Old Norse-Icelandic Text Sites on the Internet

An increasing number of Old Norse-Icelandic texts have become available through on-line sites. Some sites record the texts in normalized orthography with little or no editorial apparatus, a remarkable enough feat given the complexity of the language. Other sites are significant database projects focusing on specific areas of the canon. Translations are also available on some sites.

This list of sites is not comprehensive. Readers may find that some sites duplicate texts and features found on others; and that some sites may serve their needs more effectively than others.

 

handrit.is (digitized manuscripts)

Heimskringla

Icelandic Saga Database

Netútgáfan: Fornrit

New Northvegr Center

Old Norse Texts Online

Online Medieval and Classical Library

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Equus Scandinavicus

Icelandic horses

Image created and graciously provided by Danielle Cudmore

Living Legacy from the North

The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC) is home to the rare (non-circulating) component of the Fiske Icelandic Collection, internationally one of the three largest collections on Icelandic and Norse literature and civilization. The Fiske Collection is virtually unrivaled in its concentration of resources for the study of the medieval Nordic world. These resources include virtually all of the antiquarian printed editions of sagas, skaldic poetry and related texts and critical studies of Old Norse-Icelandic literature. The antiquarian editions find their home in the secure spaces of RMC.

 

Also exceptionally rich are the collection strengths in Viking and medieval Icelandic history and in the slow, difficult emergence of modern Icelandic society and nation from the Reformation (1550) through the present day. The collection thus reflects the endeavor of Willard Fiske to have it comprise a record of "all the annals, travels, natural histories, government documents, ecclesiastical writings, biographies, and bibliographies, which can, in any way, throw light on the history, topography, indigenous products, commerce, language, and letters of Iceland"--to rehearse the donor's words as recorded in the preface of the Catalogue of the Icelandic Collection (1914).