thumb|right|A page from a [[vellum manuscript of in the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík, Iceland]]

(, , "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.

is divided into five parts and 102 chapters.

The first part tells of how the island was found, and the first settlers that came to the land. The latter parts count settlers quarter by quarter, beginning with west and ending with south. It traces important events and family history into the 12th century: more than 3,000 people and 1,400 settlements are described. It tells where each settler settled and provides a brief genealogy of his or her descendants. Sometimes short anecdote-like stories are also included. lists 435 people (', which includes men and women) as the initial settlers, the majority of them settling in the northern and southwestern parts of the island.

It remains an invaluable source on both the history and genealogy of the Icelandic people.

Some have suggested a single author, while others have believed it to have been put together when people met at things (assemblies).

Versions

Ari Þorgilsson may have written the earliest version of in addition to his shorter ; or early versions may have been based on the genealogies that Ari states he left out of . The oldest surviving versions were written in the 13th and 14th centuries. The initial settlement of Iceland largely took place during the Viking Age between 870 and 930, but mentions descendants significantly later than the actual settlement period, at least into the 11th century.

Five versions of survive, of which three were written in the Middle Ages, the other two in the 17th century preserving medieval material:

  • by Sturla Þórðarson, thought to have been written between 1275 and 1280
  • A version in the early 14th-century compilation by Haukr Erlendsson, who says he based it on Sturlubók and a lost 13th-century version by ,
  • Melabók, written c. 1300, of which only two sheets survive; genealogies were appended to this in the early 14th century
  • Skarðsárbók, compiled prior to 1636 by from and
  • Þórðarbók, compiled in the 17th century by Þórður Jónsson from Skarðsárbók with the addition of sections of Melabók, some of which may derive from

is one of the main sources of information on the heathen religion of the settlers. According to Sveinbjörn Rafnsson, the Sturlubók and ' versions tend to overemphasise Christianity, Melabók less so.

Other stories in the document are supported by other sources, according to another Icelandic historian, Helgi Þorláksson, the story of Ingólfr Arnarson's settlement seems to be accurate and in accordance with other sources.

See also

  • Cerball mac Dúnlainge, Irish ruler mentioned as Kjarvalur.

Notes

  • Online publication of Landnámabók
  • English translation by the Rev. T. Ellwood (1898)