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The sagas of Icelanders, also known as family sagas, are a subgenre, or text group, of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives primarily based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early eleventh centuries, during the so-called Saga Age. They were written in Old Icelandic, a western dialect of Old Norse. They are the best-known specimens of Icelandic literature.
Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir was an Icelandic explorer, born at Laugarbrekka in Snæfellsnes, Iceland.
Snorri Thorfinnsson most likely born between 1004 and 1013, and died c. 1090) was the son of explorers Thorfinn Karlsefni and Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir. He is considered to be the first child of European descent to be born in the Americas, apart from Greenland. He became an important figure in the Christianisation of Iceland.
Thorfinn Karlsefni Thórdarson was an Icelandic explorer. Around the year 1010, he followed Leif Eriksson's route to Vinland in a short-lived attempt to establish a permanent settlement there with his wife Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir and their followers.
Aud the Deep-Minded, also known as Unn, Aud Ketilsdatter or Unnur Ketilsdottir, was a 9th-century settler during the age of Settlement of Iceland. The main source of information about her life in Iceland is Sturla Þórðarson's Landnámabók; Laxdæla saga, which calls her Unn, gives a varying account but has more on her background, and she also figures in several other sagas, including Njáls saga, Eyrbyggja saga, Eiríks saga rauða and Grettis saga.
Thorfinn Torf-Einarsson also known as Thorfinn Skull-splitter was a 10th-century Earl of Orkney. He appears in the Orkneyinga saga and briefly in St Olaf's Saga, as incorporated into the Heimskringla. These stories were first written down in Iceland in the early 13th century and much of the information they contain is "hard to corroborate".
Ketill Björnsson, nicknamed Flatnose, was a Norse King of the Isles of the 9th century.
Sigurd Hlodvirsson, popularly known as Sigurd the Stout from the Old Norse Sigurðr digri, was an Earl of Orkney. The main sources for his life are the Norse Sagas, which were first written down some two centuries or more after his death. These engaging stories must therefore be treated with caution rather than as reliable historical documents.
The Mormaer of Caithness was a vassal title mostly held by members of the Norwegian nobility based in Orkney from the Viking Age until 1350. The mormaerdom was held as fief of Scotland and the title was frequently held by the Norse Earls of Orkney, who were thus a vassal of both the King of Norway and the King of Scots. There is no other example in the history of either Norway or of Scotland in which a dynasty of earls owed their allegiance to two different kings.
Olaf the White was a viking sea-king who lived in the latter half of the 9th century.
Kári Sölmundarson was a Hebridean viking and soldier of fortune who lived in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. He is a major character in Njál's Saga. Kári was the son of Solmund, who was the son of Thorbjorn "Jarl's Champion," an Icelander exiled before the establishment of the Althing for murder.
Olaf the Peacock or Olaf Hoskuldsson was a merchant and chieftain of the early Icelandic Commonwealth, who was nicknamed "the Peacock" because of his proud bearing and magnificent wardrobe. He is a major character in the Laxdæla saga and is mentioned in a number of other Icelandic sources. The son of a slave woman, Olaf became one of the wealthiest landowners in Iceland and played a major role in its politics and society during the latter half of the tenth century. In addition to the Laxdæla Saga in which he takes a leading role, Olaf also is mentioned in Egils saga, Njáls saga, Gunnlaugs saga, Kormáks saga, Grettirs saga and the Landnámabók, among others.
Melkorka is the name given in Landnámabók and Laxdæla saga for the Irish mother of the Icelandic goði Ólafr Höskuldsson. It is possible that her name represents the Early Irish Mael Curcaig.
Hoskuld Dala-Kollsson was an Icelandic gothi or chieftain of the early Icelandic Commonwealth period. He was the son of Dala-Koll who has a fjörd named after him, and Thorgerd Thorsteinsdottir, daughter of Thorstein the Red. His father died when he was a child and his mother married a landowner named Herjolf, who became the father of Hoskuld's half-brother Hrútr Herjólfsson. Hoskuld was enormously influential in northwestern Iceland, particularly in the Laxardal region, and is one of the main characters of the first half of Laxdæla saga. By his wife Jorunn he was the father of Bard, Thorleik, and Hallgerd and the grandfather of Bolli Thorleiksson. By his Irish concubine Melkorka he was the father of Olaf the Peacock and possibly of another son named Helgi.
Thorgerd Egilsdottir was an Icelandic woman of the tenth century. She was the daughter of Egill Skallagrímsson and the wife of Olaf the Peacock. Olaf and Thorgerd had a number of children: the sons Kjartan, Steinthór, Halldór, Helgi, and Höskuldur and the daughters Thurídur, Thorbjörg, Thorgerd and Bergthóra. The ill-fated Kjartan would be his father's favorite.
Olaf Feilan Thorsteinsson was an Icelandic gothi of the Settlement period. He was the son of Thorstein the Red, jarl of Caithness, and his wife Thurid Eyvindsdottir. The byname "feilan" is derived from the Old Irish fáelán, meaning wolfling or little wolf.
Mord Sighvatsson, better known as Mord "Fiddle" was a wealthy Icelandic farmer and expert on Icelandic law who lived during the late Settlement Period and early Commonwealth Period. According to Njals Saga, he was the son of Sighvat the Red, but Landnámabók asserts that Mord was Sighvat's grandson. Mord was the father of Unn Mordardottir, who for a time was married to Hrútr Herjólfsson.
Snorri Þorgrímsson or Snorri Goði was a prominent chieftain in Western Iceland, who featured in a number of Icelandic sagas. The main source of his life is the Eyrbyggja saga, in which he is the main character, although he also figures prominently in Njál's saga and the Laxdæla saga. Snorri was the nephew of Gísli Súrsson, the hero of Gísla saga, and son of Þorgrímr Þorsteinsson whom Gísli killed in revenge to fulfill a blood-oath.
Bjǫrn Ketilsson, nicknamed the Easterner, was a Norwegian Viking of the 9th century.
Oistin mac Amlaíb was a ninth-century Norse or Norse-Gael leader whom sometimes identified as a King of Dublin. He was a son of Amlaíb Conung and nephew of Ímar, founder of the Uí Ímair dynasty. He is sometimes identified with Thorstein the Red, a figure who features in the Norse sagas.
References
- Ari the Learned. The Book of the Settlement of Iceland(Landnámabók). Ellwood, T., transl. Kendal: T. Wilson, Printer and Publisher, 1898.
- Cook, Robert, transl. Njal's Saga . Penguin Classics, 2002.
- Forte, Angelo, Richard Oram and Frederik Pedersen. Viking Empires . Cambridge University Press, 2005 ISBN 0-521-82992-5.
- Jones, Gwyn, transl. Eirik the Red and other Icelandic Sagas. Oxford Univ. Press, USA, 1999.
- Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Palsson, transl. Laxdaela Saga. Penguin Classics, 1969.
- Palsson, Hermann, et al., transl. Eyrbyggja Saga . Penguin Classics, 1989.
- Palsson, Hermann, et al., transl. Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney. Penguin Classics, 1981.
- Snorri Sturluson. Heimskringla, or the Chronicle of the Kings of Norway. Hard Press, 2006.
- Thorsson, Ornolfur, et al., transl. The Saga of Grettir the Strong. Penguin Classics, 2005.