Search Results: Saga

The Old Norse word saga means 'story', 'tale' or 'history' and normally refers specifically to the epic prose narratives written mainly in Iceland between the 12th- and 15th centuries CE, covering the country's history as well as Scandinavia's...

Leif Erikson (also spelled Leif Eriksson, Old Norse Leifr Eiríksson), nicknamed Leif 'the Lucky', was a Norse Viking who is best known for arguably being the first European to have set foot on North American soil along with his crew c. 1000...

Folio 13r, showing a page from Njáls saga, from the Möðruvallabók (AM 132), an Icelandic manuscript from c. 1330-1370 CE containing the most significant surviving collection of Sagas of Icelanders. It records some sagas in full or in part...

Ragnar Lothbrok (Old Norse Ragnarr Loðbrók, also anglicised as Ragnar Lodbrok), whose epithet means 'Hairy-breeches' or 'Shaggy-breeches', was a legendary Viking king, with Old Norse sagas, poetry, and medieval Latin sources telling of his...

A scene from the 13th-century Icelandic Laxdæla Saga (anglicised as Laxdale Saga), which is set in the Viking Age (c. 790-1100). Illustration from "Vore fædres liv" : karakterer og skildringer fra sagatiden, collected and published by Nordahl...

The Viking Age (c. 790-1100 CE) transformed every aspect of the cultures the Norse came in contact with. The Vikings usually struck without warning and, in the early years, left with their plunder and slaves to be sold as quickly as they...

Vinland (Old Norse Vínland, 'Wine Land') is the name given to the lands explored and briefly settled by Norse Vikings in North America around 1000 CE, particularly referring to Newfoundland, where a Viking site known as L'Anse aux Meadows...

The hero Grettir Asmundson from the 13th-14th century CE Icelandic Grettir's Saga (also Grettis Saga). This saga features one of the best-known stories involving a draugr, a sort of Norse zombie, who is eventually destroyed by Grettir. This...

In 2017 CE, Uppsala University archaeologist Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson published her study of a Viking grave discovered in Birka, Sweden in the 1800's CE which she and her team had revisited. She claimed that what was formerly understood...

The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Ragnarr Loðbrók) is an outstanding Old Norse tale, and the foremost medieval source for the legend of the most famous Viking hero. Dr. Jackson Crawford is Instructor of Nordic Studies and Nordic Program Coordinator...