The manuscript Möðruvallabók (AM 132 fol., 1330–70) contains eleven sagas of Icelanders and is arguably the most important compilation of such sagas. The eleven sagas will be read as they are preserved in the manuscript and considered as individual texts and as parts of the larger compilation. Comparison with standard editions of the various sagas will allow for considerations concerning manuscript variation, textual criticism, new philology, and editorial choices. Readings from the new Routledge Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas will highlight current trends in saga scholarship.

Texts: The sagas of Möðruvallabók (Njáls saga, Egils saga, Finnboga saga, Bandamanna saga, Kormáks saga, Víga-Glúms saga, Droplaugarsona saga, Ǫlkofra saga, Hallfreðar saga, Laxdœla saga and Fóstbrœðra saga) will be read in Old Norse. Secondary readings in will be in English, German, Icelandic and Modern Scandinavian Languages and include the new Routledge Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas (ed. Ármann Jakobsson and Sverrir Jakobsson 2017).

Prerequisites: At least two semesters of Old Norse language studies (or equivalent).