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The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic
sagas is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the Play ...
. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early eleventh centuries, during the so-called Saga Age. They were written in Old Icelandic, a western dialect of Old Norse. They are the best-known specimens of
Icelandic literature Icelandic literature refers to literature written in Iceland or by Icelandic people. It is best known for the sagas written in medieval times, starting in the 13th century. As Icelandic and Old Norse are almost the same, and because Icelandic w ...
. They are focused on history, especially genealogical and family history. They reflect the struggle and conflict that arose within the societies of the early generations of Icelandic settlers. The Icelandic sagas are valuable and unique historical sources about medieval Scandinavian societies and kingdoms, in particular in regards to pre-Christian religion and culture. Eventually many of these Icelandic sagas were recorded, mostly in the 13th and 14th centuries. The 'authors', or rather recorders of these sagas are largely unknown. One saga, '' Egil's Saga'', is believed by some scholars
Sigurður Nordal Sigurður Nordal (14 September 1886 – 21 September 1974) was an Icelandic scholar, writer, and ambassador. He was influential in forming the theory of the Icelandic sagas as works of literature composed by individual authors. Education Nor ...
had this to say in his edition of Egils saga: "This matter will never be settled fully with the information we now have. … As for me, I have become more and more convinced, as I gained a better understanding of Egils saga that it is the work of Snorri, and I will henceforth not hesitate to count the saga among his works, unless new arguments are presented, which I have overlooked."
to have been written by
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...
, a descendant of the saga's hero, but this remains uncertain. The standard modern edition of Icelandic sagas is produced by Hið íslenzka fornritafélag ('The Old Icelandic Text Society'), or Íslenzk fornrit for short.


Historical time frame

Among the several literary reviews of the sagas is the ''Sagalitteraturen'' by
Sigurður Nordal Sigurður Nordal (14 September 1886 – 21 September 1974) was an Icelandic scholar, writer, and ambassador. He was influential in forming the theory of the Icelandic sagas as works of literature composed by individual authors. Education Nor ...
, which divides the sagas into five chronological groups (depending on when they were written not their subject matters) distinguished by the state of literary development: * 1200 to 1230 – Sagas that deal with
skalds A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionall ...
(such as ''
Fóstbrœðra saga ''Fóstbrœðra saga'' () or ''The Saga of the Sworn Brothers'' is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It relates the deeds of the sworn brothers Þorgeir and Þormóðr in early 11th century Iceland and abroad. Þorgeir is a capable and insanely brave ...
'') * 1230 to 1280 – Family sagas (such as '' Laxdæla saga'') * 1280 to 1300 – Works that focus more on style and storytelling than just writing down history (such as ''
Njáls saga ''Njáls saga'' ( ), also ''Njála'' ( ), ''Brennu-Njáls saga'' ( ) or ''"The Story of Burnt Njáll"'', is a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 and 1020. The saga deals with a process of blood feuds in the ...
'') * Early fourteenth century – Historical tradition * Fourteenth century – Fiction


List of sagas

* ''
Atla saga Ótryggssonar Atla saga Ótryggssonar () is a relatively recent text in the genre of sagas of Icelanders, most probably written in the 19th century. The oldest known manuscript with this text is from 1820, where it is written down in a manuscript together with o ...
'' * ''
Bandamanna saga Bandamanna saga (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) is one of the sagas of Icelanders. It is the only saga in this category that takes place exclusively after the adoption of Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monothe ...
'' * ''
Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss ''Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss'' (14th c. Middle Icelandic: ; Modern Icelandic: ) or ''Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss ok Gests'' is a late saga of the Icelanders with legendary elements. It falls into two sections, one about Bárðr and the other a ...
'' * '' Bjarnar saga Hítdælakappa'' * ''
Droplaugarsona saga Droplaugarsona saga () is one of the Icelanders' sagas, probably written in the 13th century. The saga takes place near Lagarfljót in the east of Iceland about 1000 AD. It tells the story of Grim (''Grímr'') and Helge (''Helgi''), sons of ...
'' * '' Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar'' – Egil's Saga * ''
Eiríks saga rauða The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in non, Eiríks saga rauða (), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different versions ...
'' – Saga of Erik the Red * '' Eyrbyggja saga'' * ''
Færeyinga saga The Færeyinga saga (), the saga of the Faroe Islands, is the story of how the Faroe Islanders were converted to Christianity and became a part of Norway. Summary It was written in Iceland shortly after 1200. The author is unknown and the origin ...
'' * ''
Finnboga saga ramma Finnboga saga ramma () (The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong) is an Icelandic saga that recounts the life of Finnbogi rammi. The story takes place in Flateyjardalur in Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla and in other places in Iceland, as well as in Norway. The ev ...
'' * ''
Fljótsdæla saga Fljótsdæla saga () is one of the Icelandic sagas. It was probably the last one written, perhaps from the 1400s or 1500s. The text is known from several manuscripts which are from the early 1600s. It was probably written by an author in the east ...
'' * '' Flóamanna saga'' * '' Fóstbræðra saga'' (two versions) * '' Gísla saga Súrssonar'', (two versions) of an outlaw poet – Gísla saga * '' Grettis saga – Saga of Grettir the Strong'' * '' Grænlendinga saga'' – Greenland saga * '' Gull-Þóris saga'' * '' Gunnars saga Keldugnúpsfífls'' * '' Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu'' * ''
Hallfreðar saga ''Hallfreðar saga vandræðaskálds'' (, Old Norse pronunciation: ) is one of the Icelanders' sagas. The saga is preserved in several 14th century manuscripts, including Möðruvallabók and Flateyjarbók, with significant difference between the v ...
'' (two versions) * '' Harðar saga ok Hólmverja'' * '' Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings'' – The saga of Hávarður of Ísafjörður * ''
Heiðarvíga saga ''Heiðarvíga saga'' () or ''The Story of the Heath-Slayings'' is one of the Icelanders' sagas The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mos ...
'' * ''
Hrafnkels saga ''Hrafnkels saga'' (; ) or ''Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða'' (O.N.: ; Ice.: ) is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It tells of struggles between chieftains and farmers in the east of Iceland in the 10th century. The eponymous main character, Hrafnkell, st ...
'' * '' Hrana saga hrings'' (post-medieval) * '' Hænsna-Þóris saga'' *
Íslendingabók ''Íslendingabók'' (, Old Norse pronunciation: , ''Book of Icelanders''; ) is a historical work dealing with early Icelandic history. The author was an Icelandic priest, Ari Þorgilsson, working in the early 12th century. The work originally e ...
(One of the earliest sagas written about the founding of Iceland by a priest called
Ari Þorgilsson Ari Þorgilsson (1067–1148 AD; Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; also anglicized Ari Thorgilsson) was Iceland's most prominent medieval chronicler. He was the author of ''Íslendingabók'', which details the histories of the various famili ...
working in the early 12th century) * '' Kjalnesinga saga'' * ''
Kormáks saga ''Kormáks saga'' () is one of the Icelanders' sagas. The saga was probably written during the first part of the 13th century. Though the saga is believed to have been among the earliest sagas composed it is well preserved. The unknown author cle ...
'' * '' Króka-Refs saga'' * '' Laxdæla saga'' * '' Ljósvetninga saga'' (three versions) * ''
Njáls saga ''Njáls saga'' ( ), also ''Njála'' ( ), ''Brennu-Njáls saga'' ( ) or ''"The Story of Burnt Njáll"'', is a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 and 1020. The saga deals with a process of blood feuds in the ...
'' * '' Reykdæla saga ok Víga-Skútu'' * '' Skáld-Helga saga'' (known only from ''rímur'' and later derivations of these) * '' Svarfdæla saga'' * '' Valla-Ljóts saga'' * '' Vatnsdæla saga'' * '' Víga-Glúms saga'' * '' Víglundar saga'' * '' Vápnfirðinga saga'' * '' Þorsteins saga hvíta'' * ''
Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar Þorsteins saga Síðu-Hallssonar () is one of the sagas of Icelanders from the 13th century. The saga is only partially preserved and features a number of dreams and interpretations. Torstein Side-Hallsson (''Þorstein Síðu-Hallssonar'') has a ...
'' * '' Þórðar saga hreðu'' * '' Ölkofra saga'' It is thought that a small number of sagas are now lost, including the supposed '' Gauks saga Trandilssonar'' – The saga of Gaukur á Stöng.


See also

*
Norse saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to the Pl ...
*
Family saga The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. In novels (or sometimes sequences of novels) with a serious intent, this is often ...


References


Further reading

* Arnold, Martin (2003). ''The Post-Classical Icelandic Family Saga.''
Lewiston, New York Lewiston is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York. The Town of Lewiston is on the western borde ...
:
Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press or Mellen Press is an international independent company and academic publishing house with editorial offices in Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Wales. It was founded, in 1972, by the religious studies scholar Profess ...
* Ármann Jakobsson (2013). ''Nine Saga Studies: The Critical Interpretation of the Icelandic Sagas''. Reykjavík: University of Iceland Press. . * Falk, Oren. 2021. ''Violence and Risk in Medieval Iceland: This Spattered Isle''. Oxford University Press. * Karlsson, Gunnar (2000). ''The History of Iceland.'' Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press * Liestøl, Knut (1930). ''The Origin of the Icelandic Family Sagas.'' Translated by Jayne, Arthur Garland. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. . * Miller, William Ian (2009). ''Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. . * Smiley, Jane; Kellogg, Robert Leland (2001). ''The Sagas of Icelanders: a selection''. New York: Penguin Books. . * Viðar Hreinsson (eds.) (1997). ''The Complete Sagas of Icelanders.'' 5 vols. Reykjavík: Leifur Eiriksson Publishing. . – see


External links


Icelandic Saga Database
– many sagas of Icelanders, along with some translations into English and other languages
Proverbs and Proverbial Materials in the Old Icelandic Sagas
from the University of Alaska
Icelandic sagas
– a selection in Old Norse
Sagnanet
– photographs of some of the original manuscripts
Harmony of the Vinland voyages

Icelandic Saga Map
– an online digital map with the geo-referenced texts of all of the Íslendingasögur {{Authority control Sagas of Icelanders Medieval literature Icelandic literature Iceland history-related lists