Asgeir Jonsson - Why Iceland?

WHY ICELAND?

SGEIR JNSSON

Head of Research and Chief Economist, Kaupthing Bank

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AN ULTIMATUM FROM THE KING

In the early morning in the third week of June 1000 AD, the general assembly of the Icelandic parliament, Althing, was called into session. Customarily, the session was held out in the open air, in a natural amphitheater in Thingvellir (Parliamentary fields) in the southwestern part of the country, created by the combination of lava flows and fissure formation in the earth, complete with a speaker podium.

There was great tension in the air as the 39 MPs, known as the Godi, stepped forth and greeted Thorgeir, the law speaker, as he prepared to address the crowd from the podium. The Godi represented free farmers from every corner of the country; indeed, a large part of their constituency stood behind them, fully armed. A small minority of the Godi, accompanying a handful of priests in the full regalia of the Holy Roman Church, occupied a corner of the amphitheater at a distance from the others. Thorgeir had been charged with the task of devising some kind of compromise to solve the worst political crisis the young democracy had encountered since its founding in 930.

lafur Tryggvason, the great warrior king of Norway, had issued an ultimatum to the young state to either convert to Christianity or face his wrath. The Norwegian king was indeed a formidable enemy. He had the largest fleet of long shipswar dragonsin the North Atlantic. The kings standard carrier Worm-the-Long was the largest warship the Viking world had ever known. lafur had used his military might to christen Norway; death and torture awaited those who persisted with their pagan ways. Now, his focus was on Iceland.

The king had sent missionaries to Iceland, German priests accompanied by Icelanders who had served in his army. They had tried peacefully to spread the good word around the country with almost no success. Frustrated, they had resorted to attacking pagan holy sites and temples and killing prominent pagans. The Althing had expelled them from the country and now faced the kings anger.

Obeying this kingsor any kingscommand was not to the liking of the newly established nation. The country had been settled by Norse farmers and chieftains fleeing taxes and tyranny as the first unified Norwegian kingdom had been established around 870900 AD. The Icelanders also knew the king would never risk his precious fleet on the high seas to subdue them. The country was at a safe distance from all Norwegian kings. Nevertheless, King lafur wielded sufficient power to enforce near-total isolation on the country, since most shipping routes to Iceland originated in Norway. Indeed, the king had already given a strong indication that pagans were not welcome in his kingdom by ordering attacks on Icelanders visiting Norway. And to further sharpen the thinking at Althing, the king held five Godis sons as hostages.

To Christianity as such the Icelanders were ambivalent. Quite a lot of the original settlers had lived in the British Isles prior to coming to the country. Some had become Christians in their new country, although their children would revert back to paganism. Others had chosen to worship Christ along with the pagan gods: in peacetime they would pray to Jesus, but when things got tough, Thor was the God to talk to. The majority probably had accepted a rudimentary baptism as a token act to being allowed to be in communion with Christians in the British Isles. Furthermore, a very significant number of the settlers had married local Christian girls. Of the people gathered at Althing in June 1000, practically everyone had Christian grandmothers or at least great grandmothers. There was little religious fervor to the Icelandic paganism, but nevertheless the pagan gods were interwoven into the cultural fabric and identity of the nation. It suffices to mention that the MPs, the Godi, also served as priests or masters of ceremony in pagan festivals. The name God-i is derived from the Germanic word God.

When the commonwealth was founded in 930 it had been proclaimed that Iceland is governed by laws not kings. The new republic prided itself on being able to solve all its affairs through juris prudence and consensus decisions among the Godi. But now the issue of Christianity was threatening to break the commonwealth apart. Iceland might have had a small number of actual Christian converts, but a significant number of people had converted to the idea that Christianity was an absolute necessity to keep the door to the outside world open. Against them stood the conservative diehards that would not abandon the ways of their father and forefathers for White Christ as they would call him. They argued for the self-sufficiency of the nation. These two groups had confronted each other at Althing and each had threatened to secede from the commonwealth and establish a new regime with separate laws. Neither side seemed to be willing to give in. As the Althing convened that fateful day in June 1000, everyone knew that if a political solution was not reached, the arms would talk instead of the Godi.