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16-466: According to Ari Thorgilsson , the earliest Icelandic laws were modeled on those from the Norwegian west-coast law-province, Gulathing . These were introduced to Iceland by an immigrant from Norway named Úlfljótr, sometime during the 920's. Following several years of modification and revision, Úlfljótr's laws were approved by an initial assembly. Out of this meeting, the annual general assembly known as

32-467: A brief genealogy of his or her descendants. Sometimes short anecdote-like stories are also included. Landnámabók lists 435 people ( landnámsmenn , which includes men and women) as the initial settlers, the majority of them settling in the northern and southwestern parts of the island. It remains an invaluable source on both the history and genealogy of the Icelandic people. Some have suggested

48-485: A single author, while others have believed it to have been put together when people met at things (assemblies). Ari Þorgilsson may have written the earliest version of Landnámabók in addition to his shorter Íslendingabók ; or early versions may have been based on the genealogies that Ari states he left out of Íslendingabók . The oldest surviving versions were written in the 13th and 14th centuries. The initial settlement of Iceland largely took place during

64-602: A unified body of law, as arguably one never existed in the Icelandic Commonwealth. Instead, the Grágás was derived from two smaller, fragmentary volumes known as the Konungsbók (Copenhagen, Royal Library , GKS 1157 fol), apparently written around 1260, and Staðarhólsbók (Reykjavík, Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies , AM 334 fol), apparently written in 1280. The ornate detail and appearance of

80-412: Is the only work that with evidence for his authorship, but he is accredited with numerous articles of knowledge and is believed to have had a major part in the writing of Landnámabók , which chronicles the settlement of Iceland. Ari was early on regarded as an important author. In Iceland's First Grammatical Treatise , written around 1160 AD, he is referred to with respect as an exceptional man, since

96-647: Is typically referred to as Ari the Wise ( Ari fróði ), and according to Snorri Sturluson was the first to write history in Old Norse . Ari was a part of the Haukdælir family clan and studied in the school in Haukadalur as a student of Teitur Ísleifsson (the son of Ísleifur Gissurarson , first bishop of Iceland). There he became acquainted with Classical education . His writings clearly indicate that he

112-601: The Althing was established. Each following summer, Icelanders would convene at Thingvellir for legislative and judicial meetings which would be supervised by the Lawspeaker. The term "Gray Goose Laws", used to describe the laws of the Icelandic Commonwealth by the 16th century, may refer to the following: The existing Icelandic Commonwealth laws that now exist as the Grágás never actually existed in one complete volume during medieval times. The Grágás does not contain

128-532: The Viking Age between 870 and 930, but Landnámabók mentions descendants significantly later than the actual settlement period, at least into the 11th century. Five versions of Landnámabók survive, of which three were written in the Middle Ages, the other two in the 17th century preserving medieval material: Landnámabók is one of the main sources of information on the heathen religion of

144-541: The settlement ( landnám ) of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. Landnámabók is divided into five parts and over 100 chapters. The first part tells of how the island was found. The latter parts count settlers quarter by quarter, beginning with west and ending with south. It traces important events and family history into the 12th century. More than 3,000 people and 1,400 settlements are described. It tells where each settler settled and provides

160-534: The following year. These laws remained in force until 1271–1273 at which time the Ironside Laws —based on Norwegian laws—were adopted. There is scholarly disagreement, however, about how representative the Grágás are regarding the legal tradition that existed during Viking age Iceland. Arguably, the codification of oral law in the Grágás better represents Icelandic legal tradition post-Christianity, thus after

176-485: The settlers. According to Sveinbjörn Rafnsson, the Sturlubók and Hauksbók versions tend to overemphasise Christianity, Melabók less so. An epilogue to ' Þórðarbók , probably copied from Melabók , justifies studying Icelandic history as a defence against foreign accusations of descent from "slaves or rogues" and because "all reasonable peoples" want to know about their origins. This Iceland -related article

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192-428: The tradition of writing was not firmly established at the time. This article about an Icelandic writer or poet is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Landn%C3%A1mab%C3%B3k Landnámabók ( Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈlantˌnauːmaˌpouːk] , "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to Landnáma , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail

208-399: The volumes suggests that they were created for a wealthy, literate man, though scholars cannot be certain. Because the Grágás laws originally existed in two different forms, each has a unique written account of the law. Sometimes the Konungsbók and Staðarhólsbók present different information, sometimes complementary information, and sometimes contradictory information. This could represent

224-608: The way in which the law was interpreted differently by different scribes or by different citizens. According to the Grágás , one third of the Icelandic laws were recited by the Law Speaker at the Icelandic national parliament , the Alþingi , each year over a three-year period. In 1117, the Alþingi decided that all the laws should be written down and this was accomplished at Hafliði Másson ’s farm over that winter and published

240-407: The year 1000. Ari %C3%9Eorgilsson Ari Þorgilsson (1067/1068 – 9 November 1148; Old Norse : [ˈɑre ˈθorˌɡilsˌson] ; Modern Icelandic : [ˈaːrɪ ˈθɔrˌcɪlsˌsɔːn] ; also anglicized Ari Thorgilsson ) was Iceland 's most prominent medieval chronicler. He was the author of Íslendingabók , which details the histories of the various families who settled Iceland. He

256-482: Was familiar with Latin chronicler traditions, but at the same time he is widely regarded as excelling in the Icelandic oral storytelling tradition. It is believed that Ari later became a Christian priest in Staður by Ölduhryggur, now known as Staðastaður , but otherwise little is known about his life, despite the fact that he is one of the very few medieval writers who wrote down his family history. Íslendingabók

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