Saga Thing

Episode 24b - Second Quarter Court Results

 

 The Second Quarter of our Saga Thing comes to a close with the results episode. In this special episode, John and Andy review your choices for Best Bloodshed, Nicknames, Notable Witticisms, Outlawry, Thingmen, and Final Ratings. Will Skarpheðin emerge as the poster boy for Saga Thing's Best Bloodshed and Notable Witticism categories?  What role might the Russians have played in the Thingmen voting? Does Njal's Saga maintain its position on the throne of saga literature? Or will another contender leave Njal's Saga in the dust on the way to the Fifth Court?  Along the way, we answer listener questions on a variety of fun topics.

References for Grettir and  discussion

Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir. "'How Do You Know if it is Love or Lust?' On Gender, Status, and Violence in Old Norse Literature." Interfaces 2 (2016): 189-209.

Karras, Ruth Mazo. Sexuality in Medieval Europe: Doing Unto Others. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2017. Grettir's Saga discussion at 155-56.

Ljungqvist, Fredrik Charpentier. "Rape in the Icelandic Sagas: An Insight in the Perceptions about Sexual Assaults on Women in the Old Norse World." Journal of Family History 40, no. 4 (2015): 431-47.

Scudder, Bernard. Introduction to The Saga of Grettir the Strong, ix-xxxviii. New York: Penguin Classics, 2005.

Short, William R. "The Role of Women in Viking Society." Hurstwic. http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/society/text/women.htm (accessed October 10, 2017).

References for discussion of literacy in medieval Iceland:

Hermann, Pernille. "Literacy." In The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas, edited by Ármann Jakobsson, Sverrir Jakobsson, 34-47. New York: Routledge, 2017.

Quinn, Judy. "From Orality to Literacy in Medieval Iceland." In Old Icelandic Literature and Society, edited by Margaret Clunies Ross, 30-60. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Sigurðsson, Gísli. "Orality and Literacy in the Sagas of Icelanders." In A Companion to Old-Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture, edited by Rory McTurk, 285-301. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005.

Music Credits:
Intro Music – “Prelude and Action” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Outro Music – “Stormfront” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Selections from music by Kevin MacLeod licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Saga Shorts 2 - The Tale of Thorstein Bull's-leg

For our second episode of Saga Shorts, we've chosen the brilliant "Tale of Thorstein Bull's-leg" (Þorsteins Þáttr uxafóts).  As one of the longer þættir, this one defies categorization. It tells the story of Thorstein Oddnyarson, a child abandoned at birth who grows up to be a hero in the court of King Olaf Tryggvason.  Along the way, he'll find his parents, do battle with the undead, raid the home of a troll family, experience a miracle, almost drown in vomit, and fight a pagan bull.  It's got everything you could want in a saga and more, all wrapped in a nice little Þáttr sized package.

For this episode, we used George Clark's translation, "The Tale of Thorstein Bull's-Leg," in The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, Vol. 4, ed. Vidar Hrinsson (Reykjavik: Leifur Eiriksson Publishing, 1997), 340-54.

We mention Elizabeth Ashman Rowe's "Þorsteins þáttr uxafóts, Helga þáttr Þórissonar, and the Conversion þættir," Scandinavian Studies 76, no. 4 (2004): 459-74.

Music Credits:

Intro: From “Death Awaits” by Billy Malmstrom

Outro: From “Óðinn” by Krauka

Episode 24 - The Second Quarter Court

From 2015-2017 we covered a grand total of 10 sagas.  You listened.  You laughed.  You cried.  And when each saga was finished, you heard John and Andy pass judgment on the characters and their actions.  Now it's your turn to be heard.

As always, the Quarter Court reviews the winners from the past 10 judgment episodes.  The polls will be open until September 30th.  At that time, John and I will close them down and review the results in the judgment section of the Second Quarter Court.

Remember to send your questions for that special judgment episode.  You can reach us via email at sagathingpodcast@gmail.com or on Facebook and Twitter.

Vote HERE as you listen.

 

Remember, voting closes on September 30th. Get in while you can.

Music Credits:
Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Selections from music by Kevin MacLeod licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Episode 23c - The Saga of Droplaug's Sons (Judgments)

 

 It's time to put The Saga of Droplaug's Sons on trial.  We've got spears flying through dung beetles and testicles left and right in this episode.  If that's not enough for you, there's a man running across the heath in nothing but a bed sheet.  And don't even get me started about Helgi D.'s heroics on the battlefield or his brother Grim's hole digging prowess.  But will either brother make it out of our outlawry section and into the ranks of Andy and John's thingmen?  And if you had to guess, is John more of a Grim or a Helgi kind of guy?  There's only one way to find out!

Music Credits:

Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Selections from music by Kevin MacLeod licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Episode 23b - The Saga of Droplaug's Sons (Part 2)

It’s time for the thrilling conclusion to The Saga of Droplaug’s Sons.  This episode begins with an ambush as Helgi Asbjarnarson finally catches up with Helgi Droplaugarson.  You won’t want to miss this epic battle.  It provides some of the more detailed descriptions of battle we’ve encountered on this podcast.  If you follow us on Twitter, then you already know something of who gets hit where.  Poor, poor, Thord Cormorant.  If you listen carefully, you can still hear the shrieking.

And if that’s not enough, we’ve also got Helgi D. doing his best impression of Lurtz, a secret resurrection,  and murder most foul.  And just because we love you, we’ll throw in some hnefatafl, a timely fart, meditations on the character of Vikings in the sagas, and John reading from the Middle English Geste of Robyn Hode.  Follow the link and scroll down to the bottom (lines 1787-1820) so you can follow along. Heck, we've even got an appearance by Don Knotts as Mr. Furley from Three's Company.

While this episode doesn’t dwell on genealogies like the first part, you still may want to consult Andy’s handy Droplaugarsona saga genealogy to help keep things in order.

Music Credits:

Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Episode Recap – “Perfect Rag” by Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton (1924)

Helgi’s Poem – “Drums of the Deep” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Grim’s Poem – “Bittersweet” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Selections from music by Kevin MacLeod licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/