''Íslendinga saga'' ''(

Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

of Icelanders)'' makes up a large part of ''

Sturlunga saga ''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic Norse saga, sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300, in Old Norse. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlun ...

'', a compilation of secular contemporary sagas written in thirteenth-century Iceland. The ''terminus ante quem'' of the compilation is disputed (between the options 1308 or 1353). ''Íslendinga saga'' has been a major source of material for historians concerning events in early 13th century

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. The author is commonly believed to have been Icelandic chieftain,

Sturla Þórðarson Sturla Þórðarson ( ; ; 29 July 1214–30 July 1284) was an Icelandic chieftain and writer of sagas and contemporary history during the 13th century. Much academic debate is dedicated to evaluating his life, bias as an historian of medieval Ice ...

. The style of ''Íslendinga saga'' has been called admirable, due to its frankness, openness and impartiality — historians largely seem to agree that it gives a fairly accurate picture of Iceland in the 13th century, if only because the author or authors would have been dealing with contemporary events. If the author was Sturla Þórðarson (which is generally agreed), he spoke of himself, like

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

, in the third person. He can be understood as a particularly well informed source, since he was related to or befriended with most of the participants in the politics of the era. Other sources confirm that by calling him a model of moderation.''Islendinga Saga: A History of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth'' (Jón Jóhannesson, author; Haraldur Bessason, translator. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. 1974)
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References

Other sources

* Vigfússon, Guðbrandur; Sturla Þórðarson (2010) ''Sturlunga Saga: Including the Islendinga Saga of Lawman Sturla Thordsson and Other Works, Volume 1'' (Nabu Press) *Þórðarson, Sturla (2008) ''Sturlunga Saga: Including the Islendinga Saga of Lawman Sturla Thordsson and Other Works, Volume II'' (BiblioBazaar) * Torearson, Sturla (2008) ''Sturlunga Saga: Including the Islendinga Saga of Lawman Sturla Thordsson and Other Works, Volume II'' (BiblioLife)

References

Other sources

See also