The midnight raid (A.D. 1171) 254 Lives of Bishop Gudmund, Hrafn, and Aron 256 Sturla's own work (_Islendinga Saga_) 257 The burning of Flugumyri 259 Traces of the heroic manner 264 The character of this history brought out by contrast with Sturla's other work, the _Life of King Hacon of Norway_ 267 Norwegian and Icelandic politics in the thirteenth century 267 Norway more fortunate than Iceland--the history less interesting 267 Sturla and Joinville contemporaries 269 Their methods of narrative compared 270 VIII THE NORTHERN PROSE ROMANCES Romantic interpolations in the Sagas--the ornamental version of _Fóstbræðra Saga_ 275 The secondary romantic Sagas--_Frithiof_ 277 French romance imported (_Strengleikar_, _Tristram's Saga_, etc.) 278 Romantic Sagas made out of heroic poems (_Volsunga Saga_, etc.) 279 and out of authentic Sagas by repetition of common forms and motives 280 Romantic conventions in the original Sagas 280 _Laxdæla_ and _Gunnlaug's Saga_--_Thorstein the White_ 281 _Thorstein Staffsmitten_ 282 Sagas turned into rhyming romances (_Rímur_) 283 and into ballads in the Faroes 284 CHAPTER IV THE OLD FRENCH EPIC (_CHANSONS DE GESTE_) Lateness of the extant versions 287 Competition of Epic and Romance in the twelfth century 288 Widespread influence of the _Chansons de geste_--a contrast to the Sagas 289 Narrative style 290 No obscurities of diction 291 The "heroic age" imperfectly represented 292 but not ignored 293 _Roland_--heroic idealism--France and Christendom 293 William of Orange--_Aliscans_ 296 Rainouart--exaggeration of heroism 296 Another class of stories in the _Chansons de geste_, more like the Sagas 297 _Raoul de Cambrai_ 298 Barbarism of style 299