UIcelandX: UOI001X The Medieval Icelandic Sagas

Annals. A concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year.

Ari 'the Wise' Thorgilsson (1067–1148 AD). Iceland's most prominent medieval chronicler. He is the author of Íslendingabók, which details the histories of the various families who settled Iceland. He is typically referred to as Ari the Wise (Ari hinn fróði), and according to Snorri Sturluson was the first to write history in Old Norse.

Book of Settlements (Icelandic: Landnámabók). A medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement (landnám) of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.

Codex. A book constructed of a number of sheets of paper, vellum, papyrus, or similar materials.

Codicology. The study of codices or manuscript books written on parchment (or paper) as physical objects. It is often referred to as 'the archaeology of the book', concerning itself with the materials (parchment, sometimes referred to as membrane or vellum, paper, pigments, inks and so on), and techniques used to make books, including their binding.

Copenhagen Fire of 1728. The largest fire in the history of Copenhagen, Denmark. It began on the evening of 20 October 1728 and continued to burn until the morning of 23 October. It destroyed approximately 28% of the city. The cultural losses were huge. In addition to several private book collections, 35,000 texts including a large number of unique works were lost with the University of Copenhagen library.    

Dating of the Sagas. Dating the Sagas: Reviews and Revisions by Elise Mundal (2013). This book addresses the methodological problems inherent in dating the sagas, in order to offer insightful discussions of the saga form itself. By focusing on the several new written genres that developed in Iceland in the thirteenth century, the authors locate the dynamic position of the sagas at the intersection of oral and written traditions.

Dróttkvæði. A metre of skaldic poetry. The most prevalent metre of skaldic poetry is dróttkvætt. The dróttkvætt stanza has eight lines, each having usually three lifts and almost invariably six syllables. 

Edda. (also "The Eddas"). An Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the Prose Edda (also called Snorra Edda after the author Snorri Sturluson) and an older collection of poems without an original title now known as the Poetic Edda. Together, these two volumes tell us almost everything we know about pre-Christian Norse mythology and folklore, and a wealth of other information regarding poetry forms and kennings (see below). 

Eyrbyggja saga. one of the Sagas of the Icelanders; the title is often translated as The Saga of the People of Eyri. It was written by an anonymous writer, who describes a long-standing feud between Snorri goði (see below) and Arnkel goði, two strong chieftains within the Norse community that settled in Iceland.

Factual Gaps. The deliberate withholding of crucial information in a saga's plot. This narrative technique is commonly used in the sagas to arouse the interest of readers. 

Folio. A book or pamphlet made up of one or more full sheets of paper, on each of which four pages of text are printed, two on each side; each sheet is then folded once to produce two leaves. Each leaf of a folio book thus is one half the size of the original sheet. To understand many of the vocabulary words relating to manuscripts, see this Getty Museum video, The Structure of a Medieval Manuscript.

Formulas in the Sagas. Particular phrases are found in several sagas to express a fixed idea or setting. The formulas can function as cross-reference between sagas and thus play on the expectations of the reader. The more sagas a reader has been through, the more likely she is to identify a formula and its connotation in the current context. 

Fornaldarsögur (Legendary Sagas). A Norse saga genre that, unlike the Sagas of the Icelanders, takes place before the colonization of Iceland. The sagas were probably all written in Iceland, from about the middle of the 13th century to about 1400. The setting is primarily Scandinavia in the time prior to the Settlement of Iceland and the conversion of Scandinavia, but occasionally it moves temporarily to more distant and exotic locations or has its characters encounter Christian cultures. There are also very often mythological elements, such as dwarves, elves, giants and magic.

Fragments. A manuscript fragment may consist of whole or partial leaves, typically made of parchment. They are commonly found in book bindings, especially printed books from the 15th to the 17th centuries, used in a variety of ways such as wrappers or covers for the book, as endpapers, or cut into pieces and used to reinforce the binding.

Full outlawry. A punishment in Icelandic law (seen in law books such as Grágás, which is one of the earliest law books in Iceland rumored to have been modelled on the Gulaþing provincial law of Norway). A sentence of full outlawry means the person is permanently exiled from Iceland. 

Genealogy. The study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Also known as family history.

Grettis saga. One of the Sagas of the Icelanders. It details the life of Grettir Ásmundarson, an arrogant and violent Icelandic outlaw who is nonetheless capable of great acts of heroism and might. The saga is notable for its dealings with the supernatural (e.g. how to defeat the undead) and depictions of pagan ritual despite its Christian context.

Háttalykill inn forni. An Old Norse didactic poem presumably composed in the mid-12th century and preserved in a 17th century copy. The poem exemplifies the types of verse forms used in Old Norse poetry and is arguably the oldest text composed in that purpose. The stanzas in Háttalykill contain traces of much older mythological tales. 

Heilagra manna sögur (Saints' Lives). A genre of Old Norse sagas comprising the prose hagiography of medieval western Scandinavia.

Íslendingasögur (Sagas of Icelanders). Also known as family sagas, these are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the 9th, 10th, and early 11th centuries, during the so-called Saga Age. They are the best-known specimens of Icelandic literature, focused on history, especially genealogical and family history. The Íslendingasögur reflect the struggle and conflict that arose within the societies of the early generations of Icelandic settlers

Járnsíða. A law-code which Magnus VI of Norway had composed for Iceland, which came formally under Norwegian control during 1262–1264. Járnsíða was introduced over 1271–1274, superseding the previous law-code Grágás. Amongst other things, Járnsíða formally put all legislative powers in the hands of the King, abolished the goðar, and reformed the Alþingi. In 1281, Járnsíða was itself superseded by Jónsbók.

Jón Hákonarson. An Icelander who lived in northern Iceland and commissioned the Vatnshyrna manuscript.  It was copied between 1391 and 1395 by Magnús Þórhallsson.

Kennings. (Icelandic: Kenningar) A poetry convention used in skaldic poetry. A kenning is a compound expression in Old English and Old Norse poetry with a metaphorical meaning. 

Lacunae. A gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work. A manuscript, text, or section suffering from gaps is said to be "lacunose" or "lacunulose." Weathering, decay, and other damage to old manuscripts or inscriptions are often responsible for lacunae—words, sentences, or whole passages that are missing or illegible. Palimpsests (see below) are particularly vulnerable.

Leaves. One half of a bifolium (see folio above) which consists of a front side (recto) and a back side (verso).

Lesser outlawry. A punishment in Icelandic law (seen in law books such as Grágás, which is one of the earliest law books in Iceland rumored to have been modelled on the Gulaþing provincial law of Norway). A sentence of lesser outlawry means the person is exiled from Iceland for three years. 

Möðruvallabók. Möðruvallabók is the manuscript which contains the largest known single repertoire of Icelandic sagas of the Middle Ages. Many of the sagas which we have to day are preserved in their complete form only in this manuscript. The manuscript takes its name from Möðruvellir, the farm in Eyjafjörður where it was found.

Nibelungenlied. An epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge. Old Norse parallels of the legend exist in the Völsunga saga (see below) and others.

Njáls saga. a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga that describes events between 960 and 1020. The principal characters are the friends Njáll Þorgeirsson, a lawyer and a sage, and Gunnar Hámundarson, a formidable warrior. Gunnar's wife instigates a feud that leads to the death of many characters over several decades including the killing by fire of the eponymous "Burnt Njáll."

Orthography. A set of conventions for writing a language. It includes norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.

Paleography. The study of ancient and historical handwriting (meaning the forms and processes of writing, not the textual content of documents). Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced.

Palimpsest. A manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. One of the most well-known palimpsests in Icelandic saga writing is the poem “Grettisfærsla,” which has been scraped away from the manuscript with the shelfmark (see below) AM 556 a 4to.

Parchment. Prepared animal skin or "membrane" used as a material for writing on, primarily sheep, calves, and goats. (See Vellum below)

Riddarasögur. The romance genre of sagas. Starting in the thirteenth century with Norse translations of French chansons de geste and Latin romances and histories, the genre expanded in Iceland to indigenous creations in a similar style. The riddarasögur were widely read in Iceland for many centuries.

Saxo Grammaticus (1160 – 1220). A Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the Gesta Danorum, the first full history of Denmark.

Settlement of Iceland. According to Íslendingabók by Ari Thorgilsson, and Landnámabók, the years 870 and 874 have traditionally been considered the first years of settlement, when Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration may be traced to a shortage of arable land in Scandinavia and civil strife brought about by the ambitions of the Norwegian king Harald I of Norway. Unlike the British Isles, Iceland was unsettled land and could be claimed without conflict with existing inhabitants.

Shelfmark. The unique number given to each manuscript as it is entered in the catalog of a library or museum. Shelfmarks beginning with AM refer to those manuscripts which are part of the Árni Magnússon collection.

Siglum. The abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in Latin, and later in Greek and Old Norse.

Sigurður Fáfnisbani. A legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga.

Snorri goði. A prominent chieftain (Icelandic: goði) in Western Iceland, who appears in a number of Icelandic sagas. The main source of his life's story is the Eyrbyggja saga, in which he is the main character, although he also figures prominently in Njáls saga and Laxdæla saga. Eyrbyggja saga says of him,"He was a very shrewd man with unusual foresight, a long memory and a taste for vengeance. To his friends he gave good counsel, but his enemies learned to fear the advice he gave." Njáls saga notes that "Snorri was reckoned the wisest man in Iceland, not counting those who were prescient."

Stemma. A “family tree” constructed for a manuscript to trace its origins and history. The method works from the principle that "community of error implies a community of origin." That is, if two manuscripts have a number of errors in common, it may be presumed that they were derived from a common source. Relations between any lost intermediate manuscripts can be determined by the same process, placing all extant manuscripts in a family tree or stemma descended from a single archetype.

Sturla Thordarson (1214-1284). Icelandic chieftain and historian. Author of Íslendinga saga, which is the longest single saga of the Sturlunga collection. Sturla was an active participant in the internal strife of Iceland during the 13th century and an eyewitness to several important events. His writings are the best source available on these matters. Sturla has often been nominated as the potential author of several Sagas of Icelanders, among them Njáls saga and Grettis saga. 

Sturlunga saga. A collection of Icelandic sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300. Sturlunga saga covers the history of Iceland between 1117 and 1264. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlungs, a powerful family clan during the Age of the Sturlungs period of the Icelandic Commonwealth.

Valhöll. ("The Hall of the Slain") A majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those who die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr. Also called Valhalla. 

Vatnshornsbók, also called Vatnshyrna . This famous Icelandic manuscript was copied between 1391 and 1395 by Magnús Þórhallsson for Jón Hákonarson, a prominent northern Icelander. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of Copenhagen in 1728.

Vellum. Prepared animal skin or "membrane" used as a material for writing on. Vellum is a finer quality writing material than parchment, made from the skins of young animals such as lambs and young calves. 

Völsunga saga. A Legendary Saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story of Sigurd and Brynhild and destruction of the Burgundians). Further tellings of the story and its characters exist in the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda, the Legend of Norna-Gest, and the Þiðrekssaga.   

Whetting. A term in Scandinavian Studies used to describe a woman's actions to continue a feud, by encouraging men to continue killing or doing violence in order to regain or preserve their honor. A woman who does this is called a "whetter" or a "feud whetter." Also called goading or inciting.