[198] _Ib._, pp. 203-205. [199] _Ib._, pp. 209-213. [200] _Ib._, p. 169. [201] _Ib._, pp. 212-213. [202] _Annals of Ulster_, A.D. 919. The same source in recording Gothfrith’s death (A.D. 933) speaks of him as “the most cruel of the Norsemen.” [203] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, _MS.D._, A.D. 925. [204] _Ib._, _MSS. A._, 942, D. 943. [205] _Annals of the Four Masters_, A.D. 979. [206] _Ib._, A.D. 1021. [207] _War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill_, p. 207. [208] _Annals of the Four Masters_, A.D. 982. [209] _Ib._, A.D. 1011. [210] _Ib._, A.D. 994. [211] _Eyrbyggja Saga_, chs. 4 and 10; _Kjalnesinga Saga_, ch. 2; etc. [212] Cf. _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, _MS.A._ Annal, A.D. 876, _Kjalnesinga Saga_, ch. 2; etc. [213] _Landnámabók_, II., ch. 12. [214] _War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill_, pp. 196, 198. [215] _Annals of Tigernach_, A.D. 1028, 1036. [216] _Ib._, A.D. 1042. [217] _The Whole Works of Sir James Ware Concerning Ireland_, Vol I., p. 301. (Ware quotes from the Black Book of Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin.) [218] _Ib._, p. 306. [219] _Ib._, pp. 309-311. [220] _Ib._, pp. 525-6. [221] _Ib._, p. 504. Cf. J. MacCaffrey: _The Black Book of Limerick_. Introduction, chs. 5 and 7. [222] _The History of Ireland_, by Geoffrey Keating (ed. P. S. Dinneen). Vol. III., p. 298. [223] _Ware_, _op. cit._, p. 505. CHAPTER VIII. LITERARY INFLUENCE: THE SAGAS OF ICELAND AND IRELAND. I. The most interesting branch of early Norse literature is the saga or prose story. Of these there are many varieties but the most distinctive are the following: (1) the _Íslendinga Sögur_, or stories relating to prominent Icelanders, (2) _Konunga Sögur_, or stories of Kings, chiefly of Norway; (3) _Fornaldar Sögur_, or stories about early times. All these are essentially Icelandic in origin; sagas having their origin in Norway are by no means unknown, but they are, as a rule, translated or derived from French and other foreign sources.[224] In their present form the sagas relating to the history of Iceland date for the most part from the thirteenth century, though some of them were probably committed to writing in the latter part of the twelfth.