(Redirected from Landnamabok)
'Landnámabók' (meaning "The Book of Settlement", often shortened to 'Landnáma') is an old
Icelandic manuscript describing in considerable detail the
settlement ("landnám") of
Iceland by the
Norse in the
9th and
10th century A.D. It begins with
Ingólfur Arnarson's original settlement in
Reykjavík and his claims on land to the north, west, east and south. It then moves on to describe the descendants of the original settlers and traces important events and family history into the
12th century. More than 3,000 people and 1,400 settlements are described. Landnámabók lists 435 men as the initial settlers, the majority of them settling in the northern and south-western parts of the island. It remains an invaluable source on both the history and genealogy of the Icelandic people.
There are three surviving mediaeval versions of ''Landnámabók''.
★ ''Sturlubók'' by
Sturla Þórðarson
★ ''
Hauksbók'' by
Haukr Erlendsson, based on ''Sturlubók'' and a lost version by
Styrmir Kárason
★ ''Melabók''
External links
★
Online publication of Landnámabók
★
Landnámabók transcribed in English by Aaron Myer
★
The Árni Magnússon Manuscript Musem's Website