essay
From sagas to society: the case of HEIMSKRINGLA
From sagas to society : comparative approaches to early Iceland • Enfield Lock, Middlesex, Uk • Published In 1992 • Pages: 61-75
By: Bagge, Sverre.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
For many years the Icelandic sagas were largely foresaken as a factual source of information on early Iceland, in favor of skaldic poetry, archaeological evidence, and written laws and diplomas representative of this period. In essence, the sagas seem to have been considered more in the light of semi-fictionalized accounts of Icelandic history by many scholars and historians. This article attempts to encourage scholars to use the sagas once more as a source of cultural data, but in a new and more fruitful way (explained in the text). Although the present study deals mainly with Snorri Sturluson's 'Heimskringla', the ideas expressed in its pages are also considered relevant to other sagas as well. 'Heimskringla' was written around 1230 A.D. and traces the Norwegian kings from their mythical origin until immediately before the emergence of Sverrir Sigurðarson, the founder of the reigning dynasty of Snorri's lifetime (p. 62).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Reviews and critiques
- Verbal arts
- Ingroup antagonisms
- Humanistic studies
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Early Icelanders
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2004
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Europe
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Scandinavia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Historian
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 2002
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- ninth-thirteenth centuries
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- general Iceland
- NotesAdditional notes
- Sverre Bagge
- For bibliographical references see document 10: [Gísli Pálsson]
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 93150093
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Icelanders