Erik Bloodax (Eiríkr blóðøx)

A look at the basic facts of the semi-historical Norwegian king of the Viking Age, Eiríkr Blóðøx (Eric Bloodax), and his queen Gunnhildr, especially as related in Heimskringla. 1. The most entertaining (but probably least historical) stories of Eiríkr and his queen Gunnhildr are in the Sagas of Icelanders. Egil's Saga was translated by Bernard Scudder, which is available as its own book and also in the big Penguin book of Sagas of Icelanders (this book: https://amzn.to/4B5BlQo ). For the weird stories they told about Gunnhildr, the first chapters of Njal's Saga (translated by Robert Cook) are the locus classicus. I summarized Egil's Saga in a series of videos beginning here:    • Egill Skallagrímsson, pt. 1   and Njal's Saga in a series of videos beginning here:    • Njal's Saga, Part 1 (Hrut / Young Hallgerd)   2. If you want to read Heimskringla, the translation by Faulkes and Finlay is available free from the publisher here: http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.u... As a translation it is extremely different from my style but worlds better than the 19th- and 20th-century options. For 19th- and 20th-century Scandinavian translations, as well as an OCRed version of an Icelandicizing version of the Old Norse text, see https://heimskringla.no/wiki/Heimskri... (the text of the book called Heimskringla on the website called Heimskringla). If you read Icelandic, the text at https://www.snerpa.is/net/snorri/heim... is very good. 3. If you want to buy my books, you can get them at the bad river website and the other usual places, but consider ordering a signed copy for the same price from our local Boulder Book Store: https://boulderbookstore.net/signed-j... (*personalized* as opposed to signed copies can take a while, but signed copies can be shipped right away to the USA, Canada, and Australia).