How did Christianity change Icelandic law and literary culture?

The adoption of Christianity in Iceland around the year 1000 profoundly reshaped the nation's legal and literary landscape by integrating it into the broader sphere of medieval European culture.12

Impact on Law

The transition to Christianity facilitated a shift toward written legal traditions. While the godar (chieftains) maintained their political influence and organized the new church structure, the codification of Icelandic law began in 1117–1118. This move toward formal, written statutes replaced or supplemented earlier oral traditions, providing a structured legal framework that mirrored developments elsewhere in Christian Europe.132

Impact on Literary Culture

Christianity introduced the Latin alphabet to Iceland, which became the essential tool for recording both religious and secular knowledge. This technological shift had several key effects:32
* Vernacular Literacy: Icelanders began using the Latin script to write down native oral traditions, including laws and historical accounts.32
* Historiography: Scholars like Ari Thorgilsson pioneered vernacular historiography, documenting the nation's settlement and early history.2
* Saga Development: The church supported the production of literature, including hagiography (lives of saints) and translations of foreign epics and romances. These works, alongside native narratives, fostered the extraordinary literary flowering of the saga tradition, which became a central part of Icelandic cultural life.324