~OME REMARKS ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF ICEL.ANDIC ~OURC~

This paper takes up some of the points made by Kirsten Hastrup in her discussion of the "Icelandic constitution in the period 930-1262 (J.ASO VIII:3). It als6~ttempts to deal with some of the more general problems involved in historical anthropology. In the present case, as in mos t historical work, the dates and quality of the sources are at least as importan,t as the events which the.sources claim to describe ~ When examining Icelandic material there has been a tendency among anthropologists (see Turner 1971, Rich 1976, and Thompson 1960) and other scholars to draw parallels between what we k'n0w of Old Icelandic society and modern oircumstances. This tendency maybe partly a product of the Nationalist-Movement of"thenineteenth century (see Babcock 1976:81), whidhdrew heavily on the literary styles and sources of the sagas. Such parallels are dubious since there is no evidence te suggest a similar 'nationalist ' attitude in the period from 930 to the accessi.on of the King uf Norway in 1262. The very nature of the sources makes ~ t difficult to come to any firm conclusions about the structure ofthe.Ol