Medieval literature in Iceland is rich in content. But sagas occupy a special place in it: epic works, which deal with the life and life of the Scandinavian peoples. Subsequently, sagas began to be called other works of art in which there was an epic scope.
Saga as a literary work
Initially, sagas were literary works of a narrative nature, which were compiled in the 13th-14th centuries in Iceland. The sagas told about the life and history of the Scandinavian peoples.
The word "saga" itself probably comes from the Old Norse saga, which means "legend", "skaz". Researchers agree that the term comes from the Icelandic segia ("to speak").
Initially, among the peoples inhabiting Iceland, the term "saga" denoted any story - both oral and recorded in a written source. However, in science, it is customary to consider literary monuments recorded in the indicated centuries as sagas.
Currently, the saga is often referred to as literary works belonging to other styles and eras. Such works are characterized by a certain epic style. Sometimes a saga is called a description of family stories of several generations.
The most famous Icelandic sagas:
- The Saga of Nyala;
- The Saga of Gisli;
- "The Saga of Egil".
Saga building principles
Usually the saga begins with a description of the lineage of the acting characters. Often the legend begins with the standard phrase: "There was a man named …". In this way, the characteristics of the most significant characters are given. Often, the story begins with a description of the life of several generations that preceded the appearance of the main character. Often the beginning of the saga dates back to the time of the settlement of ancient Iceland and the emergence of the first states in Scandinavia. A saga usually has a fairly large number of characters - sometimes up to a hundred or even more.
The main events of the Icelandic saga are usually tribal strife or the life of rulers. The sagas contain detailed descriptions of what happened in ancient times. Very often they even indicate who, to whom and what wound was inflicted in the battle. The sagas contain quotations from other literary sources (for example, from the texts of the Old Norse codes of laws). The Icelandic saga is characterized by a clear chronology of events: the legend indicates exactly how many years have passed from a particular event.
Descriptions of the inner world and emotions of the characters in the sagas are portrayed with restraint and very laconic. For this reason, the modern reader, who was brought up on literature with an expressive transmission of feelings, finds it difficult to appreciate the depth of the tragedy in which the heroes of the legend are involved. In the Icelandic sagas, there is no description of the relationship between the sexes, which is inherent in the current literature. The relationship between spouses and other family members is reflected in the narrative only insofar as they are relevant to the unfolding plot. Often, a love affair is spoken of only with the help of hints.
Some Icelandic legends are characterized by the use of elements of fantasy. The sagas included episodes with evil spirits, ghosts.
Division of legends into cycles
The entire set of texts, which are usually called sagas, are traditionally divided into a number of cycles. The basis for this division is the time of action and the theme of the works:
- Sagas of Ancient Times;
- The Sagas of Kings;
- Icelanders Sagas;
- Sagas of Recent Events;
- "The Sagas of the Bishops."
The most famous is the cycle "Sagas of Ancient Times". These legends tell about the history of Scandinavia. The basis for such narratives is myths and legends intertwined with fairy-tale motives. The most famous source related to this cycle is called "The Völsungs Saga".
The Sagas of Kings contain a description of the history of Norway and Denmark. The reason for choosing the subject is simple - in Iceland itself, monarchical power did not exist. One of the most famous works of this cycle is the "Saga of Hakone Hakonarson".
"Sagas about Icelanders" are also called "Ancestral sagas". The subject of such legends was stories about the life of Icelandic families and the relationship between them. The events that are reflected in such sagas usually date back to the X-XI centuries. The pinnacle of the Icelandic ancestral epic can be considered the "Saga of Nyala". This lengthy legend has a completely coherent structure and tells the story of a brave and worthy man who married a beautiful woman. The hero goes through a series of strife. The main problematic of the clan saga is the formation of stability in society and the role of human passions in this.
The Sagas of Bishops contain a description of the history of Catholicism in Iceland. In these narratives, historians find a lot of reliable data about the deeds of Catholic bishops.
Features of the Icelandic saga
Traditionally in Europe it was believed that Icelanders are a people who can write sagas and almost never lie. In one of the prefaces to a historical study written in Latin, the author says that in his work he relied on the Icelandic sagas - precisely because "this people is not subject to lies." It was believed that the sagas contain quite reliable information about the life of the people who inhabited Iceland.
There are no analogues of the Icelandic saga in Europe. The so-called Irish sagas have nothing in common with Icelandic legends. A saga in the original sense of this term is an oral story about some important and significant events.
Some researchers do not consider the saga a genre, considering such a narration as one of the forms of telling about past events. The so-called ancestral sagas are notable for the attention paid to everyday life. Here is a place to describe the collisions that happened in everyday life. This approach is not typical for other historical sources: usually medieval historians do not mention in their writings how breakfast is prepared, how people quarrel at a wedding feast. All these picturesque details fall out of historical narratives.
But for the traditional Icelandic family saga, such plots are not uncommon, but the most important subject of interest. The compilers were primarily interested in the everyday details of the life of the best and brightest representatives of that time.
Of no less interest to storytellers are a variety of legal conflicts, subtleties and intricacies of legal situations. Crime and bloodshed are also abundant in the sagas. However, the stories about this are not introduced in order to make the presentation fascinating: the chronicler simply gives a detailed description of the events that actually happened. If some bloody episode did not take place in reality, it is not attributed to the hero. Any storyteller, apparently, considered himself the bearer of the truth and did not try to embellish reality. Almost all the characters in those sagas that have come down to the present are concrete historical figures.
Usually, sagas tell about past events, which brings a special originality to the storytelling style. In particular, this concerns the detailed description of the genealogy preceding the main story. The introduction of descriptions of genera was that moment of the story that made the saga credible and convincing. Among the listeners of the legends, there were probably those who were distantly related to the characters whom the narrator listed in detail at the very beginning.
The "royal sagas" stand apart in the literature of that time. They were written by Icelanders, but they tell about Norway. Norwegians are the closest neighbors of Icelanders. There have always been not only friendly but also hostile relations between the two peoples. The Norwegian kings showed interest in Iceland. The latter, in turn, were also interested in political events in Norway. The Sagas of Kings contain stories of political events that have taken place in Norwegian lands since the 13th century.
Researchers do not doubt the veracity of any kind of Icelandic legends. Every line of the sagas breathes with truth. Although it is possible that the storytellers could have composed minor details. In particular, this may apply to dialogues between the heroes of the narrative. But it would be absurd to reproach the compilers of the sagas with falsifying events on this basis alone.
However, there are also known sagas, where fiction was present from beginning to end. In their style, these stories are closer to fairy tales. It is quite possible to meet fire-breathing dragons here; heroes in such legends are capable of piercing a dozen enemies with one throw of a spear. It should be noted that such sagas with elements of fantasy were very popular among the people.
