Morkinskinna ("rotten parchment"), the first full-length chronicle of the kings of medieval Norway (1030-1157), forms the basis of the Icelandic chronicle tradition. Based ultimately on an original from ca. 1220, the single defective manuscript was written in Iceland ca. 1275. The present volume, the first translation of Morkinskinna in any language, makes this literary milestone available to a general readership, with introduction and commentary to clarify its position in the history of medieval Icelandic letters. The book is designed to be used by readers with no knowledge of Icelandic. The...
Morkinskinna ("rotten parchment"), the first full-length chronicle of the kings of medieval Norway (1030-1157), forms the basis of the Icelandic chron...
Oddr Snorrason, a Benedictine monk in northern Iceland in the late twelfth century, composed a landmark Latin biography of the legendary Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason (died 1000 C.E.). This biography was soon translated into Icelandic, and the translation (though not the Latin original) is preserved in two somewhat differing versions and a small fragment of a third. The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason is the first English translation of this text, augmented by an introduction and notes to guide the reader.
There is a strong possibility that Oddr's biography was the first...
Oddr Snorrason, a Benedictine monk in northern Iceland in the late twelfth century, composed a landmark Latin biography of the legendary Norwegian ...
The Partisan Muse in the Early Icelandic Sagas (1200 1250) is a study of the genesis of Old Icelandic prose literature from its roots in oral tradition to the compilation of key early sagas at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Theodore M. Andersson devotes special attention to the Icelandic sagas (kings' sagas or konungasogur) that narrate the careers of Norwegian kings, Olafr Tryggvason and Olafr Haraldsson prominent among them.
The author considers the "self-consciously Icelandic filter" that balances Icelanders perception of Norwegian kings and...
The Partisan Muse in the Early Icelandic Sagas (1200 1250) is a study of the genesis of Old Icelandic prose literature from its roots in o...
Icelandic Baroque seeks to approach the writings of Hallgrimur Petursson (1614-1674), Iceland's leading devotional poet, from a new direction. Hallgrimur is best known for his Passiusalmar, fifty hymns that contemplate the crucifixion and death of Christ, using a variety of meters and melodies; they have been sung in Iceland over Lent for many generations. This book offers a new evaluation of his poetry. First, seventeenth-century Icelandic literature in general, and Hallgrimur's works in particular, are set in the wider context of contemporary European literature, particularly from...
Icelandic Baroque seeks to approach the writings of Hallgrimur Petursson (1614-1674), Iceland's leading devotional poet, from a new direction. Hallgri...
Egils saga, composed some eight hundred years ago to relate the life and times of Egill Skallagrimsson, the Viking poet and Icelander of the tenth century, is a major prose narrative thought by many scholars to be written by Snorri Sturluson, the great medieval historiographer of Iceland. Essential elements for understanding Egils saga in its time and place include, among others, the settlement of Iceland, the relationship between Icelanders and Norwegian kings, and the Christianization of the Norse world as pagan beliefs receded. The saga, one of the longest and best-structured...
Egils saga, composed some eight hundred years ago to relate the life and times of Egill Skallagrimsson, the Viking poet and Icelander of t...
In The Sagas of Norwegian Kings (1130 1265), Theodore M. Andersson offers an orientation to the category of Icelandic sagas known as "kings' sagas," a genre of Old Norse-Icelandic prose literature less known than the somewhat later sagas of early Icelanders and their extended families. The kings'-saga genre culminated in three compendia that appeared prior to 1250: the manuscripts Morkinskinna and Fagrskinna and the compilation of sagas known as Heimskringla. These remarkable sagas are among the most readable of European chronicles. Theodore M. Andersson...
In The Sagas of Norwegian Kings (1130 1265), Theodore M. Andersson offers an orientation to the category of Icelandic sagas known as "king...
In Language of Power, Vioar Palsson addresses pre-modern European power relationships that provide the context for narratives of feasts and exchanges of gifts so conspicuous in the Icelandic sagas. Vioar's point of departure considers "comparative perspectives on rituals, the sociology of power, and pre-state political cultures in Europe," focusing on medieval Europe and its political and cultural heritage from classical antiquity, before proceeding to a similar contemplation of sagas of kings of Norway and sagas of the Icelandic commonwealth. In writing for scholars of Icelandic...
In Language of Power, Vioar Palsson addresses pre-modern European power relationships that provide the context for narratives of feasts an...
