Iceland Archive
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Leiðarvísir: Its Genre and Sources, with Particular Reference to the Description of Rome
Posted on April 13, 2014 | No CommentsFor the last two centuries, Leiðarvísir has been the subject of great interest by scholars from a variety of disciplines: not only Old Norse scholars, but also historians, geographers, toponymists and scholars of pilgrimage have studied and analysed this work. -
Auðun of the West Fjords and the Saga Tradition: Similarities of Theme and Structural Suitability
Posted on April 5, 2014 | No CommentsThis paper evaluates the story of Auðun from the West Fjords, a þáttr dating from the Sturlunga period of medieval Iceland. It compares the short prose narrative to the much longer sagas in terms of their mutual concerns with kings, peace, and the place of Iceland in a larger Christian world. -
The Process of State-Formation in Medieval Iceland
Posted on March 22, 2014 | No CommentsThe aim of this article is to analyze the process of state-formation in Iceland in light of some general models of state-formation in Europe in the Middle Ages. -
All the King’s Men: Icelandic Skalds at Scandinavian Court
Posted on March 10, 2014 | No CommentsSpanning the gap between Iceland and mainland Scandinavia and sitting somewhere between freemen and nobility on the social scale were Icelandic court skalds, who frequented courts on the mainland throughout the Viking Age. -
Accepting Fools as Heroes
Posted on March 10, 2014 | No CommentsWhat sociocultural attitudes towards the intellectually disabled – commonly referred to as fools – were prevalent during the Viking Age? -
Enter the Dragon: Legendary Saga Courage and the Birth of the Hero
Posted on March 9, 2014 | No CommentsWhat is the dragon to Sigurðr? His attitude is interestingly nonchalant. The question arises, Who is Sigurðr the dragon-slayer? Why is he the best person to kill the dragon? And furthermore, why is the dragon important to the hero? -
Textual Efflorescence and Social Resources: Notes on Mediaeval Iceland
Posted on February 21, 2014 | No CommentsThe overt double function of culture traits and products, namely instrumental- ity and symbolicity, which may be explicit in some elements, often remains hidden for other ones. -
Gunnhildur and the male whores
Posted on February 15, 2014 | No CommentsQueen Gunnhildur is one of the most evil Norwegian female characters in the Middle Ages. She appears in many old stories where she is usually the female agent for ill in the sagas; she is wicked, promiscuous and very often skilled in magical arts. -
The Colors of the Rainbow in Snorri’s Edda
Posted on February 4, 2014 | No CommentsIn the second part of his Edda, the Gylfaginning, Snorri Sturluson gives a systematic account of Norse mythology from the creation of the world to its end. -
Sagas and politics in 13th century Borgarfjörður
Posted on February 2, 2014 | No CommentsWhy did the Icelanders write so much more than almost everybody else in the Middle Ages? This is an old problem that has still not been solved to everyone’s satisfaction. -
Filicide in Medieval Narrative
Posted on January 29, 2014 | No CommentsThese filicide episodes, regardless of origin, serve a dual purpose within their narratives, to captivate with gripping material and to educate through example. Patterns regarding victims and perpetrators transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries. -
Laxdæla Dreaming: A Saga Heroine Invents Her Own Life
Posted on January 25, 2014 | No CommentsAs palpably true as the interpretation is, even before the truth of Gestr's fourfold prophecy is confirmed by what follows, this dream narrative is not merely a symbolic illustration of the future. It raises many other questions, and in this paper I will discuss some of the ambiguities of GuQrun Osvifrsdottir and her four dreams. -
The Inner Exiles: Outlaws and Scapegoating Process in Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar and Gísla saga Súrssonar
Posted on January 21, 2014 | No CommentsWas Icelandic outlawry exceptional? The legal and historical aspect of Icelandic outlawry has been widely studied and commented by scholars (Spoelstra, 1938), either by following indications from the Grágás or through the use of literary examples spread in the sagas. -
Orkneyinga saga : A Work in Progress?
Posted on January 19, 2014 | No CommentsThe reconstituted text conventionally known as Orkneyinga saga has many points of interest for Old Icelandic literary history, in addition to any intrinsic literary qualities, and its interest as a source for the history and culture of Scandinavian Scotland. -
Hawkers, beggars, assassins and tramps : Fringe characters in the Íslendinga sögur
Posted on January 19, 2014 | No CommentsThe paper will identify a number of different types of vagrants portrayed in the sagas and their varying roles within saga plots. -
Why Care about Later Folklore in Old Norse Studies?
Posted on January 15, 2014 | No CommentsIt is not unusual that folklore data can be demonstrated, with high probability, to reflect ancient times, for reasons like those mentioned in the Bárðar saga example, or other reasons – as many of us know. -
Can Statistics show if the Icelandic Sagas were true?
Posted on January 7, 2014 | No CommentsThe Icelandic sagas of the Norse people are thousand-year-old chronicles of brave deeds and timeless romances, but how true to Viking life were they? -
On the windy edge of nothing: Vikings in the North Atlantic World
Posted on December 29, 2013 | No CommentsWith a focus upon the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland, Kevin Edwards will present a select narrative of past and recent writings, archaeological enquiry and scientific research concerning the Norse settlement of the North Atlantic. -
Viking Archaeology, Sagas, and Interdisciplinary Research in Iceland’s Mosfell Valley
Posted on December 20, 2013 | No CommentsAt this time, we are researching and excavating fourteen sites throughout the valley. These excavations are providing a detailed picture of Viking Age life in Iceland and in the North Atlantic. -
Food and the North-Icelandic Identity in 13th century Iceland and Norway
Posted on December 9, 2013 | No CommentsNow food is becoming globalized, but we still recall how food could be used to construct a national identity, with the aid of the institutions of the national state. -
Tooth-tool Use and Yarn Production in Norse Greenland
Posted on December 8, 2013 | No CommentsDuring a dental study of medieval Norse skeletons from Greenland, Iceland, and Norway, a distinct pattern of wear was observed on twenty-two anterior teeth of twelve Greenlanders. -
The Icelandic Althing: Dawn of Parliamentary Democracy
Posted on December 4, 2013 | No CommentsIt is an old idea, and one that reaches as far back as the nineteenth century, that Viking Age Iceland was democratic and much like an early republic -
![Sex, lies and the Íslendinga sögur By Damian Fleming Sagas and Society, No.6 (2004) Abstract: Past scholars used to look upon the Icelandic family sagas as ideal witnesses to pre-Christian […]](http://www.medievalists.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Njal-115x115.jpg "Sex, lies and the Íslendinga sögur")
Sex, lies and the Íslendinga sögur
Posted on November 24, 2013 | No CommentsSex, lies and the Íslendinga sögur By Damian Fleming Sagas and Society, No.6 (2004) Abstract: Past scholars used to look upon the Icelandic family sagas as ideal witnesses to pre-Christian […] -
Why skaldic verse? Fashion and cultural politics in thirteenth-century Iceland
Posted on November 24, 2013 | No CommentsIn this paper I intend to address this question through the poetic evidence of the sagas of Icelanders, analyzing two sagas which were written in the west of Iceland in the middle of thirteenth century. -
Nancy Marie Brown: The Song of the Vikings, Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths
Posted on November 14, 2013 | No CommentsNancy Marie Brown gives a talk about her recent book The Song of Vikings, Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths
