Saga Thing

Episode 19a - The Saga of the People of Reykjadal and Killer-Skuta (Part 1)

In this episode, we travel to the northern districts of Thingey and Eyjafjord where the Askel the goði spends most of his time working out settlements to save the skin of his nephews.  You won't meet a more saintly Icelander than the wise Askel goði, but you might question his loyalty to Vemund Fjorleifarson.  But, as Vemund's uncle, poor Askel is caught between a rock and a hard place.  Will his support of Vemund cost Askel the ultimate price in the end, or will he make an honest man of his wayward nephew?  Find out as Saga Thing takes on the first half of The Saga of the People of Reykjadal and Killer-Skuta.

Note: In the introduction, we mention the excellent blog The Saga-Steads of Iceland.  You can visit Emily Lethbridge's post on Reykjadal here.

Episode 18c - The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong (Judgments)

It's time to put The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong on trial.  Join us as we review the saga's more violent moments, count up the dead, and shed some light on a few nicknames.  Who will be outlawed? Who will be chosen as thingman?  Will Andy and John agree on the quality of the saga? You'll learn all this and more in the Final Judgments.

Episode 18b - The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong (Part 2)

Join us for the thrilling conclusion of The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong.  In the first part of this episode, we discuss Finnbogi's evolving relationship with the Norwegian Earl Haakon, his trip to Constantinople, and his pursuit of Alf's daughter Ragnhild.  Yes, Finnbogi's got his eye on the daughter of the man he killed on the way to Haakon's court.  The second part of this episode takes us back to Iceland, where Finnbogi finds that fame isn't all its cracked up to be.  With rivals emerging everywhere he goes, Finnbogi is forced to move from district to district in search of peace.  That turns out to be a real challenge after he crosses a powerful lunatic like Jokul Ingimundarson, who you might remember from the second part of our episode on Vatnsdæla saga.  There are many many feuds and fights in this part of the story.  We do our best to cover the ones that really matter.  We hope you enjoy this final part of our summary of The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong.  It was a lot of fun for us, which is why this episode ended up so long.

Incidentally, since Finnbogi does make his way down to Constantinople and we often find ourselves in Byzantium, our listeners might be interested in The History of Byzantium podcast.  He hasn't covered Emperor John yet, but he's getting closer to the period of the Varangian Guard.  We're looking forward to that.  In the meantime, check out his special episode on the city of Constantinople.  It covers the founding of the city, it's geographical significance, and the daily life of its people.  Great stuff!

Saga Brief 5: The Story of Rollo the Viking

In this episode, we celebrate the life and accomplishments of the historical Rollo.  Known to many as the envious brother of the incomparable Ragnar Loðbrok in the History Channel’s Vikings.  While the historical Rollo may not have been Ragnar’s brother, Vikings gets a lot of things right.  As an exile from his homeland, Rollo earned the nickname “the Walker” by wandering throughout northern Europe raiding and conquering everything in his path.  Among his most significant conquests would come to be known as Normandy, a territory in northern France named for the Northmen led by Rollo in the late 9th or early 10th century.  Fearing further Viking aggression, the French King Charles the Simple turned over the city of Rouen over to Rollo and his men.  This simple act (get it?) provided the French with a buffer against future Viking attacks from the north.  Or so they hoped.  In this case, it worked out nicely.  Rollo and his fellow Vikings quickly rebuilt the territories they had ravaged and assimilated into French culture.  Rollo’s descendants would go on to play a very significant role in European history.  As the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror, Rollo’s blood flows through many veins of later European royalty.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about that part of the story, we recommend the following episodes of Rex Factor, our very favorite podcast:

 

http://rexfactor.podbean.com/e/17-william-the-conqueror/

 

http://rexfactor.podbean.com/e/18-william-rufus/

Looking for more Vikings and Saga Thing cross-over?  We've got a few episodes that might interest you:

The Saga of Ragnar Loðbrok and His Sons - where we review the medieval stories behind the Vikings hero.

The Blood Eagle - where we discuss the Viking practice of splitting a man open and its historical veracity.

The Krákumál - a detailed look at the famous death song of Ragnar

Episode 18a - The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong (Part 1)

The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong tells the tale of a farmer’s son who overcomes an ignoble birth and rises to become one of Iceland's greatest men, or so the saga author would have you believe.  This obscure and rarely discussed 14^th century saga is thought to have been written in response to Vatnsdæla Saga, where Finnbogi comes off rather poorly.  In his own saga, Finnbogi proves to be an upright and noble figure who almost always does the right thing.  With superhuman strength, he’s capable of dispatching an angry bull with his bare hands, snapping the spine of an angry Norwegian bear, and coming out ahead in a seemingly endless feud with Vatnsdæla Saga’s brutish Jokul Ingimundarsson.   Finnbogi’s Saga deserves more attention than it has gotten in the past.  And that's why you come to Saga Thing.    

References:

John Kennedy, Review of Bachman/Erlingsson Translation of The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong, in Scandinavian Studies 64 (1992), 149.

Phillip Pulsiano and Kirsten Wolf, Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia (1993), 194.

Paul Schach, Icelandic Sagas (Boston, 1980), 155-56.

Music for the brief summary: "Nerves" by Kevin MacLeod (incopetech.com).  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0