9th-Century Icelandic People - Inglfr Arnarson, Naddoddr, Skalla-Grmr, Ketil Trout, Olaf Feilan, Thorolf Kveldulfsson, Aud the Deep-Minded (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Inglfr Arnarson (modern Icelandic Inglfur Arnarson) is recognized as the first permanent Nordic settler of Iceland. According to Landnma he built his homestead in (and gave name to) Reykjavk in 874. Although recent archaeological finds in Iceland suggest settlement may have started a little earlier, the date is probably not too far off. The medieval chronicler Ari Thorgilsson said Inglfr was the first Nordic settler in Iceland but mentioned that "Papar" - i.e. Irish monks and hermits - had been in the country before the Norsemen. He wrote that they left because they did not want to live amongst the newly arrived pagans. Landnma (written two to three centuries after the settlement) contains a long story about Inglf's settlement. The book claims he left Norway after becoming involved in a blood feud. He had heard about a new island which Gararr Svavarsson, Flki Vilgerarson and others had found in the Atlantic Ocean. With his close friend Hjrleifr Hrmarsson, he sailed for Iceland. When land was in sight, he threw his high seat pillars (a sign of his being a chieftain) overboard and promised to settle where the gods decided to bring them ashore. Two of his slaves then searched the coasts for three years before finding the pillars in the small bay which eventually became Reykjavk. In the meantime, Hjrleifr had been murdered by his Irish slaves because of his ill-treatment. Inglfr hunted them down and killed them in the Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar, named after the slaves). Inglfr was said to settle a large part of the south-western part of Iceland, but after his settlement nothing more was known. His son, orsteinn Inglfsson, was a major chieftain and was said to have founded the first thing, or parliament, in... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=454891