Hungrvaka


Hungrvaka is an Old Norse history of the first five bishops of Skálholt. The text covers the period from the formation of the Icelandic church to 1178. As the text refers to Saint Thorlak, Jón Ögmundsson, and Gizzur Hallsson, it was probably written in the first half of the thirteenth century. However, the manuscripts witnesses of the saga are all post-medieval, the earliest dating from 1601. Because of similarities in style it is assumed that the author of Hungrvaka wrote Páls saga biskups and may also have written passages of Þorláks saga helga.
The reason for the book's title is given by the author in the introduction:

Manuscripts

A comprehensive treatment of the manuscripts can be found in Ásdís Egilsdóttir's introduction to Hungrvaka in the most recent edition of the text, and summarised by Basset.
The main manuscripts represent three versions of the text:
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