Everything about Njals Saga totally explained
» For the film, see Brennu-Njálssaga (film).
Njáls saga (also known as
"Brennu-Njáls saga" or
"The Story of the burning of Njáll") is arguably the most famous of the
Sagas of Icelanders. Among Icelanders, the saga is most often referred to simply as
Njála.
Overview
This
Icelandic epic from the 13th century describes the progress of a series of blood feuds. Its author is believed to have lived in southeast Iceland, but little more is known. It has a deservedly high reputation as the greatest Icelandic saga. The breadth of its subject matter and the references within the text indicate that the author must have been extremely well read.
The events occur between
960 and
1020, as evidenced from the historical reference to
King Harold Grayfell (961-976) in chapter three, the
Christian conversion of Iceland in
999 covered in chapters 94-101, and the
Battle of Clontarf outside
Dublin in
1014 in the second-to-last chapter.
Although the work broadly agrees with known history and refers to many locations which can still be found along southern Iceland, scholars continue to search for clues to indicate which parts of the saga accurately reflect events and which reflect the art of storytelling. The site of the central event the saga, the attack and burning of Njáll's farmhouse, has been confirmed by archeological work at a site matching the physical description of the locale, in which evidenced of a burned structure was uncovered.
The saga conveys the self-sustaining nature of blood-feuds, and the methods used by the
Icelandic Commonwealth to try to resolve them. It extends beyond Iceland, including a brief and not-very-historic description of the
Battle of Clontarf and the death of
Brian Boru.
The name is Gaelic in origin, coming from "Niall", which is often anglicised as "Neil".
Plot
Hrútur and Hallgerður
The first episode covers the period from the betrothal of Hrútur Herjólfsson and Unnur to the ugly legacy of their divorce. We are shown his exploits in
Norway, where he gains honour at court and in battle, but he ruins his subsequent marriage by becoming the lover of the aging queen mother
Gunnhildr. When he denies having a woman in Iceland, she curses him so that he's unable to consummate his marriage. After Unnur divorces him, he retains the dowry by challenging Unnur’s father to combat. While this conforms to Icelandic law, it offends justice.
The first chapter gives one of Hrútur’s insights when he comments of his beautiful niece, “I don't know how thieves’ eyes came into the family”. The saga next follows this niece,
Hallgerður, through her first two marriages. Both husbands die by the axe of Hallgerður’s doting, brutish foster-father. Hallgerður provokes the first death but not the second, although it follows from a disagreement between her and her husband. It is Hrútur who, despite the family ties, avenges the death by killing Þjóstólfur.
Gunnar and Njal
Gunnar Hámundarson and
Njáll Þorgeirsson (Njal) are now introduced. Gunnar is a man of outstanding physical prowess, and Njal has outstanding sagacity; they're close friends. When Gunnar is obliged to revive Unnur’s dowry-claim against Hrútur, Njal gives him the means to do so. By skilful play-acting, Gunnar begins the legal process in Hrútur’s own house. He follows Hrútur’s doubtful example when it comes to court, and Hrútur, who has previously won by threat of violence, loses to a threat of violence. Despite his humiliation, he sees future links with Gunnar.
This comes about when Gunnar returns with honours from a trip to
Scandinavia. He goes to the
Althing – the annual assembly – in splendour, and meets Hallgerður. They fall in love and are soon betrothed, despite Hrútur’s warnings about Hallgerður's character, and Njal's misgivings.
Hrútur and Njal are proven right when Hallgerður clashes with Njal’s wife, Bergþóra. Hallgerður charms a number of dubious characters into killing members of Njal’s household, but the spirited Bergþóra exacts blood revenge. After each killing, their husbands make financial settlements according to the status of the victims. The fifth victim is Þórður Freedmansson, foster-father of the Njalssons; Þráinn Sigfússon, Gunnar’s uncle and Hallgerður's son-in-law, accompanies the killers. When the feud ends and settlements are made, Þráinn’s presence at that killing later causes conflict.
Gunnar's Feuds
Hallgerður now uses one of her followers to burgle the home of a churlish man named Otkel. Gunnar immediately seeks to make amends, but his handsome offers are not accepted. A lawsuit is started against him which, with Njal’s help, he wins, gaining great honour. However, while remonstrating with Hallgerður about the burglary, he slaps her.
This is followed by Otkell accidentally wounding Gunnar. Insult follows injury and Gunnar reluctantly goes to avenge himself. With belated help from his brother Kolskeggur, he kills Otkell and his companions.
Under Njal’s influence a new settlement is arranged, and Gunnar’s reputation grows. Njal warns him that this will be the start of his career of killings.
Next, Gunnar accepts a challenge to a horse-fight from a man called Starkaður. In the course of the fight, his opponents cheat, and Gunnar find himself in a fresh squabble. Njal tries to mediate but Þórgeir Starkaðsson refuses to accept it. On a journey with his two brothers, Gunnar is ambushed by Starkaður and his allies. In the battle, fourteen attackers and Gunnar’s brother Hjörtur are killed.
Worming through all this is Unnur’s son, Mörður Valgarðsson. Mörður envies and hates Gunnar, and uses other men to attain his aims. He has learned that Njal prophesied that Gunnar will die if he kills twice in the same family. He instigates an attack on Gunnar by persons dissatisfied by the settlement. Again, Gunnar wins the fight, but he kills a second man in the same family. The settlement that follows requires that Gunnar and Kolskeggur leave Iceland for three years.
Arrangements are made for exile. But as Gunnar leaves home, he looks homeward and, touched by the beauty of his homeland, resolves not to leave Iceland, thus becoming an outlaw. He goes about as though nothing has changed but his enemies, Mörður among them, seek revenge. He defends himself in his home until his bowstring is cut. Hallgerður ensures lasting infamy by refusing to give him strands of her hair to restring his bow; this is in revenge for the slap he once gave her. Some readers choose to interpret this episode as her forgiveness since human hair is unusable as bowstring; for example he asks for something he knows is useless and she answers by denying as revenge fully knowing too. His enemies resist Mörður’s proposal to burn him in the house as shameful, but eventually they take the roof off to get to Gunnar. Njal’s son Skarp-Héðinn assists Hogni Gunnarsson in some acts of vengeance before a settlement is achieved.
Kári and the Njalssons
Scandinavian rulers honour two Icelandic expeditions: those of Þráinn Sigfússon and of Njal’s two younger sons. Both return with enhanced honour, but also with companions. Þráinn brings back the malevolent Betrayal-Hrappur; the Njalssons the noble Kári, who marries their sister. But the Njalssons also bring back a grievance about the way in which the de-facto ruler of Norway,
Jarl Haakan, has treated them, unreasonably blaming Þráinn. While Njal says they've been foolish in raising the matter, he advises them to publicise it so that it'll be seen as a matter of honour. Thrain refuses a settlement, and his retainers, including Hallgerður, on her last appearance, insult them.
The most dramatic of the saga’s battles follows. The Njalssons, with Kári, prepare to ambush Þráinn and his followers. There is a bridge of ice over the river between them. Skarphéðinn overtakes his brothers, leaps the river, and slides on the ice past Þráinn, beheading him in passing. Between them the attackers kill four men, including Hrapp.
Þráinn’s brother, Ketill, has married Njal’s daughter, and between them they bring about a settlement. Wishing to stop further contention, Njal adopts Þráinn’s son, Höskuldur, as his foster-son. Höskuldur grows up in Njal’s household, and is loved and favoured by him. When he's fully grown, Njal obtains for him a chieftaincy, and a suitable wife, Hildigunn.
At this point the saga recounts the conversion of Iceland to Christianity in
999 AD.
Höskuldur and Flosi; the Burning
Mörður Valgarðsson now finds Höskuldur to be such a successful chief that his own chieftaincy is declining. He sets the Njalssons against Höskuldur; the tragedy of the saga is that they're so susceptible to his promptings that they, with Mörður and Kári, murder him as he sows in his field. As one character says, “Höskuldur was killed for less than no reason; all men mourn his death; but none more than Njal, his foster-father”.
Flosi, Höskuldur’s wife’s uncle, takes revenge against the killers, and seeks help from powerful chieftains. He is pressured by Hildigunn to accept only blood vengeance. The Njalssons find themselves at the Althing having to plead for help. Skarp-Héðinn has become grimly fatalistic, and insults many who might help them.
After some legal sparring, arbitrators are chosen, including Snorri, who proposes a
weregild of three times the normal compensation for Höskuldur. This is so much that it can only be paid by the arbitrators and many at the Althing contributing. The great collection is gathered, and Njal adds a gift of a fancy cloak. Flosi claims to be insulted by the offer of a unisex garment, and the settlement breaks down.
Everyone leaves the Althing and prepares, amid portents and prophecies, for the showdown. A hundred men descend on Njal’s home,
Bergthorsknoll, (Bergþórshvoll), to find it defended by about thirty. Any victory for Flosi will be at some cost. But Njal suggests that his sons defend from within the house, and they, while thinking that itis foolish, agree. Flosi and his men set fire to the building.
Both the innocent and the guilty are surrounded. Flosi allows the innocent to escape but Njal, Bergþóra, and their grandson Þórður, stay in the building to die with the guilty. Helgi is killed in an attempt to escape. Eventually eleven people die, not including Kári who escapes under cover of the smoke. Flosi knows that Kári will exact vengeance for the Burning.
The Althing
At the Althing, both sides gather. Action is taken against the Burners, and there's a legal joust between the parties. Þórhall, Njal’s foster-son, was trained in the law by Njal, but he's kept aways from the proceedings by an infected leg. Eventually, when his legal action seems to be failing, he lances his boil with his spear and begins fighting. Flosi’s men are driven back until Snorri separates the parties. In the confusion, several are killed including Ljótur, Flosi’s brother-in-law.
Ljótur’s father, Hallur of Síða, takes advantage of the truce to appeal for peace, and, in a move that marks a change from
Viking to
Christian thinking, seeks no compensation for his son. Moved by this, all but Kári and Njal’s nephew Þórgeir reach a settlement, while everyone contributes to Ljótur's weregild. The Burners are exiled.
Before the Sigfússons reach home, Kári attacks them, and most the rest of the saga describes his vengeance for the Burning. He is supported by Þórgeir and a comical braggart named Björn. He pursues them to
Orkney and
Wales. The most dramatic moment is when he breaks into the earl’s hall in
Orkney and kills a man who is giving a slanderous account of those killed at the Burning.
After a pilgrimage to
Rome, Flosi returns to Iceland. Kári follows, and is shipwrecked near Flosi’s home. Testing Flosi’s nobility he goes to him for help, and they arrange a final peace. Kári marries Höskuldur’s widow. Finally, there's a full reconciliation.
Popular culture
There is at least one reference to Njal in the Monty Python oeuvre, in which it's comically pronounced nn-jarl (the J as in "jar").Further Information
Get more info on 'Njals Saga'.
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