Iceland Saga by Magnusson Magnus

Author:Magnusson, Magnus [Magnusson, Magnus]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780750981835
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2016-10-20T16:00:00+00:00

They lived in fine style, the people of the Saga Age. The huddled, multi-gabled farmhouses from the nineteenth century which have been preserved as examples of ‘old Iceland’ – at Keldur, for instance, or in the open-air museum at Árbær in Reykjavík – give a very misleading impression of the size and quality of houses in the commonwealth era. We get a much better idea from hints in the sagas themselves, and from archaeology.

Landnámabók gives an indication of the grandeur of some of the homes built by the early settlers. The first settler of Hjaltadalur, a man named Hjalti Þórðarson, built his home at Hólar, which later became the site of the bishopric for the north of Iceland (cf. Chapter 13). When Hjalti died his two sons, the Hjaltasons, hosted a memorial feast at Hólar which was long remembered in Landnámabók and other sources:

The most magnificent funeral feast ever held in Iceland was the one the Hjaltasons celebrated in honour of their father; there were no fewer than 1,440 guests, and all the important visitors were presented with gifts.

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