“The foster brothers made ready a large ship which they owned, and went in search of the land which Hrafna-Flóki (Raven-Flóki) had discovered, and which was then called Iceland. They found the land and stayed in Austfjords, in the southern Alptafjord. The south of the land seemed to them better than the north. They stayed one winter there, and then went back to Norway.
“Thereafter Ingólf prepared for a voyage to Iceland, while Leif went on warfare in the west. He made war in Ireland, and there found a large underground house; he went down into it, and it was dark until light shone from a sword in the hand of a man. Leif killed the man, and took the sword and much property. Thereafter he was called Hjörleif (Sword-Leif). He made war widely in Ireland, and got much property. He took ten thralls; their names were Dufthak, Geirrod, Skjaldbjörn, Haldór, Drafdrit; more names are not given. Then he went to Norway and met his foster brother there. He had before married Helga, Ingólf’s sister. This winter Ingólf made a great sacrifice, and asked what his luck and fate would be, but Hjörleif was never willing to sacrifice. The answer pointed out Iceland to Ingólf. After this both made a ship ready for the voyage. Hjörleif had his booty on board, and Ingólf their foster brotherhood property. When ready they sailed out to sea.
“In the summer when Ingólf and Leif went to settle in Iceland Harald Fairhair had been twelve years king over Norway; 6,073 winters had elapsed since the beginning of this world, and since the incarnation of our Lord 874 years. They sailed together until they saw Iceland, then they and their ships parted. When Ingólf saw Iceland he threw overboard his high-seat pillars for luck. He said that he would settle where the pillars landed. He landed at a place now called Ingólfshöfdi (Ingólf’s cape). But Hjörleif was driven westward along the land, and suffered from want of water. The Irish thralls there kneaded together meal and butter, saying these caused no thirst. They called the mixture minnthak, and when it had been made there came a heavy rain, and they took water into their tents. When the minnthak began to get mouldy they threw it overboard, and it came ashore at a place now called Minnthakseyr. Hjörleif landed at Hjörleifshöfdi (Hjörleif’s cape), where there was a fjord. Hjörleif had two houses (skáli) made there; the walls of one are 18 fathoms, and those of the other 19 fathoms high. Hjörleif remained there that winter. In the spring he wanted to sow (corn); he had one ox, and let the thralls drag the plough. When Hjörleif was in his house Dufthak (one of the thralls) suggested that they should kill the ox, and say that a bear of the forest had slain it, and then they would slay Hjörleif if he searched for the bear. Then they told Hjörleif this. When they each went different ways in search of the bear in the forest, the thralls attacked them singly and murdered all the ten. They ran away with their women and loose property and the boat. The thralls went to the islands which they saw south-west off the land, and stayed there a while. Ingólf sent his thralls, Vífil and Karli, westward along the shore to search for his high-seat pillars. When they came to Hjörleifshöfdi they found Hjörleif dead; they then returned and told Ingólf these tidings. He was very angry at the slaying of Hjörleif” (Landnáma, i. cc. 4–6).
“Iceland was first settled from Norway in the days of Harald Fairhair, son of Halfdan the black....
“Ingolf was the name of a Northman, of whom it is truly said that he went first from Norway to Iceland, when Harald Fairhair was sixteen years old, and a second time a few winters later. He settled south in Reykjarvik. In that time was Iceland covered with wood between the mountains and the fjord.
“Then were there Christian men, whom the Northmen call Papa, but afterwards they went away because they would not remain with the heathens, and left behind them Irish books, and croziers and bells, from which it could be seen that they were Irishmen” (Islendingabok, c. i.).
“At the time when Iceland was discovered and settled from Norway, Adrianus was Pope at Rome, and John, who was the eighth of that name, in the apostolic seat; Louis (Hlödver), son of Louis, Emperor north of the mountains (i.e. the Alps), and Leo, as well as his son Alexander, of Mikligard. Harald Fairhair was King of Norway; Eirik Eymundsson of Sweden and his son Bjorn; Gorm the old in Denmark; Aelfred (Elfrad) the powerful in England, as well as his son Edward (Jatvard); Kjarval in Dublin (Dyflin); and Sigurd the powerful, jarl of the Orkneys” (Landnama c. i. part i.).
From many places in Landnama we find that people from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Flanders, and from different countries of the North, settled in Iceland.
“Fridleif was from Gautland on his father’s side, while his mother, Bryngerd, was Flemish.... Fridleif settled in Iceland. Thord Knapp was a Swede, son of Bjorn of Haug. He went with another man, named Nafarhelgi, to Iceland” (Landnama, c. xi. part iii.).
“Örlyg was fostered by the holy bishop Patrek (Patrick) in the Hebrides. He desired to go to Iceland, and asked the bishop to help him. He gave him timber for a church, and also a plenarium, an iron bell, and consecrated earth, that he might put it under the corner-stave. (This shows they had stave churches in those days). The Bishop Patrick: ‘Thou must land at a place where thou seest two mountains run out into the sea, and a valley in each mountain. Thou shalt settle at the foot of the most southerly mountain; there thou shalt build a church, and dwell there’” (Landnama, c. xii. part 1).