Where be dragons? Draconic environments in the Old Norse-Icelandic sagas

Résumé

Dragons are frequent presences in Old Norse-Icelandic sagas, composed between the 13^th and 15^th centuries. The locations where dragons appear have been so far observed mainly under the lens of their relation to centre/periphery dynamics and regarding the borders of the otherworldly. Less focus has been devoted to the physical environments that dragons occupy, whether the ones they habitually inhabit or the ones they turn uninhabitable.

The habitat of dragons encompasses a variety of natural environments throughout Old Norse-Icelandic literature. In this article, we will focus on the literary landscapes (sometimes informed by real geographies familiar to the authors, depending on setting), which surround dragons in the sagas, namely topographical features, weather phenomena, times of day and seasons. The main goal will be to define which landscapes saga dragons are mainly found in, and reflect on how dragons interact with their surroundings, altering their landscapes, most often through destructive means and making spaces into non-shared zones.

As descriptions of dragon surroundings are often scarce in detail, this study intends to take a broad-scope approach to the available corpus of sagas with dragons in them, combing 55 dragon occurrences across 38 sagas and þættir (“tales, episodes”) for landscape-oriented vocabulary. It will focus on “legendary sagas” and "chivalric sagas" due to prevalence of the material, but also include episodes from "sagas of Icelanders", "kings’ sagas" and other texts adjacent to those genres.

Bibliographical references

Sources

Printed sources  

BARREIRO, Santiago (trans.) – “De Serpentibus en el norte medieval: traducción y comentario a Om Ormar”. Calamus 7 (2023), pp. 82-98.

BJARNI, Vilhjálmsson [ed.] – “Flóres saga konungs og sona hans”. In Riddarasögur. Vol. 5. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1951, pp. 65-121.

BJARNI, Vilhjálmsson (ed.) – ”Konráðs saga keisarasonar”. In Riddarasögur. Vol. 3. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1951, pp. 269–344.

BOER, R.C. (ed.) – Ǫrvar-Odds saga. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1888.

BREWER, Keagan (ed./trans.) - Prester John: the Legend and its Sources. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015, pp. 46-96.

CEDERSCHIÖLD, Gustaf (ed.) – “Bærings saga”. In Fornsögur Sudrlanda. Magus saga jarls, Konraðs saga, Bærings saga, Flovents saga, Bevers saga. Lund: Fr. Berlings Boktryckeri och Stilgjuteri, 1884, pp. 85-123.

EINAR, Ól. Sveinsson (ed.) – Brennu-Njáls saga. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1954.

FINCH, R.G. (ed./trans.) – Vǫlsunga saga – The Saga of the Volsungs. London: Nelson, 1965.

FINLAY, Alison; ÞÓRDÍS, Edda Jóhannesdóttir (eds./trans.) – The Saga of the Jómsvikings – A Translation with Full Introduction. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications: Western Michigan University, 2018.

FINNUR, Jónsson (ed.) – Morkinskinna. København: J. Jørgensen & Co., 1932.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – "Bósa saga”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 3. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 281-322.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – “Göngu-Hrólfs saga”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 3. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 161–280.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – “Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 1. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 245–285.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – “Hrólfs saga kraka ok kappa hans”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 1. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 1-105.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – “Ketils saga hængs". In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 2. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 149-181.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – “Norna-Gests þáttr”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 1. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 305–335.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – "Ragnars saga loðbrókar”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 1. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 219–285.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – “Sögubrot af fornkonungum”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 1. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 337–363.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – “Sörla saga sterka”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 3. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 367–410.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – “Yngvars saga víðförla”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 2. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 423–459.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – “Þáttr af Ragnars sonum”. In Fornaldar sögur norðurlanda. Vol. 1. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1950, pp. 287–303.

GUÐNI, Jónsson (ed.) – Þiðreks saga af Bern. Vols. 1–2. Reykjavík: Íslendingasagnaútgáfan, 1951.

GUÐNI, Jónsson; BJARNI, Vilhjálmsson (eds.) – “Eireks saga víðförla”. In Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda. Vol. 3. Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfan Forni, 1943–1944 [Consulted online, 25th April 2023]. Available on https://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Eireks_saga_v%C3%AD%C3%B0f%C3%B6rla.

HALL, Alaric; RICHARDSON, Steven D.P.; HAUKUR, Þorgeirsson (eds./trans.) – "Sigrgarðs saga frækna: A normalised text, translation, and introduction". Scandinavian-Canadian Studies 21 (2013), pp. 80-155.

JÓNAS, Kristjánsson (ed.) – Dínus saga drambláta. Reykjavík: Háskóli Íslands, 1960.

JORGENSEN, Peter (ed.); HILL, Joyce M. (trans.) – “Saga af Tristram ok Ísodd”. In KALINKE, Marianne E. (ed.) – Norse Romance I – The Tristran Legend. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999, pp. 241-291.

JORGENSEN, Peter (ed./trans.) – “Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar”. In KALINKE, Marianne E. (ed.) – Norse Romance I – The Tristran Legend. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999, pp. 23-226.

KALINKE, Marianne E. (ed./trans.) – “Erex saga”. In Norse Romance II: The Knights of the Round Table. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999, pp. 217-265.

KALINKE, Marianne E. (ed./trans.) – “Ívens saga”. In Norse Romance II: The Knights of the Round Table. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999, pp. 32-102.

LARRINGTON, Carolyne (trans.) – “Grimnir’s Sayings”. In The Poetic Edda – Revised Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 47-56.

LARRINGTON, Carolyne (trans.) – “The Lay of Fafnir”. In The Poetic Edda – Revised Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 153-161.

LARRINGTON, Carolyne (trans.) – “The Seeress’s Prophecy”. In The Poetic Edda – Revised Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 3-12.

LOTH, Agnete (ed.) – “Ectors saga”. In Late Medieval Icelandic Romances. Vol. 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1962, pp. 81-186.

LOTH, Agnete (ed.) – “Valdimars saga”. In Late Medieval Icelandic Romances. Vol. 1. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1962, pp. 51-78.

LOTH, Agnete (ed.) – “Sigurðar saga þǫgla”. In Late Medieval Icelandic Romances. Vol. 2. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1963, pp. 93-259.

LOTH, Agnete (ed.) – “Vilhjálms saga sjóðs”. In Late Medieval Icelandic Romances. Vol. 4. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1964, pp. 1-136.

LOUIS-JENSEN, Jonna (ed.) – Trójumanna saga – The Dares Phrygius Version. Copenhagen: C.A. Reitzels Boghandel A/S, 1981.

MÖBIUS, Theodorus (ed.) – “Blómstrvalla saga”. In Riddarasögur. Lipsiae: Breitkopfius et Haertelius, 1855. [Consulted online, 25th April 2023]. Available at https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Bl%C3%B3mstrvalla_saga.

NECKEL, Gustav; KUHN, Hans [eds.] –“Grímnismál”. In Edda. Die Lieder Des Codex Regius Nebst Verwandten Denkmälern. Heidelberg: Carl Winter/Universitätsverlag, 1962, pp. 57-68.

NECKEL, Gustav; KUHN, Hans (eds.) – “Vǫlospá”. In Edda. Die Lieder Des Codex Regius Nebst Verwandten Denkmälern. Heidelberg: Carl Winter/Universitätsverlag, 1962, pp. 1-16.

NORDAL, Sigurður (ed.) – “Bjarnar saga hítdœlakappa”. In Borgfirðinga sögur. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1938, pp. 109-211.

OGDEN, Daniel (trans.) – “Acts of Silvester B”. In Dragons, Serpents and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds – A Sourcebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 221-222.

SAXO, Grammaticus – Gesta Danorum – The History of the Danes. Vol. 2. Ed. Karsten Friis-Jensen; trans. Peter Fisher. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2015.

SMITH, Kyle; FOYS, Martin (eds.) – "Cotton Tiberius B.i, Maxims II: Edited Text & Source Details” [online]. In Old English Poetry in Facsimile 2.0. Madison: Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019-. Available on https://oepoetryfacsimile.org.

SNORRI, Sturluson – Heimskringla. Vol. 1. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. Reykjavík, Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1941.

SNORRI, Sturluson – Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning, Second Edition. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. London: University College London/Viking Society for Northern Research, 2005.

SNORRI, Sturluson – Edda – Skáldskaparmál. 2. Glossary and Index of Names. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. Exeter: University College London/Viking Society for Nothern Research, 2007.

SOZOMEN - “Historia Eclesiastica”. In Dragons, Serpents and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds – A Sourcebook. Trans. Daniel Ogden. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 231-232.

VALERIUS, Maximus – “Facta et dicta memorabilia”. In Dragons, Serpents and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds – A Sourcebook. Trans. Daniel Ogden. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 141-142.

WAGGONER, Ben (trans.) – “The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok and his Sons”. In The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok. New Haven: The Troth, 2009, pp. 2-41.

WILLIAMSON, Craig (trans.) – “Maxims II: Cotton Maxims”. In The Complete Old English Poems. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017, pp. 977-979.

WOLF, Kirsten (ed.) – "Margrétar saga II“. Gripla 21 (2010), pp. 61-104.

ÞÓRHALLUR, Vilmundarson; BJARNI, Vilhálmsson (eds.) – "Þorskfirðinga saga". In Harðar saga. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2009, pp. 175-227.

ÞÓRHALLUR, Vilmundarson; BJARNI, Vilhálmsson (eds.) – “Þorsteins þáttr forvitna”. In Harðar saga. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2009, pp. 435-437.

ÞORLEIFUR, Hauksson; MARTEINN, Helgi Sigurðsson (ed.) – Jómsvíkinga saga. Reykjavík: Hið islenzka fornritafélag, 2018.

Studies

ANDRADE, Miguel Diogo – O Dragão no Imaginário Nórdico Medieval: um estudo das sagas islandesas. Lisboa: Universidade de Lisboa, 2020. Masters’ dissertation.

ÁRMANN, Jakobsson– “The Taxonomy of the Non-existent: Some Medieval Icelandic Concepts of the Paranormal”. Fabula 54 (2013), pp. 199-213.

ARNOLD, Martin – The Dragon – Fear and Power. London: Reaktion, 2018.

AUNE, David E. - “Circle”. In JONES, Lindsay (ed.) - Encyclopedia of Religion – Second Edition. Vol. 3. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005, pp. 1792-1793.

BAMPI, Massimiliano – “Genre”. In ÁRMANN, Jakobsson; SVERRIR, Jakobsson (eds.) – The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas. New York: Routledge, 2017 (e-book).

BAMPI, Massimiliano; LARRINGTON, Carolyne; SIF, Rikhardsdóttir (eds.) - A Critical Companion to Old Norse Literary Genre. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2020.

BARREIRO, Santiago – “The Hoard Makes the Dragon - Fáfnir as a Shapeshifter”. In BARREIRO, Santiago; CORDO RUSSO, Luciana (eds.) – Shapeshifters in Medieval North Atlantic Literature. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019, pp. 53-81.

BEAUDE, Pierre-Marie - “Les dragons dans la Bible”. In PRIVAT, Jean-Marie (ed.) - Dans la Gueule du Dragon – Histoire, Ethnologie, Littérature. Saguerremines: Editions Pierrons, 2000, pp. 135-143.

BILE, Monique – “Etymologies”. In PRIVAT, Jean-Marie (ed.) – Dans la Gueule du Dragon – Histoire, Ethnologie, Littérature. Saguerremines: Editions Pierrons, 2000.

DAY, John - God’s conflict with the dragon and the sea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

ELLIS DAVIDSON, Hilda R. - “The Hill of the Dragon: Anglo-Saxon Burial Mounds in Literature and Archaeology”. Folklore 61 / 4 (1950), pp. 169-185.

EVANS, Jonathan – “‘As Rare as they are Dire’: Old Norse Dragons, Beowulf, and the Deutsche Mythologie”. In SHIPPEY, T. A. (ed.) - The Shadow-Walkers: Jacob Grimm's Mythology of the Monstrous. Tempe: Turnhout: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies - Brepols, 2005, pp. 207-269.

FINCH, R.G. – “Þiðreks saga af Bern”. In PULSIANO, Phillip; WOLF, Kirsten (eds.) - Medieval Scandinavia – An Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge, 1993, pp. 662-663. 

HUME, Kathryn – “From Saga to Romance, the Use of Monsters in Old Norse Literature”. Studies in Philology 77 / 1 (1980), pp. 1-25.

LE GOFF, Jacques - “The Wilderness in the Medieval West.” In LE GOFF, Jacques - The Medieval Imagination. Trans. Arthur Goldhammer. Chicago: London: University of Chicago Press, 1988, pp. 47-59.

LEWIS, Theodore J. - “CT 13.33-34 and Ezekiel 32: Lion-Dragon Myths”. Journal of the American Oriental Society 116 / 1 (1996), pp. 28-47. [Consulted online, 1^st October 2023]. Available on http://www.jstor.org/stable/606370, a 1/10/2023.

KIESSLING, Nicolas K. - “Antecedents of the Medieval Dragon in Sacred History”. Journal of Biblical Literature 89 / 2 [1970], pp. 167-177.

LIONARONS, Joyce Tally – The Medieval Dragon – The Nature of the Beast in Germanic Literature. Enfield: Hisarlik Press, 1998.

MOURÃO, Cátia - Autem non sunt rerum natura. Figurações heteromórficas em mosaicos hispano-romanos. Vol. 1.  Lisboa: Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2010. PhD dissertation.

OGDEN, Daniel – Drakōn – Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

ONP: Dictionary of Old Norse Prose [online]. The Arnamagnæan Collection/Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics/University of Copenhagen. [Consulted on 25th April 2023]. Available at https://onp.ku.dk/onp/onp.php.

ORCHARD, Andy (ed.) – Dictionary of Old Norse Myth and Legend. London: Cassell, 1997.

RAUER, Christine – Beowulf and the dragon - Parallels and analogues. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2000.

SIMEK, Rudolf (ed.) – Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. Angela Hall. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2007.

SØRENSEN, Preben Meulengracht - “Þorr‘s Fishing Expedition". In ACKER, Paul; LARRINGTON, Carolyne [eds.] - The Poetic Edda - Essays on Old Norse Mythology. New York: Routledge, 2016. E-book version.

STRAUBHAAR, Sandra Ballif – “«Ok flýgr þat jafnan»: Icelandic Figurations of Böðvarr bjarki’s Monster”. In ÁRMANN Jakobsson; MAYBURD, Miriam (eds.) – Paranormal Encounters in Iceland 1150-1400. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020, pp. 193-201.

TURVILLE-PETRE, E.O.G. - Myth and Religion of the North – The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1975.

ZOËGA, Geir T. (ed.) – A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic.  Mienola: Dover, 2004.

WATKINS, Calvert - How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.