Episode 20j – Njal’s Saga (Part 10)

In this, the penultimate episode in the Njal’s Saga summary, we follow Flosi and the Burners as they bounce around the region seeking support for the inevitable legal case against them.  Meanwhile, a slightly singed, but recovered Kari Salmundarson prepares his own case against the burners.  And who better to help him than Thorhall Asgrimsson, the young protégé of Njal himself.  Unfortunately, Thorhall’s got a nasty infection in his leg and the case falls to Morð Valgardsson.  The threat of violence permeates the proceedings as Morð and Eyjolf trade legal barbs and try to out maneuver one another.  Will justice be served as cooler heads prevail?  Or will the hallowed site of the Alþing be desecrated with the blood of those too slow to dodge an incoming spear?  Find out as Saga Thing takes on Njal’s Saga, chapters 133-145.

This episode is full of interesting scholarly tidbits and legal minutiae.  We’ve also got the usual nonsense, like old movie references and bad jokes.

Thanks to George Hook for the picture of the Althing from his trip to Iceland. This image is on the information sign for Snorri’s Booth.

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Music Credits:

Intro Music – “Prelude and Action” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Previous Episode Review – “My Sin” by Ben Selvin and his Orchestra

Episode Summary –  Drums of the Deep Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Outro Music – “Stormfront” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Selections from music by Kevin MacLeod licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

 Links:

Some background on Macrobius’ Dream Theory from the British Library.

Check out The Viking Answer Lady Website for lots of fun facts about medieval Scandinavia.

Here’s her page on measurements that John references.

We’ve also got a select bibliography for Njal’s Saga for all the books and articles we reference.

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