Óláfs saga helga

The next version, commonly known as the Legendary Saga of St. Olaf (also designated Helgisagan um Ólaf digra Haraldsson "Holy saga of Olaf Haraldsson the Stout" [3]), is preserved in a unique Norwegian manuscript, De La Gardie 8 (in the possession of Uppsala University Library).

[1] A third, by Icelandic cleric Styrmir Kárason [is], is also now lost except as chapters excerpted and added to the Flateyjarbók recension,[2][3] these fragments demonstrating evidence of a richer rhetorical style.

[1] This work has been termed the Separate Saga of St. Olaf,[4] by scholars to distinguish it from the form today found in what is referred to as Heimskringla.

[5] The sword was later renamed Hnæite[6]/Hneitir[7]/Hneiti ("Hacker"),[8] and subsequently used by St. Olaf to combat the margýgr (mermaid, sea-hag, sea-giantess) and great boar that the heathens worship in idolatry.

[8] Among the hagiographic sources known to be used are two lost Lives (Vitæ) of the saint in Latin, and the Passio et miracula beati Olavi [no], dating to mid 12th century[2]