When was njals saga written

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Notify me of new posts via email. Blog at WordPress. Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. He fully intends to fulfill the settlement, but when he looks back at his beautiful farm, he heads home.

According to law, Gunnar has become an outlaw and any man is therefore allowed to kill him. Gunnar is ambushed and does well fending off the enemies, but when his bowstring breaks and he is on the brink of death, he asks Hallgerd for a strand of her hair to replace it.

She refuses, recalling the slap. Gunnar dies of exhaustion. Although no compensation can be given for Gunnar, the Njalssons seek blood vengeance against Starkad and his son Thorgeir. These killings are arbitrated at the Althing. Thrain Sigfusson goes to Norway to be received by Earl Hakon; then, he defeats a Viking force at sea. Grim and Helgi Njalsson are attacked by a Viking force and are saved at the last moment by Kari Solmundarson.

He takes them to Earl Sigurd, whom they go on to serve. Meanwhile, Killer-Hrapp kills a man, doesn't pay for his crime, seduces the daughter of Gudbrand of Balarna, and burns down Gudbrand's temple, which happens to be partially owned by Earl Hakon.

Earl Hakon puts a price on Hrapp's head. Hrapp arrives where Thrain and the Njalssons are preparing to set sail. Thrain decides to hide Hrapp on his ship, even though he is faithful to Hakon. Grim and Helgi almost lose their lives to Hakon, but Kari saves them once again. Hrapp is spending a lot of time with Hallgerd, Gunnar's widow, who also verbally assaults the Njalssons when they seek redress from Thrain.

They decide to attack him instead. In an epic scene, Skarphedin puts his axe through Thrain's head while jumping across the iced-over Ranga river. Njal makes a settlement with the Sigfussons and goes on to foster Thrain's son, Hoskuld Thrainsson. Njal tries to marry his new foster-son to Hildigunn Starkadardottir , the niece of Flosi Thordarson , but she declines because Hoskuld is not a a local chieftain i.

Njal persuades a lawspeaker to establish an appeals court, then promptly establishes Hoskuld's place on the court as a godi. He takes Hildigunn as a wife. Lyting, brother-in-law to the late Thrain, is angry that he was not included in Njal's settlement with the Sigfussons, so he takes revenge by killing Hoskuld Njalsson , Njal's biological son.

Skarphedin and the other Njalssons manage to kill Lyting's brothers, but not Lyting himself. Hoskuld Thrainsson comes to Njal offering clemency for the death of Hoskuld Njalsson, which Njal readily accepts.

Next, the plot turns to an account of the Conversion of Iceland, which is essentially taken directly from Ari's Book of the Icelanders and Kristni Saga. Thangbrand, a Saxon, converts Hall of Sida and Njal into the new faith Christianity , but has difficulty converting the rest of Iceland. He tells King Olaf of Norway about his lack of success here, and Olaf grows very angry, saying that he will kill all Icelanders.

Gizur the White and Hjalti Skeggjason offer to try to spread the faith to keep their lives. Finally at the Althing, where a battle seems likely to break out over the religious tension, a pagan godi, Thorgeir of Ljosavatn, announces his decision that all of Iceland will now live under the Christian faith. No blood is shed. Hoskuld Njalsson's blind son Amundi asks Lyting for compensation for killing his father, but is rejected. He suddenly regains his sight for just long enough to sink his axe into Lyting's head.

Valgard the Grey returns to Iceland from abroad and is appalled at the new political and religious landscape. He tells his son Mord to spread slander between the Njalssons and Hoskuld Thrainsson in order to get Hoskuld killed. Mord is reluctant, but he does so; when he and the Njalssons kill Hoskuld in the field, Hoskuld offers no resistance whatsoever, praying to the Christian god as he is brutally slaughtered.

Mord initiates the lawsuit against the Njalssons even though he had inflicted one of the fatal wounds. Before the Althing, where the matter will be settled, Hildigunn places the cloak that Hoskuld was slain in on Flosi's shoulders and asks him to pursue revenge. Flosi and Njal were both foster-fathers to Hoskuld, but Flosi's niece was married to him and Njal's sons killed him; thus, Flosi has a stronger claim to the settlement.

Thorhall Asgrimsson, foster-son of Njal, declares Mord's suit invalid because of his hand in the matter. However, the Njalssons insist on settling the suit with an extraordinarily high compensation of ounces of silver. When they hand over the money, Njal places a robe and pair of boots on top of it. This angers Flosi and he rejects the compensation, making clear that this will be settled in blood, not money.

Flosi gathers a force of men to take on the Njalssons.