belongs to the mythical heroic sagas, a group of Icelandic sagas also known as legendary sagas [
fornaldarsögur]. The saga is believed to date from the thirteenth century and is based mainly on the preserved eddic poems [
eddukvæði], i.e., the heroic poems of the Edda. These heroic poems in turn are derived from Germanic heroic legend, and in part on Norse legends about ancient kings and heroes. To a large extent, the saga can be said to be a sort of editorial compilation in which the author has selected material from the ancient poems, arranged it into a coherent sequence, and filled in the gaps. Similar material is preserved in German epic poems such as the
Nibelungenlied, which dates from about 1200, and the Old Norse
Þiðreks saga af Bernfrom the thirteenth…
2319 words
Citation: Guðmundsdóttir, Aðalheiður. "Völsunga saga". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 February 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40710, accessed 12 October 2024.]