Norwegian Kings in Icelandic Sagas

The sagas may be Iceland's "Westerns," but one thing very different from Westerns is the importance of a foreign country's monarch.

Dr. Jackson Crawford is Instructor of Nordic Studies and Nordic Program Coordinator at the University of Colorado Boulder (formerly UC Berkeley and UCLA). He is a historical linguist and an experienced teacher and translator of Old Norse, Modern Icelandic, and Norwegian.

Logos by Elizabeth Porter (snowbringer at gmail).

[daniellebryan]

That view at the end is absolutely breathtaking.

[natemarx]

Dr. Crawford should be chosen to be the ambassador to any of the Nordic countries.

[juliaconnell]

interesting & informative, as usual - thanks Dr Crawford
(glad you didn't jump!)

[scubaremastered]

Excellent video Dr. Crawford. Absolutely legendary. I'd love to see a video on Thorkell's Saga, a Scandinavian Prince who was shipwrecked on the coast of Scotland.

Wishing you... all the best ;)

[SoCalMinion]

Thank you for another fantastic video!

[NyxiiPyxii]

I love your voice and hearing you say things in old norsk. ❤️

[stolman]

Thanks for the video. Like the glasses.

[valhoundmom]

I took an online class on the Islendingasogur. Just an overview, but absolutely fascinating!

[VikingTokyo]

Another spectacular view and informative video

[shinobikendoka]

I got this hard rock candy...but it ain't fer eating.. it's just fer lookin through

[abbydabbs]

Love the glasses, glad they’re making a comeback!😊

[youtubeusername]

Some more info on this luck concept would be very interesting.

[Bjorn]

I wonder, did you ever stumble upon anything on the huldufolk in those ancient sagas? Or fairies in general?

Hei fra Norge

[michaelhansen]

Really looking forward to your childrens book, any updates on your progress?

[tompatterson]

So, if you made a saga TTRPG, "luck" would be a stat?

[troelspeterroland]

The notion af sacral luck-endowed kingship is present in many early Indo-European-speaking societies and actually has a funny parallel on the Faroe Islands of the 18th and 19th centuries where a village preacher was often believed to possess a certain amount of "pilot whale luck". If many pilot whales arrived during the preacher's tenure, he would be known as a "grindaprestur" or pilot whale preacher. If not, he would be known as a "grindatrøllur" or pilot whale troll.

[JohnSmith-ktyy]

I could never have imagined an american saying my name but at 0:37 he actually did it. Thats pretty cool.

[MagnusItland]

Well, the kings descended from magical supermen, so it stands to reason they would have some extraordinary abilities.

[criticman]

I have traced a lineage 47 generations back to Fornjot. How much can we take this as earthly fact? At which point could it devolve away from history? Ivan Halfdansson? Heytir Gorrsson? Gor Thorrasson? Thank you for any help

[acenname]

The Icelanders chose not to have a king, so maybe they are studying what, if anything, they missed out on.