New book highlights Orkney's place in the world of the sagas
Story dated: July 27, 2005

Orkney’s place in the Nordic world is highlighted by a new book, co-edited by the Orkney Museum’s Tom Muir.

Sagalands – The Icelandic Sagas and Oral Tradition in the Nordic World is the culmination of the Destination Viking Sagalands project, an initiative to co-ordinate the development and marketing of Viking Age attractions throughout Europe.

Orkney was one of the 16 partners in the project.

The Icelandic sagas, written in the 12th and 13th centuries, include detailed accounts of events and happenings of the Viking times 800-1100 AD. The detailed topographical descriptions of the Sagas make it possible still today to identify many of the places where the recorded events took place more than 1,000 years ago.

As well as the establishment of Saga Trails and revive the tradition of saga and storytelling, one of the main aims of the project was to make the information and events from the sagas and stories visible and accessible to a general public. In particular, highlighting the landscapes in which important saga and story events took place.

With this in mind, the new book outlines the saga accounts relevant to each location – Orkney, Shetland, Faroe, Norway, Greenland etc – focusing on the sites and events at a local level.

This results in a guidebook of North Atlantic saga sites, allowing the visitor to view, through the prolific use of colour photographs and illustrations, the sites that shaped the Icelandic sagas.

From eastern Sweden westwards through Norway, Orkney, Shetland, Faroe, Iceland and Greenland onto North America, the reader is provided with a brief history of each area, before documenting the stories told in the sagas as they applied to each area.

So, from St Magnus in Orkney, and Earl Sigurd the Stout, right through to Grettir the Strong in Iceland and Erik the Red’s Vinland voyages, the reader can follow the sagas, and, it is hoped, be inspired to visit some of the sites away from their own doorsteps.

Sagalands – The Icelandic Sagas and Oral Tradition in the Nordic World costs £8.50 and is available from the Orkney Museum and other outlets.