Freshman Seminar - Death, Revenge & Madness in Icelandic literature and culture Welcome to class #2 !

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 What IS Iceland?? 2 Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland (Icelandic: ÍslandIcelandic or Lýðveldið Ísland) is an island nation, a volcanic island in theisland nation northern Atlantic Ocean between Greenland,Atlantic OceanGreenland NorwayNorway, Ireland, Scotland (Great Britain), and the Faroe Islands.IrelandScotlandGreat BritainFaroe Islands

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Facts about the country 3 Area ▪ Whole country: 39,768.5 sq. m. (103,000 ﾊ km²) km² ▪ Vegetation: 9,191 square miles (23,805 ﾊ km²) ▪ Lakes: 1,064 square miles (2,757 ﾊ km²) ▪ Glaciers: 4,603 square miles (11,922 ﾊ km²) ▪ Wasteland: 24,918 square miles (64,538 ﾊ km²)

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Facts about the country - Comparison 4 Area Total 9,631,418 km² Water 3,718,711 mi² 4.87% PopulationPopulation ﾊ est. 298,290, census ﾊ mill. DensityDensity 30/km² 3/mi²

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Facts about the country - Cont. 5 -Second largest island in Europe -By plane: 3 hrs to mainland Europe, 6 to US Population: about in Reykjav í k Climate: subartic _ Gulf Stream Average temp. in July 56 º F In January: 32 º F Precipitation: 32 inches Midnight sun in June 4 hrs a day of daylight in Dec.

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Facts about the country - Cont. 6 -Government: parliamentary democracy Fully independent since 1944 Language: Icelandic, the Norwegian of 1000 years ago. Fundamental part of cultural Identity - fiercely defended by purists, Conservative tongue… Currency: Icelandic krona (about 70 kr - 1 USD) Ó lafur Ragnar Gr í msson Religion: Lutheran is the state religion of Iceland. Icelandic children receive mandatory religious training in public schools, and priests are state employees.

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Facts about the country - Geology 7 A young country: about 17 million years Compared to its neighbours: Scotland and parts of continental Scandinavia are 500 million years * The Earth as a whole is 4600 million years The origin of Iceland has to do with Plate Tectonics: the theory that maintains that the earth's crust is composed of plates that float around slowly on the earth's molten interior. The heat and stresses created and released when these plates run into, slide past, slide under or over one another account for most if not all of the earth's earthquakes and volcanic activity

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Tectonic plates - Geology ctd. 8

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Distribution of volcanic systems - 9

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Distribution of earthquakes - worldwide 10

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Dynamics of plate tectonic movement 11 island over hot spot  (G)

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Dynamics of plate tectonic - Iceland 12 * An island over a hot spot AND on the mid Atlantic ridge

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Type of volcanic activity - Kröflueldar

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Type of volcanic activity - Lakagígar

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Earthquakes - distribution in Iceland 15

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 The positive side - geothermal energy 16 1 Mineral water 2 water under 70C 3 water C C at 1000 m

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 A negative side ? Climate in numbers 17

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 A negative side ? Climate in numbers 18

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 A negative side ? Erosion - Búlandstindur 19

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 A negative side ? Erosion of the soil 20

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Why are there no trees? ago 1/2 the country wooded 900 CE 1/4 of the country Ari Thorgilsson (XII century) says the country was covered in forests Now: 1/100 of the surface Causes: wind and erosion Ash and pumice close to volcanoes Goats, cows and horses Worsening climate

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 History 22

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 History 23 Germanic migrations from northern Germany, Southern Scandinavia 4th, 5th century AD Germanic origins - mysterious? Possibly related and derived from Celtic (both language families are IE) *Many of the literary motifs are common to all Gmc. Peoples - they pre-date the V ö lkerwanderungen. - the deities of the Northern pantheon - The Sigfried myth / the dragon - The valkyrie-type of woman tricked into marrying below her status (part of Sigfried myth) * Reason for migration? Possibly climate changes *Important consequences - Fall of the Roman Empire *Britain becomes Anglo-Saxon

Germanic migrations 24

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 Characteristics of the Germanic peoples 25 Tribes whose social structure was based on the Sippe, the extended family. The Germani develop a warrior culture based on the comitatus - a group of warriors who voluntarily swear an oath of allegiance to a leader. *the warriors protect the leader/king and in turn the king rewards the individual with protection (through the comitatus) and with wealth (gifts/ land) Tribal economy based on reciprocity rather than trade: Goods/services distributed as gifts and mutual obligation Between members of the group *essentially oral culture - runes

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 History - Populating Iceland 26 Further waves of Germanic migrations in the 8th century bring about the settlement of Normandy (886, 911 ratified by Charles the Simple and Rollo) Repeated attacks to Celtic monasteries in the British Isles (Lindisfarne 789, 793 Jarrow 794 etc.) Establishment of the Danelaw 886 Settlement of Scandinavian peoples in Ireland and the Hebrides Settlement of Iceland CE Documented in the Book of the Settlement Mostly Norwegian, some Danish, occasional Swede and Scandinavian people previously settled in the British Isles

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 History - Reasons for later migration 27 Complex factors: Climate worsening and agricultural consequences Demographic increase - the land could not sustain everyone *Political reasons - a few regional political &military leaders were concentrating power in their hands *Ship-building techniques improved

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 History - Settlement of Iceland 28 Norsemen that came to Ice. were not a planned migration Various waves over that period of 60 years people settle in Iceland during that time *No leaders - a new land, empty for the most part, limited habitable area *The new society’s development was dictated by competition among succeeding generations for the land’s limited resources Byock, Jesse Medieval Iceland. Berkeley:UCP

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 History - Settlement of Iceland ctd. 29 Practices of land-taking (landn á ma): both men and women No religious or political figure more powerful than others Local parliaments with representatives Some settlers were Christian, others (majority) pagan 930 establishment of the althing, the nation-wide assembly of representative. *It meets for two weeks at the end of June at Thingvellir, ‘Parliament plains’ *The representatives are regional leaders to whom local farmers plead allegiance and in exchange get protection, legal representation at the althing and support in legal disputes

Freshman Seminar - wk 2 History - Settlement of Iceland ctd. 30 For the establishment of the Althing in 930, a code of laws is collected in various parts of Norway, on which Icelandic laws are based. Insistence on respect of laws (see Nj á l’s saga) The President of the assembly was the Law Speaker, who recited one third of the legal code by heart each year (his term lasted 3 years, in fact) The Althing was the place where laws were made, modified, the Supreme court convened and judged cases that could not be solved in the local tribunals - but it was also much more: county fair, trade, news, marriages, social and cultural point

Thingvellir 31

Althing at Thingvellir 32 Importance of parliament: -Conversion to Christianity 1000 CE -Surrendering sovereignty to Norway in 1264 following what can be considered a civil war lasting about 50 years - That sovereignty will not be recovered until 1944

Parliament and the legal system  No death penalty during the commonwealth  Problems: apart from limited natural resources  Two powers: legislative & judicial  And the executive function? Who makes people respect the laws?  In the hand of the wronged party - or his/her family  compensation (weregild) or revenge  Sometimes both  No death penalty during the commonwealth  Problems: apart from limited natural resources  Two powers: legislative & judicial  And the executive function? Who makes people respect the laws?  In the hand of the wronged party - or his/her family  compensation (weregild) or revenge  Sometimes both 33

Cultural development  Poems from a common Gmc. era:  Alliteration, common deities, common motifs  Natural references to lands with a different geography or vegetation from Iceland (Völuspá The Seeress’s Prophecy) - reindeer in the Sayings of the High One  The version we have are probably from the 10th century (MS XIV)  Attila - historical figure  Poems from a common Gmc. era:  Alliteration, common deities, common motifs  Natural references to lands with a different geography or vegetation from Iceland (Völuspá The Seeress’s Prophecy) - reindeer in the Sayings of the High One  The version we have are probably from the 10th century (MS XIV)  Attila - historical figure

The problem of sources  Historical writings in XII  Lándnámabók and Íslendingabók  Genealogies, church documents  Very concise, often based on oral accounts  Writing about the settlement over two centuries later  Historical writings in XII  Lándnámabók and Íslendingabók  Genealogies, church documents  Very concise, often based on oral accounts  Writing about the settlement over two centuries later 35

The Sagas  Sagas of Icelanders or Family Sagas - Prototypical novels…  Tales in prose, often extending 100s of pages, about the history of the people that settled in Iceland during the time of the Settlement ( )  Historical sources?  Written in XIII-XIV centuries  Sagas of Icelanders or Family Sagas - Prototypical novels…  Tales in prose, often extending 100s of pages, about the history of the people that settled in Iceland during the time of the Settlement ( )  Historical sources?  Written in XIII-XIV centuries Sagas online