Jesse L. ByockRecensioni

The title is a bit misleading in that the book mainly covers methods of power and wealth accumulation by the free state chieftains. Otherwise, it's a very interesting, if very slow, read analysing the political structure of a centuries past society. If you'd prefer a more general overview of the Icelandic Free State, I'd go for Viking Age Iceland by the same author.

scholarly yet clear explanation of consensus law rule in Iceland, no monarch, appeal to support at courts.

Read in advance of an upcoming trip to Iceland for some early background; it didn't disappoint. A good, scholarly overview of Iceland's early history, touching on the development of the island's economic, political, legal, social, religious, and cultural systems.½

Sagas and Myths of the Northmen is the 16th book in the Penguin Epics collection. It is not one of the best. Sagas is drawn roughly from three stories - the Saga of the Volsung, the Saga of King Hrolf, and Sturri Sturlson's Prose Edda including the Ragnarok Cycle. Jesse Byock's translation is perfectly fine but this is a disjointed and strange collection which really does not give all that much of a flavour of the wider sagas.

It is right that the Penguin Epics collection includes sagas. These are after all some of the finest literary contributions the world has known. They tell the tales of various Nordic peoples whose beliefs thrived in a known world otherwise in the firm grip of Christianity. One of the troubling points about the sagas though is there are so many parts to the stories that have clearly fallen through the gaps. Compiling the full tale of these great peoples is difficult. The Penguin Epics edition shows how difficult it is. The idea of brinigng three stories together in one as separate snippets makes the holes too large and takes comprehension away.

The best part of the content is the final section. The section drawn from the magnificent Prose Edda is a snippet of something truly awe-inspiring. The introduction to the beliefs surrounding Odin and an adventure including Thor as well as a description of th events at the culmination of Ragnarok are all really good reads individually even if together they do not show anywhere near the full Ragnarok Cycle picture. This edition has a useful approach in providing translations of Proper Nouns in several cases where the name has a literal meaning. This approach really helps the flow and readability.

The other two entries are not anywhere near as impressive. The section from the Volsungsaga is a bit weird to read in the Penguin Epics context. The previous book in the Penguin Epics collection is Siegfried's Murder so there is seemingly unnecessary repitition by having Sigurd's tale here. The story is also not as well told because it is in snippet form. An odd editorial choice.

The saga of King Hrolf is a much weaker rendtition of Nordic story-telling than the Prose Edda contribution. The morality of might is ever-present and there is little subtlety of character. The only really intriguing aspect is the involvement of a Sami queen which speaks to a deeper relationship with those northern nomads than is popularly imagined. The storytelling of Hrolf's saga is generally unimpressive. It reveals little about the people involved or their lives other than the power of arms and the evilness of witchcraft. Without the fuller context it is hard to become engaged in the tales of Hrolf and his people.

A better editorial selection might well have been to draw exclusively from Prose Edda as that part of this edition is excellent. Penguin Epics XVI is not of the same order as many of its predecessors but anyone it is a part of the collection and does include parts of some mighty sagas.

Built on the impressive legal documentation extant from the period, as well as on what literature & sagas reliably reveal between the lines, this study is one of the rare satisfying accounts of a real-life historical utopia, in this instance medieval Iceland. Satisfying both because the utopia maintains some degree of credibility & standing - & because its limitations are so lucidly exposed.

If you are interested in the Icelandic sagas, this is a great book to read for background information about the society that produced them. Although the characters in the sagas may seem get involved in a lot of feuds with their neighbours, Icelanders believed in using arbitration, compromise and monetary compensation to solve disputes rather than violence and blood feuds.

There were no towns in Iceland and the scattered population lived on farms around the coast and in a few fertile valleys inland. The land grew less fertile over the first few centuries due to overgrazing and deforestation, and it was susceptible to 'bad year' economics, i.e. there was no margin for error and they could get by only as long as nothing went wrong. This meant that even the most powerful men couldn't afford to keep large numbers of followers, as the farms would only support a certain number of people, which is the main reason why slavery died out in Iceland by early in the eleventh century.

Chieftains did not have rights over the farmers in a particular geographical area, who were free to choose whose thingman they would be and could change allegiance to another chieftain if they felt their interests would be better served by him. A chieftain gained and influence and land by acting as an advocate in disputes, either representing one side at the courts held at the things, or negotiating an out-of-court settlement before it got that far. Other chieftains acted as 'men of goodwill' to intervene in legal disputes or feuds, and when they turned up with a large band of followers it wasn't in order to use force, it was rather a sign that many people thought the dispute had gone far enough and that it was time for the two sides to reach a compromise.

A fascinating book about the Icelandic 'free state' from the arrival of the settlers in about 870 A.D. until the Norwegians took control in the mid-thirteenth century. There are lots of maps and other illustrations and it includes information the spring and autumn things, the system of courts, the difference between murder and manslaughter, trade with Norway and other foreign countries, the conversion to Christianity and the influence of the Church, marriage, divorce and dowries, the construction of turf houses and why inside latrines were a good idea, all liberally illustrated with examples from the sagas.

This is a great overview of Iceland in the viking age. I absolutely love it. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to learn about Iceland and the culture in the sagas.