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 19a - The Saga of the People of Reykjadal and Killer-Skuta (Part 1)
Episode 18c - The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong (Judgments)
Episode 18b - The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong (Part 2)
Saga Brief 5: The Story of Rollo the Viking
Episode 17b - The Saga of the Greenlanders (Judgments)
Saga Brief 4: The Vinland Sagas (Interview with Loretta Decker)
Episode 17a - The Saga of the Greenlanders
Episode 16e - Grettir's Saga (Judgments)
Episode 16d - Grettir's Saga (Part 4)
Episode 16c - Grettir's Saga (Part 3)
Episode 16b - Grettir's Saga (Part 2)
Episode 15b - The First Quarter Court Results
Episode 16a - Grettir's Saga (Part 1)
Episode 15 - The First Quarter Court
Episode 14c - The Saga of the People of Vatnsdal (Judgments)
Episode 14b - The Saga of the People of Vatnsdal (Part 2)
Episode 14a - The Saga of the People of Vatnsdal (Part 1)
Episode 13b - Viglund's Saga (Judgments)
Episode 13a - Viglund's Saga
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