In this episode, Glúm continues to establish himself as a leading figure in southern Eyjafjörður. We start with a brief overview of the many marriages that take place at this stage of the saga, including:

• Glúm - Halldóra
• Thórir of Espihóll - Thórdís
• Thórarinn of Espihóll - Thorgerd
• Thorvald Hook of Espihóll - Thorkötla

Of course, the real trouble starts when Thórir's son Thorgrím sets his heart on the lovely Thórdís. Things get interesting from there. Check out the Víga-Glúms saga genealogy Andy's been building here.

All these marriages naturally result in the arrival of many new characters to the saga. Among them are Már, the son of Glúm and Halldóra, and two special little cousins, Arngrím and Steinólf. These two boys get along better than anyone in Iceland. Surely they have a bright future ahead of them. Right?

We also dive into a fun little story about Ingólf, a very large man who finds a home at Þverá with Már and Glúm. Through no fault of his own, Ingólf gets caught up in a somewhat precarious feud between Glúm and a no-good neighbor known as Kalf of Stokkahlaðir. There's a horse fight, some hurt feelings, and then thing leads to another. Before you know it, there's a lawsuit against Ingólf at the Althing.

As usual, we've got plenty of digressions to distract you from the story. We talk about ice storms in Mississippi, snow storms in Massachusetts. We go on for too long about formalist approaches to the structure of Víga-Glúms saga and how we approach building an episode of Saga Thing. This actually leads to a brief discussion of the role of minor characters in the sagas, a subject that the great Ármann Jakobsson covers in his new book (grab a copy here):

We discuss the fascinating subject of children and toys in medieval Iceland. While there's not much info out there, we found just enough to get John excited about a possible Saga Brief on the subject ;). At some point, I mention a small toy carving found at Seydisfjordur (a great spot to visit in the East fjords). What kind of animal is this?

Read the article in Smithsonian for more information.

As you'll hear, this episode is very digression heavy as we work our way through a transitional moment in the saga. There are many many references to Gabriel Turville-Petre's edition of the saga, which provides plenty of useful insights and discussion points for us.

Listen and let us know what you think:

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Music Credits

Intro Music – “Prelude and Action” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Outro Music – “Stormfront” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Saga Thing returns after a much-needed holiday to pick up the story of young Glúm Eyjólfsson, better known to history as Víga-Glúm.

When last we left you, Glúm's father (Eyjólf, who some called Lump) had passed away. Seeking any advantage they could get in the district, Thorkel the Tall and his son Sigmund claimed the best land at Thverá for themselves, pushing Ástrid and Glúm to the margins of the property. With no help coming from her eldest son Thorstein, Ástrid is forced to rely on her youngest, Glúm. Unfortunately for her, Glúm is a known coalbiter who prefers laying by the fire to working or pursuing justice for his family.

As the situation worsens, Glúm heads to Norway hoping to gain some experience and recognition from his maternal grandfather Vigfús. Of course, things don't go exactly to plan when he arrives.

How does this family reunion go for Glúm? Does grandpa Vigfús the hersir embrace his Icelandic grandson and raise his status? And who will help Ástrid deal with increasing pressure from Thorkel and Sigmund to leave Thverá? All the answers are in this episode of Saga Thing.

Along the way, we talk about the place of religion in Víga-Glúm's Saga, highlighting some places to look for signs of pagan influences in the text. For example, is old Vigfús a figure of Óðin? Does this saga explore a tension between cults of Óðin and Frey? Is it all about fate? Or is this simply a story about human beings who make their own choices and have to live with the consequences.

Speaking of pagan influences, we go on a brief tangent to talk about the dísablót, a special holiday and sacrifice to honor the household gods.

As always, we dig into some genealogies. Please have a look at the family tree Andy's been building for Víga-Glúm's Saga on FamilyEcho. And if that's not enough, we also share some interesting stories about corpses getting dug up to face legal consequences for their actions. If you're into that kind of thing, you'll definitely want to check out the episode on Pope Stephen VI from our friends at Pontifacts.

If you're interested in reading Víga-Glúm's Saga for yourself, you can find the 1866 translation by Edmund Head for free on the sagadb.

We're using the John McKinnell translation, which is available in the Complete Sagas of Icelanders collection and as a stand alone text from The New Saga Library.

As with most modern scholarship on this saga, much of what we have to say about this text begins with the edition by Gabriel Turville-Petre.

Listen and let us know what you think on our various socials:

Sagathingpodcast on Facebook

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Music Credits

Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Poetry Music - "Dark Times" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We’re thrilled to kick off our first episode of Víga-Glúms saga, the last of the sagas of Eyjafjörð. Víga-Glúms saga is one of the great character-driven Íslendingasögur, often drawing comparisons to Egils saga. Now, whether that’s because it also happens to be a biographical saga or because it’s of a similar quality will have to be sorted out on the podcast across the overview and judgments. But we’re excited to start this new saga either way, and this first episode sets the stage beautifully for the arrival of the man who comes to be known as Killer-Glum.

Like so many sagas, Víga-Glúms saga opens not with the hero himself but with the adventures of the generations that came before him. These early chapters give us a sense of the family dynamics, the local tensions, and threads of fate that Glum will inherit and inevitably wrestle with as his saga develops.

Cast of Characters:

I’m going to try and include a cast of major characters in the show notes for each episode to help listeners keep track of things. In this first episode, we get to know Glum’s formidable ancestors, including:

• Helgi the Lean, Glúm’s great-grandfather and the most prominent settler in Eyjafjörð
• Ingjald Helgason, Glúm’s grumpy grandfather
• Eyjólf, Glúm’s mild-mannered but calculating father

Of course, this wouldn’t be Saga Thing without a few memorable supporting characters to make things interesting. This episode introduces some pretty interesting Norwegians:

• Hreiðar, a Norwegian merchant with a heart of gold
• Ívar, a Viking with a heart of red (also Hreiðar’s brother)
• A berserk with a notably low sense of self-worth, whose attempts at intimidation don’t quite land the way he hopes
• Vigfús, a powerful Norwegian hersir with a lovely daughter named Ástrið

And then, there are the Icelanders who will make Glúm’s life more interesting, and challenging:

• Þorkell the Tall, father-in-law of Glúm’s recently deceased brother
• Sigmund, son of Þorkell the Tall, and wannabe goði

Víga-Glúms saga is definitely a fun one that we’ve been saving for a while. We hope you enjoy this first episode!

Texts Discussed in This Episode

• Andersson, Theodore M. “Creating Personalities: The Saga Age Icelanders.” In The Growth of the Medieval Icelandic Sagas (1180–1280), 60–85. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006.
• Johnston, George, trans. Viga-Glum’s Saga. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.
• McKinnell, John, trans. Viga-Glums Saga: With the Tales of Ögmund Bash and Thorvald Chatterbox. The New Saga Library / UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, Icelandic Series. Edinburgh: Canongate/UNESCO, 1987.
• North, Richard. “Sighvatr Sturluson and the Authorship of Víga-Glúms saga.” In Analecta Septentrionalia, edited by Wilhelm Heizmann, Klaus Böldl, and Heinrich Beck, 256–80. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2009.
• Turville-Petre, Gabriel, ed. Viga-Glúms Saga. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960.

Listen and let us know what you think:

Sagathingpodcast on Facebook

Sagathingpodcast on Instagram

Sagathingpodcast on Bluesky

Saga Thing’s unofficial official Discord

Recent Interview Links

As promised, here are the links to our recent interviews:

Relevant or Irrelevant - "Podcasts and Teaching" (KALA broadcast portion)

Relevant or Irrelevant - "Podcasts and Teaching" (KALA podcast portion)

Vikingology - "It's a Saga Thing"

Music Credits

Intro Music – “Prelude and Action” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Outro Music – “Stormfront” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/