Chris Callow, University of Birmingham

Iceland and the viking diaspora, c. 900—c. 1400

Thursday November 21st, 2013, at 16.30
Árnagarður 423

Iceland’s relations with the wider Scandinavian world in the middle ages were diverse and multi-faceted. This paper aims to explore some aspects of the research which form part of a broader project on ‘the viking diaspora’ which will be published as a book. Iceland is at the heart of the study, especially the latter half of it, because of its later medieval literary texts which preserve varied perspectives on the Old Norse-Icelandic-speaking world. After considering some methodological and historiographical issues the paper will look briefly at  Iceland’s relationship with Norway.

Chris Callow is a Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Birmingham. He wrote his PhD thesis on the history of medieval western Iceland and has published on topics connected with Iceland (on Landnámabók, burial archaeology) and early medieval western Europe.