Sturlunga saga

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Resources

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

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 09 October 2024.]

19645 Sturlunga saga 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.