Íslendingabók

(A), which have been used as the basis for all modern print editions and are currently housed at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík.

[1] The two manuscripts are copies made by the priest Jón Erlendsson in Villingaholt (died 1672) at the behest of bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson using the same exemplar.

The exemplar, likely a medieval manuscript dating from c.1200, was apparently lost in the course of the late 17th century, and when Árni Magnússon looked for it, it had disappeared without a trace.

Because of certain references in the prologue to Bishops Þorlákur Runólfsson (1118–33) and Ketill Þorsteinsson (1122–45), scholars commonly date Íslendingabók to the period from 1122 to 1133.

[2] Íslendingabók is a concise work which relates the major events of Icelandic history in terse prose.

While the author is forced to rely almost exclusively on oral tradition, he takes pains to establish the reliability of his sources and mentions several of them by name.

As people come to the conclusion that something like a day is missing they are still reluctant to use a year which doesn't contain a whole number of weeks.

A man named Þórðr gellir describes to Alþingi his recent difficulties in prosecuting a certain case in a local assembly.

The Norse settlers find remnants of previous human habitation and deduce that the people who lived there were related to the skrælingjar of Vínland.

King Olaf I of Norway sends the missionary priest Þangbrandr to Iceland to convert the inhabitants to Christianity.

He has some success in baptizing chieftains but also meets opposition and ends up killing two or three men who had composed libellous poetry about him.