COA02 - Taking Land in Iceland
- 2 minsTaking Land in Iceland
In this week’s episode we explore the initial settlement of Iceland. We’ll talk about who settled the island, when they settled down and begin our discussion of the society they created.
To kick us off we are going to explore this topic by example by exploring the settlement led by Unn the Deepminded - one of the most remarkable figures from the Viking Age.
Recommended Reading
Recommended reading for this week is The Saga of the People of Laxardal. This is one of my favorite sagas and will be a major source of examples throughout this series. I like the translation by Keneva Kunz in the Sagas of the Icelanders put out by Penguin Classics.
Works Cited
Primary Sources
The Saga of the People of Laxardal trans. Kunz, K. in Smiley, J. (Ed.). (2001). The Sagas of the Icelanders: a selection. London: Penguin. Available on Amazon
Egil’s Saga trans. Scudder, B. in Smiley, J. (Ed.). (2001). The Sagas of the Icelanders: a selection. London: Penguin. Available on Amazon
Íslendingabók in McDonald, R. A., & Somerville, A. A. (2014). The Viking Age: A Reader. North York, Ontario: University of Toronto Press. (Chapter 70.a)Available on Amazon
Landnámabók in McDonald, R. A., & Somerville, A. A. (2014). The Viking Age: A Reader. North York, Ontario: University of Toronto Press. (Chapter 70.b) Available on Amazon
Secondary Sources
Byock, J. L. (2002). Viking Age Iceland. London: Penguin Books Ltd. Available on Amazon
Gunnell, Terry. Hof, Halls, Goðar and Dwarves: An Examination of the Ritual Space in the Pagan Icelandic Hall. Available Free Online
Jesch, J. (2015). The Viking diaspora. London: Routledge. Available on Amazon
Lönnroth, Lars. The Icelandic Sagas in Brink, S., & Price, N. S. (n.d.). The Viking World. Available on Amazon
Sigurðsson, J. V. Iceland in Brink, S., & Price, N. S. (n.d.). The Viking World. Available on Amazon
Vésteinsson, Orri. Patterns of Settlement in Iceland. A Study in Pre-History. Available Free Online
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