Anonymous, Grágás

Sean Lawing (Bryn Athyn College of the New Church)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1200

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Prose Fiction Narrative

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Medieval Iceland’s early laws are found in lawbooks collectively known as

Grágás

is a vital source for understanding medieval Icelandic society. It provides unique insights not only into the functioning of Iceland’s legal system, but also into the culture, values, attitudes, and beliefs of medieval Icelanders whose lives were shaped by its laws.

Grágás

has served as a basis for numerous anthropological, sociological, literary, and historical investigations of medieval Iceland and Scandinavia. Particularly effective are studies which make comparative use of

Grágás

and Icelandic sagas, which were composed roughly contemporaneously with chief manuscripts of

Grágás

, in order to draw conclusions about life in Iceland during the Viking Age and into the…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

3335 words

Citation: Lawing, Sean. "Grágás". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 October 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40795, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Anonymous, Grágás

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback