Icelandic sagas: description, features, content and reviews

Icelandic sagas are the most famous genre of Scandinavian literature. It originated around the 12th century, at a time when, in the opinion of scientists, written language appeared in this country. However, oral legends and traditions existed before, and they formed the basis of these works.

a brief description of

Icelandic sagas are prose works that tell of the ancient times not only of this state, but also of neighboring regions and lands. That is why they are the most valuable source on the history of the Northern European countries. In general, the term "translated" means "narrated". The plot and form of these works are distinguished by a certain freedom of presentation, an abundance of fairy-tale motifs, which are often intertwined with the real facts of the past. The main heroes of the narrative were usually konungs, warriors, kings. Thus, the Icelandic saga is a kind of chronicle of events, but only presented in a fantastic, semi-legendary form. The difficulty in understanding the historical realities in these works lies in the fact that they have come down to us in copies, secondary editions, abridged manuscripts in which it is rather difficult to identify the original text.

Tales of the Kings

Icelandic sagas can be conditionally divided into several groups. One of the most common categories is stories about Norwegian kings. Some works tell about individual rulers, but there are also summary collections, for example, the famous "Circle of the Earth," whose authorship is attributed to the famous collector of Scandinavian antiquities, poet, historian and statesman Snorri Sturluson. This collection includes a series of stories from ancient times until 1177. There are also sagas about the Danish kings, for example, one of them tells of one ruling kind Knutling.

About Icelandic History and Translations

The second group is the legends about Iceland itself. They can also be divided into several categories. There are so-called sagas about ancient times, which in due time were called "false", as narrated about centuries before colonization of the island, information about which almost did not survive. Therefore, their main source was ancient epic tales, legends and songs, in which, by the way, characters appear in the folklore of other Germanic peoples.

The most famous Icelandic saga in this series is, perhaps, the "Legend of Sturlung", representatives of an ancient family who fought for power. It is extremely detailed in the depiction of events: in the text you can find many details and interesting historical facts about the past of the country. The second group also includes sagas about bishops, which describe the clergy of the 11-14 centuries, as well as the church in the country. And, finally, the third group is translated works devoted to events from the history of other European peoples (for example, "The Trojan Saga").

Toponymy

Important place among the Scandinavian literature are legends about Icelanders. These works have a number of distinctive features that distinguish them among other works of a similar genre. They contain a large number of geographical signs, which, incidentally, are difficult to translate into Russian. In the text you can find the names not only of such large geographical objects as rivers, lakes, mountains, but also villages, farms, villages. The last circumstance is explained by the fact that a legend of this kind is first and foremost the story of a person who, at the time of writing, lived in a specific locality. For example, the Icelandic "Saga of Keith" denotes the names of the fjord where the protagonist lived. All this toponymy is of great importance in the analysis of sources, since it contains valuable information about nature.

The problem of historicity

The second characteristic feature of these works is their apparent authenticity and realism. The fact is that the authors sincerely believed that their code heroes existed, and therefore they described in detail, even meticulously, their deeds, exploits, dialogues, which gave the narrative special persuasiveness. Many scientists even "come across" on the texts, often taking what was said for the truth. However, the historical background and specific realities are still visible here, but they are covered with such a powerful folklore layer that it is very difficult to separate the truth from fiction.

Question about authorship

For some time historiography was dominated by the view that those who recorded the sagas were not their immediate authors, but merely fixed an oral tradition. However, in the 20th century a hypothesis arose that narrators who are familiar with Old Icelandic folklore created their own original works. Currently, the opinion prevails that these writers, collecting and literally processing folklore material, nevertheless, brought a lot of it into their own, so that in their works the folk tradition is closely intertwined with the literary one. This contributes to the fact that it is difficult to determine who was the original author of the work. For example, the Icelandic "Eymunda Saga", a Norwegian king who took part in the events of ancient Russian history, was preserved in the "Saga of Olav the Sacred", the authorship of which is traditionally attributed to Sturluson, but this is just an assumption that has not been fully proved.

About our country

In the considered works, as already mentioned above, there are data on other northern countries, including our state. Many storylines even resonate, scientists often find parallels between the texts of Scandinavian legends and Old Russian annals. Their neighbors often paid attention to the Icelandic sagas. Rusichi (the name of the people) often turned out to be full participants in the events, if not in the center of attention. Often, the works mention Russian lands, areas where this or that story occurs. For example, "The Saga of the Hobbie-Pedestrian", dating from the 14th century, transfers the action to Ladoga, where this hero marries the daughter of a king, defeats the Swedes and becomes ruler. By the way, it is in this legend that there is a story very similar to the famous legend of the Wise Oleg (a story about the prince and his horse). This once again proves how close the cultural contacts between these peoples were.

Here it should be mentioned that the famous "Saga of Eymund" also contains information about the ancient Russian history. It tells how the protagonist, the king, arrives at the service of Prince Yaroslav and comes to his service. He takes part in the turbulent political events of that time connected with the struggle of this ruler for power. Thus, the Icelandic Viking saga of Northern Russia is an interesting additional source on the history of our country.

S. Sturluson

This is the first writer and collector of Icelandic antiquities, of which news has been preserved. The scientist collected folklore works, poems and, most likely, it was he who compiled the two largest collections on Icelandic literature: a peculiar textbook of skaldic poetry and a collection of sagas. Thanks to this person, we have a fairly detailed idea of what ancient legends were like. He did not limit himself to retelling and processing already finished works, but he wrote down the history of his people in the context of European events, beginning with the most ancient times. The Icelandic royal sagas on Eastern Europe of its authorship is a valuable material on the geography and toponymy of this region.

In his work there is also some information about the Slavs. He tried at an almost scientific level to explain the techniques and methods of Scandinavian poetry on the example of his own works. This allows us to judge the lexical and linguistic ways of creating stories. Thus, his work is some summing up of a huge period of development of ancient Icelandic literature.

Reviews

In general, opinions about the Icelandic sagas are extremely positive. Readers and users say that it was interesting to get acquainted with the life and social structure of ancient peoples. They also note that in these legends very simple human relations are transferred, which gives a unique charm to the plot. At the same time, some readers note that the language of the sagas is rather dry and monotonous, that they contain too many names, characters and characters, which can greatly complicate the perception of the whole story. Nevertheless, most users recommend reading at least some sagas to everyone who is interested in Old Russian (and not only) chronicles and medieval history.