Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar

Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar ("The Saga of Haakon Haakonarson") or Hákonar saga gamla ("The Saga of Old Haakon") is an Old Norse Kings' Saga, telling the story of the life and reign of King Haakon Haakonarson of Norway.

The circumstances of the saga's composition are exceptionally well understood, as they are recorded in some detail in Sturlunga saga (particularly Sturlu þáttr): the saga was written in the 1260s (apparently 1264–65) by the Icelandic historian and chieftain Sturla Þórðarson (nephew of the noted historian Snorri Sturluson). Sturla Þórðarson was at the court of Haakon's son Magnus Lagabøte when Magnus learned of his father's death in Kirkwall in Orkney. Magnus is said to have immediately commissioned Sturla to write his father's saga. This was awkward for Sturla: 'King Hákon had instigated the death of Sturla's uncle, Snorri Sturluson, in 1241. Sturla rightly regarded Hákon as his most dangerous enemy, for he had steadfastly resisted the king's subjugation of Iceland to Norway, which was accomplished in 1262–1264. Skúli Bárðarson (d. 1240), Hákon's most dangerous rival for royal power, was the maternal grandfather of Magnús, who supervised the composition of his father's biography, much as King Sverrir is said to have "sat over" Karl Jónsson as the Icelandic abbot wrote Sverrir's biography'.

Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar, Bǫglunga saga, Magnúss saga lagabœtis, ed. by Sverrir Jakobsson, Þorleifur Hauksson, and Tor Ulset, Íslenzk fornrit, 31–32, 2 vols (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2013) (now the standard edition of the Old Icelandic)
Poetry from the Kings' Sagas 2, ed. by Kari Ellen Gade, Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, 2 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2009) (verse only)
Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar, etter Sth. 8 fol., AM 325 VIII 4to og AM 304 4to, ed. by Marina Mundt, Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift institutt: Norrøne tekster, 2 (Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift institutt i kommisjon hos Forlagsentralen, 1977); supplement: James E. Knirk, Rettelser til Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar etter Sth. 8 hi, AM 325 VIII 4° og AM 304 4°, Norrøne tekster, 2 (Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift institutt, 1982)
Icelandic Sagas and Other Documents Relating to the Settlements and Descents of the Northmen on the British Isles, ed. by Gudbrand Vigfusson, Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores, 88, 4 vols (London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1887–94), https://archive. org/details/icelandicsagasot01stur, https://archive. org/details/icelandicsagasot02stur, https://archive. org/details/icelandicsagasot04stur (Old Norse edition volume 2; English translation vol 4b pp. 1–373 by G. W. Dasent)
Sturla Þórðarson, Håkon Håkonssons saga, trans. by Anne Holtsmark (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1964) (Norwegian translation)
Norwegische Königsgeschichten, trans. by Felix Niedner, rev. edn, Thule: altnordische Dichtung und Prosa, 17–18, 2 vols (Düsseldorf: Diederichs, 1965) (German translation)
Sturla Tordsson, Soga om Håkon Håkonsson, trans. by Kr. Audne, 2d edn by Knut Helle, Norrøne bokverk, 22 (Oslo: Norske samlaget, 1963)
, trans. by James Johnstone (Edinburgh: Brown, 1882, repr. from 1782)