Adventures in Iceland’s Saga Country
For me, Iceland‘s landscape and the sagas are intertwined and inseparable.
UFOs in the Icelandic Sagas
The History Channel has two popular shows – Ancient Aliens and Vikings. Both are anything but historical, and yet they both challenge the viewer to rethink the ways that they approach the past. What would happen if you combined the two?
Getting a Fire Started: A Saga Guide to Dying with Style
The Icelandic sagas provide a step-by-step guide on how to die in a farmstead burning with style!
Five Examples of Saga Men Being Terrible
Almost every saga has at least one terrible sentence uttered by a man towards or about a woman. Often these are stated at the climax of the sagas, and carry a lot of meaning within them.
When Thor was a Bride
Perhaps this would make for a good script in the next Thor movie – it’s gender-bending hijinks involving Thor, Loki and the other Norse gods.
Telling Saga Stories at Þingvellir
Yoav Tirosh talks about the Saga of Njáll the Burner with a Portuguese tourist.
Sex and Sagas
Would you have sex with a troll woman? In this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast, Lucie talks with Matthew Roby, who deciphers for us the dirty details of these Old Norse and Icelandic texts. Turns out there are a lot of them, and many include monstrous beings!
Sagas and Gender
Did you know that Loki was a gender-bending God? In this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast, Lucie Laumonier interviews Matthew Roby on sex and gender in Old Norse and Icelandic sagas. There were many gender-bending characters in these texts, informing us of the gender representations and roles of Norse societies.
The Saga of the Faroe Islanders: A Perfect Story for Tarantino
Ever since reading The Saga of the Faroe Islanders I felt that it has the makings of a great Tarantino film.
10 Tips on Reading an Icelandic Saga
Here are some neat tips and tricks that will make your lives easier and your reading of sagas much more enjoyable.
The Sagas and the Worst Film Ever Made
How can one connect Ljósvetninga saga to The Room? Perhaps in the editing.
‘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.