Knowra Christianization of Iceland Christianization of Iceland The adoption of Christianity in Iceland around 1000, formalized by a decision at the Alþingi and followed by a gradual transformation of religious and cultural life.
Alþingi : Iceland’s national assembly, founded in the tenth century, where chieftains and free farmers made laws and settled disputes. Its law-speaker presented the compromise that made Christianity Iceland’s public religion.
Íslendingabók : A concise early twelfth-century history of Iceland’s settlement and church, written in Old Norse by Ari Þorgilsson. It preserves the account of the Alþingi decision and its terms.
Icelandic literature : Literary works written in Icelandic, especially the medieval sagas, poetry, and histories preserved from the island’s past. Christian literacy helped create the conditions for medieval Icelandic writing.
Lögsögumaður : The lawspeaker of the Icelandic Alþingi, responsible for reciting the law and advising on legal questions. Þorgeir held this office when he announced the settlement, according to the conversion narrative.
Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði : An Icelandic lawspeaker and chieftain who, according to medieval accounts, decided the settlement on Christianity around 1000. He was chosen to determine how Iceland could avoid division over religion.
Grágás : The medieval collection of Icelandic laws from the Commonwealth period, preserved in thirteenth-century manuscripts. Its laws reflect the Christian institutions that developed after conversion.
Icelandic sagas : Medieval Icelandic prose narratives about families, feuds, and events from the settlement era through the eleventh century. Their Christian-era authors recounted a society whose conversion remained part of its remembered past.
Law Rock : A rocky outcrop at Þingvellir associated with the Alþingi’s public legal recitations and proceedings. The assembly setting gives the conversion decision its public and legal character.
Olaf Tryggvason : King of Norway from 995 to 1000, remembered for promoting Christianity in Norway and pressuring Icelanders to convert. His missionaries and political pressure helped make conversion an urgent Icelandic question.
Paganism : A broad term for religious traditions outside major world religions, often applied to pre-Christian beliefs and practices. The settlement restricted public pagan rites while allowing some private observances.
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