Anonymous, Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka

Þórdís Edda Jóhannesdóttir (University of Iceland)
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Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka

 is one of the Icelandic legendary sagas [

fornaldarsögur

]. It is somewhat disjointed in structure and composition, containing short episodes mainly joined together by genealogy. Furthermore, it contains over seventy stanzas dispersed throughout the saga, including three lengthy poems. The saga is preserved in circa forty manuscripts but only one is medieval, GKS 2845 4to from the fifteenth century. All other manuscripts are younger paper manuscripts that can be traced back to GKS 2845 4to (Seelow, 1981). Despite the young age of the manuscript, the saga’s origins are undoubtedly much older. The eponymous hero, King Hálfr, is mentioned in various sources outside the saga, even though he is nowhere introduced or discussed thoroughly (Mitchell, 2012). The…

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Citation: Jóhannesdóttir, Þórdís Edda. "Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 September 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40732, accessed 09 October 2024.]

40732 Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 3 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.

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