16 h 2 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In the northern islands, an earldom is won by the sword—and shared rule offers no promise of peace.
The Orkneyinga Saga follows the Norse earls of Orkney and Shetland from the first settlers to the late twelfth century. Its opening legends reach back to kings and giants. Then generations of one ruling family struggle over land and power, in a world where the sea connects Norway, Scotland, Ireland and the Hebrides.
There is no single hero here. Thorfinn Sigurdsson becomes an earl while still a child. Cousins Magnus Erlendsson and Haakon Paulsson share rule amid bitter strife. Rognvald Kali Kolsson claims his uncle’s earldom, while Svein Asleifarson brings the farmer’s life and the raider’s life together. Plain prose and dry humour give these lives their edge.
What you’ll discover
- Legends before history Follow the earls’ ancestry into a northern world of old kings and giants.
- A child becomes earl Meet Thorfinn the Mighty as his story grows into the rule of a sea kingdom.
- Cousins divided by power Watch Magnus and Haakon struggle with shared rule, family ties and open conflict.
- A poet with a claim Discover Rognvald, the poet who claims an earldom and builds a cathedral for his uncle.
- The farmer who raids Enter Svein Asleifarson’s world, where life on Gairsay includes a summer of raiding.
Who will love it
For readers who love Viking history, Scotland and its islands, and family feuds told with dry humour.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An earldom is won by force
- Thorfinn the Mighty rules a sea kingdom
- A saint is murdered at Egilsay
- Rognvald builds a cathedral for his uncle
- Svein Asleifarson, the last great raider
- How the saga was made and why it lasts
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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La saga de las Orcadas
by Anónimo · 1200
In Orkney, Norse earls win lands by the sword as kinship, honour and faith pull their ruling family apart.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Orkneyinga Saga is the history of the Norse earls who ruled Orkney and Shetland, and of the people around them. It was written in Iceland around the year 1200 by an author whose name is lost.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An earldom is won by force
The saga opens with legend before it reaches history. It gives the Orkney earls a long ancestry that runs back to old Norse kings and giants. Then it moves to firmer ground, with Harald Fairhair, the king who is said to have pulled Norway under one crown. Many chiefs who hated his rule sailed west, and some used Orkney and Shetland as bases to raid the Norwegian coast.
Harald answered by sailing west himself and clearing the islands of these raiders. One of his closest friends, Rognvald of Møre, lost a son in that campaign. As payment, the king gave Rognvald the islands. Rognvald passed the earldom to his brother Sigurd, who became the first earl in the saga's account, and the family line begins with him.
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What is the Orkneyinga Saga about?
It is the history of the Norse earls of Orkney, told from the first settlement of the islands to the late twelfth century. It covers their wars, family feuds, voyages, and the rise of Christianity in the islands.
Who wrote the Orkneyinga Saga and when?
The author is unknown. Scholars think an Icelander wrote it around 1200, using older oral tales, written sources, and poems by court poets called skalds. It is among the earliest Icelandic sagas.
Is the Orkneyinga Saga a true story?
It mixes history with legend. Later chapters, closer to the author's own time, are generally more reliable, while the earliest parts include myth. Historians use it carefully as a source for medieval Orkney and northern Scotland.
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