Books by Andreas Schmidt
Erzählen von Macht: Narratologische Studien zur Færeyinga saga (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 131). Berlin / Boston (de Gruyter), 2022
Die Færeyinga saga ist ein einzigartiger Text im Kontext der altnordischen Literatur. Als einzige... more Die Færeyinga saga ist ein einzigartiger Text im Kontext der altnordischen Literatur. Als einziger vormoderner Text hat sie die Färöer im Nordatlantik zum Gegenstand, deren Geschichte sie im Stile einer Isländersaga als Familienkonflikt auserzählt, ist selbst aber nur als Interpolation in anderen Texten überliefert. Drehte sich die bisherige Forschungsdiskussion stets um ihre Historizität, Datierung, Überlieferung, Gattung und Ideologie, so betrachtet die vorliegende Studie den Text als Erzähleinheit in diesem Spannungsfeld und fragt textimmanent nach ihren Themen und Erzählverfahren. Als zentral stellen sich narrative Portraits verschiedener Akteure im Streit um politische Macht und Einflusssphären in der kleinen Inselgesellschaft heraus, die mitunter paradox und die Deutung irritierend gegeneinander modelliert werden und so die Rezipienten zu eigenständiger Einordnung des Dargestellten aufrufen. Die Erzählstrategien der Saga zielen insofern auf eine Öffnung des Textgehalts zur Interpretation ab, der so nicht allein Einblick in vormoderne Vorstellungswelten und zeitgebundene Diskurse ermöglicht, sondern die altisländische Erzählkunst als Medium der Erzeugung sozial relevanter Diskussion und ihrer Grundlagen offenbart.
Central to Færeyinga Saga, whose themes and narrative strategies are analyzed here, are portraits of political actors embroiled in Faroese power struggles during the Viking Age. Its ambiguous narrative strategy requires readers to make their own interpretations. It thus provides insights not just into the Norse world of ideas, but also into the functions and foundations of Icelandic storytelling as a medium that generated social discussions.
Central to Færeyinga Saga, whose themes and narrative strategies are analyzed here, are portraits of political actors embroiled in Faroese power struggles during the Viking Age. Its ambiguous narrative strategy requires readers to make their own interpretations. It thus provides insights not just into the Norse world of ideas, but also into the functions and foundations of Icelandic storytelling as a medium that generated social discussions.
My Master's Thesis sums up a newer direction of Old Norse Religious History-studies, which seeks ... more My Master's Thesis sums up a newer direction of Old Norse Religious History-studies, which seeks to interpret religious motifs within Old Icelandic Family-Saga Narratives in their literary function. The authors of the Family sagas could on the one hand deliberately refer to Eddic myths in order to enhance the appeal of their narratives (a concept which has been called "Mythological Overlays"), while on the other hand it was also possible that they incorporated heathen religious motifs which in the course of transmission had been left devoid of their (pre-christian) meaning, but which may have structred the oral traditions behind the sagas in a way that mythically explained them (a concept called "Prolonged Echoes" here in specific).
The major analyses of this field of study have been carried out by Haraldur Bessason ("Mythological Overlays", 1977), Preben Meulengracht Sørensen (1992), Margaret Clunies Ross ("Prolonged Echoes", 1994-98) and Klaus Böldl (2005).
My thesis gives an overview over the Family sagas in which motifs and structures of this kind have been assessed and evaluates the rightfulness of this assessment in light of a close reading.
The major analyses of this field of study have been carried out by Haraldur Bessason ("Mythological Overlays", 1977), Preben Meulengracht Sørensen (1992), Margaret Clunies Ross ("Prolonged Echoes", 1994-98) and Klaus Böldl (2005).
My thesis gives an overview over the Family sagas in which motifs and structures of this kind have been assessed and evaluates the rightfulness of this assessment in light of a close reading.
Edited Books by Andreas Schmidt
The 9 essays collected in this volume are the result of a workshop for international doctoral and... more The 9 essays collected in this volume are the result of a workshop for international doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in Old Norse-Icelandic Saga Studies held at the Institute for Nordic Philology (LMU) in Munich in December 2018. The contributors focus on ›unwanted‹, illicit, neglected, and marginalised elements in saga literature and research on it. The chapters cover a wide range of intra-textual phenomena, narrative strategies, and understudied aspects of individual texts and subgenres. The analyses demonstrate the importance of deviance and transgression as literary characteristics of saga narration, as well as the discursive parameters that have been dominant in Saga Studies. The aim of this collection is to highlight the productiveness of developing modified methodological approaches to the sagas and their study, with a starting point in narratological considerations. Andreas Schmidt and Daniela Hahn are postdoctoral researchers, reading and teaching Old Icelandic literature from narratological perspectives. Both completed their PhDs in Scandinavian Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. Following Bad Boys and Wicked Women (Münchner Nordistische Studien 27), this is their second co-edited collection of essays.
This volume assembles 13 essays as the result of a workshop for international doctoral and post-d... more This volume assembles 13 essays as the result of a workshop for international doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in Old Norse studies, which was held at the Institute for Nordic Philology at LMU in Munich in December 2015. The contributions’ focus lies on different aspects of ›bad‹ or ›evil‹ characters in saga literature, and they give testimony to the broad literary variety such figures display in Old Norse texts. The “Antagonists and Troublemakers in Old Norse Literature” are here explored in their diversity, ranging from their literary psychology to their characteristics which often challenge gender norms. The contributions discuss the narrative strategies of presenting these characters to the audience, both positively and negatively. Furthermore, they analyse how the central paradox of evil and its dependence on context is realised in various ways in Old Norse literature.
Articles by Andreas Schmidt
The Dawn of the Christian Age and its Contexts in the Versions of Færeyinga saga
Time, Space, and Narrative in Medieval Icelandic Literature (Acta Scandinavica 16), ed. Ben Allport/Alison Finlay, Turnhout (Brepols), 2025
My article examines the depiction of conversion to the Christian faith in the differing redaction... more My article examines the depiction of conversion to the Christian faith in the differing redactions of Færeyinga saga (i.e., the Flateyjarbók-version as opposed to the one in other manuscripts of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta) against the background of previous readings which have treated the spatio-temporal setting of the text as a sign of its discourse focusing on themes of colonialism and religious submission. I show that in Flateyjarbók, conversion is merely another battle ground in the primarily political main conflict, in which the text itself does not privilege any one side, with the role of religion getting randomized. In the shorter redactions of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar, however, the Faroese story clearly serves to portray colonial submission and acceptance of the Christian faith as rightful and necessary, corresponding to the respective manuscripts' Christian agendas. I therefore argue for a reassessment of the saga's suppossed time of reference, which has been analysed from a 13th-century-perspective predominantly. As opposed to such interpretations, Færeyinga saga in Flateyjarbók seems to serve as some kind of kings' mirror, its setup challenging established interpretations of the codex as a whole.
Dingversammlung. Wirkmächtige Objekte in der altnordischen Literatur (Münchner Nordistische Studien 56), ed. Daniela Hahn, Munich (utzverlag), 2025
This article deals with the management of narrative expectations in the Íslendingasögur. Through ... more This article deals with the management of narrative expectations in the Íslendingasögur. Through an analysis of how objects with suprahuman capacities are presented, it argues that these play an influential role in how saga audiences are able to decode such narratives. In the Íslendingasögur, such objects and their possible effects on the narrated worlds are often either undermined or have their agency expressed through resistance against a protagonist’s intentions. While Kormákr Ǫgmundarson disregards the magical properties of the sword Sköfnungr to improve his situation, Vatnsdæla saga’s Ingimundr inn gamli tries his best to evade the agency of his talisman which leads him to Iceland. Equally, in Gísla saga’s M-version, the supposedly doom-laden role of the sword Grásíða is cast as doubtful and hardly necessary for the narrative to develop the way it does. Through this analysis, I argue that the narrative handling of such objects is used to pluralize interpretive options and problematize readings focussed on the notion of ›fate‹. Instead of presenting finalized plot motivations, the Íslendingasögur exhibit a strategy of introducing competing explanations for why certain events happen. This invites both intradiegetical characters and audiences to reflect on their understandings of ›fate‹.
Truth and Lies in the Worldbuilding of the Íslendingasögur: Public, Individual, and Narratorial Voices in Eyrbyggja saga
Storyworlds and Worldbuilding in Old Norse-Icelandic Literature (Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe 38), ed. Rebecca Merkelbach, Turnhout (Brepols), 2025
My paper investigates how incomplete mimesis - i.e. narrative gaps and blind spots - are a key, a... more My paper investigates how incomplete mimesis - i.e. narrative gaps and blind spots - are a key, and strategically used component of worldbuilding in the Íslendingasögur. The Máhlíðingamál in Eyrbyggja saga serve as textual sample to demonstrate how various voices (the narrator's, individual characters', and the public's) are brought into dialogue in the telling. This results, however, in various testimonies and evaluations of events being given side by side and contradicting each other, in fact obscuring the foundations of the conflict that drives the plot to such a degree that it becomes unclear what really happened. I argue that this characteristic ambiguity is a strategically developed narrative technique which serves to activate the audience and highten the immersivity of the storyworld, which the audience is invited to explore on their own.
Þáttasyrpa – Studien zu Literatur, Kultur und Sprache in Nordeuropa. Festschrift für Stefanie Gropper (Beiträge zur Nordischen Philologie 71), ed. Anna Katharina Heiniger/Rebecca Merkelbach/Alexander Wilson, Tübingen (Narr Francke Attempto), 2022
My chapter gives a short overview of the methods and reasons for the marginalisation of both Reyk... more My chapter gives a short overview of the methods and reasons for the marginalisation of both Reykdœla saga and Harðar saga in scholarly discourse, arguing that earlier dismissions of these texts appear as rather arbitrary. While Reykdœla saga is judged to be 'old', the same criteria, namely a perception of schematic and repetitive narratorial style, are used to dismiss Harðar saga as a 'young' text. In spite of the views towards the two sagas held in earlier scholarship, both are shown by short narratological analyses to be wilful compositions in which seemingly repetitive narration serves specific narrative purposes.
Magie und Literatur. Erzählkulturelle Funktionalisierung magischer Praktiken in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit (Philologische Studien und Quellen 280), ed. Andreas Hammer/Wilhelm Heizmann/Norbert Kössinger, Berlin (Erich Schmidt Verlag), 2022
It is the aim of this chapter to compare the apparently necromantic ritual as described in Færeyi... more It is the aim of this chapter to compare the apparently necromantic ritual as described in Færeyinga saga to possible European and Old Norse analogues, while equally analysing and explaining the scene against that background and in its narrative context of the saga as a whole.
On the one hand, it can be shown that the small number of instances in which black magic and necromancy are portrayed in Old Norse texts are in accord with European material in principle, but on the other hand, there is no direct parallel to the scene in question. The ritual’s description in Færeyinga saga is far from ethical and ideological condemnation of what is being told. The reason for this are both the context of Old Norse descriptions of magic and the manner of saga narration as such. However, this description is also due to the narrative principles of Færeyinga saga itself whose foundation in and reliance on narrative ambiguity become evidently visible in the scene. Not even the plot line of the saga sheds any clear perspective onto it. Instead, it can be shown as a nodal point of the entire narrative’s discourses and as a peaking point of its overall message. The narrative method that can thus be highlighted in the analysed scene is itself typical of the Íslendingasögur-genre.
On the one hand, it can be shown that the small number of instances in which black magic and necromancy are portrayed in Old Norse texts are in accord with European material in principle, but on the other hand, there is no direct parallel to the scene in question. The ritual’s description in Færeyinga saga is far from ethical and ideological condemnation of what is being told. The reason for this are both the context of Old Norse descriptions of magic and the manner of saga narration as such. However, this description is also due to the narrative principles of Færeyinga saga itself whose foundation in and reliance on narrative ambiguity become evidently visible in the scene. Not even the plot line of the saga sheds any clear perspective onto it. Instead, it can be shown as a nodal point of the entire narrative’s discourses and as a peaking point of its overall message. The narrative method that can thus be highlighted in the analysed scene is itself typical of the Íslendingasögur-genre.
NORDEUROPAforum, 2020
Der Artikel untersucht die Rezeption altnordischer Motive im lyrischen Konzept der Black Metal-Ba... more Der Artikel untersucht die Rezeption altnordischer Motive im lyrischen Konzept der Black Metal-Band Helrunar, die sich stark von gängigen Rezeptionsformen im Metal-Spektrum unterscheidet. Altnordische Mythen werden bei Helrunar, als kulturell fundiertes Geflecht bestimmter metaphorischer Sprechweisen verstanden, zur Arbeitsfläche eines lyrisch-künstlerischen Programms. Anliegen des Dichters ist, aus Mythen entlehnte Sprachbilder über sich selbst den Rezipienten so weiter zu vermitteln, dass auch diese aktiv in Kommunikation mit dem Mythos treten können. Dafür sind wissenschaftlich geschulte Kompetenzen von Dichter und Rezipient für ein umfängliches Textverständnis notwendig, sodass die entsprechende Rezeptionsstrategie sich als »nordistisch« begreifen lässt.
The article analyses the reception of Old Norse motifs in the literary concept of the Black Metal band Helrunar, which differs greatly from the usual adaptations in Metal culture. Helrunar understand Old Norse myth as a culturally grounded net of metaphorical modes of speaking, the myths becoming the working ground of an artistic programme aimed at borrowing and re-arranging images from them, creating symbolic lyrics that are open to interpretation. The poet aims at conveying his lyrics to the recipients in a way that allows them to actively communicate with the myths and their images as well. In doing so, academic competences are required for both poet and recipient to fully understand the texts, making it possible to call Helrunar’s reception »scholarly« in nature.
The article analyses the reception of Old Norse motifs in the literary concept of the Black Metal band Helrunar, which differs greatly from the usual adaptations in Metal culture. Helrunar understand Old Norse myth as a culturally grounded net of metaphorical modes of speaking, the myths becoming the working ground of an artistic programme aimed at borrowing and re-arranging images from them, creating symbolic lyrics that are open to interpretation. The poet aims at conveying his lyrics to the recipients in a way that allows them to actively communicate with the myths and their images as well. In doing so, academic competences are required for both poet and recipient to fully understand the texts, making it possible to call Helrunar’s reception »scholarly« in nature.
Ein rechtsfreier Raum? Die legale Situation auf den Färöern im Spiegel der ‚Færeyinga saga‘
Das Mittelalter 25/1 (Imaginationen und Praktiken des Rechts: Literatur- und geschichtswissenschaftliche Perspektiven, ed. Roland Scheel/Silke Schwandt), 2020
The chapter argues for a more nuanced and empirically based understanding of the discourse on law... more The chapter argues for a more nuanced and empirically based understanding of the discourse on law and socio-cultural norms in Old Icelandic literature on the grounds of a narratological reading of ‘Færeyinga saga’ as a case study. It has often been claimed that Icelandic sources express an ideal of freedom based on communality as guaranteed by the law. By contrast, ‘Færeyinga saga’ represents a cynical discourse on power politics that renders law as an invariable concept obsolete and works solely on the principle that ‘might is right’. This cynicism, however, is presented in a form that leaves the narrative open to interpretation, showing that regardless of its possible dating, narrative literature can serve as a starting point for social discussion. Consequently, the discourse on law in medieval Iceland must be perceived as more polyphonic than has been allowed for by previous unifying readings in scholarship.
NORDEUROPAforum, 2019
Der Artikel verfolgt eine Lesung der sog. Færeyinga saga auf der Basis des Konzepts des "Dritten"... more Der Artikel verfolgt eine Lesung der sog. Færeyinga saga auf der Basis des Konzepts des "Dritten", das dabei helfen kann, narrative Ambiguität in der Sagaliteratur zu erhellen. In der Færeyinga saga sorgen Elemente des "Dritten" dafür, die in der Forschung bisher fokussierten Binarismen ihrer äußeren Struktur zu durchbrechen. Dichotomisch gegenüber gestellte Figuren weisen in sich Züge "dritter" Figuren wie des Tricksters oder des Mediators auf, figürliche und konzeptionelle Triaden spielen eine wichtige Rolle und die Darstellung der Saga bricht häufig mit narrativen Konventionen. In Folge dessen wird die Saga als Tertium im Kontext der Isländersagas und der isländischen Gesellschaft des 13. Jahrhunderts lesbar.
The article subjects the so-called Færeyinga saga to a reading on the grounds of the theory of "the third", arguing that this concept can help elucidate narrative ambiguity in Saga literature. It can be shown that in Færeyinga saga, "third" elements cross the binarisms of its outer structure, which have been in the focus of scholars up to now. Adverse figures show characteristics of "third" figures such as the trickster or the mediator, figural and conceptual triads are important, and the saga’s way of representation often challenges narrative conventions. Therefore, the saga itself can be read as a "third" in the context of the Íslendingasögur and Icelandic society in the 13th century.
The article subjects the so-called Færeyinga saga to a reading on the grounds of the theory of "the third", arguing that this concept can help elucidate narrative ambiguity in Saga literature. It can be shown that in Færeyinga saga, "third" elements cross the binarisms of its outer structure, which have been in the focus of scholars up to now. Adverse figures show characteristics of "third" figures such as the trickster or the mediator, figural and conceptual triads are important, and the saga’s way of representation often challenges narrative conventions. Therefore, the saga itself can be read as a "third" in the context of the Íslendingasögur and Icelandic society in the 13th century.
Færeyinga saga has often been read as a conversion-discourse, and Christian ideologies have been ... more Færeyinga saga has often been read as a conversion-discourse, and Christian ideologies have been supposed to shape its content. Fitting to those readings, Christian legendary texts, in specific Maríu saga, have been identified among the sources the saga draws upon. A scene in which Sigmundr, one of the saga’s protagonists, receives a ring from the statue of the heathen figure Þorgerðr Hǫrðabrúðr has been declared to be a direct adaption of a miracle of the Holy Virgin, in which a clerk is betrothed to her statue. The present article reviews this assessment and provides an alternative reading by concentrating on the motif of the ring and its narrative functionalisation. The ring’s paradox ascriptions in the course of the narrative, being given to Sigmundr as a heathen sign of luck, but suddenly becoming his bane after the conversion to Christianity, can be reconciled by defining the ring as a numinous item with its own inherent logic, theoretically drawing on recent narratological approaches. This logic inherent to the ring can be traced back to its origins in a narrative layer which may be dubbed ‘mythic’ in its nature. This layer of narration is, however, shut to Sigmundr, who ignores any sign of the ring’s numinous powers, as opposed to his adversary Þrándr. Þrándr can participate in the logic of the mythic text layer, which can be seen in his association with pagan deities and his magical powers. This narrative construction sharpens and widens the dichotomy between the two protagonists and displays an ideology in Færeyinga saga that cannot be reduced to its drawing on Christian legendary sources.
Bad Boys and Wicked Women. Antagonists and Troublemakers in Old Norse Literature, ed. by Daniela Hahn and Andreas Schmidt, Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag (2016).
This article explores the literary portrayal of Þrándr í Gǫtu in Færeyinga saga. Although being a... more This article explores the literary portrayal of Þrándr í Gǫtu in Færeyinga saga. Although being an unprincipled politician greedy for power, he is a central character of the saga and much more successful than his counterpart Sigmundr Brestisson, who is also a Christian missionary and portayed as much more immediately likeable. In previous studies, this confusion has most often been explained by assessing an ideology behind the text which aims at a reinforcement of Icelandic feelings of independence. Contrary to that, the article argues that the ambiguity of Þrándr is an inherent effect of Færeyinga saga's narrative complexity. A destabilising narrative technique serves to both stress Þrándr's immorality and reduce the blame that can be put on him for his (inferred) misdeeds. It follows that Færeyinga saga is not primarily concerned with ethics, nor with a discourse on independence or submission, but wants to present an open portrayal of different types of rulers and methods of implementing political authority, the evaluation of which the saga leaves entirely to its recipients.
Book Reviews by Andreas Schmidt
Das Mittelalter 27/2, 2022
Das Mittelalter 26/1, 2021
Encyclopedia entries by Andreas Schmidt
Færeyinga saga
Germanische Altertumskunde Online, 2024
Talks by Andreas Schmidt
The North Atlantic archipelago of the Faroe Islands remains a terra incognita in large parts, eve... more The North Atlantic archipelago of the Faroe Islands remains a terra incognita in large parts, even some 1200 years after its allegedly first description in the Irish geographer Dicuil’s Liber de mensura orbis terrae. The islands are not featured prominently in Old Norse Literature and only the reconstructed Færeyinga saga is dedicated to them as a whole text.
My paper will seek to give an overview of the instances in which the Faroes are established as a space in Old Norse saga literature and be mainly dedicated to a closer examination of the construction of spaces within Færeyinga saga. The saga is characterised by a constant shift of the setting between the islands on the one hand and Norway on the other hand. This dualism highlights the fundamental conflict of the saga, the struggle for the domination over the islands between the exiled Sigmundr Brestisson and his cunning antagonist Þrándr í Gǫtu. The interpretation of this conflict and its ideological implication for the saga’s audience has been diametrically opposed. An in-depth analysis of the saga, however, remains missing until today and is the objective of my PhD-project. My paper will be set to demonstrate how the construction of the two spaces of setting – the Faroe Islands on the one and Norway on the other hand – is employed by the author of Færeyinga saga in the telling of his narrative. Richard North has argued that ‘the wanderer Sigmundr Brestisson’ fails in his attempt to establish his rule of the Faroes against the land-possessing and rich Þrándr for his ‘rootlessness’ in the saga’s main space (67). Re-evaluating his findings, my focus will be placed on the connection between the construction of the spaces of setting themselves and the content of the saga – how does the author construct his spaces, what meaning can be ascribed to them and how are they utilised within the narrative.
Bibliography:
Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1987. Færeyinga saga, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi Rit 30 (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi).
North, Richard. 2005. ‘Money and Religion in Færeyinga saga’, in Viking and Norse in the North Atlantic. Selected Papers from the Proceedings of the Fourteenth Viking Congress, Tórshavn, 19‐30 July 2001, ed. Andras Mortensen and Símun V. Arge (Tórshavn: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag), pp. 60‐75.
My paper will seek to give an overview of the instances in which the Faroes are established as a space in Old Norse saga literature and be mainly dedicated to a closer examination of the construction of spaces within Færeyinga saga. The saga is characterised by a constant shift of the setting between the islands on the one hand and Norway on the other hand. This dualism highlights the fundamental conflict of the saga, the struggle for the domination over the islands between the exiled Sigmundr Brestisson and his cunning antagonist Þrándr í Gǫtu. The interpretation of this conflict and its ideological implication for the saga’s audience has been diametrically opposed. An in-depth analysis of the saga, however, remains missing until today and is the objective of my PhD-project. My paper will be set to demonstrate how the construction of the two spaces of setting – the Faroe Islands on the one and Norway on the other hand – is employed by the author of Færeyinga saga in the telling of his narrative. Richard North has argued that ‘the wanderer Sigmundr Brestisson’ fails in his attempt to establish his rule of the Faroes against the land-possessing and rich Þrándr for his ‘rootlessness’ in the saga’s main space (67). Re-evaluating his findings, my focus will be placed on the connection between the construction of the spaces of setting themselves and the content of the saga – how does the author construct his spaces, what meaning can be ascribed to them and how are they utilised within the narrative.
Bibliography:
Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. 1987. Færeyinga saga, Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi Rit 30 (Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar á Íslandi).
North, Richard. 2005. ‘Money and Religion in Færeyinga saga’, in Viking and Norse in the North Atlantic. Selected Papers from the Proceedings of the Fourteenth Viking Congress, Tórshavn, 19‐30 July 2001, ed. Andras Mortensen and Símun V. Arge (Tórshavn: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag), pp. 60‐75.