Category: Medieval Iceland
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The Age of Settlements
“Iceland was first settled from Norway in the days of Haraldr the Fine-Haired, son of Hálfdan the Black, at the time…when Ívarr, son of Ragnarr loðbrók, had St. Edmund, king of the Angles, killed; and that was 870 years after the birth of Christ, according to what is written in his [Edmund’s] saga.” (Ari Þorgilsson…
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Language in Medieval Iceland
“There was a man named Thorarin who lived at Sunnudale. He was an old man with failing eyesight. He had been a fierce viking in his youth and though he was now old he was still not easy to deal with.” (Þorsteins þáttr stangarhöggs – Miller, 52.) They called their language the Dönsk Tunga, the Danish Tongue.…
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Land-Taking in Medieval Iceland
“Floki took three ravens with him on the voyage. When he set the first one free it flew back from the stern, but the second raven flew straight up into the air, and then back down to the ship, while the third flew straight ahead from the prow, and it was in that direction that they…
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Medieval Iceland: A Unique Settlement
“Medieval Iceland is an almost unique instance of a community whose culture and creative power flourished independently of any favoring material conditions, and indeed under conditions in the highest degree unfavorable. Not ought it to be less interesting to the student of politics and law as having produced a Constitution unlike any other whereof records…
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Introducing the Course: Medieval Iceland
“The story goes that some people wanted to sail from Norway to the Faroes—a viking called Naddodd, to name one of them. They were driven out to sea westwards, and came to a vast country.” (landnámabók, 16) Far to the north lies a small island called Iceland. Settled by vikings, it eventually would become an…
