Episode 41b - Viga-Glum's Saga (chapters 6-9)

Saga Thing returns after a much-needed holiday to pick up the story of young Glúm Eyjólfsson, better known to history as Víga-Glúm.

When last we left you, Glúm's father (Eyjólf, who some called Lump) had passed away. Seeking any advantage they could get in the district, Thorkel the Tall and his son Sigmund claimed the best land at Thverá for themselves, pushing Ástrid and Glúm to the margins of the property. With no help coming from her eldest son Thorstein, Ástrid is forced to rely on her youngest, Glúm. Unfortunately for her, Glúm is a known coalbiter who prefers laying by the fire to working or pursuing justice for his family.

As the situation worsens, Glúm heads to Norway hoping to gain some experience and recognition from his maternal grandfather Vigfús. Of course, things don't go exactly to plan when he arrives.

How does this family reunion go for Glúm? Does grandpa Vigfús the hersir embrace his Icelandic grandson and raise his status? And who will help Ástrid deal with increasing pressure from Thorkel and Sigmund to leave Thverá? All the answers are in this episode of Saga Thing.

Along the way, we talk about the place of religion in Víga-Glúm's Saga, highlighting some places to look for signs of pagan influences in the text. For example, is old Vigfús a figure of Óðin? Does this saga explore a tension between cults of Óðin and Frey? Is it all about fate? Or is this simply a story about human beings who make their own choices and have to live with the consequences.

Speaking of pagan influences, we go on a brief tangent to talk about the dísablót, a special holiday and sacrifice to honor the household gods.

As always, we dig into some genealogies. Please have a look at the family tree Andy's been building for Víga-Glúm's Saga on FamilyEcho. And if that's not enough, we also share some interesting stories about corpses getting dug up to face legal consequences for their actions. If you're into that kind of thing, you'll definitely want to check out the episode on Pope Stephen VI from our friends at Pontifacts.

If you're interested in reading Víga-Glúm's Saga for yourself, you can find the 1866 translation by Edmund Head for free on the sagadb.

We're using the John McKinnell translation, which is available in the Complete Sagas of Icelanders collection and as a stand alone text from The New Saga Library.

As with most modern scholarship on this saga, much of what we have to say about this text begins with the edition by Gabriel Turville-Petre.

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Music Credits

Intro Music - "Prelude and Action" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Poetry Music - "Dark Times" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Outro Music - "Stormfront" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/