Sturlunga saga

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Sverrir Jakobsson (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1300

Places

Iceland (Location; Involved)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

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Sturlunga saga

is a collective name used for a compendium of historical prose texts (sagas) which concern events in Iceland between 1117 and 1291. The compendium was probably created around 1300, and the most likely original redactor is generally regarded as Þórðr Narfason (d. 1308) although other candidates have also been proposed. There are two manuscripts from the late fourteenth century that contain Sturlunga saga, Króksfjarðarbók (from ca. 1360) and Reykjarfjarðarbók (from ca. 1375-1400). To both of these manuscripts material has been added, which was probably not in the original compendium, so that there were at least three separate redactions of the compendium made in the fourteenth century.

Sturlunga saga consists of individual sagas that were composed well before the

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1083 words

Citation: Jakobsson, Sverrir. "Sturlunga saga". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 May 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19645, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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