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.”
