Sigrgarðs saga frækna: A normalised text, translation, and introduction

• Published in: Scandinavian-Canadian Studies
• Main Authors: Alaric Hall, Steven D. P. Richardson, Haukur (Haukur Þorgeirsson) Thorgeirsson
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; French
• Published: University of Alberta Library 2013
• Subjects: History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia; DL1-1180; Language and Literature; P; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.29173/scancan86; https://doaj.org/article/054238dc80ea437ba0efed3022706f98

ABSTRACT: This article provides the first complete translation into English of the fifteenth-century Icelandic romance Sigrgarðs saga frækna [the saga of Sigrgarðr the Valiant], along with a normalised edition of the earliest manuscripts based on that of Agnete Loth. The introduction shows that the saga artfully combines material from both the learned tradition of romances and exempla, and from traditional wonder-tales, showing an unusual warmth towards low-status genres and characters. It argues that the setting of the story articulates Icelandic identity by associating it with the otherworldly setting of the heroes’ climactic quest, and studies the constructions of gender implicit in the saga. While clearly heteronormative and potentially patriarchal in its ideological commitments, the saga probes and arguably destabilises the patriarchal culture of late medieval Iceland.