Icelandic Volcanoes in Medieval Sagas, Chronicles, Annals and in Modern Scholarly Literature

Abstract

Iceland is an area of incredibly active volcanic activity. Volcanic eruptions accompany life on the island from the very moment of its settlement. According to scientists, more than two hundred eruptions have occurred in historical time, the most recent of which is the eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano, 40 km from Reykjavik, in August 2022. Iceland is the birthplace of unique medieval literature written down in the 12th and 13th centuries. The attention of scholas is drawn to the fact that in the most famous narrative genre of Old Icelandic literature, the so-called Íslendingasögur, or Family sagas, describing life on the island in the “Saga Age”, volcanoes are not mentioned at all. The analysis carried out in this paper of references to, or descriptions of, volcanic eruptions in Landnámabók, biskupa sögur, and Icelandic annals demonstrates that their presence or absence was regulated by the requirements of the genre.