‘Viking’ Humour
Do we share a sense of humour with Vikings? Dr Hannah Burrows talks about what might have made the Vikings laugh, and what was considered a serious matter in medieval Scandinavia. She will explore what puns, jokes, insults, and satire can tell us about early Scandinavian culture and social concerns.
Love and Marriage in Old Norse Literature
Why actions speak louder than words when it comes to romance in the Icelandic sagas.
A Tale of Two Yules
A look at the medieval Norse festival of Yule.
The weird story of an Icelandic ghost named Þórgunna
Then, in the middle of the night, the party was awakened by a noise as of someone fumbling about in the darkness: someone had broken into the farmhouse. The larder: the thief was in the larder.
Looking for the Northern Lights in Medieval Iceland, finding Jane Austen
Ármann Jakobsson attempts to answer the questions he keeps being asked about Icelandic sagas.
Cannibalism in the Icelandic Sagas: a bad habit or an ancient magical practice?
In Icelandic sagas, giants are described as awkward, evil and uncivilized, and curiously their diet mainly consists of two elements: horse meat and human flesh.
New Medieval Books: Vikings and the Norse World
Ten books published in 2019 that tells us all about the Vikings and the Norse World.
Messages from the Otherworld: The Roles of the Dead in Medieval Iceland
The ghosts in sagas are no phantoms or incorporeal spirits, but appear to the living in their physical and tangible bodies at a dark time of the day or year. The dead look the same as they used to when they lived, and are thus easily recognized by the living.
Outlawry in the Icelandic Family Sagas
The present study scrutinizes the outlawry and outlaws that appear in the Icelandic Family Sagas.
Medieval PhD Dissertation turned into comic
A doctoral student at the University of Iceland has recreated his dissertation in a novel way – by making it into a comic.
The Saga of Jón the Playmate: A ‘Cannibalistic’ Story
At first sight, Jóns saga leikara is but your average chivalric romance, filled with exciting but somewhat generic little adventures.
Not Your Average Maiden King: Ingigerðr, Queen of Ambiguity
Far from being a damsel in distress, the Maiden King is a damsel who creates distress
Children of a One-Eyed God: Impairment in the Myth and Memory of Medieval Scandinavia
This thesis counters scholarly assumptions that the impaired were universally marginalized across medieval Europe. It argues that bodily difference in the Norse world was only viewed as a limitation when it prevented an individual from fulfilling roles that contributed to their community.
Spatial Reading: Digital Literary Maps of the Icelandic Outlaw Sagas
Digital literary maps in particular, or maps that produce spatial data from texts that are considered imaginative or creative as opposed to charters or historical records, offer new critical possibilities for visualizing and understanding the interaction between spatial and geographic knowledge in literary texts.
Life, Fantasy, Sagas, and Whatnot: Some Thoughts on Tolkien the Movie
I felt both very thrilled and scared when I learned that they had made a Tolkien biopic.
The Poetic Edda
Comic, tragic, instructive, grandiose, witty and profound, the poems of the Edda have influenced artists from Wagner to Tolkien and a new generation of video-game and film makers.
I Love You, Please Put Away the Bear: Valkyrjur-turned-Wife
Though they may marry and even support their husbands in the short term, they generally bring ruin upon their partners.
Why is Njáls saga the best Icelandic saga?
Brennu-Njáls saga can—and most often is—be translated to The Story of Burnt Njal. But another way of translating it is The Story of Njáll the Burner. And I believe it is exactly this duality of the saga’s main character Njáll that makes the saga so appealing
Between Fiction and Falsehood: The Ethics of Lying in the Sagas of Icelanders
This paper discusses a series of episodes from the Sagas of Icelanders in which one character attempts to deceive another.
Homicide and Suicide in Viking Age Scandinavia
What was the perception and conception of homicide and suicide in the Viking Age Scandinavia, and to what extent is that traceable in the written and archaeological sources?
Identifying the Ogre: The Legendary Saga Giants
The legendary saga giants are for the most part terrible and ugly. Some are also of incredible size, although no sources agree on how huge giants are.
Well-Pissers and Water Goblins: What the Monsters of Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka Mean
A creature who seems to desecrate wells, a mountain in the shape of a man that rises out the sea, and a spiteful, laughing aquatic goblin: thus runs the cast of monsters found in the saga Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka.
Making a copy of Njáls saga: the story of the Urðabók manuscript
Who scribed Urðabók? And for whom and what? Wawn aims at unveiling the story behind this little, modest manuscript.
Why this is the week to be in Iceland (and learn about sagas)
The scholarly world interested in all things Norse, Viking and saga-related is coming to Iceland this week for the 17th International Saga Conference. Here is a quick guide to what is happening.