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Probably written around A.D. 1200 the Orkneyinga Saga is the only Norse saga concerned with what is now part of the British Isles. Beginning in the remote world of mythic origins and legends, it relates the conquest of the Northern Scottish Isles by the kings of Norway during the great Viking expansion of the ninth century and the subsequent history of the Earldom of Orkney.

The Saga offers a striking account of the great figures of the time — Sigurd the Powerful, who travelled widely to do battle and plunder; Hrolf, the conqueror of Normandy; and St Magnus the Martyr, still revered in Orkney. It is a unique historical document without which much of our knowledge of the Northern Isles would be lost; and for the people of Orkney it possesses a special significance inviting them to recognize themselves as the inheritors of a duel culture, both Norse and Scottish.

The cover shows an illuminated initial from the 'Flateyjarbók'. Photograph courtesy of the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.