ICEL 1400 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Settlement Of Iceland, Althing, Norse Mythology

• School: University of Manitoba
• Department: Icelandic
• Course: ICEL 1400
• Professor: Christopher W.Crocker

Document Summary

Irish monks & norse explorers were the earliest humans to visit/settle in iceland: first norse explorers found iceland by accident. Iceland was called snowland: gardris found out it was an island. Period when people came to iceland to claim the land. First settler according to written sources was ingolfr arnasson. Power within the country was consolidated within a few families. Establishment of the althing: a form of government, no single executive power over the land, chieftains. Was the end of the settlement age. Civil war in the 1200"s: lead to iceland"s submission to the norwegian crown. The age of foreign rule: ruled by the norwegian crown. The kalmar union: a union between norway and denmark, sweden. The union of norway, sweden, & denmark. The last catholic bishop of iceland was beheaded. Moveable print came to iceland: most writings until this time were made on animal skins.