Remembering England

Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-50126-0
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 268 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 384 g

Reihe: Studies in Medieval History and Culture

This book provides an in-depth study of depictions of England in the Saga of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), examining their utility as sources for the history of Viking Age Anglo-Scandinavian cultural contact.

The Íslendingasögur present themselves as histories, but they are difficult historical sources. Their setting is the Saga Age, a period that begins with the settlement of Iceland in the late ninth century and ends along with the Viking Age in the late eleventh century–however, the saga texts are disconnected from this setting, having first been written down in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This book traces the transmission and development of Icelandic cultural memory of Saga Age England across this distance of centuries. It offers case study analyses of how historical time, place, cultures, and events are adapted and conceptualised in the Íslendingasögur and suggests methodological approaches to their study as historical literature.

Remembering England is an interdisciplinary book that will appeal to scholars and students of the history of pre-Norman England, the Icelandic sagas, medieval literature, and cultural memory.

Zielgruppe

Academic and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Firth, Matthew

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historiographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Mittelalterliche, neuzeitliche Archäologie (Europa)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Literature and Memory, History and Historiography

Cultural Memory and the Íslendingasögur

Íslendingasögur as Sources of History: The Debate

Æthelstan, Æthelred and Knútr: A Historical Overview

Chapter Overview

Part 1

1 Narrative, Verse and Memory

The Fear of Forgetting and the Value of Writing

Cultural Memory and Medieval memoria

Communicative Memory and Skaldic verse

Memory and Literature

2 Saga Age England

England in the Íslendingasögur

England in the skáldasögur: Egils saga

England in the skáldasögur: Gunnlaugs saga, Bjarnar saga

3 Iceland and the Writing of the Íslendingasögur

The Íslendingasögur Corpus

Saga Age Iceland

Iceland in the Age of Saga Writing

Part 2

4 Memories of Heroism: Bjarnar saga Hítdœlakappa

Manuscript Contexts

Bjorn’s Travels

Reconstructing a Chronology

Thematic Intertextuality: Of Kings and Dragons

5 Memories of Rulers: Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu

Gunnlaugr’s Travels

The skáld in Literary Frameworks

The skáld as Poet: The Hierarchies of Verse

The skáld as Warrior: A Fabricated Narrative

6 Memories of Conflict: Egils saga Skallagrímssonar

Egill’s Travels

The Battle of Brunanburh

The Court of Eiríkr blóðøx in York

Conclusion

Interpretation and Reinterpretation

Remembering England

Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Matthew Firth is Australian Research Council Fellow (DECRA) and Associate Lecturer in Medieval History at Flinders University, Australia. His research focuses on historical narrative and its transmission across time and place with particular interest in the historiography of tenth- century England. Matthew’s first monograph, Early English Queens, 850– 1000: Potestas Regina, was published by Routledge in 2024. He is also the author of over twenty articles and book chapters focused on the development of medieval history writing traditions.