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1214-84. Iceland, Norway. Icelandic magnate and writer, nephew of Snorri Sturluson, and author of Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar, Magnúss saga and Íslendinga saga ( Sturlunga Saga). After the Icelanders had submitted to the king of Norway (1262), Sturla was summoned to Norway as the king's enemy but was pardoned and commissioned with writing the biography of King Hákon (1204-63, king 1217-63). He wrote the saga in Old Norse in the years 1264-65. The saga is preserved in three main, more or less complete manuscripts from the 14th and 15th century. The editions are usually based on Skálholtsbók …

1179-1241. Iceland. One of the most powerful Icelandic magnates and an active participant in the internal struggles in Iceland from the 1220s onwards, partly in alliance with and partly in opposition to the King of Norway. Author of several skaldic poems, a handbook on Old Norse mythology and poetry, usually referred to as the Younger Edda , possibly of the saga of the Icelandic chieftain Egill Skalla-Grímsson and, in all probability of the Óláfs saga Helga (the Saga of St Óláfr) and Heimskringla (The Circle of the World - named after the incipit), into which the Óláfs saga was included wit…

(Extract of the Sagas of the Kings of Norway) ca 1190. Norway. The oldest preserved history of the Norwegian kings in Old Norse, probably by a Norwegian in the milieu of the archdiocese of Nidaros (Trondheim). The title derives from Finnur Magnússon's late-19th-century edition. The extant version, preserved in one, incomplete manuscript from the first half of the 13th century (Copenhagen, Kongelige Bibliotek, Additamenta 325 II qv), covers the period from the 9th century until the 1150s. Ágrip's narrative is often brief and terse, but also contains some vivid stories plu…

[The fair parchment] 13th century. Norway. Anonymous saga, written in Old Norse, covering the period from Hálfdan svarti, father of the first ruler of the whole of Norway, to 1177. It was probably written around 1220 in Norway, most likely in the Trøndelag area. It is uncertain whether the author was Norwegian or Icelandic. The main focus of the work is on the Norwegian kings and their deeds. A number of skaldic stanzas are quoted or alluded to, and the author must have known a number of earlier sagas, including Ágrip af Noregs Konunga Sogum , Morkinskinna and possibly the lost works by Ar…

(The rotten parchment) 12th century. Iceland. Anonymous saga, written in Old Norse and preserved in only one manuscript (Copenhagen, Kongelige Bibliotek, GKS 1009 fol., late 13th century), although parts of it were included in some later compilations. Its title was given by the Icelandic scholar ÞormóðurTorfason in the 17th century and is somewhat misleading, as the manuscript is in relatively good condition. The extant version covers the period 1130-57. The saga is clearly composed in Iceland, as it contains a series of stories about Iceland…

12th-13th century. Norway. A biography of King Sverrir of Norway (ca 1150-1202, king from 1177) in Old Norse. According to the prologue, the first part of the work was written under Sverrir's own supervision by the Icelandic abbot Karl Jónsson, probably in the period 1185-88. The rest must have been finished between Sverrir's death and ca 1220, possibly partly or wholly by Karl, who died in 1213. Most of the scholarly discussion about the saga has dealt with the length of the first part. The most wides…

(The Saga of the Croziers) 13th century. Norway. Anonymous saga, written in Old Norse, about the struggles between the Birkibeinar ("Birchlegs", those who used birch around their legs instead of shoes) and the Baglar (Croziers, named after the bishop's staff). As the names indicate, the former were originally poor men and the latter closely linked to the bishops, but the social and ideological differences were fading in the early 13th century.The saga exists in two versions, the shorter (A) covering 1202-09 and the longer (B) 1202-17. A has a Baglar and B a Birkibeinar background. A is …