Christianization of Iceland information

Armenian manuscript of 1053. Work of Johannes in Iceland.

Iceland was Christianized in the year 1000 AD, when Christianity became the religion by law. In Icelandic, this event is known as the kristnitaka (literally, "the taking of Christianity").

The vast majority of the initial settlers of Iceland during the settlement of Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries AD were pagan, worshipping the Æsir (the Norse gods). Beginning in 980, Iceland was visited by several Christian missionaries who had little success; but when Olaf Tryggvason (who had converted around 998) ascended to the Norwegian throne, there were many more converts, and the two rival religions soon divided the country and threatened civil war.

After war broke out in Denmark and Norway, the matter was submitted to arbitration at the Althing. Law speaker and pagan Thorgeir Thorkelsson proposed "one law and one religion" after which baptism and conversion to Christianity became compulsory.^[1]^[2] Ari Thorgilsson's Book of the Icelanders, the oldest indigenous account of Iceland's Christianization describes how Icelanders agreed to convert to Christianity through a bargain whereby some pragmatic concessions were granted to the pagans in exchange for converting.^[3]

^ Cite error: The named reference orfield was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Jochens, Jenny (1998). Women in Old Norse Society. Cornell University Press. p. 18.
^ Bagge, Sverre (2014). Cross and Scepter: The Rise of the Scandinavian Kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation. Princeton University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-4008-5010-5.

[orfield-1] Cite error: The named reference orfield was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] Jochens, Jenny (1998). Women in Old Norse Society. Cornell University Press. p. 18.

[3] Bagge, Sverre (2014). Cross and Scepter: The Rise of the Scandinavian Kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation. Princeton University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-4008-5010-5.

Christianization of Iceland information

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Middle ages Settlement of Iceland 870–930 Icelandic Commonwealth 930–1262 Farthings 965 Christianization 999–1118 Sturlung era 1180–1264 Staðamálin 1178–1297 Norwegian rule 1262–1380 Old Covenant 1262 Danish rule 1380–1918 Reformation 1536–1627 Danish trade monopoly 1602–1874 Eruption of Laki 1783–1785
Modern era Independence movement 1809–1847 Prohibition 1915–1989 Kingdom of Iceland 1918–1944 Act of Union World War II 1939–1944 British invasion of Iceland 1940 Allied occupation of Iceland 1940–1945 Invader relationships Founding of republic 1944 Iceland in the Cold War 1947–1991 Cod Wars 1948–1976 Anti-NATO riot 1949 Financial crisis 2008–2011 COVID-19 pandemic 2020–
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