The image of the Norwegian monarch in Laxdæla saga. Historical and philological remarks

The purpose of this article is that of exploring one of the most valuable sources from Iceland’s golden age of sagas, the Saga of the People of Laxárdalr through the lenses of historical as well as literary criticism in order to provide an account of the ways in which Norwegian kings or queens were portrayed. The research methodology includes primary and secondary source analysis and qualitative analysis, as well as the comparative method, as the results are compared with similar findings from secondary literature. The edition of Laxdæla Saga that was used in the analysis is Muriel A. C. Press’s translation from 1999 and the main secondary sources used include works such as those of Ármann Jakobsson and William Ian Miller. The main findings are that, like in many other similar sources, the Norwegian monarchy is represented either in an either extremely positively or extremely negatively fashion by the author of the saga.