Survivals of Paganism in Christian Medieval Iceland as Evidenced by the Icelandic Family Sagas

• Main Author: Grossman, Deborah
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Digital Commons at Oberlin 1988
• Subjects: Iceland; Scandinavia; Paganism; Christianity; History
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/593; https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/context/honors/article/1592/viewcontent/Grossman_Survivals_thesis_1988.pdf

In the summer of the year 1000 A.D., the General Assembly of Iceland voted to convert to Christianity. The basis for this decision was political rather than religious, as it was to prevent civil dissension. This factor influenced the subsequent impact of Christianity on Icelandic society, and made possible the survival of numerous pagan practices and values. Contemporary literary sources, especially the Icelandic Family sagas, not only cover the conversion of Iceland, the ensuing conflicts and tensions between paganism and Christianity, and pagan survivals under Christianity, they also include many descriptions of pagan religion and pre-Christian society in Iceland. A study of the Family sagas requires a knowledge of pre-Christian Germanic religion and society, of Christianization of Scandinavia in general the conversion and and Iceland in particular, and of the different forms of literature which have preserved this information. Background information on Germanic paganism is important for the study of Scandinavia paganism, as the two are closely related. Information on Germanic paganism comes mostly from Roman accounts, such as the Germania by Tacitus, and archeological evidence. A more specific study of Scandinavian paganism is necessary to understand pre-Christian society in Iceland, and to understand the conflicts which later arose between Christianity and paganism. The Poetic Edda is one of the most important sources of information on Scandinavian paganism, as well as archeological discoveries. The conversion and Christianization of Iceland was a process covering over 200 years, affecting all aspects of Icelandic society. Iceland was the last of the four Scandinavian countries to be converted, and it also produced most of the literature written in the Norse languages surviving from that time. These facts help to explain the frequent accounts in Icelandic literature of pagan religious practices and values, many of which evidently survived in Icelandic society well into Christian times. There are many ...