Tag: Kormak’s Saga

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We continue with Kormak’s Saga as a new lead character is introduced, Holmgang Bersi, who soon becomes ensnared in the drama of the cursed romance of Kormak and Steingerd. We also learn the basic of Viking duelling and its weapons, and also try to get a grip on the slippery terminology of Norse magic.

Today’s Text:

• The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald. Translated by W.G. Collingwood and J. Stefansson. Viking Club Translation Series, no. 1., Wm Holmes, Ltd., 1902. Google Books.
• Kormáks saga. Icelandic Saga Database, edited by Sveinbjorn Thordarson, 2007. https://www.sagadb.org/kormaks_saga.is.

References:

• Biel, William. “Memory of Iron: Object Rhetoric and Collective Memory in Laxdæla saga.” Scandinavian-Canadian Studies / Études Scandinaves au Canada, vol. 28, 2021, pp. 178-203, https://scancan.net/index.php/scancan/article/view/206/411.
• The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. Translated by Jesse Byock, Penguin, 1998.
• Jones, Gwyn. “Some Characteristics of the Icelandic ‘Hólmganga.'” Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. 32, no. 2, Apr. 1933, pp. 203-224. JSTOR.
• “Units of Measure and Relative Value in the Viking Age.” Ancient Finances, 12 Dec. 2017, https://ancientfinances.com/2017/12/04/units-of-measure-and-relative-value-in-the-viking-age/.

Image Credit: Watercolor by W.G. Collingwood, “Sunset over Mel and Midfjord” (1897), reproduced in The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald (1902).

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• MP3 Audio106 MB

We inaugurate our first “Saga Summer” a bit late this year, but starting with an early poet’s saga, a tale of love and betrayal, duels and magic. This is Part 1 (of 4) of Kormak’s Saga.

Today’s Texts:

• The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald. Translated by W.G. Collingwood and J. Stefansson. Viking Club Translation Series, no. 1., Wm Holmes, Ltd., 1902. Google Books.
• Kormáks saga. Icelandic Saga Database, edited by Sveinbjorn Thordarson, 2007. https://www.sagadb.org/kormaks_saga.is.
• Egil’s Saga. Translated by W.C. Green, 1893. Internet Sacred Texts Archive.
• Egil’s Saga. Translated by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards, Penguin, 1976.

Egil’s Saga. Translated by Bernard Skudder, The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection, Penguin, 2001, pp. 3-184.

References:

• Andersson, T.M. “The Emergence of Vernacular Literature in Iceland.” Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, vol. 8, no. 4, Summer 1975, pp. 161-169. JSTOR.
• Finlay, Alison. “Skalds, Troubadours and Sagas.” Saga-Book, vol. 24, 1994-1997, pp. 105-154. JSTOR.
• Hollander, Lee. “The Case of the Skald Kormak.” Monatshefte für Deutschen Unterricht, vol. 35, no. 3/4, Mar.-Apr. 1943, pp. 107-115. JSTOR.
• Jónas Kristjánsson. Eddas and Sagas. Translated by Peter Foote, Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag, 1997.
• Malm, Mats. “Skalds, Runes, and Voice.” Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, vol. 6, 2010, pp. 135-46. JSTOR.
• O’Donoghue, Heather. Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction. Blackwell, 2005.
• Poole, Russell. “Composition Transmission Performance: The First Ten lausavísur in Kormáks saga.” Alvíssmál, 7, 1997, pp. 37-60. https://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~alvismal/7kormak.pdf
• Roesdahl, Else. The Vikings. Revised ed., translated by Susan M. Margeson and Kirsten Williams, Penguin, 1998.
• Edith Marold, editor. “Kormákr Ǫgmundarson.” The Skaldic Project.

Audio Credits:

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, EMI Films, 1975.
• “Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment.” Written by JOhn Swartzwelder. The Simpsons, season 8, episode 18, March 16, 1997.
• “Kormak’s Theme” and “Harpish Improvisations” composed and performed by Patrick Lane.

Image Credit: Watercolor by W.G. Collingwood, “Sunset over Mel and Midfjord” (1897), reproduced in The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald (1902).