Iceland, a small island nation with a population of around 380,000, has long been recognized for its rich literary tradition. Despite its size, Iceland has produced an exceptional number of writers, and it is said that one in every two Icelanders has authored a book. This deep-rooted literary culture, which stretches back to the Middle Ages, has had a profound impact on the country’s identity, history, and connection to broader European intellectual traditions.
Historically, the idea that Iceland’s remote and often bleak environment contributed to the nation’s literary output was widely held. The theory posited that Icelanders, living in a dark and barren landscape, turned to storytelling and poetry to enrich their lives. However, according to Tom Lorenz, a Ph.D. research fellow at the Department of Language and Literature at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), this view oversimplifies the relationship between Iceland and Europe. Lorenz, who is investigating lesser-known aspects of Iceland’s literary history, suggests that Iceland was far from isolated. It had strong connections with Britain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and other parts of Europe, which influenced its literary development. “The Icelanders were part of a shared European culture, and Iceland has long been a great center of knowledge,” Lorenz explains. His research focuses on recovering hidden pieces of Icelandic Sagas and shedding new light on the island’s contributions to European intellectual life.
The legacy of Icelandic literature is perhaps best known through its medieval sagas, which are foundational texts not only for Icelanders but also for understanding Viking Age history and European medieval culture. The Icelandic “skalds”—poets and storytellers—were highly skilled and highly sought after, often hired by kings to immortalize their deeds in verse. These skaldic traditions ensured the preservation of the royal lineage, especially in Norway. The Icelandic kings’ sagas, for example, trace the royal bloodlines from the Viking Age to the death of Magnus V Erlingsson in 1184. Icelandic scholars played a crucial role in documenting these sagas, ensuring that the history of Nordic rulers was written down and passed on to future generations.
One of the most important figures in this literary tradition was Snorri Sturluson, a 13th-century Icelandic scholar who compiled some of the most famous sagas of the time. His work, especially the Heimskringla (a collection of sagas of Norwegian kings), has had a lasting impact on the way we understand Viking history. In addition to writing sagas, Icelanders in the Middle Ages also composed eddic poems, skaldic verse, scientific works, and political treaties. These writings were created not only in Old Norse but also in Latin, which was the dominant scholarly language of the time.
Books and manuscripts from the medieval period were often written on parchment, a material made from the processed skin of animals. In Iceland, the finest parchment was made from calfskin, known as vellum. This material was highly prized because it was durable and ideal for writing, but it was also expensive. Due to the scarcity of vellum, Icelanders were forced to reuse older manuscripts. When a book became outdated or worn, the parchment was scraped clean and repurposed to create new manuscripts. This practice, known as palimpsesting, was common throughout medieval Europe, but it was particularly prevalent in Iceland, where the demand for written texts was high but resources were limited.
The palimpsests created in Iceland were often reused for new texts, including the theological and ecclesiastical writings that followed the rise of Protestantism in the 16th century. The Reformation, sparked by Martin Luther’s challenges to the Catholic Church in 1517, brought significant religious change to Iceland, which officially became Protestant between 1537 and 1550. The shift away from Catholicism led to the decline of Latin as the language of written texts in Iceland. As a result, many Latin manuscripts were repurposed, with the original Latin script scraped away to make room for new Icelandic texts. These palimpsests are valuable historical documents, as they often contain traces of the original Latin texts beneath the newer Icelandic writing. In some cases, modern technology such as infrared light allows researchers to uncover the erased Latin script, offering new insights into Iceland’s medieval intellectual landscape.
Tom Lorenz’s research focuses on uncovering these hidden traces of Iceland’s medieval past. His work involves studying the fragments of palimpsests that have survived from this period and reconstructing lost pieces of history. “My goal is to create virtual reconstructions of some of the ancient fragments that have survived to shed new light on the culture and society of earlier eras,” Lorenz explains. This includes exploring the theological and liturgical texts that were circulating in medieval Iceland, many of which were previously forgotten or overlooked by researchers. By examining these texts, Lorenz is helping to illuminate Iceland’s participation in European intellectual culture during the Middle Ages.
The importance of Iceland’s medieval literary heritage cannot be overstated. Many of the texts written during this period were preserved in the Arnamagnæan Collection, a vast collection of medieval manuscripts collected by the Icelandic scholar Árni Magnússon in the 17th and 18th centuries. Magnússon was tasked with gathering Icelandic manuscripts that were scattered across Europe, and his collection has become one of the most important sources for studying Icelandic history and literature. The collection, now part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World program, was returned to Iceland from Denmark between 1971 and 1997, but many medieval manuscripts remain in archives and museums in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Lorenz’s research has led him to track down previously unidentified fragments of Latin texts, which have expanded our understanding of medieval Icelandic scholarship.
The Icelandic medieval period, from the Viking Age to the end of the Middle Ages, was marked by intellectual vibrancy and a deep commitment to preserving history. The texts produced during this time, including the kings’ sagas, eddic poetry, and theological writings, not only tell the story of Iceland but also provide a window into the broader European intellectual world. As Lorenz’s research reveals, Icelanders were not isolated from European intellectual movements; they were active participants in the exchange of knowledge and culture.
Lorenz, originally from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, developed an interest in the Viking Age and Icelandic saga literature at an early age. This fascination led him to study Nordic languages at the University of Kiel and later to become a Ph.D. research fellow at NTNU’s Center for Medieval Studies. In his pursuit of Icelandic and Old Norse literature, Lorenz also learned Norwegian Nynorsk, further deepening his connection to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. He attributes his interest in small, forgotten details to his work with palimpsests and fragments of history. “I am fascinated by small phenomena, and that’s probably why I became intrigued by these hidden and forgotten pieces of Icelandic history,” Lorenz says.
The story of Iceland’s literary tradition is not just one of preservation but also one of resilience. Despite the country’s small size and limited resources, Icelanders have consistently produced a vast and diverse body of literature, from medieval sagas to modern works of fiction and poetry. This literary heritage continues to shape Icelandic identity today, and Lorenz’s research serves as a reminder of the island’s deep-rooted connection to Europe’s intellectual and cultural history.
More information: Tom Lorenz, Endurvinnsla og endurnýting í íslenskum uppskafningum frá miðöldum og á árnýöld, Gripla (2024). DOI: 10.33112/gripla.35.1