Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2005, Síða 311
The Celtic Element in the Icelandic Population
301
tus being inherited from the mother, which is found in a thirteenth-cen-
tury Danish law, e.g.22
One can interpret these two articles as designed to underline the dif-
ference in status between the free spouse of Norse descent and the un-
free spouse of Celtic descent. In the case of marriage between two people
of equal status and common origin, traditional laws and legal thinking
were followed. However, if a free man or woman took an unfree
spouse, a separate rule prevailed which clearly discriminated against
the couple of mixed status. The free husband with a wife of slave status
could not take revenge for assault against her although any other hus-
band, including a slave, enjoyed this right. The free woman, whose hus-
band was a slave or a freed man, could not bequeath her property to her
children, as was the right of any other mother. The inclusion of these
articles in the law also suggests that mixed marriages were frequent
enough so that rules concerning them were deemed necessary.
The presence of Celtic slave women could also be the origin of the
long and accepted tradition of concubinage in Icelandic society. Clergy-
men and laymen had acknowledged mistresses from the Middle Ages
and to the modem period. It was not considered a shame to be a concu-
bine of a man of higher status than one self.23 The efforts of the Catholic
Church to eradicate concubinage, which were generally successful in
Europe,24 had no impact in Iceland, though the Icelanders were as de-
vout Christians as other Europeans.
The fate of Christianity in Iceland can also be seen in the light of the
presence of Celtic women. The Landnåmabok informs us that several of
the settlers, especially those who came from the British Isles, were
Christian. Most of these settlers kept their faith until their death. Their
descendants, however, feil into apostasy,25 possibly because Christian-
ity was primarily represented by the Celtic slave women and therefore
scomed. One otherwise respected chieftain was given the appellation
“enn ffflski” (the foolish) because of his Christian faith.26 Towards the
22 Skånske Lov chaps. 62, 128 in Danmarks gamle Landskabslove med Kirkelovene, 8
vols. (København, 1933-61) (vol. 1 pp. 39,96).
23 Richard F. Tomasson, “Premarital sexual permissiveness and illegitimacy in the Nordic
Countries,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 18 (1976) pp. 252-70.
24 James A. Brundage, “Concubinage and marriage in medieval canon law,” Journal of
Medieval History, I (1975) pp. 1-19.
25 Landnåmabok chap. 399 (p. 396).
26 Ibid. chap. 320 (pp. 322, 324).