Category: Icelandic sagas
-
Icelandic Kings’, and Exploration Sagas
Chapter 1: Introduction Beyond the realm of legend, medieval Icelandic writers also turned their quills to history and real-life adventures. Two important genres in this regard are the kings’ sagas and what we might call the exploration sagas. These sagas draw upon actual events and personages, blending fact with narrative art to illuminate the deeds…
-
Icelandic Legendary and Heroic Sagas
Chapter 1: Introduction The Icelandic legendary sagas, also known as fornaldarsögur (“sagas of ancient times”), are thrilling tales set in a mythical past before the settlement of Iceland. These sagas are often termed heroic sagas because they revolve around legendary heroes, mighty deeds, and encounters with the fantastical. Unlike the more realistic Sagas of Icelanders…
-
The Icelandic Family Sagas: Njál, Egil, and Gísli
Chapter 1: Introduction A medieval manuscript page (folio 13r of Möðruvallabók) containing part of Njál’s saga. The Sagas of Icelanders were preserved in such manuscripts from the 13th century onward. The Icelandic Family Sagas (Íslendingasögur) are medieval prose narratives that recount the lives, feuds, and adventures of notable Icelandic families in the 9th–11th centuries. They…