Welcome to the Icelandic Saga Database

The Icelandic Saga Database is an online resource dedicated to publishing the Sagas of the Icelanders — a large body of medieval Icelandic literature. The sagas are prose histories describing events that took place amongst the Norse and Celtic inhabitants of Iceland during the period of the Icelandic Commonwealth in the 10th and 11th centuries CE.

The Icelandic sagas are believed to have been written in the 13th and 14th centuries CE, perhaps originating in an oral tradition of storytelling. While their facticity and authorship is for the most part unknown, they are a widely recognized gem of world literature thanks to their sparse, succinct prose style and balanced storytelling. The sagas focus largely on history, especially genealogical and family history, and reflect the struggles and conflicts that arose amongst the second and third generations of Norse settlers in medieval Iceland, which was in this time a remote, decentralised society with a rich legal tradition but no organized executive power.

This website contains all the extant Icelandic family sagas. They are accessible in a variety of open formats. The texts use modernised Icelandic orthography. Translations into English and other languages are also made available where these exist in the public domain.

Popular sagas

• Egils saga
• Gísla saga
• Hrafnkels saga
• Njáls saga
• Laxdæla saga
• Grettis saga

Related sites

• Sagnanet
• Netútgáfan
• Heimskringla.no
• Northvegr.org
• Wikipedia: Sagas
• Árnastofnun
• OMACL

Support the ISDB

Running the Icelandic Saga Database takes time and money. Your donations help keep us up and running!

You can also support us by buying the Icelandic Sagas in English translation via this Amazon link: