The History of IcelandU of Minnesota Press, 2000 - 418 pages Iceland is unique among European societies in having been founded as late as the Viking Age and in having copious written and archaeological sources about its origin. Gunnar Karlsson, that country's premier historian, chronicles the age of the Sagas, consulting them to describe an era without a monarch or central authority. Equating this prosperous time with the golden age of antiquity in world history, Karlsson then marks a correspondence between the Dark Ages of Europe and Iceland's "dreary period", which started with the loss of political independence in the late thirteenth century and culminated with an epoch of poverty and humility, especially during the early Modern Age. Iceland's renaissance came about with the successful struggle for independence in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and with the industrial and technical modernization of the first half of the twentieth century. Karlsson describes the rise of nationalism as Iceland's mostly poor peasants set about breaking with Denmark, and he shows how Iceland in the twentieth century slowly caught up economically with its European neighbors. |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Expressions et termes fréquents
19th century Althing Alþingis annals Árni assembly became Bessastaðir Bishop Jón Bjarni Book of Settlements chieftaincies chieftains Christian Church Commonwealth constitutional Copenhagen Crown Danish decades Denmark Diplomatarium Islandicum district early Einarsson elections English epidemic established export farmers farms fishing force foreign German Gísli Gizurr goðar governor Greenland Guðmundsson Guðmundur Guðmundur Jónsson Gunnar Karlsson Hafnarfjörður Hagskinna 1997 hand harbours Helgi Hið íslenzka Hólar Icelandic Commonwealth important Independence Party Íslands Íslendinga Jón Sigurðsson Jónas Jónsson Keflavík king Kristjánsson krónur Labour Party land late later lived Magnús Magnús Stephensen Magnússon major merchants minister movement Nordic Norse Norway Norwegian officials Ólafur Páll People's Alliance period political population probably Quarter Reykjavík royal rule sagas sail seems sheriffs ships Sigurður Skálholt Skúli Snorri Snorri Sturluson social society sources status Sturlungar Sturluson tion trade transl trawler treaty union Viking Age wages women Þingvellir Þór