SOURCE: “The Wrestling in Grettis Saga,” in Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics, Vol. 25, No. 3, Spring, 1989, pp. 235-41.

In the following essay, Peters discusses the prevalence of hryggspenna, a type of combat wrestling, in the Grettis Saga.

Two distinct forms of wrestling are employed in Grettis Saga, an older Nordic hryggspenna style against nonhuman adversaries, and a newer, exclusively Icelandic glíma against all human opponents.¹ The hryggspenna style is decidedly a combat style whereas glíma is practiced as sport. A form of trouser wretling similar to that practiced in southwestern areas of Britain, glíma has been practiced in Iceland since at least the twelfth century and is, today, the national sport of Iceland. Glíma appears to have been a summer sport in early Icelandic society, the favored winter sport having been knattleikr, a ball or hockey game played on...