AHC: Iceland part of Great Britain

The challenge is make Iceland part of Great Britain with a POD no earlier than 1500AD. Bonus points if the inhabitants consider themselves British first and Icelandic second.
 
maybe if iceland was brought by scotland around the 1470s or possibly a scottish conquest of iceland around the same time, other than that there is also the possibility of gealic migration to iceland before the viking era.
 
King Henry accepts the proposed sale or mortgage of Iceland in 1518 or again in the 1520s. Considering the ridiculous amount of money he poured into the empty sacks that were Maximilian, Ferdinand and others, he could easily afford the 50-100,000 florins the King of Denmark set as his asking price.

Delaying the discovery of Newfoundland might facilitate matters, although Iceland's fishery was still quite important to English economy for a while longer.
 
King Henry accepts the proposed sale or mortgage of Iceland in 1518 or again in the 1520s. Considering the ridiculous amount of money he poured into the empty sacks that were Maximilian, Ferdinand and others, he could easily afford the 50-100,000 florins the King of Denmark set as his asking price.

Delaying the discovery of Newfoundland might facilitate matters, although Iceland's fishery was still quite important to English economy for a while longer.
I'd never heard of this, a nice POD actually. However the question arises of why would Henry VIII feel the need to purchase Iceland.
 
Is there any chance that it could become part of the dowry of Anne of Denmark for her marriage to James VI? Or to have it be included in any ATL marriage deal between the British and Danish royal houses?
 
I'd never heard of this, a nice POD actually. However the question arises of why would Henry VIII feel the need to purchase Iceland.

When you're talking Henry VIII overcompensation and ego are two very reliable methods of manipulating him. If someone could convince him to go ahead with it (could be for rich fishing grounds, better access to the New World, it'll make England look neat on a map, whatever floats their boat really) by stroking/inciting Henry's ego that could do the job.

I'd imagine having Iceland would make England getting to Canada first much easier to accomplish, crowding French out of North America completely which unleashes a lot of butterflies.
 
I'd never heard of this, a nice POD actually. However the question arises of why would Henry VIII feel the need to purchase Iceland.

Well access to the fishery there was often regulated by the Danish Crown, and the Englishmen had to get licenses every seven years, which were inconvenient...perhaps he sees profit in acquiring the whole thing?

Otherwise it could be pawned to England as part of an unpaid dowry: to recall a daughter of Denmark was briefly considered as a match for FitzRoy, although preference was for one of her Portuguese cousins. Perhaps Catherine of Aragon dies and Henry VIII looks for a Danish marriage himself, primarily to maintain his connection to the Hapsburgs, but receiving Iceland as part of the dowry (á la the Scots with Orkneys and Shetland).
 
while i could see Iceland being given as a dowry (although it'd would have to be before massive awareness about the riches of the new world, and the attempts to grab it), it would have to be part of a major political alliance where Denmark would get paid a worthwhile replacement price, since at this point in time Denmark was still the major power everywhere north of HRE ... maybe military support for squashing Swedish Independence from Kalmar Union.
 
while i could see Iceland being given as a dowry (although it'd would have to be before massive awareness about the riches of the new world, and the attempts to grab it), it would have to be part of a major political alliance where Denmark would get paid a worthwhile replacement price, since at this point in time Denmark was still the major power everywhere north of HRE ... maybe military support for squashing Swedish Independence from Kalmar Union.

King Christian was so desperate for cash he was willing to mortgage it to the merchants of Antwerp for 20,000-30,000 guilders: so desperate in fact he tried twice, 1518 and again in 1523.
 
King Christian was so desperate for cash he was willing to mortgage it to the merchants of Antwerp for 20,000-30,000 guilders: so desperate in fact he tried twice, 1518 and again in 1523.
Off topic, if the Antwerp merchants had purchased Iceland, would that have brought it under Hapsburg control, or would it have been a different arrangement?
 
Off topic, if the Antwerp merchants had purchased Iceland, would that have brought it under Hapsburg control, or would it have been a different arrangement?

I imagine they'd have tried to run it as a sort of corporate colony, collecting taxes and selling fishing concessions. This would probably piss off the Icelanders enough to revolt, at which point the Antwerpers would request Habsburg help putting it down. This could lead to either a renewed Icelandic Commonwealth (under the protection of Denmark, France, the Hanseatic League, etc.) or to more direct Habsburg rule. It should be noted that at the time, Iceland was still Catholic, and could conceivably remain so without Danish imposition of the Reformation.

In a Henry VIII buys Iceland scenario, it might follow a similar trajectory to Orkney and Shetland. Denmark would try to get it back after the debt clears up a bit, but I don't see any reason for them to be more successful than OTL. The presence of another, larger, Northern Isle might help with the preservation of Norn culture, though there would still be considerable English pressure.
 
Having the POD "no earlier than 1500" makes this very difficult to pull off.

An easier way would be to have the Maid of Norway be born male. This King of Scotland then becomes King of Norway. Add a later division of the 2 kingdoms but leave Scotland holding Iceland and the Isles, then unify the result with England-Ireland and you have your British Iceland early
 

ingemann

Banned
King Christian was so desperate for cash he was willing to mortgage it to the merchants of Antwerp for 20,000-30,000 guilders: so desperate in fact he tried twice, 1518 and again in 1523.

To mortage part of the royal possession was common for the time and usual didn't result in a change of ownership. Such change only happened when a state didn't really care about the mortage area very much like for the Danish Shetland and Estonia. Icelasnd on the other hand was important to allow the Danish state to upkeep the Norwegian claim to the North Atlantic.
 
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