Orkneyinga Saga : The History of the Earls of Orkney

Author: Hermann Palsson

Literary essays

Published on 30 April 1981 by Penguin Books Ltd (Penguin Classics) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 256 pages
195 x 130 x 15mm | 192g

Written around AD 1200 by an unnamed Icelandic author, the Orkneyinga Saga is an intriguing fusion of myth, legend and history. The only medieval chronicle to have Orkney as the central place of action, it tells of an era when the islands were still part of the Viking world, beginning with their conquest by the kings of Norway in the ninth century. The saga describes the subsequent history of the Earldom of Orkney and the adventures of great Norsemen such as Sigurd the Powerful, St Magnus the Martyr and Hrolf, the conqueror of Normandy. Savagely powerful and poetic, this is a fascinating depiction of an age of brutal battles, murder, sorcery and bitter family feuds.