The Vinland sagas

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Dale Kedwards (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1220- c.1280

Places

Iceland (Location)

Genres and Modes

Prose Fiction Narrative

The Old Norse Vínland sagas, which include Eiríks saga rauða [Saga of Erik the Red] and Grœnlendinga saga [Saga of Greenlanders], are the two major accounts of the Norse exploration of North America. Vínland [“wine land” or “vine land”] was the name given to the Norse to a land south of Greenland, so-called for the wild grapes that Norse explorers found there. The two Vínland sagas are generally counted among the Íslendingasögur [sagas of Icelanders], which relate the doings of Icelanders in the centuries between the discovery of Iceland in around 870 CE and their conversion to Christianity in around the year 1…

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1879 words

Citation: Kedwards, Dale. "The Vinland sagas". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 January 2023 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19651, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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The Vinland sagas

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

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