Grettir is ready to fight in this illustration from a 17th century Icelandic manuscript.
The Sagas of Icelanders (Icelandic: Íslendingasögur)—many of which are also known as family sagas—are prose histories mostly describing events that took place in Iceland in the 10th and early 11th centuries. They are the best known specimens of Icelandic literature.
The authors of the Icelanders' sagas are unknown. One, Egils saga, is believed by many modern scholars to have been written by Snorri Sturluson, a descendant of the saga's hero, but this is uncertain.
The Icelanders' sagas are a literary phenomenon of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They are focused on history, especially genealogical and family history. They reflect the struggle and conflict that arose within the societies of the second and third generations of Icelandic settlers.
The standard modern edition of Icelandic sagas is known as Íslenzk Fornrit.
