Popular Culture and Royal Propaganda in Norway and Iceland in the 13th century
Do the kings presented in Strengleikar appear as the European Christian rex justus kings, which was the dominant medieval royal model, or do they convey another image – an image that may be interpreted to explain both the intended function and the popularity of the translations in Norway and Iceland
From Heroic Legend to ‘Medieval Screwball Comedy’? The Origins, Development and Interpretation of the Maiden-King Narrative
New types of popular texts emerged, bringing with them new images of women, especially the maiden-king or meykongr, a figure that features prominently in many of the late-medieval indigenous romances or (frumsamdar) riddarasögur.
Historical Oddity: The Birth of a Commonwealth in Medieval Iceland
Iceland is an odd place with an odd history. Despite being ranked among the wealthiest nations today, for much of its history it was left out of the growth and development of culture and technology throughout the Medieval period. It has never been a particularly hospitable environment for human habitation. Wind-blasted, cold, and rocky, it was an island left unsettled by humans long after it was discovered.
Buried Alive with an Undead Corpse! A Medieval Tale
A medieval tale from northern Europe tells the story of Asmund, who gets buried alive. His friend then rises from the dead!
Landscape, Maternal Space, And Child Exposure In The Sagas Of Icelanders
A survey of these episodes, then, suggests that maternal space in the sagas reasserts itself generally—and particularly reasserts itself onto the northern landscape—during instances of child exposure, where this mode of attempted infanticide takes on a variant meaning in Northern societies than it would from more Southern ones.
Kings, Wars, and Duck Eggs: Interpretations of Poetry in Egil’s Saga
Although Egil’s Saga is memorable enough for its bloodshed, feuds, and comically disgusting mead-hall scenes, the one characteristic which most distinctly sets it apart from the other Icelandic sagas is its extensive use of poetry.
Number Symbolism in Old Norse Literature
It is generally agreed that some numbers such as three and nine which appear frequently in the two Eddas hold special significances in Norse mythology. Furthermore, numbers appearing in sagas not only denote factual quantity, but also stand for specific symbolic meanings.
Pulling the Strings: The Influential Power of Women in Viking Age Iceland
Icelandic women during the Viking Age managed households, raised their children, tended to the animals, and wove the cloth, along with a host of other duties overlooked by their male counterparts.
Snorri Sturluson: Viking Mythographer and Historian
I shall first tell you briefly about Snorri’s background and his education and discuss his Edda, where he appears as mythographer, among other things, and then tell you about his career as a politician and discuss his Sagas of the Norwegian Kings.
7 Things One Should Know When Dealing with Kings: The Icelander’s Version
Here is MaryAnn R. Adams’ winning advice on how to deal with Norse kings.
The Making of a Legend: The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok and the TV series ‘Vikings’
Thus neither The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok nor ‘Vikings’ are immediately recognisable as straight works of history, although they both have certain strongly historical elements to their content.
‘Hann lá eigi kyrr’: Revenants and a Haunted Past in the Sagas of Icelanders
From Antiquity to the present day, the idea of the dead returning to interact with the living has greatly influenced human imagination, and this has been reflected in literature — the product of that imagination.
Grief, Gender and Mourning in Medieval North Atlantic Literature
This dissertation explores the relationship between grief, cultural constructs of gender, and mourning behaviour in the literatures of medieval Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and Iceland
Manifestations of psychiatric illness in texts from the medieval and Viking era
The medicine of medieval Europe was influenced above all by the Hippocratic and Galenic legacies, conveyed through the medical School of Salerno, albeit also to an extent embedded in demonological and supernatural beliefs and folklore customs.
30 Sagas in 30 Days on Twitter
This month, a scholar is using Twitter to tell the stories of thirty lesser known tales written by Icelanders.
Last Laughs: Torture in Medieval Icelandic Literature
Medieval Icelandic literature is full of violence, calculated and reasoned violence, narrated in such a way as to focus largely on issues of personal honor and justice, less so on the spectacle of blood so common in the modem Hollywood action film.
Reconstructing the past in medieval Iceland
This paper examines the relationship between the Sagas of Icelanders, which are concerned with tenth- and eleventh-century events, and the contemporary sagas of the mid-thirteenth century.
Miracles from Medieval Iceland
The first saint from Iceland was Thorlak Thorhallsson. The saga of his life reveals dozens of the miracles that were attributed to him after his death. Here are ten of these miracles, which reveal much about religion and daily life in medieval Iceland.
‘Black Men and Malignant-Looking’: The Place of the Indigenous Peoples of North America in the Icelandic World View
As they headed back to the ship they saw three hillocks on the beach inland from the cape. Upon coming closer they saw there were three hide-covered boats, with three men under each of them.
The Role of the Dead in Medieval Iceland: A Case Study of Eyrbyggja Saga
In this article I intend to discuss the role of the malevolent restless dead in medieval Iceland by making a case study of the so-called wonders of Fróðá, the Fróðárundr episode in Eyrbyggja saga.
A Hagiographical Reading of Egils saga
When the literary presentation of the character of Egill is examined carefully with an eye toward the hagiographical paradigm, one can see that it matches the presentation of a bishop’s life and character…
Bárðar saga as a source for reconstruction of pre-Christian religion?
Paper by Eldar Heide given at the second meeting of the Old Norse Folklorist Network
The Names of Islands in the Old Norse Faereyinga Saga and Orkeyinga Saga
The Names of Islands in the Old Norse Faereyinga Saga and Orkeyinga Saga Hilda Radzin (St. John’s University) Literary Onomastics Studies: Volume 5,…
Childhood in early Icelandic society: representations of children in the Icelandic Sagas
Thirteenth century Icelanders did not sentimentalize childhood, but rather viewed it as a learning stage, a crucial period for the acquisition of culture.