The term “Norse” is a little fraught, but we refer to the language spoken in Medieval Scandinavia

“Old Norse.”

“Ice and fire” – Iceland is covered in both glaciers and volcanoes.

Iceland was settled around about 870. A large part of original Icelandic settlers came from Ireland
and the UK. It is likely that some (especially Irish) settlers from non-Scandinavian polities were slaves.
We have some record that native Americans were also brought over as slaves. Primarily the people
came from Norway.

Unlike mainland Scandinavia, Iceland did not go in for kingship. We often see it claimed in sagas that
the Icelanders came to escape the tyranny of the kings in Norway. Obviously, they took their culture
with them to some degree. Iceland was governed by families meeting at the law-rock (which would
have a speaker) and voting at the Althing, which was a blend of what we would think of as
parliament and courtroom. Only free born men could vote, making the society extremely
hierarchical. It is explained better below.

Icelandic culture was made up of migrants, and defined itself as a place apart. It was defined by
voting and trading, and originally had an oral culture. Christianity, as a religion very steeped in a
book, brought literacy and writing with it at a later point. This created a lot of tension, as Iceland was
an extremely pagan culture.

We cannot make definitive statements about the pagan faith of Viking age Icelanders. For example,
Odin would probably not have been seen as very important at the time, due to the Icelanders’
distaste for kings.

Iceland as a polity had very firmly established trade connections all throughout Europe, and as far
afield as North America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of Medieval Icelanders are farmers.
Iceland converts to Christianity via consensus at the Althing. We have reason to believe that this is
because the Norwegian king had Icelandic hostages. This creates a pagan subculture amid Christian
Iceland.

Following Christianisation and the increased importance of the written word, Iceland becomes much
more connected. A lot of early sagas are translations of French romances. Iceland’s governance
becomes far more centralised. In the 13th Century, it becomes a fiefdom of Norway (and later
Denmark). This makes Norway massively powerful, as it now has dominion over the North Atlantic.
This is the period that the Eddas are written down in! These cultural traumas likely had a great
impact on those texts.

^ a general timeline of Old Norse literature in Iceland.

If we look at the original manuscripts (which were written on velum), we see that the poetry is
written not in lines but in a form that looks a lot like prose. This is because the materials were
expensive!

Reminder to sign up for Vikings for schools.

We see a continued interest in Old Norse literature and mythology across history. The Isendingabok
sees new manuscripts into the 17th century.

Snorri Sturlson was a poet and Norwegian politician. He got up to all sorts of Game of Thrones
nonsense while there. He was interested in the preservation of certain types of poetry and history.
He was also a law speaker at the Althing. He may have written Egil’s Saga.
The Prose Edda, as well as preserving myths, is something of a handbook for other poets writing in
Old Norse.
Snorri lived in Reykholt in western Iceland. Later moved to Borg, a major location in Egil’s Saga.

Over the course of the Medieval Period and Early Modern Period, Iceland became impoverished. The
centres of learning remained. For young men who wanted an education, the only real option was to
take a boat to Copenhagen. The Icelandic rulers refused to go to the Danish king as beggars, so they
brought their manuscripts.

Icelanders continued to remember that they had been an independent country with no kings, and
there was a strong desire for them to become independent.
During WW2, American fighter and bomber planes needed to refuel in Keflavik. As a thank you,
America supported Icelandic independence, which they acquire in 1944. They demanded their
important manuscripts back from Denmark, which by 1997 they had once again recovered. The
manuscripts remain a major part of Icelandic national identity.

Remember! The Viking Age was not homogenous. There was a great diversity of people, some who
would have been religious, some not. People did not all have the same personalities and beliefs.
They wouldn’t even all have been white! The Nazis are not fucking welcome. The past belongs to
everyone. People are always people.