Narrative
Egil's Saga
Egils saga
Anonymous · 1220
Synopsis
A narrative that follows, from about 850 to the year one thousand, a Norwegian family driven out by its conflict with the royal house and settled in Iceland. Its hero, Egill Skallagrímsson, grandson of Kveldúlfr, is a warrior, a Viking and the greatest of the skalds: headstrong, vengeful and greedy for gold, yet a loyal friend, a shy lover and a devoted father. His quarrels with King Eric Bloodaxe, his journeys to Norway and England and the poems he composes form its core.
Context
Written in the thirteenth century by an author the manuscripts do not name, whom many scholars identify, without proof, with Snorri Sturluson, the saga is the only source on the life of Egill, born around 910 at Borg, and preserves his great poems: the Head Ransom, a praise of King Eric composed in one night, the Lay of Arinbjörn and the Loss of Sons. The battle of Vínheiðr it describes, fought for the English king Æthelstan, is often identified with that of Brunanburh, in 937. Known from a fragment of about 1250 and from the Möðruvellir book of the fourteenth century, the text was translated into French by Félix Wagner as early as 1925 and into English by Christine Fell in 1975.
Who it is for
For readers who want to follow, between Norway, Iceland and England, the great poet of the Viking age, as formidable with the sword as in verse.
Prizes and reception
Ranked among the greatest Icelandic sagas, alongside those of Njáll and Gísli, it owes much to its complex and contradictory hero.