The stories survive today in the form of hand written manuscripts on vellum and (Iater) on paper, dating from the 13th through the 17th century. Scholars combed Iceland during the 17th and 18th century in search of surviving manuscripts. One of the best known of these scholars was the Icelander Árni Magnússon (right). When found, the manuscripts were brought to Denmark (which governed Iceland at that time) for preservation. Tragically, fire swept through Copenhagen in 1728. While the best manuscripts were saved, many lesser works were lost.
Some of the manuscripts survive only in a single copy. For instance, most of the poems in The Elder Edda exist only in the manuscript called the Codex Regius. On the other hand, seven manuscripts or fragments of Snorri Sturluson's Edda survive. Today, most of the manuscripts have been repatriated to Iceland for safekeeping at Stofnun Árna Magnússonar (the Árni Magnússon Institute) in Reykjavík (left).
The accuracy of the sagas (especially the Icelandic family sagas) has long been debated. They were not written down until centuries after the events they depict took place. We don't know the authors of any of the sagas. We don't know where or when they were written. Are they factual records or simply stories and legends to while away the hours on long winter nights? Are they a wistful look backwards from the turbulence of the Sturlunga era and the loss of Icelandic independence (in which they were written) back to the golden age of Iceland's settlement (in which they are set)? Are they literary creations, composed by an author, or merely the written transcription of an older oral narrative?
I feel unqualified to step into this scholarly debate and so prefer to use the term "historical novel". On one hand, one takes a risk when one uses a saga as a primary reference or as a source of "facts". On the other hand, the sagas clearly are a valuable resource for information about society and culture and behavioral norms during the Viking age in Iceland.
An introduction to the Sagas of Icelanders and their use as a historical source is available here (700KB pdf file).
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Spelling and Pronunciation The original documents that form the basis for our knowledge of this period were written in Old Icelandic, not far removed from Old Norse, the language spoken throughout northern Europe during the period. The written Icelandic language has changed comparatively little over the centuries, such that modern speakers of Icelandic have less trouble reading the sagas in the original than do modern speakers of English reading Shakespeare, despite the sagas being twice as old. (However, I've recently been told by Icelanders that I overstate the case; the archaic vocabulary and phrasing make it difficult for modern Icelanders to read the sagas in the original.)
Throughout these pages, I've tried to use the Icelandic spelling of names and places. As my knowledge of the language has increased, I've tried to be careful about usage and spelling, but I know I have not been consistent. Limitations in the characters available in HTML require me to use modern Icelandic substitutes in place of some of the old Norse characters.
I have seen several conflicting guides to the pronunciation of old Icelandic. I now understand that some of my confusion relates to my not comprehending all the pronunciation changes and dialect variations that occurred over the centuries that Old Norse was spoken. Since I don't know, I'm not even going to try to provide a guide. Barnes' recent old Norse textbook provides a detailed guide to pronunciation, as well as a fascinating discussion of the differences between old Norse and modern Icelandic pronunciation. I refer interested readers to his text. The full citation is on the references page.
So as not to leave readers totally in the dark about pronunciation, I conclude with an audio recording of a short excerpt from Völuspá performed by Sveinbjörn Beinsteinsson in old Icelandic. This excerpt is the first half-verse from the poem in which the speaker calls for the attention of the audience.
Hlióðs bið ek allar helgar kindir,
meiri ok minni, mögo Heimdallar.
http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/literature/text/literature.htm#Writing