Sagas of Icelanders

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 Saga Age. They were written in Old Icelandic, a western dialect of Old Norse, primarily on calfskin. They are the best-known specimens of Icelandic literature.
They are focused on history, especially genealogical and family history. They reflect the struggle and conflict that arose within the societies of the early generations of Icelandic settlers. The Icelandic sagas are valuable and unique historical sources about medieval Scandinavian societies and kingdoms, in particular regarding pre-Christian religion and culture and the heroic age.
Eventually, many of these Icelandic sagas were recorded, mostly in the 13th and 14th centuries. The 'authors', or rather recorders, of these sagas are largely unknown. One saga, Egil's Saga, is believed by some 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 produced by Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, or Íslenzk fornrit for short.

Historical time frame

Among the several literary reviews of the sagas is the Sagalitteraturen by Sigurður Nordal, which divides the sagas into five chronological groups distinguished by the state of literary development:

1200 to 1230 – Sagas that deal with skalds
1230 to 1280 – Family sagas
1280 to 1300 – Works that focus more on style and storytelling than just writing down history
Early fourteenth century – Historical tradition
Fourteenth century – Fiction

This framework has been severely criticised as based on a presupposed attitude to the fantastic and an over-estimation on the precedence of Landnámabók.

List of sagas

Atla saga ÓtryggssonarBandamanna sagaBárðar saga SnæfellsássBjarnar saga HítdælakappaDroplaugarsona sagaEgils saga Skalla-Grímssonar – Egil's SagaEiríks saga rauða – Saga of Erik the RedEyrbyggja sagaFæreyinga sagaFinnboga saga rammaFljótsdæla sagaFlóamanna sagaFóstbræðra saga Gísla saga Súrssonar, of an outlaw poet – Gísla sagaGrettis saga – Saga of Grettir the StrongGrænlendinga saga – Greenland sagaGull-Þóris sagaGunnars saga KeldugnúpsfíflsGunnlaugs saga ormstunguHallfreðar saga Harðar saga ok HólmverjaHávarðar saga ÍsfirðingsHeiðarvíga sagaHrafnkels sagaHrana saga hrings Hænsna-Þóris saga

Íslendingabók Kjalnesinga sagaKormáks sagaKróka-Refs sagaLaxdæla sagaLjósvetninga saga Njáls sagaReykdæla saga ok Víga-SkútuSkáld-Helga saga Svarfdæla sagaValla-Ljóts sagaVatnsdæla sagaVíga-Glúms sagaVíglundar sagaVápnfirðinga sagaÞorsteins saga hvítaÞorsteins saga Síðu-HallssonarÞórðar saga hreðuÖlkofra saga

It is thought that a number of sagas are now lost, including the supposed Gauks saga Trandilssonar – The saga of Gaukur á Stöng. In addition to these, the texts often referred to as the "Tales of Icelanders" such as "Hreiðars þáttr" and "Sneglu-Halla þáttr" of the kings' saga Morkinskinna could be included in this corpus, as well as the contemporary sagas incorporated into Sturlunga saga.