This is a study of how the twin themes of damnation and salvation appear in Old Norse literature. For medieval Icelanders, like their Catholic contemporaries, death did not signify the end of the self but a metamorphosis to a different state of existence. It was accepted, at least by the better informed, that only a few would reach Heaven – namely the saints and those exceptional others whose sins had been fully purged. These blessed few would return instantly to humankind's natural homeland following the abnormal, even harrowing, exile of earthly life. But everyone knew, or was expected to know, that the rest would suffer in Hell or, far more likely, undergo a purgatorial condition of some kind. Although for most people, most of the time, such thoughts were secondary to mundane matters, they were never far below the surface. The death of a loved one, an unexpected illness, the prospect of falling in battle or merely confessing to a priest might, at least momentarily, bring the alternatives to mind. The Old Norse literary corpus reflects these existential issues.

The emergence of this corpus – commencing with Ari Þorgilsson's ĺslendingabók (1122 x 1133) – coincided with significant developments in Iceland's political and religious life. This includes the founding of monasteries and the rise of homegrown cults of saints at Skálholt and Hólar, the country's two bishoprics. The establishment of the Niðaróss (Nidaros) archbishopric in 1152/3 heralded closer relations between Iceland's clerical elite and their Norwegian counterparts whose relationship with the crown became increasingly complex and even fractious. Further, the strengthening of Norwegian kingship in this period attracted ambitious Icelanders to court and so the secular politics of the two countries became ever more closely entwined. In a not unrelated development, a handful of Icelandic families progressively increased their authority over people and territories. This process began, at the latest, in the second half of the twelfth century and by the 1230s power in Iceland was effectively monopolised by them.

This was also a time of blurred boundaries between the secular and ecclesiastical spheres. In Norway a Faroese priest, Sverrir Sigurðarson, became king in 1184, and the arguably most eminent Icelandic chieftain, Jón Loptsson (1124–97), was an ordained deacon.