Íslendingabók

The Íslendingabók ( the Icelanders book or Liber Islandorum ) is the oldest known historical work in Iceland.

It was written around 1125 by the Icelandic Þorgilsson Ari ( Ari the scholar ) and presents the history of Iceland from the Settlement by Norwegian upper class families to 1118 represents the original version is not obtained, but rather his own revision of the text. According to his own statements, he has omitted in this version of the genealogical register ( " áttartala " ) and King biographies ( " konunga aevi ") of the original version.

Language and style

Very contrary to the customs of the time the book was written in Icelandic, usually one used among contemporary scholars in Iceland the Latin language, which was the international language of science until well into the Baroque period. Ari Fróði has in a certain way was already founded in the early period of the Icelandic literature, the tradition to also write scientific texts in the mother tongue. His style is tight, and you realize that he himself was quite the Latin powerful.

Scientific content and method

Ari was already working with documents, called his sources and finished dates. His main source was his foster father Hallr of Haukadalur, who died in 1089 at the age of 94 years. This had been a follower of Olav the Holy. He had other informants. But he also used written sources: the Venerable Bede, Adam of Bremen, and foreign annals.

The focus of the presentation is on the Althing ( Althingi ) and the Church. The work is divided into 10 chapters, which include the first five colonization, the first laws and the establishment of Allthings in 930. Chapter 6 deals with the discovery and settlement of Greenland in 986 Chapter 7, the longest, deals with the introduction of Christianity. Chapter 8 deals with the 11th century and the activities of foreign missionaries. Chapters 9 and 10 deal with Iceland's history among the bishops Ísleifr ( 1056-1080 ) and his son Bishop Gizurr ( 1082-1118 ).

Aris chronology

Ari used mostly a relative chronology. Only four pieces of information are formulated as annual figures: the death of Pope Gregory the Great in 604, the killing of King Edmund in 870, the death of Olav the Holy in the year 1000 and the beginning of a new calendar account in the year 1120 with the information 870. and 1000, it linked the settlement of Iceland and the introduction of Christianity to the continental chronology. The specification in 1120 served to facilitate for the reader to understand with the help of the Easter tables in the relative chronology. Specifying 604 for the death of Gregory delivered the check that the return statement over the Easter tables also came up. This is concluded from the fact that this number is mentioned as the last absolute date at the end of the work and the relative chronology of these non relates to. Ari was not satisfied with this indication of the absolute number of years, but he determined the death of Gregory also relative to the Table of the Eastern Roman Emperor. This double dating has also Bede in his Historia ecclesiastica Book II, Chap. 1 is applied, which is why you believed for a long time, Ari had been based on Bede's historical work. But this came to the wrong result 605, which it is inferred today that Bede was not used directly for this dating, but at best a secondary literature. The date itself was probably John Deacon taken as a parallel between the times of need after the death Gizurs in Iceland is drawn to the case of John in his Vita Gregorii pape described times of need after the death of Gregory. Both use the topos to describe the Notjahre after the death of a man as an indication of its size and importance. Both establish their relative chronology of the second year of the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Phocas. So remains unproven whether Ari Bede's historical work has ever known.

Manuscripts received

The oldest surviving manuscript of the revised version of Ari dates from the 17th century and was written by Jón Erlendsson for Brynjólfur Sveinsson, bishop of Skálholt. Jón thus wrote from a manuscript from the 12th century that has passed since lost. This medieval manuscript must have been lost soon after copying because Árni Magnússon, who moved in the late 17th century by Iceland and medieval manuscripts collected, could find no trace of it.