Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-767nl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T08:19:03.034Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - St þorlákr of Iceland: The Emergence of a Cult

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2012

Get access

Summary

The year 2000 was a year of celebrations in Iceland marking the 1000th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity. The conversion in Iceland is believed to have taken place in 999 or 1000 in the reign of King Ólafr Tryggvason of Norway and fully confirmed in the reign of his successor Ólafr Haraldsson, whose sainthood was acknowledged soon after his death in 1030. Several sources contain information about the process of Christianisation in Iceland, the oldest being the Book of the Icelanders (Íslendingabók) by Ari þorgilsson from 1125–30. The book is a concise history of Iceland from the beginning of the settlement until c. 1120. The sources and transmission of Ari's account can be traced to the time of the conversion. Ari says in his book that his account of the acceptance of Christianity was how his informant and teacher, Teitr Ísleifsson, had told it. Teitr was the son of Ísleifr, the first bishop of Iceland. Ísleifr was the son of Gizurr Ísleifsson, a Christian chieftain who was present at that dramatic Althing meeting when the new religion was accepted. The accounts of the adoption of Christianity are extensive and lively compared to other chapters of the Book of the Icelanders. It describes how the heathens and the followers of the missionaries almost went to war with each other. Due to a clever speech by the heathen lawspeaker, peace was restored and a law passed saying that the populace should be Christian.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Haskins Society Journal 12
2002 - Studies in Medieval History
, pp. 121 - 132
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×