The Icelandic Sagas


The Icelandic Sagas
The Icelandic Sagas by Magnus Magnusson

The Sagas of Icelanders (Icelandic: Íslendingasögur)—many of which are also known as family sagas—are prose histories mostly describing events that took place in Iceland in the 10th and early 11th centuries, during the so-called Saga Age. They are the best-known specimens of Icelandic literature. The Icelanders' sagas are a literary phenomenon of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They are focused on history, especially genealogical and family history. They reflect the struggle and conflict that arose within the societies of the second and third generations of Icelandic settlers. The authors of these sagas are unknown. One, Egils saga, is believed by scholars to have been written by Snorri Sturluson, a descendant of the saga's hero, but this remains uncertain. The standard modern edition of Icelandic sagas is known as Íslenzk fornrit.

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