Njarðvík () is an ancient farm in northeast Iceland. The descendants of its settlers are featured in several of the
Sagas of Icelanders
The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...
.
History
Viking Age
The history of Njarðvík can be traced back to the
settlement of Iceland
The settlement of Iceland ( is, landnámsöld ) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle ...
, when Thorkel the Wise claimed all the land around the bay of Njarðvík.
[''The Book of Settlements'', Sturubók edition, ch. 78] His great-grandson Ketil Thrym lived at Njarðvík
and became a chieftain after his father, Thidrandi the Old. Several other notable 10th- and 11th-century Icelanders were related to this family, who are known as the "House of Njarðvík" (Old Norse ''Njarðvíkingar''). ''The Saga of the People of Laxardal'' cites a lost "Saga of the House of Njarðvík," which may refer to a medieval text that no longer exists or else was renamed, or to an oral tradition.
[Gísli Sigurðsson, ''The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral Tradition: A Discourse on Method'', trans. Nicholas Jones, Publications of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Lieterature, 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004]
Sagas
Njarðvík is referenced in the following medieval Icelandic texts:
* ''
The Book of Settlements''
* ''
The Short Saga of Gunnar, Thidrandi's Killer''
* ''
The Saga of Droplaug's Sons''
* ''
The Saga of the People of Fljotsdal''
* ''
The Saga of the People of Laxardal''
References
Populated places in Iceland
Sagas of Icelanders
Farms in Iceland
{{iceland-geo-stub