Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 22. June 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
246 pages
978-1-032-50126-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book provides an in-depth study of depictions of England in the Saga of Icelanders (Islendingasoegur), examining their utility as sources for the history of Viking Age Anglo-Scandinavian cultural contact.
The Islendingasoegur 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 Islendingasoegur 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.
The Islendingasoegur 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 Islendingasoegur 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.
Reviews / Votes
'... serious scholars of the Islendingas?gur, and especially the skalds?gur, will need this book ... medieval historians will find the analysis of how memories of events in England during the Viking Age manifested themselves in the cultural memory of a medieval society geographically distant several centuries later to be rewarding' - Parergon 42.2 (2025).More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Academic and Postgraduate
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
2 s/w Tabellen, 13 s/w Abbildungen, 13 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder
2 Tables, black and white; 13 Halftones, black and white; 13 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
381 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-50126-0 (9781032501260)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Matthew Firth
Remembering England: Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders
Cultural Memory in the Sagas of Icelanders
Book
03/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€206.60
Shipment within 10-20 days
E-Book
03/2025
Routledge
€60.49
Available for download
E-Book
03/2025
Routledge
€60.49
Available for download
Person
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.
Content
Introduction: Literature and Memory, History and Historiography
Cultural Memory and the Islendingasoegur
Islendingasoegur as Sources of History: The Debate
AEthelstan, AEthelred and Knutr: 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 Islendingasoegur
England in the skaldasoegur: Egils saga
England in the skaldasoegur: Gunnlaugs saga, Bjarnar saga
3 Iceland and the Writing of the Islendingasoegur
The Islendingasoegur Corpus
Saga Age Iceland
Iceland in the Age of Saga Writing
Part 2
4 Memories of Heroism: Bjarnar saga Hitdoelakappa
Manuscript Contexts
Bj?rn's Travels
Reconstructing a Chronology
Thematic Intertextuality: Of Kings and Dragons
5 Memories of Rulers: Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu
Gunnlaugr's Travels
The skald in Literary Frameworks
The skald as Poet: The Hierarchies of Verse
The skald as Warrior: A Fabricated Narrative
6 Memories of Conflict: Egils saga Skallagrimssonar
Egill's Travels
The Battle of Brunanburh
The Court of Eirikr blo?ox in York
Conclusion
Interpretation and Reinterpretation
Remembering England
Bibliography
Cultural Memory and the Islendingasoegur
Islendingasoegur as Sources of History: The Debate
AEthelstan, AEthelred and Knutr: 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 Islendingasoegur
England in the skaldasoegur: Egils saga
England in the skaldasoegur: Gunnlaugs saga, Bjarnar saga
3 Iceland and the Writing of the Islendingasoegur
The Islendingasoegur Corpus
Saga Age Iceland
Iceland in the Age of Saga Writing
Part 2
4 Memories of Heroism: Bjarnar saga Hitdoelakappa
Manuscript Contexts
Bj?rn's Travels
Reconstructing a Chronology
Thematic Intertextuality: Of Kings and Dragons
5 Memories of Rulers: Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu
Gunnlaugr's Travels
The skald in Literary Frameworks
The skald as Poet: The Hierarchies of Verse
The skald as Warrior: A Fabricated Narrative
6 Memories of Conflict: Egils saga Skallagrimssonar
Egill's Travels
The Battle of Brunanburh
The Court of Eirikr blo?ox in York
Conclusion
Interpretation and Reinterpretation
Remembering England
Bibliography