The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong tells the tale of a farmer’s son who overcomes an ignoble birth and rises to become one of Iceland's greatest men, or so the saga author would have you believe. This obscure and rarely discussed 14th century saga is thought to have been written in response to Vatnsdæla Saga, where Finnbogi comes off rather poorly. In his own saga, Finnbogi proves to be an upright and noble figure who almost always does the right thing. With superhuman strength, he’s capable of dispatching an angry bull with his bare hands, snapping the spine of an angry Norwegian bear, and coming out ahead in a seemingly endless feud with Vatnsdæla Saga’s brutish Jokul Ingimundarsson. Finnbogi’s Saga deserves more attention than it has gotten in the past. And that's why you come to Saga Thing.
References:
John Kennedy, Review of Bachman/Erlingsson Translation of The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong, in Scandinavian Studies 64 (1992), 149.
Phillip Pulsiano and Kirsten Wolf, Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia (1993), 194.
Paul Schach, Icelandic Sagas (Boston, 1980), 155-56.
Music for the brief summary: "Nerves" by Kevin MacLeod (incopetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
Episode 36m - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 65-71)
Episode 36l - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 59-64)
Episode 36k - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 52-58)
Episode 36j - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 47-51)
Holiday Special - The Tale of Frosti Snjokarlinn
Episode 36i - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 43-46)
Episode 36h - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 40-43)
Episode 36g - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 35-40, but actually only to 38)
Episode 36f - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 31-36)
Saga Brief 25: Saga Manuscripts and the Árni Magnússon Institute: An Interview with Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir
Episode 36e - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 24-31)
Episode 36d - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 20-24)
Episode 36c - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 14-19)
Episode 36b - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 7-13)
Saga Brief 24 - The Northman Interview with Robert Eggers and Sjón
Episode 36a - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 1-7)
Episode 35b - Third Quarter Court (Results)
Saga Brief 23 - Drinking in the Viking Age and the Sagas (Part II - How They Drank)
Episode 35a - Third Quarter Court (Review)
Saga Brief 22 - Drinking in the Viking Age and the Sagas of Icelanders (Part 1 - What Were They Drinking)
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