Olaf Tryggvason
King of Norway who, according to Ari, brought Christianity to Norway and to Iceland. He sent the priest Thangbrand to Iceland and pressed the Icelanders at his court, and fell in battle the summer Iceland accepted the faith.
Ari opens his account of the conversion with the statement that King Olaf, son of Tryggvi, brought Christianity to Norway and to Iceland. He sent the priest Thangbrand, and when Thangbrand reported failure he threatened the Icelanders who were then in Norway, until two of them promised to win the island over (Ari, Íslendingabók 7). Ari adds, on the authority of the priest Sæmundr, that Olaf fell the same summer fighting the kings of the Danes and the Swedes and the Norwegian earl Eirik, and dates this 1000 years after the birth of Christ (Ari, Íslendingabók 7). See Iceland Adopts Christianity by Law for the question of the year.
In the timeline
- AD 999/1000, estimated dateIceland Adopts Christianity by Law
At the Althing the pagan lawspeaker Thorgeir, asked to settle the dispute between Christians and heathens, rules that all Icelanders shall be baptized and live under one law, with a few old customs allowed for a time.