The þættir are short stories written mostly in Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 during the 13th and 14th centuries.

The majority of þættir occur in two compendious manuscripts, Morkinskinna

Morkinskinna

Morkinskinna is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275....

 and Flateyjarbók

Flateyjarbók

The Flatey Book, is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name Codex Flateyensis.- Description :...

, and within them most are found as digressions within kings' sagas. Sverrir Tómasson regards those in Morkinskinna, at least, as exempla

Exemplum

An exemplum is a moral anecdote, brief or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point.-Exemplary literature:...

or illustrations inseparable from the narratives that contain them, filling out the picture of the kings' qualities, good and bad, as well as adding comic relief.

Íslendinga þættir

The short tales of Icelanders or Íslendinga þættir focus on Icelanders, often relating the story of his travels abroad to the court of a Norwegian king.

List of short tales:

• Albani þáttr ok Sunnifu
• Arnórs þáttr jarlaskálds
• Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka
  Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka
  Auðunar þáttr vestfirska is a short tale preserved in three distinct versions as part of the saga of Harald III of Norway , as the saga is told in the manuscripts Morkinskinna, Flateyjarbók, and several others...
  
  
• Bergbúa þáttr
• Bolla þáttr Bollasonar
• Brandkrossa þáttr
• Brands þáttr örva
  Brands þáttr örva
  Brands þáttr örva is a very short þáttr which tells how king Haraldr Sigurðarson put Brandr Vermundarson's generosity to the test. It may have been written at the end of the 13th century....
  
  
• Draumr Þorsteins Síðu-Hallssonar
  Draumr Þorsteins Síðu-Hallssonar
  Draumr Þorsteins Síðu-Hallssonar is a very short þáttr which tells how Þorsteinn was visited in dreams by three women who warned him that he would soon be murdered. It was written at the end of the 13th century.As Þorsteinn was sleeping, three women appeared to him...
  
  
• Egils þáttr Síðu-Hallssonar
• Einars þáttr Skúlasonar
• Eiríks þáttr rauða
• Geirmundar þáttr
• Gísls þáttr Illugasonar
• Grœnlendinga þáttr
• Gull-Ásu-Þórðar þáttr
• Gunnars þáttr Þiðrandabana
• Halldórs þáttr Snorrasonar inn fyrri
• Halldórs þáttr Snorrasonar inn síðari
• Hallfreðar þáttr vandræðaskálds
• Hauks þáttr hábrókar
• Hrafns þáttr Guðrúnarsonar
• Hreiðars þáttr
  Hreiðars þáttr
  Hreiðars þáttr heimska or the Tale of Hreiðarr the Stupid is one of the short tales of Icelanders. It tells of Hreiðarr, an apparently mentally disabled Icelandic man who travels to Norway in the time of the joint rule of the kings Magnús góði and Haraldr harðráði...
  
  
• Hrómundar þáttr halta
• Íslendings þáttr sögufróða
  Íslendings þáttr sögufróða
  Íslendings þáttr sögufróða is a very short þáttr about a young Icelandic storyteller at king Haraldr Sigurðarson's court...
  
  
• Ívars þáttr Ingimundarsonar
  Ívars þáttr Ingimundarsonar
  Ívars þáttr Ingimundarsonar is a short þáttr which emphasizes king Eysteinn's goodness.Ívarr, an Icelander, lived at the court of king Eysteinn, who liked him much. His brother Þorfinnr went to Norway too, but he was jealous of Ívarr and soon came back. Before his departure, Ívarr asked him to...
  
  
• Jökuls þáttr Búasonar
• Kjartans þáttr Ólafssonar
• Kristni þáttr
• Kumlbúa þáttr
• Mána þáttr skálds
• Odds þáttr Ófeigssonar
• Orms þáttr Stórólfssonar
• Óttars þáttr svarta
• Rauðs þáttr hins ramma
• Rauðúlfs þáttr
  Rauðúlfs þáttr
  Rauðúlfs þáttr is a short allegorical story preserved in Iceland in a number of medieval manuscripts. The author is unknown but was apparently a 12th–13th century ecclesiastical person...
  
  
• Rögnvalds þáttr ok Rauðs
• Sneglu-Halla þáttr
• Steins þáttr Skaptasonar
• Stefnis þáttr Þorgilssonar
• Stjörnu-Odda draumr
• Stúfs þáttr inn meiri
• Stúfs þáttr inn skemmri
• Svaða þáttr ok Arnórs kerlingarnefs
• Sveins þáttr ok Finns
• Þiðranda þáttr ok Þórhalls
  Þiðranda þáttr ok Þórhalls
  Þiðranda þáttr ok Þórhalls or Þiðranda þáttr Síðu-Hallssonar is a short tale preserved within the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason in Flateyjarbók...
  
  
• Þorgríms þáttr Hallasonar
• Þorleifs þáttr jarlaskálds
• Þormóðar þáttr
• Þorsteins þáttr Austfirðings
• Þorsteins þáttr forvitna
• Þorsteins þáttr Síðu-Hallssonar
• Þorsteins þáttr skelks
• Þorsteins þáttr stangarhöggs
• Þorsteins þáttr sögufróða
• Þorsteins þáttr tjaldstœðings
• Þorsteins þáttr uxafóts
• Þorvalds þáttr tasalda
• Þorvalds þáttr víðförla
• Þorvarðar þáttr krákunefs
• Þórarins þáttr Nefjólfssonar
• Þórarins þáttr ofsa
• Þórarins þáttr stuttfeldar
• Þórhalls þáttr knapps
• Ævi Snorra goða
• Ögmundar þáttr dytts
  Ögmundar þáttr dytts
  Ögmundar þáttr dytts ok Gunnars helmings is one of the Icelandic þættir. It was written in the 14th century. It relates the story of Ögmundr dyttr, a cousin of Víga-Glúmr from Víga-Glúms saga. He is insulted in Norway and achieves revenge in a clever way...
  
  
• Ölkofra þáttr

Legendary þættir

• Ásbjarnar þáttr Selsbana
• Helga þáttr ok Úlfs
• Helga þáttr Þórissonar
  Helga þáttr Þórissonar
  -Sources and external links:********...
  
  
• Norna-Gests þáttr
  Norna-Gests þáttr
  Norna-Gests þáttr or the Story of Norna-Gest is a legendary saga about the Norse hero Norna-Gest.-Summary:Norna-Gest was the son of a Danish man named Thord of Thinghusbit, who once dwelt on the estate of Grøning in Denmark. When he was born, three Norns arrived and had foretold the child's...
  
  
• Ragnarssona þáttr
  Ragnarssona þáttr
  Ragnarssona þáttr, Þáttr af Ragnars sonum or the Tale of Ragnar's sons is a short story on Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons.-Ragnar Lodbrok:When Sigurd Ring dies, Ragnar succeeds him as the king of Sweden and Denmark...
  
  
• Sörla þáttr
  Sörla þáttr
  Sörla þáttr is a short narrative from a later and extended version of the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason found in the Flateyjarbók manuscript, which was written and compiled by two Christian priests, Jon Thordson and Magnus Thorhalson, in the late 14th century.The narrative begins 24 years after the death...
  
  
• Tóka þáttr Tókasonar
  Tóka þáttr Tókasonar
  -Sources and external links:****...
  
  
• Völsa þáttr
  Völsa þáttr
  Vǫlsa þáttr is a short story which is only extant in the Flatey Book, where it is found in a chapter of Óláfs saga helga. It is probably from the fourteenth century but takes place in 1029 when Scandinavia was still largely pagan, and it appears to preserve traditions of a pagan phallos cult, the...
  
  
• Þorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns
  Þorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns
  Þorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns or The Story of Thorsteinn House-Power is a short legendary saga.It is a reworking of many of Thor's adventures, where Thorsteinn takes the place of Thor.-Sources and external links:****...
  
  

Other þættir

• Brenna Adams byskups
• Eindriða þáttr ok Erlings
• Eymundar þáttr hrings
• Eymundar þáttr af Skörum
• Hálfdanar þáttr svarta
• Haralds þáttr grenska
• Haralds þáttr hárfagra
• Hemings þáttr Áslákssonar (two versions)
• Hróa þáttr heimska
  Hróa þáttr heimska
  Hróa þáttr heimska or the Tale of Roi the Fool is a short story from Iceland about a Dane called Hrói the Fool who is helped in a legal dispute by the wise old Swede Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker, and which takes place in the late 10th century...
  
  
• Isleifs þáttr byskups
• Knúts þáttr hins ríka
• Orkneyinga þáttr
• Otto þáttr keisara
• Ólafs þáttr Geirstaðaálfs
• Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa
  Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa
  Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa is a short story, a þáttr on the Swedish claimant and Jomsviking Styrbjörn the Strong preserved in the Flatey Book ....