Landnámabók
The old Icelandic text Landnámabók ("Landnahmebuch", Book of Settlement of Iceland ) is an important historical source of the colonization of Iceland. The focus is on a genealogical list of the largely Norwegian settlers who took possession of the uninhabited island. Today Landnámabók is no longer considered to be an absolutely reliable historical source. However, it was written by its authors and compilers with historical awareness and must therefore be taken seriously, at least from an emic perspective.
Description of the settlement
Fact reproduction
Landnámabók lists 400 Scandinavian settlers who arrived and settled in Iceland between 870 and 930.
The lands taken over are shown in a geographically structured way, with the author systematically circling the island. In addition, the book describes the boundaries of the individual settlements, characterizes the settlers, gives biographical anecdotes and reports on important experiences in their lives, listing ancestors and descendants up to the 11th century.
Differentiation from literary texts
In contrast to the literary Íslendinga sögur , who took their genealogical information either directly from Landnámabók or from the same tradition and primarily want to maintain it, Landnámabók is about the transmission of historical events.
Tradition and writing
The contemporaries of the author of the original Landnámabók were Icelanders in the fifth generation. The data recording was dependent on oral transmission (orality), the reliability of which usually leaves much to be desired after less than 200 years with regard to the reproduction of actual conditions. The interest of peasant societies in genealogy and descent to legitimize territorial ownership is so important that the Landnámabók is nevertheless a partially reliable source.
Manuscripts
The original version of the Landnámabók has not survived. It was written in the 11th century, and it is believed that it comes from Ari Þorgilsson inn frodi (1068–1148), or that he was involved in its creation.
Landnámabók, on the other hand, was preserved in five medieval versions:
- The oldest version, Sturlubók by Sturla Þórðarson (1214–1284), was probably made between 1275 and 1280 and is the only one that has been fully preserved.
- The second version, Hauksbók , was compiled by Haukr Erlendsson († 1331) between 1306 and 1308 , but is not entirely complete.
- The third version, Melabók , can only be ascribed to Snorri Markússon (1313) from Melar in Melasveit with a certain degree of uncertainty . It is only preserved in fragments in two parchment manuscripts. Melabók is, however, the version that presumably transmits the original text most clearly.
- Parts of Melabók are in the Þórðarbók written by Þórður Jónsson from Hítardalur , a version of Landnámabók from the 17th century.
- Skarðsárbók is a bit older and was compiled before 1636 by Björn Jónsson , who drew from Sturlubók and Hauksbók for his version .
In Hauksbók's epilogue , Haukr mentions other, older versions, but these have not been preserved. He also mentions that the original Landnámabók should go back to Ari Þorgilsson and Kolskeggr Asbjarnarson , and was created around 1100, the other, Styrmisbók , is said to have been written by Styrmir Kárason († 1245) around 1220; she is closely related to Melabók .
See also
literature
- Iceland's settlement and oldest history . Transferred from Walter Baetke . New edition with an afterword by Rolf Heller. Diederichs, Düsseldorf et al. 1967, ( Thule vol. 23).
- Jón Jóhannesson: A history of the Old Icelandic commonwealth. Íslendinga saga . University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg 1974, ( University of Manitoba Icelandic studies 2).
- Rudolf Simek , Hermann Pálsson : Lexicon of Old Norse Literature (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 490). Kröner, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-520-49001-3 , pp. 222-223.
Web links
- Landnámabók in Old Norse
- Landnámabók in the version of Sturla Þórðarson (Icelandic)
- Landnámabók (English translation)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dag Strömbäck: Sejd och andra studier i nordisk själsuppfattning. Hedemora 2000. ISBN 91-7844-318-0 (reprint of the dissertation from 1935. pp. 73-75); z. B. The settlement of Ingimundur and his sons in the Landnáma is briefly reproduced (3rd book, 2nd chapter) in the Vatnsdæla saga chap. 10 and 12 are described broadly.