Posted on 04/15/2018 8:46:33 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A series of Earth-shattering volcanic eruptions in Iceland during the Middle Ages may have spurred the people living there to turn away from their pagan gods and convert to Christianity, a new study finds. The discovery came about thanks to precise dating of the volcanic eruptions, which spewed lava about two generations before the Icelandic people changed religions. But why would volcanic eruptions turn people toward monotheism? The answer has to do with the "Voluspa," a prominent medieval poem that predicted a fiery eruption would help lead to the downfall of the pagan gods, the researchers said. Historians have long known that the Vikings and Celts settled Iceland in about A.D. 874, but they were less certain about the date of the Eldgjá lava flood, the largest eruption to hit Iceland in the past few millennia. Knowing this date is crucial, because it can tell scientists whether the eruption -- a colossal event that unleashed about 4.8 cubic miles (20 cubic kilometers) of lava onto Greenland -- impacted the settlement there, the researchers said. To investigate, the researchers examined ice core records. Their results showed that the eruption took place less than 100 years after people settled the island. The volcano began gushing lava in the spring of A.D. 939 and lasted, at least episodically, until the autumn of 940, the researchers said... The finding matches medieval chronicles from Ireland, Germany and Italy that noted the spread of a haze in 939. Moreover, the tree-ring data revealed that in A.D. 940, the Northern Hemisphere had one of its coldest summers in the previous 1,500 years -- a cold shift consistent with the release of large amounts of volcanic sulfur into the atmosphere, the researchers said.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Map of the Eldgja fissures and lava flows. Some fissures are now buried by the Myrdalsjokull ice cap. Lavas from the 1783-1784 Laki eruption buried some of the distal Eldgja flows. Map simplified from Thordarson and others. [Eldgja Fissure System, Katla Volcano, Iceland]
irish preceded vikings to iceland
http://www.google.com/search?q=irish+preceded+vikings+to+iceland
(get the same search results if you type in ‘vikings chopped up all the irish they found when they got to iceland’?)
Interesting... But the Christianization part is overstated. The Roman Church was evangelizing, arranging alliance via Christian marriages (the Queen/Lady was increasingly a Christian, and officiating inheretances all over Europe.
Geeeet reaaaaady to rummmmmmmble! ;^)
The Vikings meanwhile were sacking monasteries, churches, and other ecclesiastical structures where gold and other wealth could be found (all of 'em). Some of the Vikings heard the word while working for the Byzantine emperor, but it didn't start to get traction until the time of this eruption. That's not a coincidence. The pagan gods were much more compatible with the Viking lifestyle. The Anglo-Saxon kings picked up Christianity as they expanded into the western parts of Britain, where it had taken hold (in some cases, hundreds of years before). The Irish were the evangelizers, Ireland having been undergoing conversion since before Rome fell.
Ragnar Rocks!
(((I know, Gotterdammerung it, Zat Vas a Bad Pun!)))
So the important part is that we need more super volcanoes to erupt in order to combat global warming. Volcanoes remind us how small we are. Major eruptions dwarf years of man’s pollution.
Thanks Fedora.
It’s perhaps best known as Tolkien’s source of a bunch of names:
Durin
http://www.voluspa.org/voluspa6-10.htm
various other dwarves and guess who else?
http://www.voluspa.org/voluspa11-15.htm
Gimle (Gimli)
http://www.voluspa.org/voluspa61-66.htm
And cattle farts.
OK, now they need to produce a sequence of natural disasters explaining why all the other European nations converted to Christianity.
"That does it, we're invading France."
Yah, I remember seeing the pagan gods in flames with Floki looking on in dismay on the Vikings.
I loved the show because it was so true to history in every respect.
(Actually, the blood and gore and graphic sex got me hooked)
LOL!
Viking cornrows?
No, actually, they don’t.
But since you mentioned it...
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/labarum/index
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