Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Icelandic Sagas. First written down in the 13th century, the sagas tell the stories of the Norse settlers of Iceland, who began to arrive on the island in the late 9th century. They contain some of the richest and most extraordinary writing of the Middle Ages, and often depict events known to have happened in the early years of Icelandic history, although there is much debate as to how much of their content is factual and how much imaginative. Full of heroes, feuds and outlaws, with a smattering of ghosts and trolls, the sagas inspired later writers including Sir Walter Scott, William Morris and WH Auden.
With:
Carolyne Larrington Fellow and Tutor in Medieval English Literature at St John's College, Oxford
Elizabeth Ashman Rowe University Lecturer in Scandinavian History at the University of Cambridge
Emily Lethbridge Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Árni Magnússon Manuscripts Institute in Reykjavík
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time for more details about In Our Time |
| 0:04.1 | and for our terms of use, please go to bbc.co.uk slash radio for. |
| 0:09.0 | I hope you enjoy the program. |
| 0:10.9 | Hello, the late Middle Ages was a period when literature flourished across Europe as |
| 0:15.1 | never before. |
| 0:16.1 | Italy produced the masterpieces of Dante and Petrake, English literature began in style |
| 0:20.4 | with the works of Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer, and the medieval poets of Wales and France |
| 0:24.8 | laid the foundations of great national literary traditions. |
| 0:28.5 | But some of the richest and most original writing of the early Middle Ages was produced |
| 0:32.1 | on a remote island in the North Atlantic that even today has a population slightly smaller |
| 0:37.1 | than that of Leicester. |
| 0:38.8 | Iceland was first settled in the nice century by Vikings, and the deeds of these first |
| 0:43.0 | Icelanders and their families are recorded in the Icelandic sagas. |
| 0:47.2 | Around 40 of these sagas written down between the 13th and 14th centuries are known to |
| 0:51.6 | exist. |
| 0:52.6 | They're dramatic tales which mix the domestic, the historical and the supernatural as |
| 0:56.6 | they chart the fuge and love affairs of early Icelandic life. |
| 1:00.8 | With me to discuss their Atlantic sagas are Caroline Larrington, fellow and tutor in |
| 1:05.5 | medieval English literature at St John's College, Oxford, Elizabeth Ashman Row, University |
| 1:11.0 | lecture in Scandinavian history at the University of Cambridge, and Emily Lethbridge, post-doctoral |
| 1:16.3 | researcher at the Arnie Magnus and Manuscripts Institute in Reykjavik. |
| 1:20.6 | Caroline Larrington, I mentioned Icelandic that Iceland was founded by North Settlers |
... |
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