Iceland Archive
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The Icelandic Althing: Dawn of Parliamentary Democracy
Posted on December 4, 2013 | No CommentsIt is an old idea, and one that reaches as far back as the nineteenth century, that Viking Age Iceland was democratic and much like an early republic -
Sex, lies and the Íslendinga sögur
Posted on November 24, 2013 | No CommentsSex, lies and the Íslendinga sögur By Damian Fleming Sagas and Society, No.6 (2004) Abstract: Past scholars used to look upon the Icelandic family sagas as ideal witnesses to pre-Christian... -
Why skaldic verse? Fashion and cultural politics in thirteenth-century Iceland
Posted on November 24, 2013 | No CommentsIn this paper I intend to address this question through the poetic evidence of the sagas of Icelanders, analyzing two sagas which were written in the west of Iceland in the middle of thirteenth century. -
Nancy Marie Brown: The Song of the Vikings, Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths
Posted on November 14, 2013 | No CommentsNancy Marie Brown gives a talk about her recent book The Song of Vikings, Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths -
Seasonal Setting and the Human Domain in Early English and Early Scandinavian Literature
Posted on November 10, 2013 | No CommentsSeasonal Setting and the Human Domain in Early English and Early Scandinavian Literature Paul Sander Langeslag University of Toronto: Doctor of Philosophy, Centre for Medieval Studies (2012) Abstract The contrast between... -
Charity On The Fringes Of The Medieval World
Posted on October 9, 2013 | No CommentsThis is a study on the space and place of medieval monastic charity as represented by the infirmary that was in operation at Skriðuklaustur, a late medieval Augustinian monastery (1493- 1554), located in eastern Iceland. -
Taming the Shrew: The Rise of Patriarchy and the Subordination of the Feminine in Old Norse Literature
Posted on October 8, 2013 | No CommentsOld Norse literature is a unique source in that it shows a connection between the oppression of women and Norse patriarchy during the phase of its establishment. -
Outlaws, women and violence: In the social margins of saga literature
Posted on October 6, 2013 | No CommentsIn the society that the Icelandic family sagas depict, whose public sphere was ruled by men, violence was an extraordinary extent of action for women – but it takes place. -
Vikings: More social than savage?
Posted on October 3, 2013 | No CommentsA new article have uncovered complex social networks within age-old Icelandic sagas, which challenge the stereotypical image of Vikings as unworldly, violent savages. -
Ten Icelandic Sagas you may not have heard of
Posted on October 1, 2013 | No CommentsMany readers will know some of the popular accounts, such as Egil's Saga or Njal's Saga, but the Icelandic writers penned dozens of these stories. Here are ten sagas that you may not have heard of, but offer a fascinating tale -
The Dragon of the North: The Supernatural Nature of Knowledge in Vǫluspá
Posted on September 21, 2013 | No CommentsThis thesis is an exploration of the mythological poem Vǫluspá and the nature of knowledge within the world presented by the text. I will argue that knowledge is a supernatural force, and that the world will ultimately be destroyed as a result of its influence. -
The literary significance of clothing in the Icelandic family sagas
Posted on September 20, 2013 | No CommentsWe do not often hear about what the character is wearing - and when we do it can be difficult to discern why clothes are being mentioned at this particular point and why only in relation to a certain character. -
Commonwealth, Conversion and Consensus: An Examination of the Medieval Icelandic Free State and Political Liberalism
Posted on September 18, 2013 | No CommentsJohn Rawls' Political Liberalism opens with a question: 'how is it possible for there to exist over time a just and stable society of free and equal citizens, who remain profoundly divided by reasonable religious, philosophical, and moral doctrines?' -
The Protocol of Vengeance in Viking-age Scandinavia
Posted on August 23, 2013 | No CommentsViolence, even murder, perpetuated this cycle of revenge. This code of retribution can be broken down further into the following dimensions: the individuals involved, the appropriate actions as deemed by Viking society, and any extenuating circumstances, such as supernatural strength or the wronged party’s reluctance to seek revenge. -
Auðun of the West-Fjords and the Saga Tradition: Similarities of Theme and Structural Suitability
Posted on August 23, 2013 | No CommentsAuðun of the West-Fjords and the Saga Tradition: Similarities of Theme and Structural Suitability Josie Nolan (Trinity College Dublin) Vexillum, Vol.3 (2013) Abstract This paper evaluates the story of Auðun... -
Dead and famous, or unknown but alive? Heroism and common sense in medieval Scandinavian and African tradition
Posted on July 9, 2013 | No CommentsAlthough some scholars see heroism as a characteristic of the whole Germanic tradition, a careful study of Scandinavian literature reveals that this is not the case -
Feasting with Early Medieval Chiefs: Locating Political Action through Environmental Archaeology
Posted on May 18, 2013 | No CommentsThis excellent paper was the first given in the session on Early Medieval Europe. It looked at various archaeological excavations in Iceland and Denmark and the political role feasting played in pre-Christian Viking societies. -
Access to the Margins: Outlawry and Narrative spaces in medieval Icelandic outlaw sagas
Posted on April 28, 2013 | No CommentsIn a society where social ties and solidarity were needed in order to endure the unwelcoming weather and landscape, exclusion and isolation appear as the worst punishment that man can inflict to man, even worse than death. -
Black Sun, High Flame, and Flood: Volcanic Hazards in Iceland
Posted on April 1, 2013 | No CommentsIceland is one of the most volcanically active areas on earth, but were it not for the description of the end of the world in the poem Völuspá, one might think volcanic activity made little impression on Medieval Icelanders. -
Lawyers in the Old Icelandic Family Sagas: Heroes, Villains, and Authors
Posted on March 24, 2013 | No CommentsAlong with the accomplishments of skill in arms and verse-making, many a saga hero is credited with a knowledge of law and legal procedure. Many of these heroes are shown duelling with their enemiesin a series of legal disputes forming a series of chapters. -
Novgorod the Great in Baltic Trade before 1300
Posted on March 3, 2013 | No CommentsThe information on trade contacts between Novgorod and Scandinavian countries preserved in the works of Old Norse -
The Saga of a Viking Age Longhouse in Iceland
Posted on February 26, 2013 | No CommentsA documentary about the excavation of a Viking Age longhouse in Iceland. Can historical texts and sagas help archaeology. Created by Jesse Byock and Adam Fish. -
The Old English Rune Poem – Semantics, Structure, and Symmetry
Posted on February 17, 2013 | No CommentsThe later runic alphabets do, of course, follow the basic pattern of the earlier Germanic Fupark though considerably modified by the late eighth century, decreasing in the number of runes in Scandinavia whilst increasing in number in the runic alphabets of England. -
The Church and sexuality in medieval Iceland
Posted on February 13, 2013 | No CommentsFrom its earliest days Christianity has attempted to control human sexuality. The letters of Paul and the writings of the Church Fathers praise the state of virginity above that of marriage, and within matrimony permit sex only for procreation. -
Strangers in Icelandic Society, 1100-1400
Posted on February 11, 2013 | No CommentsThe term ‘stranger’ (der Fremde) was defined by Georg Simmel (1858-1918) in a brief excursus (1908, 685–91). Scholars following in the footsteps of Simmel have distinguished at least two different types of stranger. One is the sojourner, who clings to the culture of his own ethnic group. The other is the immigrant, a newly-arrived outsider who has come to stay (see Siu 1952; Wood 1934, 43–44). The merchant Örn is close to the first type...
