FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about A Timeline of Icelandic Events
Quiz about A Timeline of Icelandic Events

A Timeline of Icelandic Events Quiz


Iceland was settled much later than the rest of Europe, probably in the 9th century CE. Can you place these significant events in its recorded history into chronological order?

An ordering quiz by looney_tunes. Estimated time: 3 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. History Trivia
  6. »
  7. European
  8. »
  9. Icelandic

Author
looney_tunes
Time
3 mins
Type
Order Quiz
Quiz #
418,261
Updated
Dec 21 24
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Easy
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
150
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Maybeline5 (8/10), miranda101 (8/10), em1958 (10/10).
Mobile instructions: Press on an answer on the right. Then, press on the question it matches on the left.
(a) Drag-and-drop from the right to the left, or (b) click on a right side answer, and then click on its destination box to move it.
Starting with the earliest, place each of these events into the order in which they occurred.
What's the Correct Order?Choices
1.   
(874)
Kirkjuból witch trial takes place
2.   
(930)
Kalmar Union formed
3.   
(circa 1000)
Universal Icelandic suffrage
4.   
(1264)
Christianisation of Iceland
5.   
(1397)
Iceland gains full independence
6.   
(1584)
First Icelandic Bible produced
7.   
(1656)
Icelandic constitution comes into effect
8.   
(1874)
Old Covenant makes Icelanders subjects of Norway
9.   
(1915)
Althing (parliament) established
10.   
(1944)
First permanent Nordic settlement





Most Recent Scores
Jan 15 2025 : Maybeline5: 8/10
Jan 14 2025 : miranda101: 8/10
Jan 12 2025 : em1958: 10/10
Jan 11 2025 : MikeyGee: 8/10
Jan 05 2025 : mulligas: 7/10
Jan 03 2025 : twlmy: 10/10
Jan 03 2025 : ZWOZZE: 10/10
Jan 01 2025 : kjshear: 5/10
Jan 01 2025 : elbowmacaroni2: 10/10

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. First permanent Nordic settlement

There had been earlier reports of Iceland. Norddodd landed there on his way to the Faroe Islands in 1860 and reportedly named it Snowland, because it began to snow as he was returning to his ships. That same year Gardar Svavarsson was blown there from the Orkney Islands during a storm, and spent a winter camped out. He circumnavigated the island, establishing that it was indeed an island. Around 870 Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarsson became the first Scandinavian to sail to Iceland intentionally, identifying a welcoming bay near what is now Reykjavík, before settling in a camp in the northwest. From there he named the island Iceland, due to seeing an entire fjord full of drift ice.

In 874 Ingólfur Arnarson, along with his wife and foster brother arrived and settled in Reykjavík, in what is commonly recognised as the first Norse settlement, and the beginning of the development of an Icelandic society. (There are some records that Irish monks had previously settled there, but departed when the Vikings arrived.) The reason for the move is not clear, but there is reported to have been a blood feud that made departure from Norway rather urgent. There is a stone monument on the headland near where they spent their first winter, and a statue in his honour was placed on a hill near the centre of Reykjavík in 1924.
2. Althing (parliament) established

The establishment of a parliament marked the beginning of the Commonwealth of Iceland, the political entity that was to remain in place until 1262, when the Old Covenant made them officially citizens of Norway. The Athling is counted as one of the oldest parliaments in the world, despite the fact that it lost its legislative powers from 1262 until 1903. 'Thing' was a Germanic word for a council, and the Althing was the supreme council. The original site of the assembly was outdoors, om a plain called Thingvellir, or Assembly Plain, an area which is now a national park.

The original assemblies, which were held more or less annually, were open for all to attend, and went for days, with families camping near the Law Rock that was the centre of the official proceedings, presided over by the designated Lawspeaker. These included reading out the current laws of the land and settling disputes. The first Lawspeaker was Úlfljótr, who had spent three years in Norway researching the legal system, and getting ideas for what would work in Iceland.
3. Christianisation of Iceland

The majority of the settlers who came to Iceland during the 10th century were Norse, and brought with them their Nordic gods, some of whose names will be familiar, even for those with only a passing knowledge of Norse mythology: Odin, Thor and Loki spring to mind. But there were some Christian settlers as well, and when Olaf Tryggvason became king of Norway in 995, then converted to Christianity in 998, he imposed Christianity on his kingdom with a ferocious enthusiasm. This led, understandably, to civil unrest, which extended to Denmark and ultimately to Iceland.

There were some unsuccessful missionary attempts during the 990s. One of these, Stefnir Thorgilsson, undertook the task by destroying images of pagan gods, which made him so unpopular that he was declared an outlaw, and returned to Norway to report failure. He was followed by a more experienced and subtle missionary, a priest named Thangbrand, who managed to convert a few chieftains, but did not make a great inroad into the general paganism. King Olaf decided to apply diplomatic pressure, refusing to let Icelandic ships into Norwegian ports, and taking as hostages the sons of some chieftains who were residing in Norway, threatening to kill them unless Iceland became a Christian nation.

Since Iceland's main international political stance at that time was maintaining good relations with Norway, something clearly had to be done. In 1000 the Althing was asked to consider the dispute between Christians and pagans. There was considerable bargaining, with concessions from both sides, before the Law Speaker, Thorgeir Thorkelsson, decreed that Christianity was to become the official religion of Iceland. Since he was himself a pagan priest, his decision was accepted as an appropriate solution, and Christianity became compulsory (with some pagan traditions allowed to continue).
4. Old Covenant makes Icelanders subjects of Norway

This agreement was negotiated between Icelandic chieftains and the Norwegian kings (Haakon IV at the start, his son Magnus Haakonsson by the time the deal was complete) in order to settle a long period of civil strife in Iceland. Norwegian influence had been part of the stirring up of strife, so the offer to guarantee peace may seem a bit duplicitous, but that's politics. Icelanders surrendered the sovereignty of their own legal system (and the Althing went into abeyance) and agreed to pay taxes to the throne of Norway, in return for which they were promised free trade with Norway, as well as having equal rights with Norwegians in both countries.

The document was first delivered to Iceland in 1262, and the final signatures were affixed in 1264. The agreement was renewed, with some amendment, in 1302 - which is technically the version that should be called the Old Covenant, although the earlier one is still described that way. Since the earliest copies date from the 15th century, there is some doubt as to the veracity of some of the 'history' of the Old Covenant. Nevertheless, 1264 marked the end of Iceland as an independent nation until 1944.
5. Kalmar Union formed

The Old Covenant made Iceland a part of the Norwegian kingdom, so when Denmark, Sweden (which at the time included most of what is now the country of Finland) and Norway formed themselves into a single union, Iceland became a part of the Kalmar Union, along with Norway's other overseas colonies - Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands. The intent was to establish a unified Scandinavian front against the powerful Hanseatic League. The union meant that the three separate sovereign states had a common monarch, originally Eric of Pomerania, who was crowned at the Swedish city of Kalmar on 17 June 1397.

The union of the crowns was always threatened by the fact that the Swedish and Danish nobility wanted to have more control over their own lands, leading to a series of rebellions. In 1524 the Swedish Kingdom was reestablished, but Denmark-Norway remained united. The 1814 Treaty of Kiel, a part of the ongoing Napoleonic Wars, involved the dissolution of Denmark-Norway, with Denmark retaining control of Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. (The Orkneys and Shetlands had already been transferred to Scotland in the 15th century.) Norway was transferred to be part of Sweden, a union which was peacefully dissolved in 1905.
6. First Icelandic Bible produced

From 1056, when the first bishop was appointed, until 1540 Iceland's Christian community had been Roman Catholic. In 1540 the appointment of Gissur Einarsson to the post led to change - he discovered Protestantism, and the Icelandic Church became Lutheran. With this, it became expected that the Bible should be made available in Icelandic, so everyone could read it for themselves, and not rely on a priest to tell them what the Latin Bible said. In 1571 Guðbrandur Thorlakssøn was appointed bishop of Hólar, going on to become Iceland's longest-serving bishop, holding the post for over 50 years before his death in 1627. He undertook the task of completing the Reformation in Iceland.

One of his major achievements was the production of the Guðbrandsbiblía (Guðbrand's Bible), whose full title was (wait for it) "Biblia þad er Øll heilog ritning, vtlögd a norrænu. Med formalum doct. Martini Lutheri. Prentad a Holum/Af Jone Jons Syne". There had been previous Icelandic translations of parts of the Bible, but this was the first complete Bible in that language. It was not all new work; a great deal of the task was compilation of earlier work. The Old Testament was based on Martin Luther's German translation of 1534 and Christian III's Danish translation of 1550. The New Testament updated and amended Oddur Gottskálksson's 1540 translation. It is not known exactly how much translation from original sources was provided by Gissur, Oddur and Guðbrandur.
7. Kirkjuból witch trial takes place

The 17th century was a time of intense witchcraft fear - the infamous Salem Witchcraft Trials took place near the end of the century. In Iceland, the search to find and eliminate witches and magic was intensified by the desire of those in authority to eliminate the residual pagan practices that had been allowed to continue from the time when Christianity became the official religion. This political aspect meant that most of the 120 people accused of sorcery or witchcraft in Iceland were men, with only a handful of women brought to trial in the years following the proclamation in 1630 that the 1617 Denmark-Norway witchcraft law applied in Iceland.

The first person recorded as being put to death for sorcery was Jón Rögnvaldsson was accused of sorcery and burnt for it in 1625 (by a zealous magistrate, despite the fact that technically there was no law against witchcraft at the time). The most famous trial, however, took place in 1656, in Kirkjuból. Pastor Jón Magnússon had become seriously ill in the autumn of 1655, and blamed it on a father and son both named Jón Jónsson, with whom he had an ongoing quarrel. The pair admitted to engaging in a bit of magic, as you do, but denied the allegations of harming the pastor. Nevertheless, they were condemned and burnt on 10 April 1656. Unfortunately, the pastor's illness continued, leading to his accusation of the sister of the younger Jón Jónsson. The authorities were reluctant to act, and she fled the area to find safety elsewhere (and was ultimately cleared of the charges). Jón Magnússon wrote the classic Icelandic work "Píslarsaga" about his suffering, railing at the way the authorities were letting witchcraft run rampant all over the place.
8. Icelandic constitution comes into effect

Iceland had been under Danish control since the 1814 Treaty of Kiel, with a growing nationalist movement developing during the 19th century. In 1809 the Danish adventurer Jørgen Jørgensen had come to Iceland and declared its independence, with himself as protector. It didn't last long, with the British supporting the Danish restoration of control. In 1835 the first edition of the magazine "Fjölnir", intended to raise consciousness around the debate for Icelandic independence, was published.

In 1845 the Althing was resurrected, giving Icelanders some say in their own laws (but only on a consultative basis). A National Assembly on independence was called in 1848, but did not convene until 1851, at which time the Danes proposed that the 1849 Danish Constitution should apply in Iceland, with the exception of passing of domestic laws. Icelandic delegates proposed an independent nation in union with the Danish king. It all fell apart.

In 1871 Denmark passed the Stöðulögin, a declaration that Iceland was indissolubly part of Denmark, with a Danish-appointed Land-Chief of Iceland to run the country. In 1874, to celebrate 1000 years of Scandinavian settlement, the Danish king visited Iceland and brought a constitution granting them limited home rule, with the Althing to gain legislative powers once more.
9. Universal Icelandic suffrage

Universal suffrage means that everyone is entitled to vote in determining who will govern them, under what laws. Historically, the right to vote was held by various differently-entitled groups, with restrictions including the requirement to be a landowner, to be able to pay a registration fee, to practice a certain religion, or similar. It has almost always been restricted to citizens of the political entity involved (and the definition of who is a citizen can be tricky!), and to those of a certain minimum age. During the 19th century, there was a wide movement towards universal male suffrage. Until the second half of that century, political power was considered to be the domain of men, and the idea of women having equal voting rights was a matter that was only discussed in a philosophical context.

In 1893 New Zealand women were given the right to vote, and other nations started to follow suit. In 1894 the state of South Australia went further, giving women the right to stand as candidates for political office. The Australian Commonwealth gave women this full enfranchisement in 1902 (but technically this was not universal suffrage, as indigenous Australians did not have nationally-guaranteed voting rights until 1962).

In Iceland, some women gained the right to vote in local elections in 1882, but at a national level it was not until 1911 that women's suffrage was proposed in the Althing. The law was ratified in 1913, and enacted in 1915. It should be noted that, while this date is usually given as the start of universal suffrage because the term is understood to mean women got the right to vote, it did not actually apply to all women in 1915. To vote, a woman had to be over 40, and not a servant. These restrictions were lifted in 1920.
10. Iceland gains full independence

In 1918 Iceland became an independent nation, but remained under the sovereignty of the Danish monarch. The Nazi occupation of Denmark in World War II, however, meant that the Danish king was unable to perform his regnal duties in Iceland, and had to be represented by a regent. Sveinn Björnsson was elected regent three times.

In 1944 a constitutional referendum was held, with two parts, each of which passed with 98% support. The first was for the abolition of the union with Denmark, the second for the establishment of a republic. The union was subsequently dissolved on 17 June 1944 (while Denmark was still under occupation). Celebrations at Thingvellir (site of the first Althing in 930) were initiated by Prime Minister Björn Þórðarson. As part of the event, all members of the parliament stood and stated in unison that Iceland was to be a republic from that time on. They then chose their first president, Sveinn Björnsson, to serve until elections could be organised. His was the only non-elective presidency; subsequent presidents have been directly elected by popular vote, including his reelection in 1945 and 1949.
Source: Author looney_tunes

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
1/20/2025, Copyright 2025 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us