Department of History & Welsh History
University of Wales Aberystwyth
Myth & History in the Viking Age:
Saga & Society in Medieval Iceland
Bibliography
Bibliography
Required Purchases:
Njáls Saga, transl. Robert Cook (2001)
The Sagas of Icelanders, ed. Robert Kellogg et. al. (2005) NOTE: this book is on order for the library, but may not arrive there before Easter
J. Byock, Viking Age Iceland (2001
J. Byock, Feud in the Icelandic Saga
W.I. Miller, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking. Feud, Law and Society in Saga Iceland (1990)
The following will also be useful:
For quick reference the following internet based resources may also be useful:
Note, however, that using these cannot replace the thorough reading of and critical engagement with primary sources and secondary literature.
Key source texts are also available from
For further references the following will be useful:
Abbreviations: SB Saga Book of the Northern Society for Viking Research
Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas (1999)
Three Icelandic outlaw Sagas. The Sagas of Grisli, Gettir and Hord (2001)
Bandamanna Saga (1975)
Sagas of Warrior Poets (2002) (Contains: Kormak's Saga, The Saga of Hallfred Troublesome-Poet, The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue, The Saga of Bjorn, Champion of the Hitardal People, Viglund's Saga)
Forty Old Icelandic Tales, ed. W. Bryant et al (1992)
The Saga of Gunnlaugus Serpent’s Tongue, ed. E.P. Durrenberger (1992)
Svarfdale Saga and other Tales, ed. J.E. Anderson et. al. (1994)
Six Old Icelandic Sagas, ed. J.E. Anderson et. al. (1994)
Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla (Various translations)
Snorri Sturluson, Edda (Various translations)
Byock, J., Medieval Iceland: Saga, Society and Politics (1988)
Byock, J., ‘Governmental order in Early Medieval Iceland’, Viator 17 (1986), 19-34.
Foote, P. and Wilson, D.M., The Viking Achievement (1980)
Graham Campbell, J. The Viking World (1980)
Hastrup, K., Culture and History in Medieval Iceland (1985)
Miller, W.I., ‘Some aspects of householding in the Medieval Icelandic commonwealth’, Continuity and Change 3 (1988), 321-55.
Sawyer, B. & P., Medieval Scandinavia. From Conversion to Reformation, c. 800 – 1500 (1993)
Andersson, T.M., ‘The Displacement of the heroic ideal in the family sagas’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 40-70.
Andersson, T.M., The Icelandic Family Saga (1967)
Andersson, T.M., ‘Kings’ Sagas (Konungasögur)’, in: C.J. Clover & J. Lindow (eds.), Old Norse-Icelandic Literature. A Critical Guide (1985), 197-237.
Bredsdorff, T., Chaos and Love. The Philosophy of Old Icelandic Family Sagas (2001).
Chatwick, N., ‘Literary traditions in the Old Norse and Celtic world.’ SB,14(1986), 164–99
Clover, C.J., The Medieval Saga (1982)
Clover, C.J., ‘Icelandic Family Sagas (Íslendingasögur)’ , in: C.J. Clover & J. Lindow (eds.), Old Norse-Icelandic Literature. A Critical Guide (1985), 239-316.
Clunies Ross, M. (ed.), Old Icelandic literature & Society (2000)
Hallberg, P., The Icelandic Saga (1962)
Harris, J.P., ‘Saga as historical novel’, in: Structure and Meaning in old Norse Literature. New Approaches to Textual Analysis and Literary Criticism, ed. J. Lindow, L. Lönnroth, G.W. Weber (Odense, 1986), 187-219.
G. Jones, ‘History and fiction in the sagas of the Icelanders’, SB, 13 (1985), 285–306
Kristjansson, J., Eddas and Sagas. Iceland’s Medieval Literature (1992)
Lönnroth, L., ‘Rhetorical persuasion in the sagas’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 71-98.
Meulengracht Sörensen, P. Saga and Society: An Introduction to Old Norse Literature (1993)
Nordal, G., Tools of Litearcy: the role of Skaldic Verse (2001)
Pálsson, H., ‘Early Icelandic Imaginative Literature’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 27-40.
Schach, P. Icelandic Sagas (1984)
Madelung, A.M. Arent, Laxdaela Saga: Its Structural Patterns (1973)
H. Beck, ‘Laxdæla saga—a structural approach’, SB 19 (1991), 383–402.
Drewer, J., ‘The psychology of Laxdœla saga’, SB. 12 (1984), 107–18
Dronke, U., ‘Narrative insight in Laxdaela Saga’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 206-225.
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Njal's Saga: A Literary Masterpiece , ed. Einar Ol Sveinsson, (1971) Clover, C.J., ‘Open composition: the Atlantic interlude in Njáls saga’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 280-91. Dronke, U., Role of Sexual themes in Njáls Saga (1981) Hieatt, C.B., ‘Hrutr’s voyage to Norway and the structure of Njála’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 272-9. Maxwell, I.R., ‘Pattern in ‘Njáls saga’’, SB 16 (1988), 17–47 Miller, W.I., ‘The central feud in Njáls saga’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 292-320. Miller, W.I., ‘Justifying Skarphedinn: of pretext and politics in the Icelandic bloodferud’, Sacndinavian Studies 55 (1983), 316-44. McTurk, R. ‘The supernatural in Njáls saga: A narratological approach’, SB 23 (1995), 28–45. |
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Ross, M.C., ‘The art of poetry and the figure of the poet in Egils Saga’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 126-45.
Sörensen, P.M., ‘Starkadr, Loki and Egill Skallagrímsson’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 146-59.
Baumann, R., ‘Performance and honour in thirteenth-century Iceland’, Journal of American Folklore 99 (1986), 131-50.
Dronke, U., Role of Sexual themes in Njáls Saga (1981)
Gade, K.E., ‘Homosexuality and rape of males in Old Norse law and literature’, Scandinavian Studies 58 (1986), 124-41.
Karlsson, G., ‘Goðar and höfðingjar in medieval Iceland’. SB 19 (1991), 358–70
Meulengracht Sörensen, P., The Unmanly Man. Concepts of Sexual Defamation in Eraly Northern Society (1983)
Nordal, G., Ethics and Action in thirteenth-century Iceland (1998)
Simpson, J., ‘Advocacy and art in Guðmundar saga dýra’, SB 15 (1987), 327–45
Berger, A. ‘Lawyers in the Old Icelandic
family sagas: heroes, villains and
authors.’ SB 20 (1992), 70–79
Byock, J., Feud in the Icelandic Saga (1982)
Byock, J., ‘Inheritance and ambition in Eyrbyggja saga’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 185-205.
Miller, W.I., Bloodtaking and Peacemaking. Feud, Law and Society in Saga Iceland (1990).
Miller, W.I., ‘The central feud in Njáls saga’, in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 292-320.
Miller, W.I., ‘Justifying Skarphedinn: of pretext and politics in the Icelandic bloodfeud’, Scandinavian Studies 55 (1983), 316-44.
Miller, W.I., ‘Choosing the Avenger: some aspects of the bloodfeud in medieval Iceland and England’, Law and History Review 1 (1983), 159-204.
Du Bois, T., Nordic Religion in the Viking Age (1999)
J. Hill, ‘Pilgrimage and prestige in the Icelandic sagas’., SB 23 (1995), 433–53
E. Magnusson, ‘The conversion of Iceland to Christianity, A.D. 1000’, SB 2 (1974), 348–74
Miller, W.I., ‘Dreams, prophecy and sorcery: blaming the secret offender in Medoieval Iceland’, Scandinvaian Studies 58 (1986), 101-23.
Philpotts, B., ‘Temple-administration and chieftainship in pre-Christian Norway and Iceland’, SB 8 (1980), 264–84
J. Steffenson, ‘Aspects of life in Iceland in the heathen period’, SB 17 (1989), 177–205
Strömbäck, D., The Conversion of Iceland (1975)
Turville-Petre, E.G., Myth and Religion of the North (1964)
Van Hamel, A.G., ‘The conception of fate in early Teutonic and Celtic religion’, SB 11 (1983), 202–14
Van Hamel, A.G., ‘Gods, skalds and magic’, SB 11 (1983)129–52, SB 17 177–205
Vries, J.D., ‘Celtic and Germanic religion’, SB 16 (1988), 109–23
Anderson, S. & Swenson, K. (eds.), Cold Counsel: The Women of Old Norse Litearture (2002)
Auerbach, L., ‘FEMALE EXPERIENCE AND AUTHORIAL INTENTION IN LAXDÆLA SAGA’, SB 2000, 30-52.
Frank, R., ‘Mrriage in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Icelnd’, Viator 4 (1973), 473-84.
Jesch, J., Women in the Viking Age (1992).
Jochens, J., Women in Old Norse Society (1995)
Jochens, J., Old Norse Images of Women (1996)
Jochens, J., ‘The Church and sexuality in Medieval Iceland’, Journal of Medieval History 6 (1980), 377-92.
Jochens, J., ‘The medieval Icelandic heroine: fact or fiction ?’ , in: Sagas of the Icelanders, ed. J. Tucker (1989), 99-125. also in Viator 17 (1986), 35-50.
Allen, W.E.D., ‘The poet and the spae-wife: an attempt to reconstruct Al-Ghazal’s embassy to the Vikings’ SB 15 (1987):149–258.
Ashdown, M., ‘The attitude of the
Anglo-Saxons to their Scandinavian invaders’.
SB 10 (1982) 75–99
Belaleiev, N.T., ‘Eymundar saga and Icelandic research in Russia’. SB 11 (1983), 93–99
Chatwick, N., ‘Literary traditions in the Old Norse and Celtic world.’ SB,14(1986), 164–99
Hull, E., ‘Irish episodes in Icelandic literature.’, SB 3 (1975), 235–70
J. Stefansson, ‘The Vikings in Spain from
Arabic (Moorish) and Spanish
sources’, SB, 6 (1978), 31–46
MacDougall, E., ‘Foreigners and foreign languages in medieval Iceland’, SB 22 (1994), 180–233
J. Shepard, ‘Yngvarr’s expedition to the
East and a Russian inscribed stone
cross’, SB 21 (1993), 222–92