Introduction

     The settlement of Iceland by the Vikings in the 9th century was only the beginning of a distinguished history which was to include, less than four centuries later, a literary tradition still popular and relevant today.  The fact that Iceland was able to go from a newly settled Viking outpost to a highly organized legal government, in many ways vastly superior to those found at the time on mainland Europe is in itself remarkable.    More to our topic, the stories written by and about the early Icelanders involved in the forging of a new society provide an extremely fascinating history of this alternative development in Medieval Europe, as well as one of the most interesting national literatures.  In this paper, I will discuss briefly several of the social, political, and cultural developments of early Iceland as they relate to the formation of a unique artistic form- the Icelandic sagas and poems.

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