Hi, everyone! Got a quick update to the Saga Thing Tours site to flesh out the itinerary a bit. Check it out here: sagathingtours.com/pages/sagas-... Thanks to everyone who already signed up. Can’t wait to share this adventure! #Iceland #sagathingtours #snæfellsnes #history #historytravels

Walk in the footsteps of your favorite saga figures in April 2026! Join John, Andy, and our partner Björn Grímsson for a Saga Thing tour of Snæfellsnes. The tour website is live. Join us to stand where history and story meet! www.sagathingtours.com #sagathing #Iceland #icelandtravels #historytravel

We're excited to announce that Saga Thing Tours will begin next April. Be one of the few to travel around Snæfellsnes exploring saga sites, taking in the scenery, and sharing laughs with John & Andy. More info soon (including an actual tour website)! #sagathing #sagathingtours #iceland #icelandtrip

Can't get enough Manuscript Studies 🌩 from Saga Thing alone? There's a place for you at the Árnastofnun Summer School in Manuscript Studies 🌩! Apply by January for next summer's program. Check it out here: arnastofnun.is/en/summer-sc... #medieval #Iceland #medievalstudies #manuscriptstudies

We wrapped up Ljósvetnina Saga in 8 episodes (that's 11h25m50s of saga talk!) Now it's time for Judgments with Best Bloodshed, Witticisms, Nicknames, Outlawry, and Thingmen! Listen on your favorite podcast app or at sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com. #medieval #sagas #iceland #oldnorse #podcast

Episode 40i – Ljósvetninga Saga (Judgments) After nearly a year of working our way through Ljósvetninga Saga, it is finally time to bring it to the Saga Thing and pass judgments. As always, we'll pass out awards for Best Bloodshed, Nicknames, and Notable Witticisms. We'll send one (or more?)…

John's work on Saga Thing was recently featured in an article by his university. It's nice to see him recognized for the efforts he makes to promote the rich culture of medieval Iceland and to normalize public-facing scholarship in our field. Go John! www.bridgew.edu/stories/2025...

Children of Tax and Tea just achieved ”project we love” status today, so here’s Blot Sven doing a grim, little pagan victory dance. Still a ways to go before the project’s fate goes to Valhalla instead of Helheim. Check it out here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/row...

Children of Tax and Tea is a humorous book for fans of all things viking-related. It is a 300+ page hardback that covers the history of the Viking Age and is full-color throughout with illustrations by @barbarianlord.bsky.social. www.kickstarter.com/projects/row...

John and I have signed on to write the introduction to Rowdy Geirsson's latest project Children of Tax and Tea! It's a humorous history book about Vikings written in the charmingly profane voice of a rugged Bostonian. All illustrations are by Matt Smith. www.kickstarter.com/projects/row...

We are back!! We proudly present our final episode on Benedict IX, featuring John from Saga Thing! @sagathingpodcast.bsky.social pontifacts.podbean.com/e/crossover-...

Dziękuję, Poland. Until next time!

Some highlights from a beautiful day in Kraków. We started with a great morning keynote by the incredible Ármann Jakobsson. I joined up with Pierre-Brice, Frog, and Yoav for a lot of walking and visits to the Museum of Kraków, the Castle, and the famous dragon's den.

A few pictures from my morning walk here in Katowice on the way to day 2 of the saga conference. The Silesian Insurgents monument was particularly striking, with each of three wings representing a separate insurgency.

Look what I just picked up. I trust it's as good as the movie.

Episode 40g – Ljósvetninga Saga (chapters 25-27) In this episode, the Ljósvetnings and Möðruvellings maneuver to position themselves to maximize potential outcomes in the aftermath of the battle of Battle Hill. While Þorvarður Höskuldsson does his best to calm tensions and shield his allies,…

Saga Brief 27d – Icelandic Impressions of the Sagas (Interview with Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir) In this special Saga Brief, we wrap up our four-part series from Iceland with an interview recorded in the shadow of Snæfellsjökull, one of the most iconic landscapes in the country. This time, we are…

Our latest episode dives deep into the next generation of the evolving feud between the Möðruvellings and the Ljósvetnings. There are a lot of names to keep track of in this one. To help you out, here’s a handy cast list for both sides of the conflict. You’re going to need it!

Untitled Though Guðmund the Powerful has been laid to rest, tensions between the Möðruvellings and the Ljósvetnings continue into the next generation. In a bold move toward peace, Eyjólf Guðmundarson (the new leader of the Möðruvellings) attempts to create peace by forming an alliance with Þorvarð…

Back from my conference in Finland. Managed to get most of the next episode of Ljósvetninga Saga edited while I was there. Should have it ready to go in a day or so.

Saga Brief 37c – Icelandic Impressions of the Sagas (Interview with Anna Melsteð) This special Saga Brief interview with Anna Melsteð (of the Eyrbyggja Saga Society) was recorded at the foot of Helgafell on a drizzly afternoon following a full day of exploring key sites from Eyrbyggja Saga with…

Sitting in DFW airport at Flying Saucer waiting for a flight to Finland and Björk's "Big Time Sensuality"comes on. Now I'm sitting here wondering who is the more famous Icelander: Björk or Snorri Sturluson? (Thanks to my son for putting the picture together for me)

We traveled to Reykholt to sit down with Sigrún Guttormsdóttir Þormar, department manager at Snorrastofa, for a deep dive into the life and legacy of Snorri Sturluson—the maybe not so "infamous" 13th century Icelandic chieftain, writer, lawspeaker. #SagaThing #SnorriSturluson #Iceland #Snorrastofa

In our latest episode, Guðmund inn ríki sets his sights on Þorkell hákr for a final showdown. Þorkell fires back with one of the sickest burns we've heard in ages. Along the way, we meet an Eastfjord assassin and a dream-reader with a steady aim. sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/2025/05/16/e...

Voice acting on Saga Thing doesn't always go smoothly, even for professionals of our esteemed stature and skill. 😉

We're in that post-Iceland trip/end of semester crunch time. Thank you for your patience, as always. I promise the pace of new episodes should pick up soon! We've got 3 more interviews from Iceland and the next episode of Ljósvetninga Saga for you.

Saga Brief 27 will be a 4-part series of interviews we conducted with saga experts and enthusiasts on our recent trip to Iceland. We're calling it Icelandic Impressions of the Sagas. Up first is a chat with our new friend Björn Grímsson. sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/2025/05/03/s...

Saga Brief 27a – Icelandic Impressions of the Sagas (Interview with Björn Grímsson) On our recent trip to Iceland, we had the pleasure of speaking to a variety of fascinating people about their interest in the sagas. Our goal was to get a sense of how these individuals read and engage with these…

Check out this amazing gift sent to us by Brett from Ahoy Woodworks (ahoywoodworks.com). It's our very own Saga Thing hammer! While it's meant to be a joint custody item, I can only think of one way John will ever receive this hammer from me. 😉

In addition to a DH postdoc, NorseMap is also looking to recruit a 5-year Research Assistant to help with project administration (part time role). Details here: my.corehr.com/pls/uccrecru...

🚨Job alert 🚨 Delighted to advertise the first position on my ERC Project: a 4.5-year Digital Humanities / Computer Science Postdoc (with or without a background in Viking studies). Come and work in a super department in the real capital of Ireland! Details at ore.ucc.ie Job ref: 085873

Words can't describe how grateful we are for this experience. While the sights we saw were incredible and the connections we made to the sagas enriching, it was the friendships we made here that mean the most to us. The hospitality and generosity we were shown was remarkable and heart warming.

While at Reykholt we had a wonderful conversation with Sigrún Guðmundsdóttir Þormar, Department Manager at Snorrastofa, about Snorri Sturluson, saga writing, and the work of the center. You'll get to hear it soon.

We stopped by Reykholt this afternoon and updated our picture from 2018 at the Saga Conference. Look at what keeping up with Saga Thing has done to us!

I've been to Eiríksstaðir 3 times and it's always a pleasure with new insights offered by the guides. We were lucky to meet with Atli Freyr Guðmundsson, the site manager, this time. He brought archaeology to life for us and retold Eirík's saga with flare and good humor. We can't wait to come back!

Eyberg and Guðlaug invited us up to their farm to chat about sagas. Their hospitality and their massive library are second to none.

One of the most famous stories in Eyrbyggja saga is Killer-Stýr's effort to rid himself of the Swedish berserks. After getting some advice from Snorri goði, Stýr set the berserks a series of seemingly impossible tasks. Can you recall the 3 tasks? Anna Melsteð treated us to all three and more.

Here we are in Álftafjörð, the site of so much of the action in Eyrbyggja Saga. We stood at Bólstað, paid our respects to Arnkell, and took in all the beauty of this landscape. Arnkell even acknowledged our presence with a lovely rainbow.

With our intrepid guide, Anna, we stopped for a while at the location where Steinþór Kjallaksson led the charge against the Þorbrandssons at "the battle of Vigrafjörður" in chapter 45 of Eyrbyggja Saga. With book in hand we read the chapter to better appreciate the moment.

Today we trekked through the Icelandic forest to get to some pretty impressive Eyrbyggja saga sites.

Saw this incredible information board at an overlook on the way toward Stykkishólmur. Can't express how much we enjoy these illustrations of the sagas best moments.

This is Djúpalónssandur. When he first arrived in Iceland, Bárður landed here. Nearby is Dritvík, so named because of poop related incident onboard the ship. 😂

After a nice walk along the cliffs this morning, we visited Bárðarlaug and Laugarbrekka. According to the saga, Bárður bathed in this pool after surveying the land. He liked it so much that he built his farmstead nearby and called it Laugarbrekka, the eventual home of Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir.

We've been working our way through the saga sites from Barðar saga Snæfellsáss. Here we are yesterday at Sönghellir near Arnarstapi. Bárður stopped here for a rest and heard strange voices coming from inside. Based on our experience, it was likely just an echo...just an echo...an echo...echo.

Last night, we had the pleasure of meeting Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir at the statue of Barðar Snæfellsás in Arnarstapi. As the new director of Snæfellsjökull National Park and longtime advocate for the natural beauty and stories of this place, she has a lot of insights to offer.

Good morning from Arnarstapi! Another beautiful day here in Iceland.

We had an incredible time with Siggi and the horses at Stóri-Kambur (storikambur.is) this afternoon. Siggi took us on a beautiful ride along the beach. We talked about the unique nature of the Icelandic horse, their fascinating history, and (of course) the Icelandic sagas.

Another fantastic day in Iceland. We started with two quick but satisfying stops. The first was Ytri-Tunga on the southern shore of Snæfellsnes for a bit of seal watching. We loved watching them chase each other, wrestle in the water, swim away and pretend to not care only to turn and pounce.

The afternoon took us to Borg, the farmstead established by Skallagrím and the longtime home of Egil. We followed the path of Skallagrím from when he arrived in Iceland, landing first at the mouth of the Gufua River and then the vast territory he surveyed and claimed.

Once again visiting the site of Þorgerd Brák's sad and untimely demise. I've tried to convince John to go for a little swim but he's afraid for some reason.