Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NATURAL DISASTERS
The fourteenth century heralded a further succession of
natural disasters
in Iceland: severe
winters wiped out crops and livestock; Hekla became active again; and the volcano under
Öræfajökull in the southeast exploded in 1362, covering a third of the country in ash. But most
devastating was the
Plague
or Black Death, which had ravaged Europe in the 1350s and
arrived in Iceland in 1402, killing half of the population in the following two years.
this violent man - who had his own military and spent his time levying illegal taxes
and harassing his neighbours - ended up being murdered in 1433.
Trying to restore order, Denmark passed laws stopping the Church from raising
illegal taxes and banning the English from Iceland. The English response was to kill the
Icelandic governor in 1467, so the Danish king encouraged the German trading
organization known as the
Hanseatic League
to establish trading bases in the country
- a popular move, as the League had better goods than the English and gave better
prices. The English returned with cannons, a forceful stance that after 1490 gained
them the right to fish Icelandic waters as long as they paid tolls to Denmark. All went
well until 1532, when trouble flared between German and English vessels at the
trading post at
Grindavík
on the southwestern Reykjanes Peninsula, culminating in the
death of the English leader. English involvement in Iceland dropped of sharply after
this, leaving Icelandic trade in the hands of Danish and German interests.
The Reformation and its effects
The Church, which by now had complete jurisdiction over Iceland's lands, and
profitable stakes in farming and fishing, became even more powerful in 1533 when the
two bishops -
Jón Arason
and
Ögmundur Pálsson
- were appointed as joint governors
of the country. But outside Iceland, a new Christian view first proposed by the German
Martin Luther in 1517 had been gaining ground.
Lutherism
revolted against what was
seen as the Catholic Church's growing obsession with material rather than spiritual
profits, and encouraged a break with Rome as the head of the Church - a suggestion
that European monarchs realized would therefore place the Church's riches and
influence in their hands.
During the 1530s, all Scandinavia became Lutheran, and converts were already
making headway in Iceland, though threatened with excommunication by the
bishops. In 1539, the Danish king
Christian III
ordered the Icelandic governor to
appropriate Church lands, which led to the murder of one of his sheriffs and a
subsequent military expedition to Iceland to force conversion to Lutherism. This was
headed by former protégé of Ögmundur (and covert Lutheran)
Gissur Einarsson
, who
replaced Ögmundur as
bishop at Skálholt in 1542. A skilful diplomat, he encouraged
Lutherism without, by and large, antagonizing Catholics. His appointment left Jón
Arason at Hólar as the last Catholic bishop in Scandinavia, and on Gissur's death in
1548, Arason unsuccessfully pushed his own Catholic candidate for Skálholt, an act
that got him declared an outlaw. Gathering a band of supporters, Arason marched
south and captured Skálholt, but was subsequently defeated and executed along with
two of his sons on November 7, 1550, allowing Lutherism to be imposed across the
entire country.
1783
1787
1843
1852
Laki eruptions devastate
the country; the population
falls to 38,000
The Free Trade Charter
replaces the Trade
Monopoly
The Danish king allows
reconstitution of
Icelandic parliament
Bill to incorporate
Iceland into Denmark
defeated
