robert his brother, both sons of Richard II
Book VII    Of Duke William, who submitted England by his arms.
Book VIII    Of Henry I, king of the English and Duke of the Normans.

At the beginning of the Gesta he makes a dedication to William the Bastard, naming him as King of England rather than as Duke of Normandy. William identifies himself as a monk of Jumieges.
“To William, pious, victorious and orthodox king of the English, by the grace of the Supreme King, William, monk of Jumiège, and the most unworthy of all monks, wishes the strength of Samson to strike down his enemies, and the depth of Solomon to recognize justice.”
From this introductory letter, the work is usually dated to a twenty year period between the Bastard’s coronation at Christmas 1066 and his death in 1087.
 
The eighth book is concerned with the rule of the Bastard’s son Henry and as it post dates the introductory letter it is therefore thought to have been added by a later writer. The introduction states:- “the eighth was obviously added later by a monk of the abbey of Le Bec: without speaking of the difference in tone and style, there is question of several events occurring after the death of Guillaume de Jumiège, for example, the death of Adèle, countess of Blois, sister of King Henry I of England, which occurred in 1137, and that of Boson, Abbot of Le Bec, which occurred the same year.” 

The concluding chapters of book seven relate the events of William’s death and burial and must also have been added after his death. Thus we cannot say with certainty, where the work of William of Jumieges ends and his co-writer begins; nor can we identify what has been added later.
The introduction also states “It even appears that in the first seven books, several chapters, notably chapter IX of book VI, chapters XII, XXII, XXXVIII of book VII, and perhaps a few other passages were also added afterwards, or at least interpolated, either by the monk author of the VIIIth book, or by some other chronicler.”  These are:
 

Book VI, CHAPTER IX.
Of the abbey of Bec, of its first abbot and founder, the venerable Herluin, and of his successor Anselme.
Book VII,
CHAP. XII. D'Arnoul, son of Guillaume Talvas, and his brother Olivier, a monk from Le Bec.
CHAP. XXII. Monasteries that were founded in Normandy in the time of Duke William.
CHAP. XXXVIII. Of the Duke's return to Normandy, and of the death of Archbishop Maurile.

William of Jumieges identifies his sources in his introductory letter. He notes that the beginning i.e the first four books, has been taken from the works of Dudo.
“I drew the beginning of my story, up to Richard II, from the story of Dudon, a learned man, who had learned very carefully from Count Raoul, brother of Richard I, everything he confided to the paper, to be transmitted to posterity.”

William of Jumieges continues: “Everything else I have learned partly from the relations of many men, whom their age and experience render equally trustworthy, partly from having seen it with my own eyes and having judged it with certainty, so that I give it as my own.”

Chapters 34-38 of Book Seven cover the period from the gathering of William’s fleet at Saint-Valery, in Ponthieu, to the return of William to Normandy following his coronation.

The Greatest Saga of Olafr Tryggvason

Heimskringla contains a saga of Olaf Tryggvason, but it is not the only one*.

There is also the Greatest Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason which is featured here.

THE  SAGA  OF  KING  OLAF  TRYGGWASON
WHO  REIGNED  OVER  NORWAY  A.D.  995  TO  A.D.  1000
TRANSLATED   BY   J.    SEPHTON,    M.A.    published 1895
https://archive.org/details/sagaofkingolaftr00olafiala/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater

 “THE  translation  of  the  Saga  of  King  Olaf  Tryggwason  has  been  made  from  the  text  of  the  Fornmanna  Sb'gur,  printed  at  Copenhagen,  in  1825.  Occasionally  a  reading  has  been  taken  from  the  Flateyjarbok,  printed  at  Christiania,  in  1860.”

*See Wikipedia for the various versions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93l%C3%A1fs_saga_Tryggvasonar

What is the difference between them?  

Simply put, the Greatest OT Saga contains the Heimskringla OT saga integrated with a great deal of additional material about Olaf from other sources. The unknown author set out to expand the OT saga and transform it into a comprehensive account of his life and times.

The preface to the translation presented here gives information concerning the text.
It says, “one  of  his  [Olaf’s] admirers  thought  it  desirable  to  collect  into  one  complete  story,  and  weld  together,  the  notices  respecting him.”  
and “An  author  had  no  copyright  in  his  work.  It  [the work] was  taken  by  the  writer  of  a  succeeding  generation  on  the  same  subject,  who  appropriated  the  language  of  his  predecessor  as  well  as  the  matter.  Thus  the  larger  Sagas  are  all  probably  composite  growths,  having  passed  through  several  hands.”

What are the additions?

Firstly there is the Heimskringla OTS.
“First  and  foremost  of  the  author's  sources  is  the  Heimskringla  life,  by  Snorri,  which  gives  what  may  be  called  an  historical  picture  of  the  hero.”
“Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla (c. 1230s) includes an Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar.” [wiki]

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/598/598-h/598-h.htm#link2H_4_0111

Secondly there is the Oddr Snorrason account.
“Next  to  this  is  a  life  written  by  Odd  Monk  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century.  This  work,  written  originally  in  Latin,  is  lost,  but  two  free  translations  of  it  exist,  and  these  give  what  may  be  called  a  legendary  picture  of  the  King.  Both  these  lives  fully  described  King  Olaf's  great  work  of  bringing  heathen  Norway  within  the  Christian  fold,  but  only  cursorily  dealt  with  the  conversion  of  Iceland  and  the  other outlands,  the  Orkneys  and  Shetland,  the  Faroes,  and  Greenland.”

“An account of Óláfr's life was written in Latin in the 12th century by the Benedictine monk Oddr Snorrason. It is considered to be the first full-length Icelandic saga. 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 [Theodoricus]. 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. 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.” [wiki]

Thirdly there is Landnamobok and the Kristni Saga
"Whatever matter  the  author  of  the  present  Saga  found  in  Icelandic  literature  which  bore  upon  the  latter  work,  he  has  used  and  incorporated ;  and  in  particular  has  embodied  a  full  account  of  the  discovery  of  Iceland,  and  notices  of  those  of  the  early  settlers  who  were  favourable  to  Christianity.  Thus  he  has  inserted  several  extracts  from  the  Landnamabok,  and  has  largely  expanded  those  parts  of  Kristni  Saga  which  precede,  and  those  which  describe  the  establishment  of  Christianity  by  law." 

“Landnámabók, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to Landnáma, is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement (landnám) of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.” [wiki]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landn%C3%A1mab%C3%B3k

English Translation of Landnamabok on Wayback Machine
https://web.archive.org/web/20120712074242/http://www.northvegr.org/sagas%20annd%20epics/miscellaneous/landnamabok/index.html

“Kristni saga (the book of Christianity) is an Old Norse account of the Christianization of Iceland in the 10th century and of some later church history. It was probably written in the early or mid-13th century, as it is dependent on the Latin biography of King Olaf Tryggvason written by the monk Gunnlaugr Leifsson around the last decade of the 12th century. This results in Latinate forms of some names. The author also used work by Ari Þorgilsson, probably the now lost longer version of the Íslendingabók, and Laxdæla saga.” [wiki]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristni_saga

English Translation of Kristni Saga on VSNR website, 2006. [pdf]
http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Text%20Series/IslKr.pdf

Fourthly there are the lives of the poet Hallfred and Kiartan.
"Again,  there  were  two  famous  Icelanders,  contemporaries  of  King  Olaf,  who  were  brought  into  close  connection  with  him — the  poet  Hallfred  and  Kiartan.  The  author  of  the  Great  O.  T.  Saga  has  included  in  his  work  almost  the  whole  of  Hallfred's  Saga,  and  such  a  part  of  the  Laxdsela  Saga  as  gives  a  full  view  of  Kiartan's  life,  his  relations  with  Gudrun,  and  his  death." 

"Hallfreðr Óttarsson or Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld (Troublesome Poet) (c. 965 – c. 1007) was an Icelandic skald. He is the protagonist of Hallfreðar saga according to which he was the court poet first of Hákon Sigurðarson, then of Óláfr Tryggvason and finally of Eiríkr Hákonarson. A significant amount of poetry by Hallfreðr has been preserved, primarily in Hallfreðar saga and the kings' sagas but a few fragments are also quoted in Skáldskaparmál". [wiki]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallfre%C3%B0r_vandr%C3%A6%C3%B0ask%C3%A1ld

"Hallfreðar saga vandræðaskálds is one of the Icelanders' sagas. The saga is preserved in several 14th century manuscripts, including Möðruvallabók and Flateyjarbók, with significant difference between the versions. It relates the story of Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld, an Icelandic poet active around the year 1000. The saga has some resemblance to the sagas of other poets, such as Kormáks saga and Gunnlaugs saga, but in Hallfreðar saga there is less emphasis on the romantic relationships of the skald. Instead the saga dwells on the troubled conversion of Hallfreðr from Norse paganism to Christianity and his relationship with King Óláfr Tryggvason and other Norwegian rulers." [wiki]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallfre%C3%B0ar_saga

Laxdæla saga also Laxdœla saga (Old Norse pronunciation, Laxdoela saga, Laxdaela saga or The Saga of the People of Laxárdalr, is one of the Icelanders' sagas. Written in the 13th century, it tells of people in the Breiðafjörður area of Iceland from the late 9th century to the early 11th century. The saga particularly focuses on a love triangle between Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir, Kjartan Ólafsson and Bolli Þorleiksson. Kjartan and Bolli grow up together as close friends but the love they both have for Guðrún causes enmity between them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laxd%C3%A6la_saga

English translation of Laxdaela saga on Project Gutenberg
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17803

 

Image The Death of Kiartan

Fifthly there is the life of Sigmund  Brestison
“In  a  similar  manner  the  intimacy  of  Sigmund  Brestison  with  King  Olaf  has  caused  the  author  to  include  in  his  work  a  large  portion  of  the  Fareyinga  Saga,  so  as  to  give  Sigmund's  life  in  full.” 

The Færeyinga Saga, the saga of the Faroe Islands, is the story of how the Faroe Islanders were converted to Christianity and became a part of Norway. It was written in Iceland shortly after 1200. The author is unknown and the original manuscript is lost to history, but passages of the original manuscript have been copied in other sagas, especially in three manuscripts: Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta, Flateyjarbók, and a manuscript registered as AM 62 fol. [wiki]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A6reyinga_saga

English Translation of the Fareyinga  Saga on the Icelandic Saga Database. The Saga of Thrond of Gate, 1896 translation into English by F. York Powell from the original Icelandic 'Færeyinga saga’. 
https://www.sagadb.org/faereyinga_saga.en

Sixthly there is the poetry
“Also,  in  imitation  of  the  Heimskringla,  he  has  inserted  quotations  from  three  late  poems,  the  Rekstefia,  the  Jomsvikinga  Drapa,  and  the  Bui  Drapa,  in  order  to  furnish  evidence,  though  it  is  not  contemporary  evidence,  for  additional  facts  which  he  has  introduced.”
 
“Hallar-Steinn’s Rekstefja, possibly ‘Split-refrain’ (HSt Rst; see below on title), is a drápa in thirty-five stanzas describing the life and death of the Norwegian king Óláfr Tryggvason (r. c. 995-c. 1000). After the traditional bid for a hearing (st. 1), the skald outlines Óláfr’s youth in Russia (sts 2-4), then tells of his success as a warlord raiding in the British Isles and elsewhere (sts 5-8), his missionary activities Christianizing five countries (sts 9-11), and his qualities as leader, including generosity towards his men (sts 12-14). He then narrates Óláfr’s last battle at Svǫlðr (sts 15-23), comments on the further course of the poem (st. 24), relates incidents, some semi-miraculous, proving Óláfr’s extraordinary agility, strength, piety and closeness to God (sts 25-31), praises God (sts 32-3) and concludes with remarks on previous praise-poems for Óláfr and the status of his own work (sts 34-5).”
https://skaldic.org/skaldic/m.php?p=text&i=1237&v=intro

Rekstefia in English translation on the Skaldic Project Website
https://skaldic.org/skaldic/m.php?p=text&i=1237

“Forty-three complete stanzas and two helmingar (sts 44, 45) survive from Jómsvíkingadrápa ‘Drápa about the Jómsvíkingar’ (Bjbp Jóms). Composed some two centuries after the event it describes, the poem relates historical and legendary traditions about the famous sea-battle of Hjǫrungavágr (tentatively identified with Liavågen, Møre og Romsdal, Norway; Megaard 1999). This was fought c. 985 between a Wendish-Danish force under Búi digri ‘the Stout’ Vésetason and Vagn Ákason, leaders of the Jómsvíkingar, and a Norwegian force led by Hákon jarl Sigurðarson and his son Eiríkr. (On Jóm and the Jómsvíkingar, see Notes to sts 6/2, 17/4 below, and on the jarls and other skaldic poetry associated with the battle, see ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume.)”
https://skaldic.org/skaldic/m.php?p=text&i=1122&v=intro

The Jomsviking Drapa in English translation on the Skaldic Project Website
https://skaldic.org/skaldic/m.php?p=text&i=1122

The Jomsviking Drapa in Vigfusson and Powell
https://archive.org/details/corpuspoeticumbo02guuoft/page/300/mode/2up?view=theater

“Búadrápa ‘Drápa about Búi’ (ÞGísl Búdr) is preserved solely in ÓT, which cites nine full stanzas and three helmingar in the course of its account of the famous sea-battle at Hjǫrungavágr (probably Liavågen, Møre og Romsdal, Norway). This battle was fought c. 985 between a Norwegian force led by the jarls Hákon Sigurðarson and his son Eiríkr and a Wendish-Danish force led by Búi Vésetason and Vagn Ákason, leaders of the warrior fraternity later known as the Jómsvíkingar. (On the jarls, the battle and other skaldic poetry associated with it, see ‘Ruler biographies’ in Introduction to this volume; for other Jómsvíkingar at the battle named in ÓT, see Context to st. 1.)”
https://skaldic.org/skaldic/m.php?p=text&i=1412&v=intro

Buadrapa in English translation on the Skaldic Project Website
https://skaldic.org/skaldic/m.php?p=text&i=1412

Bua Drapa in Vigfusson and Powell
“BUA-DRAPA  is  one  of  the  latest  insertions  in  the  great  O.T.  Saga.  It is  in  Egil's  rhyming-metre,  and  by  an  unknown  poet,  Thorkel  Gislason, of  the  same  age  as  Biarni,  whom,  indeed,  he  seems  to  imitate.  Only  part of  it  has  been  preserved.  It  is  almost  entirely  made  up  of  the  worst and  latest  'vulgus-phrases'  of  the  school  of  Einar  and  the  last  court- poets.  Two  lines  only  present  any  interest, — 1.  27,  where  it  is  said  that  'Every  hail-stone  weighed  an  ounce!'  and  31-32,  'The  loathsome ogress  shot  sharp  arrows  from  her  fingers.'  These  exaggerations  are duly  inserted  into  the  text  of  the  later  edition  of  the  Kings'  Book.  Ari tells  the  tale  simply  according  to  the  older  and  undecked  traditions.”
https://archive.org/details/corpuspoeticumbo02guuoft/page/302/mode/2up?view=theater

Unusually, Vig does not give an English translation of the poem?
https://archive.org/details/corpuspoeticumbo02guuoft/page/308/mode/2up?view=theater

Seventhly there are the individual stories
“To  complete  his  view  of  King  Olaf,  the  writer  of  the  Great  0.  T.  Saga  has  included  many  episodical  stories,  which  not  being  now  found  elsewhere,  would  otherwise  have  been  lost  to  us,  such  as  the  Saga  of  Thorwald  Kodranson,  the  stories  of  Rognwald  of  AErwick,  of  Swein  and  Finn,  of  Thorwald  Tassel,  of  Eindridi  Broadsole,  of  Gunnar  Half,  of  Gaut,  and  others.” 

 Finally there are the succeeding kings
"And  as  he  began  his  work  with  an  account,  taken  from  the  Heimskringla,  of  the  Kings  preceding  King  Olaf ;  so  he  has  concluded  it  with  a  slight  sketch,  mostly  from  the  same  work,  of  succeeding  Kings,  that  he  might  relate  the  fate  of  two  great  barons,  favourites  of  Olaf ;  and  also  introduce  to  the  reader,  in  chronological  order,  the  legendary  notices  respecting  the  King  after  his  disappearance  at  the  battle  of  Swold".

What is the result of the compilation?

According to the editor in the preface, the compilation and the reworking of the original texts corrupts them and detracts from the original stories. e.g. “The  different  stories  which  he  weaves  together  do  not  always  agree  well  For  example,  the  narrative  of  the  battle  of  Hiorunga  Bay,  ch.  90,  in  which  the  Wickings  of  Jom  were  defeated  by  Earl  Hakon,  is  a  piece  of  clear  and  precise  writing  in  Heimskringla.  This  narrative  the  Great  0.  T.  Saga  writer  has  enlarged  by  quotations  from  later  poems,  and  in  attempting to  weave  the  new  matter  of  these  poems  into  the  Heimskringla  account,  has  rather  injured  its  clearness  and  precision  than  otherwise.” 
and
“A  remark  may  be  made  upon  the  chronology.  Though  the  Heimskringla  Life  of  King  Olaf,  and  the  Great  0.  T.  Saga,  adopt  in  the  main  the  same  chronology,  yet  there  are  vital  differences  between  them  in  the  sequence  of  events.  The  compiler  of  the  latter  work,  in  bringing  other  Sagas  into  his  story,  and  in  particular  the  Laxdsela,  was  compelled  to  adopt  a  sequence  of  his  own  as  he  attempted  to  weave  together  various  narratives  into  one  harmonious  whole.  But  the  chronology  is  unsettled,  and  perhaps  hopelessly  so.”