Vísindavefurinn, myndband.

Sögur þær sem Íslendingar rituðu á 13. og 14. öld, og fjalla um íslenska menn og málefni svonefndrar sögualdar (um 930-1030), hafa verið nefndar Íslendingasögur. Hátt í 40 sögur falla undir þessa skilgreiningu, og eiga þær – auk þess ofangreinda – ýmis sameiginleg einkenni. Talsverður tími leið frá því að atburðir sagnanna voru sagðir hafa átt sér stað og þar til sögurnar voru ritaðar, en álitið er að sagnir af atburðunum eða kjarna þeirra hafi gengið í munnmælum frá söguöld og fram að ritunartíma. Horfa á myndband.

Francia et Germania: Studies in Strengleikar and Þiðreks saga af Bern. Oslo, 2012, 265–288.

Strengleikar is a collection of romantic tales that were translated from one or more collections of French narrative tales, the so-called lais (singular lai), at the behest of Hákon the Old, who ruled over Norway from 1217 to 1263. The Strengleikar consist of twenty one lais and a prologue, and are now preserved in the Norwegian manuscript de la Gardie 4–7 at the University of Uppsala library alongside four leaves of the same manuscript, which are today found at the Arnamagnaean Institute in Copenhagen under the signum AM 666 b 4to. The manuscript is considered to be from about 1270 and as such is one of the oldest and most important compendiums of Old Norse translations of courtly literature. Read more: Fracia et Germania.

Gotland’s Picture Stones: Bearers of an Enigmatic Legacy. Gotländskt arkiv 2012, vol 84, 59–71.

The Gotland picture stones have long aroused interest and admiration, not only among tourists as objects of beauty and casual curiosity, but also among scholars who have been led to speculate about what they were originally intended to signify. One of the methods used to analyze and interpret the images has been to view them in the context of Old Norse literature. In this respect, three different strands of narrative material, or legends, have been identified as possible sources for preserved texts and comparable images referring to the Völsungs and the Gjúkungar, Wayland the Smith and the story of Hildr and Héðinn. Read more: Saga Motifs.

Speculum (87/4) 2012, 1015–1049.

While many readers of medieval literature are likely to be familiar with the narrative motif of the snake pit, and even associate it with the legend of Gunnarr Gjúkason, there are probably not many, apart from Old Norse specialists, who would know the rest of his story. According to the heroic poems of the Edda, and the derived Völsunga saga, Gunnarr is the brother-in-law of Sigurðr Fáfnisbani and plays a large part in his saga, Völsunga saga. But as Völsunga saga is first and foremost the story of the Völs- ungs, including Sigurðr, Gunnarr naturally plays something of a minor role there, being overshadowed by the magnificent and renowned slayer of the dragon Fáfnir. And so, while some people may know who Gunnarr is, they do not necessarily know much about him in his own right. Read more: Speculum. See also: Medievalists.net.

Kulturstudier (1) 2010, 132–153.

Gennem brug af ældre og nyere kilder søger denne artikel at belyse nordboernes våbendanse i en euopæisk kontekst. På sigt skulle dette styrke grundlaget for yderligere udforskning af den nordiske dansetradition. Indtil nu har manglen på kildemateriale gjort det svært for forskere at sætte nordiske våbendanse ind i en samtidig europæisk kontekst. Den foreliggende artikel forsøger at råde bod på dette. Man kan dog stadig håbe, at nye kilder kan opspores, der yderligere kan klargøre en eventuel sammenhæng. I artiklen bliver der gjort rede for billedkilder af ældre dato, der peger på våbendansene som en del af en nordeuropæisk danse- eller legetradition. Desuden inddrages islandske kilder, der kan kaste et nyt lys over våbendansenes brug i middelalderen. Der lægges særlig vægt på at redegøre for det islandske kildemateriale. På basis af kilderne forekommer det sandsynligt, at islændingene har haft kendskab til våbendanse.  Læs videre: Kulturstudier.

Greppaminni: rit til heiðurs Vésteini Ólasyni sjötugum. Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag, Reykjavík 2009, 3–17.

Hetjukvæði Eddu eru varðveitt í Konungsbók, GKS 2365 4to, sem var skrifuð eftir einu eða fleiri nú glötuðum forritum í kringum 1270. Kvæðin snúast mikið til um hetjur einnar fornaldarsögu, Völsunga sögu, sem reyndar er að miklu leyti afurð þessa kveðskapar. Um er að ræða átján kvæði; hin elstu eru að jafnaði talin ort á 9. öld, en þau yngstu virðast vera mjög ung, jafnvel frá 13. öld. Lesa meira: Greppaminni

JEGP (106/3) 2007, 277–303.

People throughout the world have long been fascinated by the idea of shape-shifting. In all corners of the world there are stories about people who have the ability to transform themselves into animals. The ability is generally viewed negatively, and those with such powers are often sorcerers or witches. Read more: Werewolf

ARV – Nordic Yearbook of Folklore (61) 2005, 25–52.

The following article is about repression, and how repressed culture can find expression in legends. As a discussion of culture in the broader sense would probably demand extensive research and a lot of space, I have chosen to narrow the focus and concentrate on one manifestation: dancing. I will begin by describing the opposition of the Icelandic authorities to dancing, which resulted in its apparent disappearance in the eighteenth century. Read more: ARV.

Opuscula XI. Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana, Vol. XLII. Ejnar Munksgaard. København, 2003.

DFS 67 er safn kvæðauppskrifta og fróðleiks af ýmsu tagi, að mestu leyti frá 19. öld. Alls er safnið 552 blöð sem flest eru laus, en einnig er nokkuð um lítil kver. Stærð blaða er breytileg og pappírsgerð með ýmsu móti. Samtíningi þessum, sem er í mörgu tilliti nokkuð sundurlaus, hefur verið skipt niður í sjö hluta og blöð 1–531 tölusett með bláum lit, en 21 ótölumerkt blað rekur lestina. Lesa meira: DFS 67

Vefnir 2003.

Í riti sínu Hagþenkir ber Jón Ólafsson (1705–1779) á borð hugmyndir um úrbætur varðandi uppfræðslu og uppeldi barna. Ritið er ekki einungis stórfróðleg og merkileg samtímaheimild um stöðu menntunar á Íslandi, áherslur í fræðastörfum og lærðar bókmenntir á 18. öld, heldur veitir það einnig skemmtilega og oft á tíðum ljóslifandi innsýn í íslenskan veruleika þess tíma. Lesa meira: Barnshugur vid bok