Composed at the end of the fourteenth century by an unknown author, The Saga of Grettir the Strong is one of the last great Icelandic sagas. It relates the tale of Grettir, an eleventh-century warrior struggling to hold on to the values of a heroic age becoming eclipsed by Christianity and a more pastoral lifestyle.
One of the most arresting stories in the history of exploration, these two Icelandic sagas tell of the discovery of America by Norsemen five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Together, the direct, forceful twelfth-century Graenlendinga Saga and the more polished and scholarly Eirik's Saga, written some hundred years later, recount how Eirik the Red founded an Icelandic colony in Greenland and how his son, Leif the Lucky, later sailed south to explore - and if possible exploit - the chance discovery by Bjarni Herjolfsson of an unknown land. In spare and vigorous prose they record Europe's first surprise glimpse of the eastern shores of the North American continent and the natives who inhabited them.
Egil's Saga tells the story of the long and brutal life of tenth- century warrior-poet and farmer Egil Skallagrimsson: a morally ambiguous character who was at once the composer of intricately beautiful poetry, and a physical grotesque capable of staggering brutality.
In the most unlikely setting, during devastating winters and unimaginably harsh conditions, some of Europe's most celebrated literature was born. In 13th century Iceland, stories about the heroic Vikings that first settled the country were recorded. These stories, called Sagas (meaning 'story' in Icelandic), have always caused pride with the Icelandic nation and will forever be it's number one cultural heritage. The undisputed masterpiece among the Sagas is Njal's Saga, a spine-chilling story of love, honour, revenge, and patriotism, vividly describing the lives of a host of memorable characters, ranging from respected arbitrators and lawyers to deadly warriors and fighters. If you buy one item in Iceland this should be it. The Sagas inspired the works of J.R.R. Tolkein. The Sagas were written on vellum; a parchment made from calfskin. The material is extremely long-lasting and most of the original books are still in good condition. The oldest fully preserved version of Njal's Saga is from the early 14th century and is stored at the campus of The University of Iceland.