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Course begins October 20, 2026
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Live sessions each week from 4:00 - 5:30pm Eastern U.S. time
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All sessions are recorded and available to view for up to 2 weeks after the last live session
Introduction and the Story of Hrut
Chapters 1 - 18
In this first session we encounter Hrut and his kin, and we follow him as he goes to Norway for his inheritance, gets involved with a vengeful queen and ends up with a broken marriage. We also meet Hallgerd and her violent foster-father.
Gunnar's Story
Chapters 19 - 51
This is the saga of Gunnar Hamundarson, one of the most “Viking” characters you’ll ever meet in Norse literature. Returning from prestigious overseas expeditions, however, he makes the unfortunate decision to marry Hallgerd. The bitter domestic feud between her and Bergthora, Njal’s wife, will trigger an escalating series of slayings that puts Gunnar and Njal’s deep friendship to the test.
Gunnar's Story continued
Chapters 52 - 81
Following a food theft orchestrated by Hallgerd and the slap Gunnar gives her in response, escalating hostilities with her allies result in a series of bloody ambushes and battles. Although sentenced to three years of exile, Gunnar turns back and faces his enemies who besiege his farmstead, heroically letting fate gain up on him.
Njals Saga
Chapters 82 - 105
This session we look at Njal’s saga proper. After retribution, the Njalssons campaign in the British Isles alongside Kari. Hostilities escalate upon their return when Thrain publicly taunts them, prompting Skarphedin to dramatically slay him on a frozen river, after which Njal fosters his young son Hoskuld to temporarily restore domestic balance. The sequence concludes with the Commonwealth's conversion to Christianity.
Njals Saga continued
Chapters 106 - 132
Incited by the insidious slander of Mord, the Njalssons and Kari slay their foster-brother, triggering a catastrophic escalation of blood-feud that Hoskuld’s widow fiercely directs toward her uncle Flosi. Although a comprehensive legal arbitration at the Althing nearly defuses the crisis, a fatal breakdown occurs when Flosi rejects the supplementary settlement gifts. The foreshadowed fate of Njal materialises in the tragic burning of his household.
Flosi and Kari’s Story
Chapters 133 - 159
We end by witnessing how the legal prosecution devolves into a violent battle between Asgrim’s alliance and Flosi’s faction, culminating in sentences of exile for the burners. Refusing to compromise his blood-duty, Kari executes a relentless campaign of retribution against the burners across Iceland, Orkney, and the British Isles - an epic chase interwoven with the historical Battle of Clontarf. Yet all this tragic cycle may finally achieve a spiritual and social catharsis.
Meet your Instructor
Irina-Maria Manea
Irina-Maria Manea is a medievalist with an M.A. in ancient history and Ph.D. in Viking Studies from the University of Bucharest, Romania, complemented by study stays in Göttingen, Aachen, and Uppsala. She formerly researched the reception of Norse mythology in metal music and is currently mainly interested in Viking Age burials and the afterlife, the paranormal, and material culture in Norse literature. She teaches various modules at Signum University (New Hampshire) and is a research affiliate with the University of Chester (UK). She previously also taught Swedish, Norwegian, and K12 history. Her passion for Viking Studies has led her on the path to public history, running a Substack and YouTube channel fatefully named Shield of Skuld.