''Vatnsdæla saga'' ( Icelandic: ; ;

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ''Vatnsdœla saga'') is one of the

sagas of Icelanders The sagas of Icelanders (, ), also known as family sagas, are a subgenre, or text group, of Icelandic Saga, sagas. They are prose narratives primarily based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and earl ...

. The saga follows several generations of a family originating in Norway and settling in the north of Iceland until the arrival of Christianity in the late tenth century.

Manuscripts and dating

A fragment of ''Vatnsdæla saga'' is preserved in a late-14th or early-15th-century manuscript (AM 445 b 4to). Complete versions of the text are preserved in later paper manuscripts includin
AM 559 4to
written between 1686 and 1688, an
AM 942 4to
written between 1700 and 1782. These texts likely originate from a 14th-century source, while the saga may have originally been written in the late 13th century.

Synopsis

''Vatnsdæla Saga'' is essentially a family chronicle. It relates to residents of Vatnsdalur, a valley that runs south from

Húnaflói (, ) is a bay of the Iceland Sea in Northwestern Region (Iceland), Northwestern Region and Westfjords, Iceland. It is situated between the village of Strandir on peninsula to the west and the of Skagi peninsula to the east. Spanning , it has a ...

, a large bay in the north of

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 principal protagonist is a man named Ingimundr Þorsteinsson who fought for King

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

at the

Battle of Hafrsfjord The Battle of Hafrsfjord () was a naval battle fought in Hafrsfjord sometime between 872 and 900 that resulted in the unification of Norway, later known as the Kingdom of Norway (872–1397), Kingdom of Norway. After the battle, the victorious Vi ...

winning his friendship and an amulet. At the instigation of a sorceress, he moved to Iceland to settle at Vatnsdalur in Húnaþing.

References

Other sources

* Jane Smiley (2001) ''The Sagas of the Icelanders'' (Penguin Classics)

External links

"Proverbs of Vatnsdœla Saga and the Sword of Jokull: The Oral Backgrounds of Grettir Ásmundarson's Flawed Heroism"
by Harris, Richard L. (2010) in ''Essays in honor of George Clark'', Robin Waugh and James Weldon (eds.), (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University . pages 150 - 170. )
Full text at the Icelandic Saga Database
Sagas of Icelanders {{Iceland-saga-stub