0:00:13 > 0:00:17Every country has its treasure trove of beloved tales,
0:00:17 > 0:00:21but one nation has an unrivalled passion for storytelling.
0:00:23 > 0:00:30For ten centuries Icelanders have been enthralled by a series of homespun stories.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37They're some of the most wonderful tales ever told.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42How they came to be written is one of the great mysteries of the Dark Ages.
0:00:46 > 0:00:511,000 ago, at the edge of the Arctic Circle, there was an explosion of
0:00:51 > 0:00:55creativity, which remains pretty much unparalleled in history.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02When the Vikings came here to Iceland one of the first things they did,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06strangely, was to settle down and begin telling each other tales.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16These Sagas, as they're now known, are some of the greatest stories ever told.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20They're haunted by ghosts and plagued by witches.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25Mighty heroes ride to the rescue wielding magical swords.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29The Sagas captivated audiences ten centuries ago
0:01:29 > 0:01:33and they're still entertaining millions of people today.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41They're about money and sex and, you know, and death.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45And this is just, you know, the essence of a good story - sex and death.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52It is probably the greatest book ever written,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56you know, this is a magnificent storybook, it has everything good novels is supposed to have
0:01:56 > 0:02:02because it has love and battle and great poet and everything, it has everything in them.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09The Sagas are not only great works of fiction,
0:02:09 > 0:02:15they're based on the lives of real people and they challenge many of the stereotypes of the Viking Age.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21They reveal the power Scandinavian women wielded.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24They were explorers and colonisers.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27They may even have written some of the Sagas.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34Iceland's ancient tales also had a profound effect on us.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37The Sagas influenced many of Britain's
0:02:37 > 0:02:42greatest writers and inspired some of our most treasured stories.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07HE SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:03:44 > 0:03:47This is how great stories begin.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56With a journey, a quest, a search for a promised land.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02And so it is with the Sagas.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10They recount the moment when Norwegian exiles set sail in their longships.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20They defied the wild oceans to found a brave, new world.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28They named it Iceland.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40I wonder what the first settlers here in Iceland thought when they arrived.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44It's the least likely of promised lands.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Certainly the strangest place I've ever been to.
0:04:46 > 0:04:52It feels primeval, like a woolly mammoth should come lumbering along the horizon.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56There's nothing growing here, there's no trees or crops
0:04:56 > 0:05:00and under the ground there's no iron ore or gold
0:05:00 > 0:05:07and yet these hardy pioneers didn't just turn tail and sail off in their longboats,
0:05:07 > 0:05:12they stayed and tried to create something out of this extraordinary landscape.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17And what they created was truly magical - words.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24VOICES SPEAK IN NORSE
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Iceland is where Europe ends and the Arctic begins.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03It's more than 700 miles north-west of Scotland - remote,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06far-flung, isolated.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10But when it comes to the world of words,
0:06:10 > 0:06:16this country has always been one of the centres of literary activity.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18One in ten Icelanders is a published author
0:06:18 > 0:06:24and this love of letters began long ago with the writing of the Sagas.
0:06:25 > 0:06:32I think all modern Icelandic writers, they have their background in this, one way or the other.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37During the centuries we didn't have any universities, no academies
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and we didn't have many...types of arts,
0:06:41 > 0:06:46no architectures, no theatres, no music, no opera,
0:06:46 > 0:06:50no sculptures, no ballet, of course.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Maybe if you look at our history,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56this is the only thing that we have ever been good at.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59It's writing stories and telling stories.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04The greatest of these stories are known as the Family Sagas.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08They're set in the first 150 years of Iceland's history,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12from the original settlement in 870 AD.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16The Sagas were written down in the 13th and 14th centuries.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21In just over 100 years, dozens and dozens of stories were composed.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26It's a creative outpouring that has few parallels in history.
0:07:26 > 0:07:32Well, it was very, very remarkable that such a lot of, such a large
0:07:32 > 0:07:36volume of literature should come out of this relatively tiny island,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40with, you know, really a very small population.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45But remarkable too is the genres, the forms of this literature.
0:07:45 > 0:07:51While the rest of medieval Europe was writing courtly romances about knights and princesses,
0:07:51 > 0:07:59the Icelanders were creating dramas about real families in real locations, doing real things.
0:07:59 > 0:08:05The thing that they're most like actually is much, much later 19th century novels.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08They're in prose, they're naturalistic,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11they deal with social issues,
0:08:11 > 0:08:15so they're big, expansive narratives.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21You see something that is so much in common
0:08:21 > 0:08:24with our time and this time.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29So you feel, wow, this is really human, that's how human being is, you know.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33You get something and you're, like, ah, we have not changed, in a way.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35I know this.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40It's like peep into a hole, into a class and say "They're doing the same thing."
0:08:40 > 0:08:43They are, of course, about, in essence,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45always about the very primitive thing,
0:08:45 > 0:08:51they're about the inner-circle in human action, about, you know,
0:08:51 > 0:08:58lust and power and fight and they're about the glue
0:08:58 > 0:08:59that binds us.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05Out of the many Sagas that were written, four or five are classics,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09but there's one in particular that's always intrigued me.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14We all love a good story, but who'd have thought when you're flicking through a book at bedtime
0:09:14 > 0:09:21or lying, reading on the beach, that this is where it all began, one of the first great works of fiction.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24The pages may be blackened by the passage of time,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27but despite being over 700 years old,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30the story still leaps out at you.
0:09:30 > 0:09:36It's got everything a good book needs - love and lust, violence, betrayal and revenge.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39It's called Laxdaela Saga and, in my opinion,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42it's the greatest of the Icelandic Sagas.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Laxdaela means salmon river valley,
0:09:49 > 0:09:55and it's in the rich farming and fishing country of north-west Iceland that the story takes place.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03The Laxdaela Saga charts the fortunes of the families who settle in the area.
0:10:04 > 0:10:09It follows their triumphs and tragedies over several generations.
0:10:09 > 0:10:10The love affairs.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12The blood feuds.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15The marriages. The murders.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23The story is rooted in a timeless landscape.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28It's still possible to pinpoint the fells and fjords where key events occurred.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35This sense of place underpins the relationship between Icelanders and their ancient stories.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41This happens in my area.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45These characters are my forefathers and they are still
0:10:45 > 0:10:49in my mind as they... You know, I know the farmers
0:10:49 > 0:10:52who lives on their farm and I found the similarity to them.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04I don't think we have so much changed since this time.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06We are still the same farmers as we were in these days.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10I almost imagine myself when I was, for example, taking sheep
0:11:10 > 0:11:14down from the mountains, I was sometimes thinking about these things that they have done.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18I am in the same steps as they were, and they were there and there and there.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29You start Laxdaela Saga with a portrait of the great
0:11:29 > 0:11:34matriarch Unn and her nickname is the "Deep-minded".
0:11:34 > 0:11:37What does the "Deep-minded" mean?
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Clever, wise, with a huge memory, philosophical.
0:11:41 > 0:11:48What a wonderful epithet, what a surprising, maybe, epithet for a woman in a Saga - the deep-minded.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58SHE SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:12:28 > 0:12:32Many of the characters in the Sagas are real people.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37The moments of high drama can be traced to genuine historical events
0:12:37 > 0:12:41and few moments are more dramatic than the discovery of a new land.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46So who were the first settlers in this area then?
0:12:46 > 0:12:49That was Unn the Deep-minded.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51Unn Djupuoga we call it on Iceland.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56She came sailing up this bay and had settlement over there, by the other end of the bay.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58She settled there on a farm.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00So it was a woman.
0:13:00 > 0:13:01- It was a woman, yes.- Ahh.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Tell me a bit about her, then.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07She probably came here around the year of 892.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10She came from Scotland.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14What happened is that her husband went into battle there and he died
0:13:14 > 0:13:17and she had to go away with her crew and she established a crew
0:13:17 > 0:13:25on her boat, made the boat ready, so nobody was supposed to know it and then she sailed away from Scotland.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27She was, what do you say, running away from there.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32But that was magnificent, that a woman could do that in those days.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34So the first settler in this area is a woman.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36- Yeah.- And she's Scottish.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39- Yes.- And she's able to control a boatload of men.- Yes.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42Command.... And then what happened when she got here, then?
0:13:42 > 0:13:43She settled down in this farm
0:13:43 > 0:13:48and what she did is that she gave her crew, all the men got
0:13:48 > 0:13:52independency, they lived here in this area.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57You can imagine that she must have been at least a very big woman, very big-minded.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02You can imagine that she must have been very clever and she must have been very fair,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04she was fair to people, she gave everybody with her.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09So she must have been, as I say, a very big woman in mind, she must have been a great woman.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14Wonderful. Gosh. And she earns the title Unn the Deep-minded.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16- Yes, yes.- It's a good - it's a very apt one, isn't it?
0:14:16 > 0:14:18- It tells a lot.- Yeah.- About her.
0:14:29 > 0:14:36Is it really possible that a thousand years ago, a British woman colonised part of Iceland?
0:14:36 > 0:14:41It sounds like the stuff of adventure fiction, not historical fact.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49But recent archaeological evidence actually supports the story told in the Laxdaela Saga.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56This is a skeleton of one of the first settlers in Iceland.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00She's a woman, only 25 years old when she died.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04She was probably someone's wife, mother, daughter.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07She's here in the position of rest,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11just as she was laid in the ground a thousand years ago.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15And it was at precisely this time that the Laxdaela Saga was being composed.
0:15:15 > 0:15:21But is there any truth to these tales that Iceland was settled by foreign women?
0:15:21 > 0:15:27Well, DNA studies on bones just like this have shown that while the majority of the male
0:15:27 > 0:15:31population were coming over from the Nordic homelands and Scandinavia,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34over 60% of the women were British.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38So this evidence shows us that right from the word go,
0:15:38 > 0:15:42Iceland was a multi-cultural melting-pot.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02The story of Unn the Deep-minded shows us how close the links were
0:16:02 > 0:16:05between Iceland and the British Isles.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Both countries were staging-posts in a maritime empire,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16which stretched from Norway right across the North Atlantic
0:16:16 > 0:16:17and beyond.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Here we have a collection of silver coins
0:16:25 > 0:16:29discovered in Iceland and dated to the turn of the 1st Millennium.
0:16:29 > 0:16:35But what's really remarkable about this collection is the majority of coins are English.
0:16:36 > 0:16:43At this point, around the year 1000, over two-thirds of the British Isles was ruled directly by Vikings.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47And here we have a payment known as the Dangeld, which was made by the
0:16:47 > 0:16:51English kingdoms to the Vikings in order to keep them off their land.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54But we've also got coins here from Germany
0:16:54 > 0:16:57and Arabia and the Middle East,
0:16:57 > 0:17:04which shows that the Vikings were also raiding, trading and settling right across the known world.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13The Viking Age began in the 8th century.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18Over the next 300 years they raided, traded and settled,
0:17:18 > 0:17:23leaving a profound mark on Europe and especially the British Isles.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Well, I suppose the most obvious effects are on place names,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30I mean so many place names in northern and eastern England.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35Just thinking about where I grew up, there's Thornaby, Ormsby, Normanby.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39The language, of course, that's even more obvious, if you like,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42the Scandinavian long words are very basic words,
0:17:42 > 0:17:46so they're words like husband, window, law, egg.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51And even the pronoun system in English is derived from Scandinavian pronouns.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53So they, then, there - they're derived from
0:17:53 > 0:17:57the Scandinavian pronouns, not from the corresponding Old English ones.
0:18:00 > 0:18:06The Scandinavian settlements resulted in a thorough enrichment of English society.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23The Vikings who settled Britain had to fit in alongside other people,
0:18:23 > 0:18:28but the Scandinavians who sailed to Iceland found an uninhabited land.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Here, the Vikings had to build a new nation from scratch
0:18:33 > 0:18:37and what they created was unique for the Dark Ages.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58We're in this very significant place, aren't we?
0:18:58 > 0:19:03It's got geographical and political and spiritual significance.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Can you tell me a little bit more about it?
0:19:05 > 0:19:10This is the site of the Althingi, the early meeting place
0:19:10 > 0:19:11of the Icelandic Commonwealth,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14where people came from all over the country
0:19:14 > 0:19:20to discuss legal matters, formulate the new law and settle disputes.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23So history, more or less, happened in this location.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30This is the parliament that the settlers came up with here
0:19:30 > 0:19:34after a few decades of living in the country as free men.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39And they sit here in a very sort of structured...
0:19:39 > 0:19:43assembly that has a democratic function, in a way,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46for free farmers and males.
0:19:46 > 0:19:47Gosh.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50And, er... And decide by voting.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Is it unusual in terms of what's going on elsewhere in Europe at this time?
0:19:59 > 0:20:03In terms of European history, this is quite unique,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07because they don't have a king, they don't have a centralised power
0:20:07 > 0:20:09and that is the beauty of the system.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12You have independent chieftains coming together
0:20:12 > 0:20:17and they decide on some things and execute whatever is decided.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28Icelanders set up a nation from about... From 870 onwards
0:20:28 > 0:20:31and they set up a parliament and they set up a legal system.
0:20:31 > 0:20:37In a way, I think, perhaps, that the outpouring of literature
0:20:37 > 0:20:42that you get in Iceland, this huge flowering of not just Sagas
0:20:42 > 0:20:45but also unique kinds of poetry,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48I think maybe that was part of being a new nation,
0:20:48 > 0:20:53that you had a terra nova and you didn't only settle that
0:20:53 > 0:20:56and build it up as a nation socially,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00you also...inscribed a kind of literary culture.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16The first things that were written were family trees,
0:21:16 > 0:21:22tracing the Icelanders back to very noble people in Scandinavia.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25And I think one of the reasons they did this may have been
0:21:25 > 0:21:30that there were rumours in our neighbouring countries
0:21:30 > 0:21:33about the people that moved to Iceland...
0:21:33 > 0:21:37- Right. - ..in the years of 900 to 1000.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41They're mostly anti-social elements -
0:21:41 > 0:21:44thieves, fugitives, murderers,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48people that didn't survive around civilised people.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51So maybe the first reaction was when they had this alphabet
0:21:51 > 0:21:55and could write down, they were building these family trees,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58saying that these were the most noble people,
0:21:58 > 0:22:03because all Icelanders, they can trace their roots back to kings and queens
0:22:03 > 0:22:07and even Odin and Thor and so on.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21For some, storytelling may have served an even more profound function,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23reminding them of the homes and loved ones
0:22:23 > 0:22:26which they would never see again.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31While a few British women, like Unn the Deep-Minded,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35chose to settle in Iceland, others were brought by force.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44One of the next characters we meet in the Laxdaela Saga is a concubine.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Today, we'd call her a sex slave.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55She's been abducted from Ireland. Her name is Melkorka.
0:22:59 > 0:23:05Most of the women, they were bought either in slave markets in Scandinavia,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10or brought directly from the British Isles, mostly from Ireland.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15Of course, when they came here, they became a part of the population
0:23:15 > 0:23:19and the male...culture, the Scandinavian male culture
0:23:19 > 0:23:21became dominant, the language and so on.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25But they had an experience...
0:23:25 > 0:23:28for generations,
0:23:28 > 0:23:34of telling stories in their own language and even writing books in their own language - the Celts.
0:23:34 > 0:23:35- Of course. - The Book of Kells and so on.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40There's something really interesting taking place in Icelandic literature, then.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45You've got this male population with the oral tradition of storytelling,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49combined with this influx, this exodus of women coming from Britain.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53So the Celtic influence could be this idea that
0:23:53 > 0:23:57- you take that literature and then write it down. Preserve it. - Absolutely.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06Foreign women like Melkorka weren't just characters in the Sagas.
0:24:06 > 0:24:11These lonely, literate exiles may have helped create the Sagas
0:24:11 > 0:24:13by writing down their stories.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16THUNDER ROLLS
0:24:16 > 0:24:21In the Laxdaela Saga, we find out that Melkorka, the Irish slave girl,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25is pregnant by her master, a Viking called Hoskuld.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:25:04 > 0:25:09Olaf is a major character in the early part of the Saga.
0:25:09 > 0:25:10He's kind and wise.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13He marries and raises a family.
0:25:13 > 0:25:18Olaf has one child that he dotes upon - a boy called Kjartan.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:25:50 > 0:25:56Olaf also has another lad, a foster son by the name of Bolli.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Bolli is a gifted child, but he grows up in Kjartan's long shadow.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Olaf's family and farm are flourishing. All is going well.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Rather too well, of course.
0:26:17 > 0:26:23It's at this point that a new and sinister character enters the story.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49Sorcery is ever-present in the Sagas,
0:26:49 > 0:26:55reflecting the Viking belief that magic really could transform the lives of ordinary folk.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:27:29 > 0:27:35Today, we modern people, we often look at magic as some kind of superstition.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39It's difficult for us to understand it,
0:27:39 > 0:27:44because we live in another time and, perhaps, in another world, in a way.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47But for them, that was a real thing.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52They knew that they could achieve something
0:27:52 > 0:27:54by doing some rituals
0:27:54 > 0:27:57and with that, they could affect the world around them
0:27:57 > 0:28:00both in good and bad ways, of course.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08In a way, it was very much practical.
0:28:08 > 0:28:14Magic to let the cow milk more, magic to let the grass grow faster.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22And therefore, people had some kinds of magic
0:28:22 > 0:28:29that could help them to look more positive in the coming days
0:28:29 > 0:28:33and have extra power to...
0:28:33 > 0:28:34survive.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46But sorcery could also be used to maim and kill.
0:28:46 > 0:28:51For Vikings, curses were weapons of malign magical power.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59The word, in Iceland,
0:28:59 > 0:29:04has always been the most important thing in the whole culture.
0:29:07 > 0:29:13People believed that if you had the power to control...
0:29:13 > 0:29:17the language and put the words in...
0:29:17 > 0:29:24Out of your mouth in the right order, then it could give you, actually...
0:29:24 > 0:29:25more power.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:29:52 > 0:29:56Bolli inherits the cursed sword
0:29:56 > 0:30:01and with the handing over of the weapon, the story takes a new turn.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03The focus shifts to Kjartan and Bolli
0:30:03 > 0:30:07and a beautiful young woman with whom their fate will be intertwined.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:30:51 > 0:30:56There are many leading ladies, but towering above them all is Gudrun -
0:30:56 > 0:30:59a complex and tempestuous beauty.
0:31:04 > 0:31:10The number of strong women characters is a striking feature of the Laxdaela Saga.
0:31:10 > 0:31:17So, too, is the delight the writer takes in clothes and jewellery, love and romance.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21And this has led some historians to question the authorship of the Saga.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25So we think that, probably, the traditional view of the Sagas
0:31:25 > 0:31:31is that they're very heroic tales, they're written by men for men and starring men.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34Is that the case with Laxdaela Saga?
0:31:34 > 0:31:36No, I think it's the other way around.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39An Icelandic scholar, Professor Helga Kress,
0:31:39 > 0:31:45has suggested that the writer, the one who wrote down Laxdaela Saga, was a woman.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49There are so many scenes in that book that tell you about women's lives,
0:31:49 > 0:31:53it must have been told by women and listened to by women.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56And you see up to the time of television, probably,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00you would have storytelling evenings in Iceland, in the farmhouse.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02You have these long winter months,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05eight or nine months and you have to pass the time.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09There is no telly, so you tell stories.
0:32:12 > 0:32:17You would have people sitting on these benches on both sides of the long house
0:32:17 > 0:32:21and you would have one person in the middle reading or telling stories.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28The women's domain is within the house, the man's domain is without the house.
0:32:28 > 0:32:34- So storytelling must have been a great part of life with women, just as men.- Absolutely.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37So we have this Saga centred on women,
0:32:37 > 0:32:42possibly told by women about women, women's roles within society.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Definitely. I would say so. Yes.
0:32:50 > 0:32:55This is the site of one of the greatest romances in all of Icelandic literature.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01It's the hot spring at the tiny hamlet of Laugar.
0:33:02 > 0:33:08Laugar is Gudrun's home and it's at this spa that Kjartan and Gudrun begin their courtship.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15Gudrun falls passionately in love, but Kjartan is a true Viking.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19He's consumed not by love, but by lust.
0:33:19 > 0:33:20Wanderlust.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26With marriage beckoning, he ups sticks and leaves Iceland.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42Kjartan and Bolli sail away to Norway.
0:33:42 > 0:33:48They arrive in Scandinavia at a pivotal moment in European history.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55Take a look at this amazing little object.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58This man just oozes character.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02He's got a flamboyant moustache, deep, penetrating eyes
0:34:02 > 0:34:04and really strong features.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07He's wearing this conical hat
0:34:07 > 0:34:12and he's sitting on a chair, holding a very weird-looking object.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14But when we take a closer look,
0:34:14 > 0:34:18you can see that the hat is, in fact, a crown.
0:34:18 > 0:34:19He's seated on a throne.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22And the object could be either an upside-down crucifix,
0:34:22 > 0:34:29or the hammer wielded by the pagan god, Thor, as he creates thunder.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34This wonderful little man encapsulates the moment
0:34:34 > 0:34:37when the Viking world has one foot in the pagan past
0:34:37 > 0:34:39and one in the Christian future.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45SINGING IN NORSE
0:34:58 > 0:35:03This is a ceremony to mark the end of summer and the beginning of winter.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07It's the last remnant of a once-mighty faith,
0:35:07 > 0:35:10the religion of Odin and Thor - Norse paganism.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25The word "paganism" comes with many negative connotations.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29It might seem odd, peculiar, perhaps even a little sinister,
0:35:29 > 0:35:31but that's because, for 2,000 years,
0:35:31 > 0:35:37Christians have been writing tracts and treaties that damn these so-called pagans to hell.
0:35:37 > 0:35:43In fact, for thousands of years, this Norse paganism was the religion of the Scandinavian people.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46It helped them make sense of the universe,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49it acted as a comforter to them in times of need
0:35:49 > 0:35:52and it even helped them chart the passage of time.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56It's a mark of its influence that it's still doing this today.
0:36:14 > 0:36:201,000 years ago, this ancient religion was under attack from a new, crusading faith.
0:36:22 > 0:36:23Christianity.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29The man who was driving the conversion of the Vikings
0:36:29 > 0:36:31was Olaf, the King of Norway.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38Were there reasons then, for converting to Christianity?
0:36:38 > 0:36:43- What were the benefits?- It was basically joining the European Union!
0:36:43 > 0:36:47- It's basically the same thing. - Yeah. Right. So it was trade and...?
0:36:47 > 0:36:49Yeah, it was trade, because the markets were closing down.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52We could no longer do trade with England,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55because they would not accept pagans.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58And for a period of years,
0:36:58 > 0:37:00people could do what they called prime signing,
0:37:00 > 0:37:05which was basically crossing yourself before you did commerce,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08but that was no longer accepted.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12Denmark was basically very strongly Christian.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16Norway had become Christian after a long, bloody battle.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18Sweden was about to become Christian.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22So it was, basically, everything was closing down.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25So it was a very practical business decision.
0:37:30 > 0:37:35But many people didn't want to give up the faith of their ancestors.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38The Icelanders resisted Christianity.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43To make them convert, the Norwegian monarch, King Olaf,
0:37:43 > 0:37:47decides to keep Kjartan as a sort of VIP hostage.
0:37:47 > 0:37:52The King's sister, Ingibjorg, keeps Kjartan...entertained.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00In medieval courtly romance, the hero would have escaped from Norway
0:38:00 > 0:38:03and returned to his true love.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06But what sets the Family Sagas apart is their realism.
0:38:09 > 0:38:15What's so surprising is that the characters are archetypal kind of humans.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17It's so easy to identify with the characters.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19Sometimes deceptively easy -
0:38:19 > 0:38:22we forget how very different their circumstances and beliefs
0:38:22 > 0:38:24and cultural traditions were.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27But the characters in Family Sagas
0:38:27 > 0:38:30are their feelings and their failings,
0:38:30 > 0:38:35their hopes and their fears, their passions and their weaknesses.
0:38:35 > 0:38:36They're very easy to identify.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44Kjartan is not only beautiful and good, you know, he's also...
0:38:44 > 0:38:48come on, he is doing the princess in Norway
0:38:48 > 0:38:52and he's not a holific or a holy guy.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54All the literature in Europe is very Christian
0:38:54 > 0:38:56in that sense that there are matches,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59there are good guys and there are bad guys
0:38:59 > 0:39:03and good things happen to good guys and bad things happen to bad guys.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06In the Sagas, this is not so.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08The Sagas can be about a bad guy,
0:39:08 > 0:39:12an arsehole that does something very bad to everybody
0:39:12 > 0:39:13and has success with it.
0:39:19 > 0:39:24Kjartan is happy to stay in Norway, but Bolli wants to go home.
0:39:24 > 0:39:30Before he leaves, he criticises Kjartan for the way he's treating Gudrun.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Bolli arrives home.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24He tells Gudrun about Kjartan's affair with the King's sister.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28The reason for his anger with Kjartan now becomes clear.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30Bolli is in love with Gudrun.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36A few months later, he takes a fateful step and proposes.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51In the year 1000, Iceland finally converts to Christianity.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56Kjartan is free to return home.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58He brings with him a wedding gift -
0:40:58 > 0:41:03a priceless head-dress for his fiancee, Gudrun.
0:41:03 > 0:41:08Kjartan has the bridal gift, but not the bride.
0:41:08 > 0:41:15He marries another woman, but he's consumed by what he sees as a double betrayal.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19There were regular feasts in the area, so the two couples -
0:41:19 > 0:41:23Bolli and Gudrun and Kjartan and his new wife - couldn't avoid each other.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28Whenever they met, Kjartan publicly humiliated Gudrun
0:41:28 > 0:41:31and he spurned Bolli's attempts at reconciliation.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34With each sleight, the hatred grew.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38The precious head-dress that was supposed to have been Gudrun's
0:41:38 > 0:41:41was now the property of Kjartan's new wife
0:41:41 > 0:41:44and this head-dress became the focus of the feud.
0:41:44 > 0:41:49One particular feast, the head-dress goes missing.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51Everyone suspects it's Gudrun's doing -
0:41:51 > 0:41:54if she can't have it, then no-one can.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01With the destruction of the head-dress, Kjartan's pent-up fury explodes.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05He barricades Bolli and Gudrun in their home,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08cutting them off from the toilets which are outside.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11He's deliberately inflicting maximum humiliation.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Revenge is the kind of engine of quite a lot of Saga narrative,
0:42:20 > 0:42:25because obviously if you get a feud, for instance,
0:42:25 > 0:42:30that's going to kind of keep on through generations.
0:42:30 > 0:42:31Resentments build up.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33In a number of Family Sagas,
0:42:33 > 0:42:38it's these proud, independent women who are pushing the vengeance
0:42:38 > 0:42:42and it's quite often the men who are trying to kind of damp it down
0:42:42 > 0:42:45by due legal process and make settlements.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48And the women are inciting the violence. As in Laxdaela Saga,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51Gudrun provoking Bolli to kill Kjartan,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53because she can't bear not to be married to him.
0:42:58 > 0:43:04Goaded on by his wife, Bolli and his men ride out to confront Kjartan.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28So the tension is really mounting in the Saga now, isn't it?
0:43:28 > 0:43:34Gudrun has goaded her brothers and Bolli to ambush Kjartan.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36And then what happens?
0:43:36 > 0:43:39This is the place where everything happened.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42Kjartan was coming from this direction with his friend.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46And Bolli and the brother of Gudrun, they came from this direction
0:43:46 > 0:43:50and probably they picked up this place because the valley is slimmest here.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52Probably they were staying,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55or we think that they were staying up there on the hill,
0:43:55 > 0:43:59on the ridge there, there is a hole down there, a very deep hole
0:43:59 > 0:44:02and they could hide themselves with the horses
0:44:02 > 0:44:05and having looked to both directions easily.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07So when Kjartan is in this direction,
0:44:07 > 0:44:10they saw that they could fight him.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13And then they went down here and attack him, of course.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31They were attacking him, three or four attacking one person,
0:44:31 > 0:44:33so there must have been a lot of noise with weapons,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36there were three, four attacking one person.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38A lot of sweat, probably some blood,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41because Kjartan was punishing them a little bit with his swords.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45And it was a bad sword, so you can imagine that he got tired,
0:44:45 > 0:44:49for example, you can imagine that it was a lot of high breathing,
0:44:49 > 0:44:51and they were tired.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57Kjartan fights bravely but, finally, he weakens.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01With his strength failing, he turns and addresses Bolli.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32VOICE SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:46:25 > 0:46:28HE SPEAKS IN NORSE
0:46:57 > 0:46:59Blood has been shed.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03The curse of Leg-Biter has been fulfilled.
0:47:03 > 0:47:08All this sorcery and violence and vengeance has led to this -
0:47:08 > 0:47:11a bloodied corpse lying on the ground.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16Bolli has killed his brother and his best friend.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19He's broken two of the great Viking taboos,
0:47:19 > 0:47:24by severing the sacred bonds of friendship and family.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26What must he be feeling right now?
0:47:26 > 0:47:28Intense guilt?
0:47:28 > 0:47:29Profound shame?
0:47:29 > 0:47:32Or, perhaps, a sense of deep foreboding,
0:47:32 > 0:47:38because the wheels of revenge have now been set in motion.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44A posse tracks down Bolli and slaughters him.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Gudrun sends her son to avenge his murder.
0:47:51 > 0:47:57Both families are trapped in a bloody spiral of revenge.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00It seems that the feud might go on forever,
0:48:00 > 0:48:03but then the Saga takes an unexpected twist.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13Gudrun, the woman who has helped send Kjartan and Bolli to early graves,
0:48:13 > 0:48:17converts to Christianity and becomes Iceland's first nun.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22It's an unlikely act of repentance.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Was it genuine or not? I'm not sure, I don't know.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30But I do think that, you know,
0:48:30 > 0:48:34perhaps those who told the story, the audience liked the flair of that.
0:48:34 > 0:48:40Perhaps it's a way for the author, or the authors if you can say that,
0:48:40 > 0:48:43that this perhaps this woman was just,
0:48:43 > 0:48:46there was no-one worthy of her but the king of kings.
0:48:55 > 0:49:00Gudrun's repentance sent out an important social message.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03In the 13th Century, when the Laxdaela Saga
0:49:03 > 0:49:07was being written down, the republic had disintegrated.
0:49:08 > 0:49:13Iceland was wracked by civil war and this may have persuaded the writers
0:49:13 > 0:49:16to pen an overtly Christian ending.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21There are some chieftains that are getting more powerful than they should be
0:49:21 > 0:49:24according to the quota system for power and influence
0:49:24 > 0:49:27that was set up in the beginning.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31And they seemed to long for peace in the texts that we have,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34so the Saga texts, they are written with the idea
0:49:34 > 0:49:38in mind to show how Christianity brought peace to the country.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42What gets them into problems is the pagan ethics.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44- Right.- And the code of ethics that tells you
0:49:44 > 0:49:46that you have to take revenge
0:49:46 > 0:49:49and one revenge after another and leads to more death.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53And in the texts you see that Christianity
0:49:53 > 0:49:57is believed to bring peace and forgiveness into society,
0:49:57 > 0:49:59finally calming down the feuds,
0:49:59 > 0:50:03the family feuds that have been going on for generations.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06And you can just stop and go to Rome
0:50:06 > 0:50:09and be blessed and live happily ever after.
0:50:17 > 0:50:22Peace came in 1262, but at a heavy price.
0:50:24 > 0:50:29The Icelanders were forced to accept the rule of the Norwegian king.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32It was the prelude to centuries of suffering.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39Things went downhill for the Icelanders.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43We were almost extinct,
0:50:43 > 0:50:50because of diseases, starvation, isolation and so on.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58At that time maybe one of the reasons that we survived -
0:50:58 > 0:51:00the few who did -
0:51:00 > 0:51:06was because they had this mythology based in the literature.
0:51:06 > 0:51:13We were taking all our courage and all our identity from the Sagas.
0:51:13 > 0:51:18This was what we based our hope and ambitions on.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25Ironically, just when Iceland's pain was most acute,
0:51:25 > 0:51:29Britain was discovering the great stories Iceland had produced.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35In the 18th century, the Sagas reached our shores.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41They had a profound influence on one of our greatest poets.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45I think it's a very, very big influence actually on Blake's work.
0:51:45 > 0:51:50I mean, perhaps one of the most characteristic things about
0:51:50 > 0:51:55Blake's poetry and one of the most notoriously difficult things, really,
0:51:55 > 0:52:01is that he has created this huge and hectic mythological world,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05he's created a kind of alternative, Blakean mythology.
0:52:05 > 0:52:10So many of Blake's poems contain elements derived from Old Norse myth.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13That's very significant, I think.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18By the 19th century,
0:52:18 > 0:52:22more and more writers were borrowing from Norse literature.
0:52:25 > 0:52:31Britain was hooked on the romance and heroism of the Viking age.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35Victorian entrepreneurs, industrialists and explorers
0:52:35 > 0:52:40had a kind of fellow feeling with what they saw as the Viking achievement.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44That is the exploring, the white heat of technology, the new ships,
0:52:44 > 0:52:48the seafaring, the great ships of the Vikings.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50And that sense of independence
0:52:50 > 0:52:54and taking your fate in own hands and getting ahead and so on.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05The influence of Icelandic literature reached its high water mark
0:53:05 > 0:53:09in the 20th century in the work of one famous Oxford academic.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16Tolkien taught Old Norse, Tolkien published on Old Norse
0:53:16 > 0:53:18and Tolkien's imaginative world
0:53:18 > 0:53:21was surely shaped by his reading of Old Norse.
0:53:21 > 0:53:22And The Lord Of The Rings,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26he definitely uses names that he's culled from his Old Norse reading.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29Actually, The Silmarillion, which people don't read so much,
0:53:29 > 0:53:33echoes more some of the themes of the Sagas,
0:53:33 > 0:53:37this betrayal and darkness in The Silmarillion.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41So I think Tolkien was really steeped in Old Norse literary culture.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Through Tolkien, the world had woken up
0:53:50 > 0:53:52to the power of the ancient stories.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56But in Iceland, the Sagas had never gone away.
0:53:57 > 0:54:04Generation after generation had fallen in love with these strange, otherworldly tales.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12It's very unusual in Britain for people to read such old literature
0:54:12 > 0:54:14and find it exciting still.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Why is it the Sagas are so exciting?
0:54:17 > 0:54:18Just the drama and the action.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21You know, a girl can choose who she marries,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24if she wants someone and the brothers don't like him
0:54:24 > 0:54:29and they say no, and if he doesn't understand, they kill him, so...
0:54:29 > 0:54:33I think it's the events in what they believe in,
0:54:33 > 0:54:36because they believe in very strange things.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39- Very strange things? - Yeah.- What sort of things?
0:54:39 > 0:54:42Like when someone cheats on their wife,
0:54:42 > 0:54:46they like have to kill him and burn him and something like that.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50- So that's enjoyable to read now, as well?- Well, sometimes, yeah.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54I think it's just very interesting that we live the way they lived,
0:54:54 > 0:54:56or around the places that they did.
0:54:56 > 0:55:00- So like, learning about your ancestors and what they did in the past.- Yeah.
0:55:00 > 0:55:05Somebody cheats on your wife and they kill him, it's just creepy.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09It's fun to read, actually!
0:55:22 > 0:55:27The Sagas were written to help the Vikings make sense of a bewildering new world.
0:55:29 > 0:55:331,000 years later, they still serve the same purpose.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37As Icelanders come to terms with a country transformed
0:55:37 > 0:55:41by financial crisis, they're turning once more to their stories.
0:55:43 > 0:55:49Some years ago, we decided that we were the most brilliant international bankers of the world.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52It turned out to be not so good.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55- A myth! - Yeah, it turned out to be a myth.
0:55:55 > 0:56:00But we have 800 or 1,000 years of tradition
0:56:00 > 0:56:07of making literature, so... And...
0:56:07 > 0:56:12And me, like other writers, we go back to the Sagas to find our ideas
0:56:12 > 0:56:17for how to tell stories and even what to tell stories about.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28We are, of course, a small island in the north,
0:56:28 > 0:56:29that's what we are famous for,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32are the writers and the books, the old books.
0:56:34 > 0:56:39I think that's right in the heritage of the Icelanders, to read these books.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47The language and the words and the poetry, that's what our country is,
0:56:47 > 0:56:52it's about having control over the word and the language.
0:56:52 > 0:56:57So, therefore, the language for Icelanders, for example,
0:56:57 > 0:57:01is the most important thing in the whole world.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09You feel that you are discovering something,
0:57:09 > 0:57:12you are seeing something, it's like mind-openers.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15And you, like, you get a window into another world.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19And for me, it's a great thrill because this is a true window.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27There's something about the backgrounds of the stories
0:57:27 > 0:57:31and just the magic of good story, how a good story works.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34A good story becomes a classic because it works.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44I feel really inspired being here in Iceland.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46I've been trying to work out what it is
0:57:46 > 0:57:48and I think the thing is that it's such
0:57:48 > 0:57:53a sparsely-populated country - just a third of a million people.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56And it does feel very distant from the heart of Europe
0:57:56 > 0:57:59up here on the edge of the Arctic.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06But despite that, the people haven't developed an island mentality
0:58:06 > 0:58:08or turned in on themselves.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11In fact, they've done the opposite, they've gone out into the world.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15They've embraced the world and they've given something back.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19For ten centuries, they've been welcoming us into their homes
0:58:19 > 0:58:22and settling us down around their hearths
0:58:22 > 0:58:25and entertaining us with their stories.
0:58:45 > 0:58:48Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:48 > 0:58:51E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk