Sagas and Tales of Icelanders

Abstract

The sagas of Icelanders deal with the life of wealthy farmers in Iceland in the period from 930 to 1030 ce, in the so-called Saga Age. They were recorded over a long period of time in the Middle Ages. The term “saga” commonly designates an epic prose narrative from medieval Iceland that includes a vast number of persons and events, but some sagas focus on only one conflict. A “tale” (Icel. þáttr; plural þættir) is a short prose narrative embedded in a larger work, most often in sagas about kings (konungasögur), as a kind of interlude in the action. The sagas of Icelanders depict the emigration of powerful people from Norway and the settlement of Iceland. The sagas belonging to the group are manifold: there are classic and tragic narratives about love, grief, and feuds; accounts of farmers who fight one another; and tales about skalds (poets), trolls, and fateful expeditions to Greenland and the unknown world of North America (Vínland). Many sagas of Icelanders, such as Gísla saga Súrssonar and Grettis saga, focus primarily on one person, while others, such as Eyrbyggja saga, deal with a specific family or people in a certain geographical area. The plot often revolves around one or more feuds. The saga describes the cause of the feud, its development, and its resolution. This is the case, for example, in Njáls saga and Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða. Some sagas, such as Laxdœla saga, tell of conflicts, not all of which are interrelated. The events take place primarily in Iceland, but most sagas give accounts of the travels of young heroic men to Norway, Sweden, England, Ireland, the Orkney Islands, or places even farther away. While abroad, the young man obtains wealth on Viking raids and honor from kings. When he is back in Iceland, a conflict with other farmers generally erupts about power, women, land, fishing rights, or stranded whales. The female heroes generally remain in Iceland, though a few depart the country for good or go on a pilgrimage, such as Gísli’s widow, Aud, at the conclusion of Gísla saga. The guiding principle of the conflicts are the heroes’, both male and female, enormously sensitive feelings of honor. There are a great amount of articles and monographs on the sagas of Icelanders and it is, of course, impossible to include it all. This article has been, with a few exceptions, prioritzed to include monographs and anthologies instead of single articles in journals.