Chris Callow, Landscape, Tradition and Power in Medieval Iceland. Dalir and Eyjafjörður Region c. 870–1265, Leiden: Brill 2020
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: This book compares systems of geopolitical power including the formation of alliances through marriages in two regions of Iceland, Dalir and Eyjafjörður, as found in the Sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), The Book of Settlements (Landnámabók), Contemporary sagas (Sturlunga saga) and other publications.The author, Chris Callow, has done admirable work in this carefully written and interesting book which spans 300 pages, and is complimented by a 34-page bibliography, 11 maps, and 18 photographs.The book is well written, and the text accessible to the general reader.The book should be welcomed by all who have an interest in the subject and will be especially beneficial to scholars in the field.Tho book covers a wide time range, from colonization to the end of the Icelandic Commonwealth in the middle of the thirteenth century, and the collection of sources is all documented.It is a fresh approach to focus the content of the book on geopolitics at the local level in Dalir and Eyjafjörður.After reading Íslendingasögur as a testimony of the geopolitical power system at local level in the Middle Ages, the author claims it was characterized by stability and consistency, which in my view is the most important conclusion of the book.The goðorð, the legal authority owned by chieftains (goði/höfðingi) was geographically delimited, and although the form of the goðorð was not stable as the medieval Icelandic laws suggest-their number may not have been fixed and their names changed from time to time-the decision-making process the author describes, although he does not use that term, seems to have been stable and consistent.Every goði had around him a group of farmers, self-declared followers who lived near him.In each province, there could only be a limited number of goðar (the plural of goði).Their decisions on the use of force or making agreement, were driven by their own interests and the overarching goal of preventing society from descending into total warfare.I understand the results to mean that the power of a specific goði was as great as his last political or military victory.To win such victories, power was needed, and it was not obtained by legal order, but by use of force and making alliances with other powerful chieftains.The power was therefore not constitutional but came from control over land.The goðar were, says Callow, a constant threat to each other and to a peaceful society.Callow says the time of the origin of the Íslendingasögur is older than has been suggested, before or in the second half of the twelfth century rather than in the sec-Reviews
Source: Journal of Northern Studies
Author: Þorlákur Axel Jónsson
Institution: Umeå University
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4404077313