BETWEEN FACTS AND FICTION: HARALDR SIGURÐARSON'S FLIGHT FROM BYZANTIUM IN THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL TRADITION OF THE MEDIEVAL NORTH.

The article discusses the problem of using kings' sagas' prose narratives as historical sources in Viking Age studies. Its main part constitutes a comparative analysis of the saga story of Haraldr Sigurðarson's flight from Byzantium and a passage on Haraldr found in a contemporary Byzantine work written by Kekaumenos. The analysis shows that the story consists of a visual component and a historical core - the traces of the latter can be found in Kekaumenos' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]