DOCUMENTARY SOURCES 3 



Jon Vidalin, and it had probably been the property of 

 the Skalholt Cathedral in Iceland. The two texts vary 

 somewhat, and by comparison it becomes evident that 

 Hauk has made some additions to the original text, 

 while the writer of the other text has made many 

 changes in the phraseology. On the whole, the narra- 

 tive is more original and better arranged in Hauk's 

 version than in the other manuscript j that, at least, is 

 the opinion of Professor Finnur Jonsson.^ 



It is probable that the Saga of Eric the Red was 

 originally written long before Hauk's time. At the 

 end of the Saga there is a reference to Brand Sasmunds- 

 son. Bishop of Holarj and he is there called Brand 

 the First, which seems to imply, unless this is a later 

 interpolation, that the Saga was written after the 

 episcopate of Bishop Brand Jonsson, the second of that 

 name, which lasted only two years, 1263-64. Profes- 

 sor Finnur Jonsson believes that the original story 

 was written about 1 200, or at least not later than the 

 first quarter of the thirteenth century j but he con- 

 cedes that some additions and changes were made dur- 

 ing the last quarter of that century. Professor Gustav 



2 See his introduction to the Hauksbok (edited by Finnur Jonsson 

 and Eirikur Jonsson, Copenhagen, 189 2- 1896), pp. Ixxxiii-lxxxiv, 

 and his Den oldnorske og oldislandske litter aturs histories Vol. 2, pp. 

 646-648, 1 90 1. The two manuscripts of the Saga are reproduced in 

 facsimile with printed text and English translation by A. M. Reeves, 

 The Finding of Wineland the Good^ London, 1890. 



