Icelanders in the Viking Age: The People of the Sagas

285 Pages·2010·12.67 MB·English

by  William R. Short

Icelanders in the Viking Age

Icelanders in the
Viking Age
The People of the Sagas
W R. S
ILLIAM HORT
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
Frontispiece:Grettis sagatells the story of Grettir sterki (the strong),
a powerful fighter who battled and triumphed over berserks, ghosts,
grave-dwellers, and Vikings, as well as over many ordinary men.
Towards the end of his life, Grettir and his brother Illugi lived in exile
on the island of Drangey. With its sheer cliffs rising some 650 feet (200
meters) out of the deep waters of Skagafjörsr, the brothers were safe
from any attack, as long as they pulled the ladder up each night. One
night, while Illugi tended his injured brother, their servant Glaumr
fell asleep after forgetting this important duty. óorbjörn öngull (hook)
and his men easily climbed to the top of the island and killed both
Grettir and Illugi (author photograph).
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Short, William R.
Icelanders in the Viking age : the people of the sagas /
William R. Short.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-4727-5
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
¡. Vikings—Iceland—History. 2. Vikings—Iceland—Social
life and customs. 3. Vikings—Iceland—Material culture.
4. Iceland—History—To ¡262. 5. Iceland—Social life and
customs. I. Title.
DL334.N65S56 20¡0
949.¡2'0¡—dc22 2009053299
British Library cataloguing data are available
©20¡0 William R. Short. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: Woman in Saga Age Icelandic dress (Photograph by
Andrew Frolows, Australian National Maritime Museum)
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Acknowledgments
Many people contributed to this book, and I gratefully acknowledge their
generosity in sharing with me the benefit of their knowledge and experience.
At the same time, I take full responsibility for any errors or distortions that I
may have introduced.
I extend thanks to Sverrir Tómasson, a teacher who ignited my mild
curiosity about the sagas into an unquenchable passion to learn more about
stories and about the people who populate them. A fellow classmate, Leonie
Viljoen, encouraged me not only while we were students, but subsequently, in
the years that followed.
My friends and acquaintances in Iceland have been very generous with
their time, sharing their specialized knowledge about Iceland’s history and cul-
ture: óórir Örn Gusmundsson and Borgnï Gunnarsdóttir; sr. Geir Waage and
Dagnï Emilsdóttir; óorleifur Geirsson; Páll Pálsson; Reynir AlfresSveinsson,
and Árni Björnsson. Special thanks goes to Gusrún G. Bergmann, who has
repeatedly encouraged me to write books of this nature.
Several people helped me to obtain the illustrations used in the book, and
I thank them for their kind assistance: Andrew P. Volpe, Michèle Hayeur-Smith,
Mjöll Snæsdóttir, Sigurgeir Steingrímsson, Helga Ágústsdóttir, Matthew
Marino, Gunnar Ólafsson, Peter Beatson, Christobel Ferguson, Jennifer Baker,
and Andrew Frolows.
I thank Jeffrey L. Forgeng for his assistance with the translations, notably
of the poetry. Amy West also shared her knowledge of the old Icelandic lan-
guage. Christine Drew directed me towards many articles and other references
that I never would have found on my own.
v
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments v
Introduction 1
1. The Land 9
2. The Settlement 14
3. Government and Law 22
4. Social Structure and Gender 32
5. Feuds, Honor, and the Culture of Combat 40
6. Milestones in Life 58
7. Farm, Food Production, and Home Life 74
8. Manufacture and Trade 110
9. Transportation and Navigation 128
10. Art and Leisure 163
11. Religion, Myth, and Cult 186
12. Exploration and Settlement to the West 202
13. Iceland’s Heritage 208
Glossary 215
Appendix. Sagas for Outlanders 223
Chapter Notes 227
Selected References 264
Index 267
vii
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Introduction
Landnámabók, an Icelandic history book written in the 12th century, tells
us that a Viking named Naddoddr boarded his ship in Norway. He sailed west,
expecting to make landfall in the Faroe Islands. He didn’t arrive.
Instead, his ship was blown off course, and he found himself at the coast
of an unknown land. He and his crew came ashore and climbed a tall moun-
tain, looking for smoke or other signs of life. They saw none and concluded
the land was uninhabited.1
Naddoddr sailed back east, eventually arriving at the Faroes. He and his
crew told others of the land they had found. Thus began the Viking-age explo-
ration and settlement of Iceland. Only seventy years later, the land was fully
occupied, home to perhaps 40,000 people.
The society these settlers established would prove unique in a number of
ways. Iceland was uninhabited at the time of discovery, and the land was set-
tled without conquest, and seemingly without the involvement of any estab-
lished monarchy or aristocracy. The Icelandic society developed into a form
unique in medieval Europe, free of the great divide between wealthy, power-
ful aristocrats and the remainder of the population. Most Icelanders appear to
have been free farmers, and many owned the land they farmed.
Icelanders embarked on a grand experiment in governing themselves and
invented a unique form of government. They avoided a central authority figure
and allowed active participation by an unusually broad cross-section of the
population. The laws and governmental system were so unusual that they
elicited comments from contemporary Europeans: in the words of the 11th cen-
tury chronicler Adam of Bremen, “They have no king, only the law.”2The grand
experiment was a success, lasting for nearly four centuries.
In addition to forming a unique new state, medieval Icelanders also excelled
in the literary arts. During the Viking era, Icelanders featured prominently as
the court poets to Scandinavian kings, and their verses preserved the memory
of eminent people and events of the day. After the Scandinavians adopted a writ-
ten culture at the close of the Viking age, it was Icelandic authors who wrote
down the legends, poems, and histories inherited from their Viking ancestors.
Atypically, they wrote not in Latin, but in the vernacular: old Icelandic.
1