Viking Age Iceland

Medieval Iceland was unique amongst Western Europe, with no foreign policy, no defence forces, no king, no lords, no peasants and few battles. It should have been a utopia yet its liberature is dominated by brutality and killing. The reasons for this, argues Jesse Bycock, lie in the underlying structures and cultural codes of the islands’ social order. Viking Age Iceland is an engaging, multi-disciplinary work bringing together findings in anthropology and ethnography interwoven with historical fact and masterful insights into the popular Icelandic sagas.