Grettis saga

Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar (modern ˈkrɛhtɪs ˈsaːɣa ˈauːsˌmʏntarˌsɔːnar̥, reconstructed ˈɡrɛtːɪs ˈsaɣa ˈɒːsˌmʊndarˌsɔnar), also known as Grettla, Grettir's Saga or The Saga of Grettir the Strong, is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It details the life of Grettir Ásmundarson, a bellicose Icelandic outlaw. Grettir's saga is considered one of the Sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), which were written down in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and record stories of events that supposedly took place between the ninth and the eleventh centuries in Iceland. The manuscript of Grettir's saga was written down some time just before 1400 AD, making it a late addition to the tradition. The author is unknown but it is believed that his story may have been based on a previous account of Grettir's life written by Sturla Þórðarson. Whoever the author was, the author shows an awareness of the Sagas of Icelanders tradition by making references to other sagas and borrowing themes from the larger cultural milieu of the Germanic peoples that appear independently in other texts like the Old English Beowulf. The saga can be split into three major sections: Chapters 1-13, Chapters 14-85, and Chapters 86-93. The first and last sections of the saga focus on Grettir's family rather than on Grettir. Chapters 1-13 primarily focus on how Grettir’s viking great-grandfather Onundur Tree-foot escaped Norway to settle in Iceland after fighting in the Battle of Hafrsfjord against the first king of Norway Harald Fairhair. Chapters 14-85 primarily focus on the life, condemnation, and death of Grettir. Chapters 86-93 focus on Grettir’s half-brother Thorstein Dromund’s journey to the court of Constantinople to take revenge and, incidentally, find courtly love before spending the latter portion of his life in a monastic cell in Rome. Both Grettir's viking/raider great-grandfather and his chivalry-practicing half-brother succeed whereas Grettir's quest to become a monster-slaying hero of old results in him becoming an outlaw.