New book on medieval heroic ballads from the Faroe Islands

The volume presents an extensive collection of heroic ballads in both their original Faroese and new English translations, demonstrating the Faroe Islands' integral role in the broader Germanic storytelling tradition of the Middle Ages.

Helen, who led the Young CAS project "Ballads Across Borders - The Faroe Islands in the Norse Story-Telling World (BARD)" from 2021-2023, translated the text from Faroese, along with Mortan Nolsøe Jacobsen, as part of her effort to address a significant gap in research on Faroese heroic ballads.

Helen’s project focused on studying the medieval heroic ballads of the Faroe Islands, a small archipelago nation in the North Atlantic. These ballads, despite containing rich material from Germanic legends, have been under-researched and remained largely inaccessible to scholars. They preserve important stories about the legendary hero Sigurðr Fáfnisbani (called Sjúrður Fávnisbani in Faroese), the famous dragon slayer, and his lover Brynhildr Buðladóttir. The project aimed to significantly extend previous research on the sources of these important Northern European legendary figures and their stories.

The publication makes essential material accessible to scholars and enthusiasts of medieval heroic literature. The book explores the rich Faroese storytelling tradition through ballads about Sjúrður.

A second volume is currently in development and expected to be published in the near future.

The publication represents a significant step in Helen’s goal to increase awareness and accessibility of these important cultural texts among the scholarly community. For anyone interested in medieval heroic literature, we would highly recommend checking out this open access volume!

CAS congratulate both editors of the volume and look forward to the next!

Access "The Völsung Ballads from the Faroe Islands" here >

Read more about Helen’s Young CAS project here >