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VON TROIL’S LETTERS ON ICELAND. 67
tion and judgment, they are undoubtedly of great ufe, fo much the more, as they are
the only remaining monuments of the antient northern hiftory ; and indeed fome of
them are written with great judgment and perfpicuity.
The Are Frodes Schedz were written fince 1122, and are the moft antient Icelandic
accounts extant. The writings of Sturlefon, Gunlaug, Odde, and feveral others, are
all of them works that will never be loft or hurt by time ; and I do not find any thing
in them which fhould induce us to deny them the fame credit that we fo implicitly give
to the writings of Tacitus and Livy.
No one can doubt, that even thofe authors in the compilation of their hiftories, which
have been confidered as patterns of language, have made ufe of the information of
other writers. Nor have our Icelandic hiftorians been remifs in this ; for Sturlefon
himfelf quotes Are Thiodolfr, the /angfédgaral, or genealogical table, and fome ancient
fongs in which their kings were celebrated ; from which indeed he compiled his ac-
counts. .
_ The Icelanders were remarkably ftudious in preferving the memory of their ancef-
tors; and it was the moft agreeable occupation in their meetings an1 aflemblies, to
repeat thofe hiftories and poems for which their great men had been renowned, as was
the practice among the Greeks. Add to this, the contents and compofition of the wri-
tings themfelves, which plainly prove, that the authors have not been inclined to relate
marvellous ftories ; and it would be unjuft to refufe them that reliance on their veracity,
which we without hefitation beftow on other writers of the fame clafs.
The greateft part of their works were compofed in the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth;
and fourteenth centuries ; and fome of them have even appeared in print. I have a
lift of thefe hiftories in my pofleflion; andthough they are by no means of the fame
degree of merit, it will perhaps not be difagreeable to you to have a copy of it, asit is
not only a proof of their love of {cience, but likewife of their application,
As a frefh inftance of their accuracy and afliduity in ftudy, | mutt likewife mention
their chronicles, in which they recorded whatever happened of importance both in Ice-
land and abroad. ‘hefe annals are in general confidered as more authentic than their
fayings. Semundrand Are Frode were the firft who introduced them, and they have
fince been continued down to our days. ‘The following are confidered as the belt.
1. Flateyar Annal, which reaches to the year 1395, and of which
2. Vatnsfardar Annalisa fupplement which extends to 1660.
3. Skallholt.
4. Hola.
5. Odda.
6. Biiirns a Skardzaa to 1645, of which
_ 7- Hefts Annal, which goes down to the year 1718, isa fupplement. Hrafnagils
Annal begins where the lait leaves off, and continues to 1754.
8. Odds Ejrikfonar a fitium to 1680.
g. Annales Regii, which go to the year 1341.
10. Hird/tora.
11. Laugmanna.
12. Bifhupa.
13. Annales antiqui.
14. Annales vetuitiores go to the conclufion ofthe thirteenth century. Bjarne Hall.
dorfon’s aunal, as 1 have been informed, begins about the middle of the feventh cen-
tury, and reaches quite down to 1772. ,
But
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