Old Norse sagas
Norges Kongesagaer Edited by Gustav Storm and Alexander Bugge Illustrated by Gerhard Munthe (1914)Kings' sagas (Icelandic : konungasögur , Nynorsk : kongesoger, -sogor , Bokmål : kongesagaer ) are Old Norse sagas which principally tell of the lives of semi-legendary and legendary (mythological, fictional) Nordic kings , also known as saga kings . They were composed during the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, primarily in Iceland , but with some written in Norway .[1] [2] [3]
Kings' sagas frequently contain episodic stories known in scholarship as þættir , such as the Íslendingaþættir (about Icelanders), Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa , Hróa þáttr heimska , and Eymundar þáttr hrings (about people from elsewhere).
List of Kings' sagas Including works in Latin, and in approximate order of composition (though many dates could be off by decades)
A Latin work by Sæmundr fróði , c. 1120 , lost. The older version of Íslendingabók by Ari fróði , c. 1125 , lost. Hryggjarstykki by Eiríkr Oddsson, c. 1150 , lost.Historia Norvegiæ , c. 1170 .Historia de Antiquitate Regum Norwagiensium by Theodoricus monachus , c. 1180 .Skjöldunga saga , c. 1180 , badly preserved.Oldest Saga of St. Olaf , c. 1190 , mostly lost.Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum , c. 1190 .A Latin Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Oddr Snorrason , c. 1190 , survives in translation. A Latin Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar by Gunnlaugr Leifsson , c. 1195 , lost. Sverris saga , by Karl Jónsson , c. 1205 .Legendary Saga of St. Olaf , c. 1210 .Morkinskinna , c. 1220 but before Fagrskinna .Fagrskinna , c. 1220 .Óláfs saga helga by Styrmir Kárason, c. 1220 , mostly lost.Böglunga sögur , c. 1225 .Separate Saga of St. Olaf , by Snorri Sturluson , c. 1225 .Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson , c. 1230 .Knýtlinga saga , probably by Ólafr Þórðarson , c. 1260 .Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar , by Sturla Þórðarson , c. 1265 .Magnúss saga lagabœtis , by Sturla Þórðarson , c. 1280 , only fragments survive.Hulda-Hrokkinskinna , c. 1280 .Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta , c. 1300 .
Sometimes counted among the Kings' sagas
Editions and translations In Norwegian
References ^ Unik kongesaga på norsk etter over 600 år (Aftenposten) ^ Norwegian sagas received by Prime Minister Erna Solberg (Nasjonalbiblioteket) ^ Kongesagaer på norsk (Heimskringla.no)
Other sources Ciklamini, Marlene Snorri Sturluson (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1978) ISBN 0805763341 Hermannsson, Halldó Bibliography of the sagas of the kings of Norway and related sagas and tales (BiblioBazaar. 2009) ISBN 978-1113624611 Jakobsson, Ármann; McTurk, Rory (ed.) A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (Blackwell Publishing, 2004) ISBN 9780631235026 Thorsson, Örnólfur (ed.) The Sagas of the Icelanders: A Selection (Penguin Putnam. 2000) ISBN 0-14-100003-1 Whaley, Diana Heimskringla: An Introduction (Viking Society for Northern Research Text, 1991) ISBN 978-0903521239 Wolf, Kirsten The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose (University of Toronto Press. 2013) ISBN 978-1442646216
External links