Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2005, Side 312
302
Grethe Jacobsen
end of the tenth century, Christianity was reintroduced into Iceland by
Norwegian missionaries, sent by the Norwegian king. This time the
Christian faith and church were accepted almost immediately after a
formal vote at the Althing in 1000 A.D.
It would appear, then, that the Celtic element was introduced into the
Icelandic population by Celtic women who were wives or mistresses of
Norse settlers during the early settlement period. The reason for their
presence could be the numerical inferiority of Norse women who either
did not survive as well as the men or were not as keen to leave for Ice-
land as the men were. The Celtic ancestresses left traces of their pres-
ence in the physical composition of the Icelandic population and the
impact of their presence may also be discemed in some social and legal
institutions, which were unique to medieval Iceland. Yet their names
were omitted from the records.
PorgerSr’s outburst upon hearing about Olåfr’s proposal may reflect
a deep-seated bias of an Icelander of Norse descent, a bias that the com-
pilers of the Landnåmabok also exhibit. The Laxdæla saga does not re-
port how PorgerSr got along with her mother-in-law, but she and Olåfr
named their oldest and favorite son Kjartan after his Celtic great-grand-
father, the Irish king Myrkjartan.
Resumé
I artiklen foretages en statistisk analyse af Landnåmabok med henblik på at af-
prøve en hypotese om, at der er en skævhed i rapporteringen af kvinder i forteg-
nelsen over de islandske nybyggere og deres oprindelse, og at denne skævhed
har til hensigt at skjule en keltisk formoder.
I Table One er de i Landnåmabok nævnte personer opstillet efter køn og ge-
neration. Opstillingen viser, at kvinder i alt udgør 25% af de rapporterede per-
soner, men at fordelingen mellem mænd og kvinder er uens, med færrest kvin-
der rapporteret i første generation, dvs. i den gruppe, der bosatte sig på Island.
For at efterprøve om begrebet generation kan bruges til at vise udvikling over
tid, er ægtefællers generation sammenlignet i Table Two, der viser, at ægte-
fællers generation er tæt knyttet sammen. I Table Three angives kønsfordelin-
gen blandt søskende, og tabellen afslører, at procentdelen af rapporterede døtre
er højere end procentdelen af rapporterede kvinder generelt. I Table Four opreg-
nes tre familietyper, én, hvor begge forældre og deres bøm er angivet, én, hvor
kun en fader og hans bøm er angivet, og én, hvor kun en moder og hendes bøm
er angivet. Familietypen fader med bøm er den dominerende i alle generationer,