This is the first self-contained critical edition based on the most significant 17th century paper copy of the text of Reykjarfjarðarbók (AM 122b fol.), one of the two remaining vellum manuscripts of Sturlunga saga. Information about BL Add. 11,127 has hitherto been available only in annotations to editions of composite texts of the Sturlunga compilation and a few separate editions of its shorter sagas. This edition shows the nature of the 17th-century paper copy, its language, orthography and spelling, and reveals some linguistic change from the 14th century. Textual notes document all instances where BL Add. 11,127 differs from the other vellum manuscript, Króksfjarðarbók (AM 122a fol.), and two other paper copies: Stockholm pap. 8 4to and Adv. MS 21.3.17. The manuscripts have been examined and transcribed at first hand. The texts of the editions of Sturlunga saga by Vigfusson (1878), Kålund (1906-11), Jóhannesson et al. (1946) and Thorsson et al. (1988) are also considered. Lexical, syntactic, discursive and factual differences are shown to render a crisp, faster-moving, often more dramatic text, one which displays creativity and individuality in its processes of selection, abbreviation, addition and composition. The saga is placed in its social, historical and literary context and shown to reveal the tensions and contradictions of its age. The interpolation, hitherto excluded by editors, is shown to be part of the thematic and narrative design, linking the saga to the broader sweep of events in the Sturlung age which led to the loss of Iceland's independence. The glossary lists all words, their inflexions and conjugations, and gives grammatical and idiomatic explanations. The general notes, genealogical tables and the map of Iceland relevant to the text provide lexical, historical and literary background. Translations of sections difficult to trace elsewhere are appended.

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The Icelandic family sagas were committed to vellum from oral traditions during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Concerned primarily with actual persons and events from about A.D. 825 to the middle of the eleventh century, they also embody tales of supranatural occurrences and accounts of superstitious beliefs and practices, an analysis of which is the subject of this essay. [...]

The trickster is a well-known and thoroughly studied mythological figure. Therefore, this thesis will not seek to further define the trickster figure, but rather take the trickster figure of Norse mythology, Loki, and uncover his unique qualities which can then be translated into abstract features used in what I call, the "Loki model." The Loki model provides a means of interpretation through which one can analyze a text or other work. In the case of this thesis, I will analyze three German texts and one American film to demonstrate the Loki model. The abstractions of the Loki model include: chaos, abstemiousness, cunning, and destruction. These qualities are ways of abolishing an order or breaking the status quo to undermine systems and create new worlds. The structures that are reshaped through chaos and language destruction are those of human nature and society. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester 2016. / April 8, 2016. / Loki, Model, Semantics, The Dark Knight, Trickster, Wagner / Includes bibliographical references. / Alina Dana Weber, Professor Directing Thesis; Birgit Maier-Katkin, Committee Member; Christian Weber, Committee Member.

The classification of late medieval literary cycles according to localised subject matter, such as the 'Matter of France', the 'Matter of Britain' and the 'Matter of Rome', has proven to be an enduring one in modern scholarship. This model has also been applied to Old Norse saga literature, particularly the fornaldarsögur, within which the 'Matter of Hrafnista' and the 'Matter of Gautland' have been identified as prominent examples. The latter cycle consists of Gautreks saga, Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar and Bósa saga ok Herrauðs, all of whose heroes are descended from and primarily based in Gautland (modern-day Götaland in central-southern Sweden). This cycle has not been explored in any great depth, to the same extent that other 'Matters' have been, and it is therefore the primary focus of this dissertation. The dissertation begins with a brief overview of previous scholarship on the ancient and medieval Götar and Götaland. This subject has long been of interest to scholars, not least because of the common identification of the Götar with the Geatas mentioned in Old English poetry, most notably Beowulf, but the matter is made notoriously problematic by sparse and sometimes unreliable evidence. Following this overview, introduction is made to Michel Foucault's theory of the heterotopia, a spatial framework which has only begun to be applied to Old Norse literature within the last decade. Indeed, this dissertation marks the first time that Foucault's heterotopia has been used as the theoretical framework for an extensive analysis of any Old Norse texts. An important contention of this dissertation is that the depictions of Gautland in Old Norse literature collectively fulfil Foucault's six criteria of the heterotopia, and furthermore that Gautland can productively be considered a literary heterotopia. Accordingly, after establishing the theoretical framework, I explore the main patterns of conceptualisation found in the depictions of Gautland across the main genres of Old Norse literature. The purpose of this survey is to provide context for a closer analysis of the construction of Gautland in the three 'Matter of Gautland' fornaldarsögur. Because these three sagas involve Gautish heroes and, accordingly, feature Gautland as an important space, they inevitably reflect a significant depth of conceptualisation of the region, and the rest of this dissertation employs the heterotopic framework to illuminate the ways in which this conceptualisation is manifested. Each of the three 'Matter of Gautland' sagas is analysed in turn, and certain aspects of the construction of Gautland, which happen to correspond strongly to individual principles of Foucault's heterotopia, are identified as common to all three. All three sagas deploy allusions to prominent traditions associated with Gautland, especially to the celebrated Brávellir and Ragnarr loðbrók legends, the effect of which is to imbue the Gautland of each saga with legendary veracity. All three sagas also construct Gautland within their own system of relational geopolitical space, although these constructions are manifested differently in each saga. Indeed, as well as common aspects, each saga also naturally contains many points of idiosyncratic distinction and nuance in their construction of Gautland as well. Both Gautreks saga and Hrólfs saga are argued to reflect contemporary Icelandic anxieties through structural aspects of their depictions of Gautland, while Gautreks saga and, to a lesser extent, Bósa saga, display a fundamental and significant interest in the geographical landscape of Gautland. In their emphatic correspondence with each individual principle of Foucault's heterotopia, the collective perspectives of the three 'Matter of Gautland' sagas provide unique insight into the medieval Icelandic conceptualisation of Gautland as a literary space.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 1, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-60).

The mythology of migration is deeply integral to the medieval Germanic societies peopling Northern Europe and the island nations of the North Sea. Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic society construct their identities through a memory of migration that takes places within a frontier that is mythic and historical in scope. By surveying eco-critical components of Anglo-Saxon poems such as “The Wife’s Lament” and “The Husband’s Message” alongside the Icelandic sagas Egil’s saga and The Vinland sagas, a shared tradition of the frontier ideal is revealed.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, April 2009.