Medieval history of Iceland

thumb|UNESCO World Heritage plaque Þingvellir (, anglicised as Thingvellir) was the site of the Alþing, the annual parliament of Iceland from the year 930 until the last session held at in 1798. Since 1881, the parliament has been located within Alþingishúsið in Iceland's capital, .

thumb|Recreated Norsemen|Norse long house, [[L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The site was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1978.]] Vinland, Vineland, or Winland () was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John Cabot. The name appears in the Vinland sagas and describes a land beyond Greenland, Helluland, and Markland. Much of the geographical content of the sagas corresponds to present-day knowledge of transatlantic travel and No

thumb|right|A page from a vellum manuscript of in the [[Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík, Iceland]]

thumb|The '''''' (, , ; ) is a historical work dealing with early Icelandic history. The author was an Icelandic priest, Ari Þorgilsson, working in the early 12th century. The work originally existed in two different versions but only the younger one has survived. The older contained information on Norwegian kings, made use of by later writers of kings' sagas.

predecessor state of Iceland

transparent variety of calcite

thumb|right|250px|upright|A depiction of a leading the people in sacrificing to Thor in this painting by [[J. L. Lund]]

Norse contemporary saga

The Papar (; from Latin , via Old Irish, meaning "father" or "pope") were Irish monks who took eremitic residence in parts of Iceland before that island's habitation by the Norsemen of Scandinavia. Their existence is attested by the early Icelandic sagas and recent archaeological findings.

Lögberg (, Old Norse lǫgberg, ), or Law Rock, was a rocky outcrop in south west Iceland, at the location for the assembly of the country's Althing parliament. The original Althing was gathered at Þingvellir, an area of dramatic landscapes which was easily accessible from the populated areas of the south west.

historical process by which Iceland was converted to Christianity

thumb|Oddi Church (2012) Oddi (Icelandic: ) is a small village and church at Rangárvellir in Rangárvallasýsla, Iceland. Oddi at Rangárvellir was a cultural and learning center in South Iceland during the Middle Ages. There has been a church at Oddi since the introduction of Christianity. The current church at Oddi dates from 1924.

Allsherjargoði (, All-People Chieftain; plural -goðar ) was an office in the Icelandic Commonwealth, held by the goði who held the goðorð of the descendants of Ingólfr Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland. The role of the allsherjargoði was to sanctify the Althing as it began every year.

'''''''''' (Old Icelandic for 'ball-game') was an ancient Norse ball game mentioned in the Sagas of Icelanders. Balls games of the kind are recorded from across the world ( Older Swedish: , , , ; English medieval football, hockey, etc.), and ultimately lead to various modern sports.