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Vikings! The settlement of Iceland Questions that should be answered Why did the Vikings expand into the North Atlantic?  How do we know about it?  How did they go about forming the new settlement?  What problems did they encounter?  Why is it so important?  Iceland was very far away in medieval terms.  Why?  Around 870-930 Vikings arrived in Iceland. It was an uninhabited land. This was very different in the sense of what they were used to.  Explanations: Politics, reaction to social change, fame/power, resources, because they could?  There were three expeditions: Naddoddr’s landing ( it was not very successful) in the east of Iceland; then Gardar Svarsson’s expedition which almost rounded Iceland and Raven Flok’s expedition in the west of Iceland.  How do we know about the expeditions?  First through written sources, the book of Icelanders by the priest Ari Porglisson: 1122-33. This is quite a short account of the settlements.  The other source is called the book of settlements. The oldest version is from the 13th century but it was probably initiated in the 12th century. I was a clockwise around the country, 300 years after the settlement. It recorded 430 settlers, 3500 personal names and 1500 farm names.  Archaeological evidence: There is evidence that backs up Ari’s statements of when the settlement happened.  Landnam tephra which is a record of volcanic explosion. And around 870 there was a big volcanic eruption and right after the ash layer found in Iceland were the first archaeological artefacts of the Vikings. This is in concordance with Ari’s statements.  Settlement of Iceland  Largely from Norway ( 80% according to the Book of Settlements)  Medieval historians emphasis this, why?: Because they were not purely from Norway.  Some evidence to support large proportion of Western Norwegian origins.  Also form Sweden and Denmark, Northern and Western Isles, Britain and Ireland.  Origins of settler:  Modern genetics: 21st century genetic study showed 80% of Icelandic men had a Ychromosome, suggesting Norwegian ancestry; 20% Celtic.  Another study found that 34% of Icelandic women had mitochondrial DNA suggesting Norwegian origin; 63% Celtic. This suggests that these women were slaves and captures in the British isles.  End of settlement phase:  60 years period: all suitable land was taken.  King Haraldr starting taking people who wanted to leave Norway. The king demanded taxes to those who wanted to leave.  Medieval population 10,000- 20,000?  Why was Iceland Settled? 

The Icelandic sources suggest that people were fleeing the tyranny of the Norwegian King Harald.  However the Norwegian view is that they went to Norway because they were feeling trouble This comes from Historial Norwegie  Settlement themes  Common to many frontier or settlement societies:  Escaping injustice, scaping domination.  Escaping justice.  Independence:  Social mobility ( egalitarianism), we go because anyone can be free.  Settlement problems:  Unfamiliar and largely environment, hard to grow resources. There is drinkable water mainly in the West.  They had problems to reforest Iceland because is volcanic, they relied in Norway for resources. There were nor many native animals in Iceland.  No existing structures, no maps, no roads, no established fountains.  Nature of the settlers, they were people who had a strong will and very independent. They were not easy to get in account with each other.  Favour of land-spirits and gods. The gods were tied to the land, they didn’t know where to connect with the gods.  Relationship with the old country, some wanted to break ties with the old country but they were still dependent. They had to maintain this relation.  How to settle a new land: Seek inspiration  They funded settlements in the name of gods. Thor and Christian God  Why are divine inspiration important: belief in fate, legitimisation, establish a tradition, there were some practical reasons.  Don’t get in each other’s way:  Problems when initial settlers took very large amounts of land.  They required the help of King Harald and they agreed that no man should take possession of an area larger than he and his crew could carry fire over in a single day.  Women could take land, medieval sources were happy to talk about females.  Build your longhouse:  Houses were made with stone, only the skeleton of the house was wood.  Work out a social structure.  No King! , this means no kings officials.  It was commonly called a free state, the commonwealth and even the republic.  But was it Europe’s first democracy? They had modern features.  Egalitarian?  Work our social structure: All people are equal but some are more equal than others. Landholding farmers, everyone is farming the land in some way.  Above farmers, there are 36/39 chieftaincies, each held by one or more chieftain, they were priests with legal and administrative duties. They kept the title after Christianisation but only kept their administrative duties.  The state of being a chief could be inherited, but also could be bought. Sometimes you could buy more than one. Eventually this leads to the end of the commonwealth. The 

farmers could choose their chiefs if they were not happy, the could change chief, they could leave them and seek protection.

Women could be a chief but not act in the role. Women could held the title.  Agree to agree:  Christian was officially accepted in Iceland at the Alping, 1000 by a decision.  Keep trak and tell people about it: Traditions and ancestors was something very important to trace their traditions and law. 

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Settlement period: ( Jon Vidar Sigurosson) There is general agreement among scholars that Ari Frodi’s dating of the first settlement to 874 is reliable.  The majority of the settlers were either wealthy farmers of chieftains’ what most of them had in common was that they owned ships which were large enough to transport people and livestock to Iceland.  Ari states in the book of Icelanders that within sixty winters all land was claimed in Iceland, so that there was no futher settlement made.  The single farm was the main feature of the settlement; there were no villages or towns developed in medieval Iceland.  Self-sufficiency was the goal for most households, they were not aimed to export anything.   

Law in Iceland  Factors to be learned:  Nature of crime and punishment in traditional vs modern system.  Role of individual.  Role of legal system.  Nature of legal system in Iceland as opposed to mainland Scandinavia.  Outlawry.  Sources.  Legacy  Modern English world law comes from Scandinavia.  Danelaw was the area of ASE where Scandinavian law was in force.  The constitution:  The settlers were familiar with assembly organisations and according to tradition assemblies were established in Porsnes and Kjalarnes before the national assembly which was founded in 930.  There is agreement among most scholars that the main elements of the constitution of the Free State, which only the Konungsbook version of Gragas 1250 describes.

At the time the general assembly was established there were 36 chieftaincies, when the. The total number of chieftaincies represented at the General Assembly was thus 48 , or 12 from each quarter.  The court system consisted of the spring assembly courts, the quarter court and the fifth court, which was the highest court of the Commonwealth, established around 1005.  The Law Council had three particular tasks: to make new laws, to interpret the laws when there was disagreement about them and to decide on various kinds of exemptions from the laws.  There is agreement among scholars over the main features of political development, between 1120 and 1262. This period is characterised by the concentration of power: in 1200 seven families controlled most of the country. By 1220 it is possible to divide the country into small domains with fairly fixed boundaries. After 1220 the Norwegian monarchy started to interfere in the political development of Iceland, and the king’s involvement resulted in the fall of the Free State.   Crime and punishment:  In a modern system there are crime against the individual and crime against the state. In contrast, in the early Icelandic system crime against individual and groups.  In the Modern system everyone is equal, everyone has legal rights and responsibilities. In the Early system there were differential legal rights and rights can be lost.  Modern system: Punishment, incapacitation, rehabilitation, reparation.  Early system: Punishment, revenge, reparation.  The revenge/ reparation system was important in societies with weak state control.  But in the Middle ages, it also flourished in societies with strong state control: Citystates of Flanders and Italy.  Reciprocity:  Reciprocity played a fundamental role in Icelandic law, it was its paradigm. For example to a friend a man should be a friend and repay gifts with gifts; laughter a man should give for laughter and repay treachery with lies.  The histories of most early societies were not recorded in writing. An exception is that of the Athenians. Another, only rivaled by the former, is that of the Icelanders. According to the Landnámabók some of the earliest settlers claimed tracts of land so large that they could not cultivate it all. Although around 30,000 people had settled in Iceland by 930, it is doubtful that all the land was cultivated by that time. Some areas may have been fully cultivated, but some of the land settled may have been unlivable. People may have came to realize the particular piece of land they occupied lacked drinking water, had too much snow, or had poor grass production. Therefore, a need to resettle may have arisen, causing problems. According to the Landnámabók, conflicts arose concerning land claims. Local Þings, which served as assemblies and courts, must have emerged in Iceland to handle such conflicts.  In reciprocity system moderation is key range of targets, but this also can lead to feud/bloodfued. 

  When is killing not a murder?  Distinction between killing and murder.  Any sort of concealed offence was considered deeply dishonourable.  Law less to do with culpability than with due process.  Honour  Your honour depends on your ability to reciprocate.  Can’t always exact in-kind revenge  Don’t always want to exact in-kind revenge.  Society doesn’t always want you to exact in kind revenge.  Regulation  Can seek legal redress instead, aims to sop escalation/endurance of feud.  Options: compensation, outlawry, duel.  Legal Assemblies  Called bing( pronounced thing)  Local assemblies in spring and autumn.  General assembly worked in the summer.  Most lawsuits required witnesses.  No evidence of family bing sites in Iceland.  Fifth court: instituted in 1015, court appeal, cases not resolved in the Quarter Courts.  Cult and Law  Sacred and safe places, Christian law  Chieftain priest.  No ancestors-traditional burial mounds. Sites were chosen for pragmatic reasons.  Book of Icelanders: ‘And it is said that Ulfljótr’s foster-brother was GrRmr geitskor, who explored the whole of Iceland on Slfljótr’s recommendation before the Althing was held.’  ‘The Althing was established where it now is by the decision of Slfljótr and everyone in the country.’  Albing ( general assembly)  2 weeks in summer, it was also an important social occasion too. Any free men could choose to attend. One in 9 of chieftain’s followers were required to attend.  People  Lawspeaker: only elected official, remembered the laws and recited them, elected for a three year term, final point of reference for the wording of the law.  Law council and lawyers ( not an official profession)  Women  Women were not legal actors, they were not legally culpable, however they had legal rights to inheritance, property and even divorce.  Sources: Icelandic Law Code-Gragas  Var log “ out laws”, first written in 117-18.  2 extant manuscripts- Konugsbok 1250-60; Staoarholsbock 1280.

Evidence there was a proliferation of written legal texts- problem of transition from orality to literacy.  Types of laws:  moving about on pointless journeys  cutting someone’s hair or getting his clothes dirty  legal obligation to provide contraception for sheep  rules about the length of a dog’s lead if it is to be tied up in a toilet area  A legal idea?  The written legal sources are from the period when Iceland was losing its selfautonomy.  Do they show legal minds envisioning any eventuality or do they record precedent ( or both)?  How much do they reflect an ideal and how much do they reflect practice?  Other sources, for examples sagas paint a different picture. Which do you think are more reliable?  Penalties:  Nominal fine for minor transgressions.  Lesser outlawry.  Full outlawry- used as a penalty surprisingly frequently in the laws, but seem to have acted as a point to begin negotiations.  Practice:  Law/ courts not always about finding guilt or innocent.  Everyone need to know their rights.  According to sagas, technical and procedural errors could void a case.  Problem of outlawry.  Bing became a venue for arbitration for the highest social stratum.  Arbitration  Mediators would decide a fair level of compensation.  Feuds and settlement of disputes now became important topics. The majority of disputes were settled through arbitration or direct negotiation. The decisions was usually acceptable to all parties involved and the likelihood of the case ending there was good. Arbitration and negotiations were the most effective methods of resolving conflicts because the Icelandic Free State had no central authority that could implement sentences. The arbitrators had to find a long-term solution that would satisfy both parties. If the conflicting parties did not accept the arbitration decision, they would offend the arbitrators and would not be able to rely on their support in future cases  Communes.  There most important social institution in Iceland in the Middle Ages was the commune, but scholarly discussion has neglected it. The communes were independent geographical unites led by five commune leaders, elected for one year at time. They had to distribute taxes intended for the poor. In the Free State, each family was primarily responsible for looking after its own members. If it was unable to do so, or if there were no relatives, this duty fell on the communes, the spring 

assembly parish, the Quarters of the country as a whole. The leaders of the communes had to distribute food to the poor, and organise their movements round the commune.  The Commune’s other main task was to arrange mutual insurance between the farmers. 

Vikings in Brittany and the creation of Normandy  Brittany was tempting target for Vikings.  Franks and Vikings were not too different, Franks were equally violent.  Brittany did not want to be part of Franccia. Bretons sometimes allied with the Vikings.  The River Loirte was the one of the main frontiers of Francia.  The Carolingian heartland is most important in the late eight and ninth centuries.  The Duchy of Normandy: ( Jean Renaud)  By the turn of the tenth century, the Vikings had sailed up down the River Seine many times and plundered the area far and wide since their first attack in 820.  Under these circumstance that the Frankish King, Charles the simple, agreed to negotiate with their chief, Rollo. There are no written records of the treaty of SaintClair and even the date is unknown, probably 911. Dudo of Saint-Quentin has left us the only known account of that event, written hundred years later.  The King granted Rollo territory more or less under Danish control, demanding that the Vikings should defend it, thus protecting the realm from further attacks and become Christians. By this terms Rollo became the Count of Normandy ( although there is no records of Rollo using a title but his descendants used such title).  Rollo was probably not a vassal as their new land could not be taken back. Nevertheless, Rollo accepted baptism and the new name of Robert, and encouraged the return of priests and monks in order to gain the people’s favour, thus asserting personal political strength.  Normandy was first born as a county, but Rollo’s grat-grandson ( Richard II) called himself a duke.  The Scandinavian Settlement  The Vikings did not settle all over Normandy, nor did they sever the country from its roots. But each of the two mainly settled areas reflects a different attitude and different structures.  In Cax and Romois , it was a coherent process of both settling and integrating. As the successor to Frankish counts, Rollo found it advisable to keep the current Carolingian system in place, he became count of Rousen, as the Norse sagas later referred to him, but did not recreate a ping, an assembly, where all free men would meet and take decisions.

On the other hand, in the less inhabited North-Cotentin the settlement was purely Scandinavian. There is evidence for the existence of a ping. The right to exile is of undeniable Scandinavian origin In a charter of 1050 listing the so called ducal cases. Free union, was long admitted together with legal marriage before the Church. It was common practice in Scandinavia and the first rulers all had concubine.  Scandinavian influence has obviously been most significant in maritime organisation.  A Successful Integration  One of the main features of the Viking settlement in Normandy is the rapid and successful mixing of Franks and Scandinavians, which created the Norman people in only a few generations time.  While the Vikings integrated into the local community, their language declined quickly. But many Norse words remained.  The new Norman aristocracy gradually departed from the Norse.  The Viking Conquest of Brittany ( Neil Price)  The Celtic-speaking Bretons continually maintained a determined independence from the Frankish Empire.  When Scandinavian raiding parties began appearing around the shores of Francia in the ninth century, Brittany was nominally a client of the empire, ruled by a Breton regent.  However, on the emperor’s death in 840 Nominoe declared independence in a move which set the pattern for the following century.  The Historical Picture  The fulcrum of Viking operations in Brittany, initially in the form of aggravated raids but later expanding in scope. Scandinavians fought as mercenaries for the Frankish empire and the Bretons. th  In the 10 century after decades of peace Brittany was subjected to a repeated pattern of intense raiding, culminating in a four-years occupation that was itself followed by a complete takeover of the province in 919. In this year the Vikings managed to overcome all Breton resistance.  This is of course the period following the establishment of Normand, and it seems clear that the Vikings in Brittany had in mind a similar kind of colony- but the outcome was very different: not only was the settlement short-lived, but it left behind hardly any trace of its existence.  What is known is entirely military. The Breton Vikings used their new home as a base for further raiding, often in tandem with the fledgling Norman on the Seine. In 921 the Franks even confirmed the Scandinavians in their territory, happy perhaps to contain a potential problem in the land of their Breton enemies.  However there is no features of Viking colonial ambitions that are familiar from other areas of settlement: there is no trade, no coinage, no thriving market centres- there appears to be only way.  The Viking colony in Brittany had lasted only twenty years, and was never to be refunded. 

Viking in England ( Clare Downham)

Vikings had a profound impact on the history of English-speaking people. In the period from the first recorded raids in the late with century, until the conquest of England by Cnut in 1016, the political geography, culture and identities of the Anglo-Saxon were transformed.  The paradigms of Viking history have been much coloured by texts which post-date the Viking Age. These include writings which emanated from the church of Durham from the eleventh century onwards and...