Iceland's 1100 Years

''Iceland''s 1100 Years'' recounts the history of a society on the margin of Europe as well as on the margin of reaching the size and wealth of a proper state. Iceland is unique among the European ...

''Iceland''s 1100 Years'' recounts the history of a society on the margin of Europe as well as on the margin of reaching the size and wealth of a proper state. Iceland is unique among the European societies in being founded as late as the Viking Age, and in surviving for centuries without any central power after Christianity had introduced the art of writing. This was the age of the Sagas, which are not only literature but also a rare treasury of sources about a stateless society.In sharp contrast to the prosperous society portrayed by the Sagas, early modern Iceland appears to have been extre