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
Saga Brief 3: Krákumál
Episode 12b - The Saga of Bjorn Champion of the Hitardal People (Judgments)
Episode 12a - The Saga of Bjorn Champion of the Hitardal People
Episode 11b - Kormak's Saga Judgments
Episode 11a - Kormak's Saga
Episode 10b - The Saga of Hallfred Troublesome-Poet (Judgments)
Episode 10a - The Saga of Hallfred Troublesome-Poet
Saga Brief 2: Holmgang, or The Icelandic Art of Dueling
Episode 9b - The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue (Judgments)
Episode 9a - The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue
Episode 8: Bandamanna Saga (The Saga of the Confederates)
Saga Brief 1: The Blood-Eagle
Episode 7 - The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok and His Sons
Episode 6: The Saga of Hen-Thorir
Episode 5b - Gisli's Saga (Judgments)
Episode 5a - Gisli's Saga
Episode 4 - Eirik the Red's Saga
Episode 3b - Eyrbyggja Saga (Judgments)
Episode 3a - Eyrbyggja Saga
Episode 2: Hrafnkel's Saga
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Lore