Encyclopedia > Orkneyinga saga

  Article Content

Orkneyinga Saga

Redirected from Orkneyinga saga

The Orkneyinga saga (also called the History of the Earls of Orkney) is an unique historical narrative of the history of the Orkney Islands from their capture by the Norwegian king in the 9th century onwards until about 1200 AD.

The saga was written around 1200 AD by an unknown Icelandic author and, as was generally the case with Icelandic language writing of this period, the saga is as much a fictional story as an historic document. It is thought to have been compiled from a number of sources, combining oral legends with historical facts. The saga begins with the semi-mythical capture of the islands by the King of Norway before moving on to more factual matters.

Throughout the story, a number of mythical characters are introduced: Sigurd the Powerful[?], Haakon Paulsson[?], Sigurd the Stout[?], Earl Rognvald[?] and St Earl Magnus the Martyr[?]. All these characters are still a part of Orcadian folklore today.

External links and references

  • Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney, translated by Hermann Palsson, ISBN: 0140443835



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Royalist

...   Contents Royalist The noun or adjective, Royalist, can have several shades of meaning. At its simplest, it refers to an adherent of a monarch or ro ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 29.6 ms