A reading of The Tale of Halldor Snorrason (II), followed by some information about the story.
Notes
This story is recorded in the Morkins kinna, a 13th century manuscript relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157.
King Harald himself was the joint ruler of Norway with his nephew King Magnus from 1046. Before this Harald had spent almost a decade in Constantinople (1035-1044), where he commanded the Varangian Guard.
Halldor was the son of Snorri the Priest, who you may remember from the episode on Ale-Hood.
With that in mind, it is interesting to note that throughout the tale Halldor is treated as a man of low birth, despite being a member of a powerful Icelandic family. This suggests that, at the time, Norwegians thought Icelanders were of low status.
We can learn a lot about King Harald from the story, specifically – his distrust of Halldor, his contradictory views on money, and whether accurate or merely perceived, his jealousy of Halldor’s strength of character.
Half an ounce of gold, the amount of debt owed to Halldor by the king, is noted by the translator as being the equivalent of the price of about 16 dairy cows.
Reference
Palsson, H. (trans.) (1971) Hrafnkel’s Saga and Other Icelandic Stories. Penguin Classics.
Music
Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)(http://filmmusic.io)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)