The Sagas Tell Us about the Courtship Rules… and Consequences
The closest thing we have to ancient written accounts of Norse mythology and Viking history are the Eddas and Sagas. Created in the 12th and 13th centuries, these written records show us how Vikings were using these stories to form a set of morals and values to adhere by. Much like modern day Christians and Jews use the Bible to understand their religions’ origins. Eddas are two 13th– century Icelandic books, the older ‘Poetic Edda’ (a collection of Old Norse poems on Norse legends) and the younger ‘Prose Edda’ (a handbook to Icelandic poetry by Snorri Sturluson). The Eddas are the chief source of knowledge of Scandinavian mythology.
Sagas in Viking culture are one of many long stories of heroic achievement focusing on Norse, Icelandic and Viking-related history and folklore, recorded in Iceland during the 12th and 13th centuries. In the middle of the 13th century – more than 150 years after the last Vikings sailed the seas or stood in battle – Iceland was undergoing a violent political crisis. This crisis of politics became a crisis of identity, and perhaps because of this, there was a strong intellectual impulse to record the remnants of their ancient heritage. For the first time, Viking lore was set down in writing for future generations to read. And this is where we are going to be talking about how you would use these texts to make sure you’re doing things by the book. So that there are no detrimental consequences. (Many scholars are unsure if these texts were influenced by Christians of the time and, therefore, diluted the culture. But many still believe this is as close to a representation as you can get.)