BOOK
VIII.
furnifhed materials for the chronicles o f the earlieft Ice-
- landick authors, whofe works are at prelent extant. I allude to
Are, furnamed the Sage, who was educated by Teittis, fon o f
Mleif; Saemund Sigfurfon, for his great erudition denominated
Polyhiftor ; and Snorro Sturlefon, ftyled by his learned,
editor the Herodotus o f the North ; all o f whom immediately
fucceeded Iflief, and wrote on the hiftory o f Norway.
Many fubfequent annalifts made their appearance, o f
whom it would be fuperfluous to give an aecount. Several
o f thefe writings, compofed in the Icelandick tongue, have
been given to the publick, fome printed in Iceland*, others
in Sweden; but the greateft part in Denmark, accompanied
with Swedifh, Danilh, or Latin tranilations t. The moft important
o f thefe publications is a folio edition o f the above-
mentioned chronicle o f Snorro, printed at Copenhagen in-
17 78 . It is accompanied with a life o f the author, from
which it appears, that he was born in 1 1 7 8 ; that he received
his education, and completed his ftudies in Iceland that he
was chief magiftrate o f the country ; and that he was killed
in an infurredlion in 12 4 1 , in the 63d year of his age. His
biographer fays, that he was an excellent poet, an accurate
hiftorian, and a ikiifut lawyer, that h e was a proficient in the
Greek and Latin tongues, and not ignorant o f mathematrcks
and mechanicksj. From his chronicle Torfasus, the late
annalift of the North, has chiefly drawn the materials for his
* V a n T r o i l informs u s , th a t printing
was introduced into Ice land, b y John (or
Jonas) A re fon , biih op o f H o lu n ; th a t John
M a th ieflon , a Swed e, was the firft printer ;
and th a t the firft book was th e Breyia rium
N id a ro fieu fe , printed in 1 531 at H o lu n . H e
ad ds, that new types were b ro u g h t'th ith e r
in 1 5 7 4 ; and th a t th e Ice lan dick Bib le was
pr in ted in 1584 , See-Letters on Ice lan d ,
p . 182.
f F o r a lift o f th e Ice lan dick authors,-fee
P re fa c e to A n n a le s Biornornis de Sk ardfa,
p . 5. N o r th . A n t . I . p . 52, & paffim.
L e tte r s on Ice land, L e t t e r X IV . T h e l i b
ra ry o f the Britifh M ufeum contains about
180 Ice lan d ick man ufcripts. See A y fco u gh^
C a ta lo g u e o f th e man ufcripts o f th e Britiih
M u feum , p . 890.
X P re fa c e , p . i x .
Hiftory