Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda

 

 Legendary Sagas of the Northland 

                      

 ~ "An acquisitive and highly eclectic genre,” 

 —Medieval Scandinavia, An Encyclopediæ  

 
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An Index to the Complete

Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda

in English Translation

Arranged Alphabetically by Uniform Title

   

 
 

  

Uniform Title &

 Icelandic Text

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  • ...with notes

 

English Translations & Scholarship

A literal translation of the title has been provided if one is lacking.

  

Translators &

Editions

 
 

Af Upplendinga konungum

  • Part of Frá Fornjóti ok hans ættmönnum;  see below

Of The Kings of the Uplands

The Kings of Oppland

Gavin Chappell 

 

Peter Tunstall

 
 

Áns saga bogsveigis

*The Saga of Án Bow-Bender

 

The Saga of Aun the Bow-bender

 

Shaun F.D. Hughes, Medieval Outlaws, 1998

 

Larson Willard , The Saga of Aun the Bow-bender: A Medieval Outlaw, 1995

 
 

 Ásmundar saga kappabana

The Saga of Asmund the Champion-Killer

 

George L. Hardman

 

W. Bryant Bachman, Six Old Icelandic Sagas, 1993

 

Herrauds och Bosa Saga (1666) by Olaf Verelius

Bósa saga ok Herrauðs

 

Die Bósa-saga in zwei fassungen

edited by Otto Luitpold Jiriczek, 1893.

 

*Gudmund of Glæsisvellir

*Ragnar Loðbrók

Bosi and Herraud’s Saga   

 

Excerpt from chapter 12

  

Bosi and Herraud

George L. Hardman

 

Paul Du Chaillu, The Viking Age, Vol. II., 1889

 

Pálsson and Edwards, Gautrek's Saga and Other Medieval Tales, 1968; reprinted in Seven Viking Romances 

 

Egils saga einhenda

ok Ásmundar berserkjabana

 

*mentions 3 treasures kept in the underworld: a cloak that cannot burn, a horn that cannot be emptied, and a chess set that plays itself.

*"The Story of Egil One-Hand

and Asmund Berserker-Slayer"

 

Egil and Asmund  

 

 

'The Brothers' Pact' (chs. 6-7); 'A Giant Outwitted' (chs. 9-10)

 

 

 

Pálsson and Edwards, Gautrek's Saga and Other Medieval Tales, 1968; reprinted in Seven Viking Romances

 

 

Jacqueline Simpson, The Northmen Talk, 1965, pp. 231-237

 
 

Eiríks saga víðförla

  •  

  • *Óðainsacre: 'Acre of the Not-Dead'

"Eirik the Far-Traveller’s Saga"

 

Eirek the Traveller

   

 

 

Peter Tunstall

 
 

Frá Fornjóti ok hans ættmönnum

   Consists of two, sometimes three, works concerning the foundation of Norway:

     

     

  • Fundinn Noregr ("Founding of Norway"), first chapter of Orkneyinga Saga
  • Af Upplendinga konungum ("Of the Kings of the Uplands"), see above

"Of Fornjot and his Kinsmen"

 

How Norway was Inhabited

Fundinn Noregr from the Orkneyingers' saga  

 

     Norway Found
    How Norway became inhabited

Commentary: "On the origin of the Vanir and Alfar

 

 

George W. Dasent, Icelandic sagas and other historical documents relating to the settlements and descents of the Northmen on the British Isles. 1887-94, Orkneyingers Saga, III, Appendix A, pp. 333-335, 1894

      

Gavin Chappell 

George L. Hardman

 
 

Friðþjófs saga ins frækna

    

The saga was adapted into a dramatic Swedish poem by Esaias Tegnér in 1825 and translated as: 

The Story of Fridthjof the Bold

 

 

The Story of Fridthjof the Bold (1911 Reprint)

 

The Saga of Fridthjof the Bold

 

The Story of Fridthjof the Bold

 

The Saga of Frithiof the Fearless

William Morris, The Story of Fridthjof the Bold, 1871

 

William Morris & Eirikur Magnusson, Three Northern Love Stories and Other Tales, 1875

 

Rasmus Anderson and Jón Bjarneson, Viking Tales from the North, 1877

 

John Sephton, Proceedings of the Liverpool Literary & Philosophical Society, Volumes 48-49, 1893-94

 
 

Gautreks saga og Gjafa-Refs

*Gautrek’s Saga

    

  

 

'The Misers' (ch. 1); 'The Price of an Ox' (chs. 6, and 9-11)

Pálsson and Edwards, Gautrek's Saga and Other Medieval Tales, 1968; reprinted in Seven Viking Romances

  

 

  

Jacqueline Simpson, The Northmen Talk, 1965, pp. 156-174

 
 

Gríms saga loðinkinna

Grim Shaggy-Cheek

 

Peter Tunstall

 
 

Göngu-Hrólfs saga

*Göngu-Hrolf's Saga

 

The Göngu-Hrólfssaga: a study in Old Norse philology

 by Jacob Wittmer Hartmann

 

Pálsson and Edwards, Göngu-Hrólf's Saga: A Viking Romance, 1980

 
 

Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra

 The Saga of Halfdan, Brana’s Foster Son

 

George L. Hardman

Robert Hannah 1981, Seminar for Germanic Philology Yearbook 4 

 

 
 

Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar

Halfdan Eysteinsson’s Saga

 

George L. Hardman

Pálsson and Edwards, Seven Viking Romances

 
 

Hálfs saga og Hálfsrekka

Half & his Heroes

The Saga of King Half and his Champions


An excerpt (Chapters 10-13) telling the tale behind the
Ancient Swedish Ballad 

 

Peter Tunstall

W. Bryant Bachman, Jr. & Gudmundar Erlingsson, The Sagas of King Half and King Hrolf, 1991.

 

Stolt Herr Alf A Medieval Swedish Ballad

 
 

Helga þáttr Þórissonar

Helgi's Tale

 

Helgi Thorisson's Story

 

 

 

'Helgi and the Women of the Otherworld'

 Peter Tunstall

 

Pálsson and Edwards, Gautrek's Saga and other Medieval Tales, 1968; reprinted in Seven Viking Romances

 

Jacqueline Simpson, The Northmen Talk, 1965 

 
 
Hervarar Saga (1671) Olof Verelius

Hervarar saga og Heiðreks

Saga Heiðreks konúngs ens vitra

The Saga of Hervör and Heithrek

  

The Saga of King Heiðrek the Wise

 

Hervor & King Heidrek

 

Nora Kershaw, Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, 1921

Christopher Tolkien,  The Saga of King Heiðrek the Wise1960

Peter Tunstall

 
 

Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis

*Hjalmer and Ölvir’s Saga

 

 

Ralph O’Connor, Icelandic Histories and Romances,  2002

 
 

Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar

  • The hero of this saga is the son of the protagonist in Gautrek's saga

 *Hrolf Gautreksson's Saga

Pálsson and Edwards, Hrolf Gautreksson: A Viking Romance, 1972

 
 

Hrólfs saga kraka ok kappa hans

Hrolf Kraki & his Champions

The Saga of Hrólf Kraki

King Hrolf and his Champions

 

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki

 

The Saga of Hrolf Kraki and his Champions

 

 

Peter Tunstall

Stella M. Mills, The Saga of Hrólf Kraki,  1933

Gwyn Jones in Eirik the Red and other Icelandic sagas pp. 221-318, 1961

Jesse L. Byock, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (Penquin Classics), 1998

W. Bryant Bachman, Jr. & Gudmundar Erlingsson, The Sagas of King Half and King Hrolf, 1991

 

 
 

Hrómundar saga Gripssonar

Hromund Greipsson’s Tale

 

The Saga of Hromund Greipsson

 

Hromund's Saga

 

 

Gavin Chappell 

 

Nora Kershaw, Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, 1921

 

W. Bryant Bachman, Six Old Icelandic Sagas, 1993

 

 
  *Huldar saga: Apocryphal— no known text. Described in Sturlunga saga as a story "about a great troll-woman".

 

There exists, however, a Huldar saga in three recensions, all of which date from the 18th century. Recension I, a late 18th century mss., was published in Danish. Recension II, ascribed to Jón Espólin, was printed in Icelandic.  These probably have no connection to the ancient saga.

Huld. Fragment of a romantic tale translated from the Old Scandinavian in Skandinaviske Literatur-Selskabs Skrifter. I. Bd. pp. 262-334.

Die Huldar Saga (scanned version, poor quality).

Capt. W.H.F. Abrahamson, 1805

 

 

Konrad Mauer, 1894

 
 

Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra

The Saga of Illugi, Grid’s Foster-son

Illugi, Grid's Foster Son

The Saga of Illugi Grid's Fosterling

The Saga of Illugi, Grid's Foster-Son

Gavin Chappell 

Peter Tunstall

W. Bryant Bachman, Six Old Icelandic Sagas, 1993

 
 

Ketils saga hængs

Ketil Trout’s Saga

 

Gavin Chappell 

 
 

Norna-Gests þáttur

Norna-Gest’s Tale

 

The Tháttr of Nornagest

 

George L. Hardman

 

Nora Kershaw,  Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, 1921

 

 
 

Ragnars saga loðbrókar

   

  • *Ragnar Loðbrók

The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok

with Old Norse Facing Text translation


The Sagas of Ragnar Loðbrók

 

"Thora and Aslaug in Ragnars Saga Lodbrokr: Women, Dragons and Destiny," Carolyne Larrington


Chris Van Dyke, 2003

    

    

Ben Waggoneer, 2009      

      

Margaret Schlauch, The Saga of the Volsungs: The Saga of Ragnar Lodrok together with the Lay of Kraka, 1930

 

 

 

 
 

Sturlaugs saga starfsama

Sturlaug the Industrious

Peter Tunstall

 

George L. Hardman

 
 

Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum í Dana ok Svíaveldi

Fragment of a Saga about Certain Early Kings in Denmark and Sweden

 

The Sögubrot

Peter Tunstall

 

 

George L. Hardman  

 
 

Sörla saga sterka

 The Saga of Sorli the Strong

George L. Hardman

 
 

Sörla þáttur eða Héðins saga ok Högna

   

  • *The tale of how Freyja obtained her necklace Brisingamen

Sörli’s Tale or Hedin and Högni’s Saga

The Tháttr of Sörli

  

"The Sörla Þáttr" (First Chapter Only)

  

Sorli's Story

  

Sorli's Tale, or the Saga of Hedin & Hogni

     

 

Eirikur Magnusson & William Morris

Nora Kershaw,  Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, 1921

James Chisholm,  Idunna #8  (vol. 2, no. 4, 1990), p. 6.

W. Bryant Bachman, Jr. & Gudmundur Erlingsson, Six Old Icelandic Tales, 1993

Peter Tunstall

 
 

Tóka þáttur Tókasonar

"Toki Tokason’s Tale"

 

Toki's Story

       

Toki's Tale

W. Bryant Bachman, Jr. & Gudmundar Erlingsson, The Sagas of King Half and King Hrolf, 1991.

 

Peter Tunstall

 
 

Völsunga saga

 

 

 

*‘Völsunga saga, Ragnars saga and Romance in Old Norse: revisiting relationships’, Carolyne Larrington

The Saga of the Volsungs

 

Volsunga Saga: The Story of the Volsungs & Niblungs
 
The Saga of the Volsungs
 
The Saga of the Volsungs,

The Saga of the Volsungs

The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd
  
The Saga of the Volsungs: A New Translation

 

 

William Morris & Eireker Magnusson, 1888
 
Margaret Schlauch, 1930
 
Ronald G. Finch,  1965

George K. Anderson, 1982

Jesse Byock, 1993
 
 
Gavin Chappell , 2013

 

 
 

Yngvars saga víðförla

 

*2003 Galina Glazyrina "On Heliopolis in Yngvars saga víðfõrla"

 

"The Saga of Yngvar the Far-Traveller"
Yngvar the Traveller
Yngvar's Saga

The Saga of Yngvar the Explorer

 

Peter Tunstall

Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards, Vikings in Russia, 1989

W. Bryant Bachman, Six Old Icelandic Sagas, 1993

 
 

Þáttur af Ragnars sonum

 

  • *Ragnar Loðbrók

Ragnar's Sons


The Sagas of Ragnar Loðbrók,

Peter Tunstall 

 

Ben Waggoneer
 
 

Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar

 

  • *The hero of this saga is the father of the protagonist in Friðþjófs saga ins frækna.

 

Thorstein Vikingsson's Saga

 

 

Rasmus Anderson & Jón Bjarnason, Viking Tales of the North, 1877

 

Þorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns

 

Thorstein House-Power

Thorstein Mansion-Might

 

  

 

'A Visit to the Otherworld'

George L. Hardman

Pálsson and Edwards, Gautrek's Saga and other Medieval Tales, 1968; reprinted in Seven Viking Romances

 

Jacqueline Simpson, The Northmen Talk, 1965

 

Örvar-Odds saga

*Arrow-Odd 

 

'Odd Among the Giants' (ch. 18)

 

Fulvio Ferrari (Università degli Studi di Trento) : Gods, Warlocks and Monsters in Örvar-Odds saga

Pálsson and Edwards, Arrow-Odd: A Medieval Novel, 1970; reprinted in Seven Viking Romances

Jacqueline Simpson, The Northmen Talk, 1965, pp. 237-243

 

Völsi þáttur

The Tale of Völsi

Völsa Þáttr

Eysteinn Björnsson

James Chisholm, Idunna #8 (vol. 2, no. 4, 1990), pp. 7-12

 

Þjalar-Jóns Saga eðr Jóns Saga Svipdagsson ok Eirekr forvitna.

 

"File-Jón's Saga or The Saga of Jon Svipdag's son and Eirek the curious"

      

Þjalar-Jóns saga: A Translation and Introduction

   

Þjalar-Jóns saga. The Icelandic text with an English translation, introduction and notes

Often classified as a Riddarsaga

 

 

Alaric Hall (2015)

 

Cecilia White (2016)

 

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REFERENCES:


Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda
A Bibliography of Manuscripts,
Editions, Translations, and Secondary Literature.

Compiled by
M.J. Driscoll & Silvia
Hufnagel
     
 
 
SCHOLARSHIP
  
 
 

General Scholarship:


Gudbrand Vigfusson, "Mythical Sagas" in  Sturlunga saga, 1874, pp. cxciv-cxcvi.

A. Le Roy Andrews,
The Lygisögur, Scandinavian Studies and Notes, Volume 2

, 1916.

Lars Lönnroth, The Old Norse Analogue: Eddic Poetry and Fornaldarsaga, 1990.
 
Vésteinn Ólason,
The Marvelous North and Authorial Presense in the Icelandic Fornaldarsaga,  in

Contexts of Pre-Novel Narrative

, 1994.

Jesse L. Byock, The Fornaldarsögur: Stephen Mitchell’s Contribution,  Oral Tradition, 10/2 (1995): pp. 451-457. 

Ármann Jakobsson, Agneta Ney, Annette Lassen, ed.  Fornaldarsagaerne: myter og virkelighed

 ,2008 
 
Shafer, John Douglas.
Saga Accounts of the Norse Far-Travellers, Durham E-Thesis, 2009.
 
  





The Twelfth International Saga Conference

Bonn/Germany, 28th July – 2nd August 2003

Galina Glazyrina, On Heliopolis in Yngvars saga víðfõrla

Inna Matyushina, On the Imagery and Style of Riddarasögur
 
 

The Thirteenth International Saga Conference: [*][**]
Durham and York, 6th-12th, August 2006
 

Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir (Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, Háskóli Íslands) :

On Supernatural Motifs in the Fornaldarsögur

 
David Ashurst  (University of Durham) : Imagining Paradise
Ásdís Egilsdóttir (Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík) : The Fantastic Reality: Hagiography, Miracles and Fantasy

Massimiliano Bampi, Between Tradition and Innovation: The Story of Starkaðr in Gautreks saga

Margaret Clunies Ross (University of Sydney) : Poetry and Fornaldarsögur
2006 Edel Porter Skaldic Poetry: Making the World Fantastic
Alexey Eremenko (University of Moscow) : The Dual World of the Fornaldarsögur
Fulvio Ferrari (Università degli Studi di Trento) : Gods, Warlocks and Monsters in Örvar-Odds saga
Galina Glazyrina (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) : Dragon Motifs in Yngvars saga víðförla
Karl G. Johansson (Universitetet i Oslo) : Hervarar Saga's Stanzas and the Manuscript that Met the Reader

Rory McTurk, Kings and kingship in Viking Northumbria

Stephen Mitchell (Harvard University): Perceptions of the Supernatural and Other Elements of the Fantastic in the Fornaldarsögur

Else Mundal, The Treatment of the Supernatural and the Fantastic in Different Saga Genres

Sverrir Jakobsson (Háskóla Íslands, Reykjavík) : On the Road to Paradise. 'Austrvegr' in the Icelandic Imagination

Judy Quinn, The end of a fantasy: Sörla þáttr and the rewriting of the revivification myth

Gunnhild Røthe, The Fictitious Figure of Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr in the Saga Tradition

Christopher Sanders, Sturlaugs saga starfsama : Humour and Textual Archaeology

Lars van Wezel (University of Leiden) : Myths to Play with: Bósa saga ok Herrauðs
Kirsten Wolf  (University of Wisconsin-Madison): The Color Blue in Old Norse - Icelandic
Anna Zanchi (University College London): The Colour Green in Medieval Icelandic Literature: Natural, Supernatural, Symbolic?
Helgi Þorláksson (Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík): The Fantastic Fourteenth Century


Riddarasögur:

 

Geraldine Barnes, Margin vs. centre: geopolitics in Nitida saga (a cosmographical comedy?)

Ingvil Brügger Budal, A Translation of the Fantastic 

Vera Johanterwage (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster): The Use of Magic Spells and Objects in the Icelandic Riddarasögur

Inna Matyushina, Magic Mirrors, Monsters, Maiden-kings (the Fantastic in Riddarasögur)
 

 

Heathen Religion:

 

Christopher Abram, Snorri’s Invention of Hermóðr’s helreið 

Yvonne S. Bonnetain, Riding the Tree 

Jamie Cochrane, Land-spirits and Iceland’s Fantastic Pre-conversion Landscape

Cyril de Pins, The Fantastical Theology of Snorri Sturluson : A Reading of the Prologue of Snorra Edda

Amy C. Eichhorn-Mulligan, Contextualizing Old Norse - Icelandic Bodies

Thor Ewing, ‘í litklæðum’ – Coloured Clothes in Medieval Scandinavian Literature and Archaeology

Oren Falk, Fragments of Fourteenth-century Icelandic Folklore

Frog, Recognizing Mythic Images in Fantastic Literature : Reading Baldrs draumar 12-14

Signe Horn Fuglesang, Iconographic traditions and models in Scandinavian imagery
Kari Ellen Gade, ‘Höðr … sonr Óðins’ — but did Snorri know that?

Terry Gunnell, How Elvish Were The Álfar?

Eldar Heide, Spirits Through Respiratory Passages

Ingunn Ásdísardóttir, Frigg and Freyja: One Great Goddess or Two?

Judith Jesch, Norse Myth in Medieval Orkney

Merrill Kaplan, Out-Thoring Thor in Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta
Henning Kure, Drinking from Odin’s Pledge On an encounter with the fantastic in Völuspá 28–29
Carolyne Larrington, Loki’s Children

Annette Lassen, Hrafnagaldur Óðins / Forspjallsljóð: Et antikvarisk digt? [English]

Emily Lyle,  A Temporal Triad in Three Sagas

Agneta Ney, The Edge of Water in Old Norse Myth and Reality

Astrid E.J. Ogilvie, Weather and Witchcraft in the Sagas of Icelanders 

Jens Peter Schjødt, The Notion of Berserkir and the Relation between Óðinn and Animal Warriors

Gro Steinsland, The Fantastic Future and the Norse Sibyl of Völuspá

Bernt Øyvind Thorvaldsen, The Double Scene in Performance: Deictic Blending in Völuspá?

Clive Tolley, The Historia Norwegiae as a Shamanic Source

 

 
 The 14th International Saga Conference

Uppsala, 9th–15th, August 2009

Part 1 – pages 1 to 550
 
Matthew J. Driscoll, Editing the Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda.
Alexey Eremenko The ethical map of the Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar.
Silvia Hufnagel, Sörla saga sterka and Rafn’s edition.
Vera Johanterwage, Biörner’s edition of the Friðþjófs saga ins froekna.
Hans Kuhn, Frithjof and Röde Orm: Two Swedish Viking impersonations
 
Part 2 – pages 551 to 1081
 
Helen F. Leslie (University of Bergen, Norway), Landscape and the Other World in the Fornaldarsögur.
Mikael Males, Institutt for lingvistiske og nordiske studier, (Oslo universitet, Norway), “Archaic” Assonance in the Strophes of Ragnarr Loðbróks Family and Other Early Skalds.
Terje Spurkland, Fornaldarsögur and the concept of literacy.
Tereza Vachunová, Hrólfs saga kraka – A History of Editing.
Yelena Sesselja Helgadóttir-Yershova, Hildibrandr húnakappi and Ásmundr kappabani in Icelandic sagas and Faroese ballads.
 
See also:

Andreas Nordberg, (Dept. of History of Religions, Stockholm University, Sweden), Time-reckoning, ritual time and the symbolism of numbers in Adam of Bremen’s account of the great sacrifice in Old Uppsala.

 

 

 

 The 15th International Saga Conference

 Sagas and the Use of the Past

 15th –11th August 2012, Aarhus University

 Preprint of Abstracts

 

 Ian Beuermann,  Fornjótr’s Descendants. Reading Orkneyinga Saga’s Origin  Myth

 Hannah Burrows, Wit and Wisdom: Óðinn, Haukr Erlendsson and the Different Redactions of Hervarar saga

Christen Carlsen, Mythic-Heroic Motifs in Eiríks saga víðfǫrla

Frog, Myth as Referent: Saga Sources as Evidence of Oral Intertextuality
Helen F. Leslie, Contexts of Eddic Poetry: Snorra Edda and the fornaldarsögur

 

Riddarasögur:

 

Katharina  Seidel, Text Variance and Text Stability in Translated Riddarasögur: Various Concepts of Text Transmission within one Genre

 
 
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