Knowra Icelandic sagas Icelandic sagas Icelandic sagas are medieval prose narratives, mostly written in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, about Icelandic families, historical events, and legendary figures. They combine terse storytelling with disputes over kinship, honor, law, and power.
Saga : A prose narrative tradition, especially associated with medieval Iceland, recounting family histories, rulers, or legendary events. Icelandic sagas belong to this broader narrative tradition, whose name comes from the Icelandic word for a story.
Njáls saga : An Icelandic saga following the friendship of Njáll Þorgeirsson and Gunnar Hámundarson amid feuds and legal conflict. Its escalating disputes and failed settlements make it a major example of the family saga.
Snorri Sturluson : An Icelandic chieftain, poet, and historian who lived from 1179 to 1241 and wrote works including the Prose Edda. His career exemplifies the learned political world in which saga writing flourished, though most sagas have unknown authors.
Kings' sagas : Old Norse prose narratives about the lives and reigns of Scandinavian kings. Their rulers and political chronology contrast with family sagas' focus on Icelandic households and local disputes.
Saga historicity : The question of how accurately saga narratives represent the people, events, and societies they describe. Their detailed settings invite historical use, but composition long after many events complicates verification.
Old Norse : The North Germanic language spoken across Scandinavia and its settlements during the Viking Age and medieval period. Most Icelandic sagas were composed in this language, whose vernacular prose gave them their distinctive style.
Egils saga : A saga about the poet and warrior Egill Skallagrímsson and his family across Viking Age Scandinavia and Iceland. It combines family history, political conflict, and skaldic verse in a single character's life.
Sturlunga saga : A compilation of contemporary sagas about Icelandic power struggles, especially conflicts involving the Sturlung family. Its accounts of thirteenth-century violence connect saga writing to events close to its own time.
Bishops' sagas : Medieval Icelandic narratives about bishops, church affairs, and the spread of Christianity. Their ecclesiastical subjects offer a clerical counterpart to sagas centered on secular families.
Oral tradition : The transmission of stories, knowledge, and customs through spoken performance across generations. Scholars debate how much oral tradition contributed to saga plots before they were written down.
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