WI the Irish settled Iceland?

[Malone]

If instead of the Norse the previously uninhabited Iceland was settled by the Irish? The Norse stated Irish monks were there before they arrived but they were in small numbers.

How would it have developed and would it have likely fallen under the sphere of England/Britain?

Because Iceland's settlement was so small, the Norse intermarried with the some of indigenous Celts, resulting in a hybrid Nordic-Celtic culture. I doubt England/Scotland will be interested in a campaign to conquer Iceland unless circumstances force them to do so.

 

[Strategos' Risk]

Hey, maybe St. Brendan sails west and finds land after all.

 

[Gabingston]

If instead of the Norse the previously uninhabited Iceland was settled by the Irish? The Norse stated Irish monks were there before they arrived but they were in small numbers.

How would it have developed and would it have likely fallen under the sphere of England/Britain?

Because Iceland's settlement was so small, the Norse intermarried with the some of indigenous Celts, resulting in a hybrid Nordic-Celtic culture. I doubt England/Scotland will be interested in a campaign to conquer Iceland unless circumstances force them to do so.

I thought they kidnapped a bunch of women from Scotland and Ireland and then brought them to Iceland.

 

[Salamander]

It is possible that the Irish did settle Iceland before the Norse did, but not the way we typically think of. There is evidence that suggests that the Celtic Church may have established small communities of hermetic monks in both the Faroes and Iceland. There is a St. Brendan's Creek in the Faroes. Some Norse sagas also mention using Irish navigators/pilots. See also Tim Severin's The Brendan Voyage, which details his successful attempt to recreate the voyage of St. Brendan. His experiment proves that it was possible for the voyage to have occurred, that they could reach Canada via Scotland, the Faroes and Iceland, and that the legend of St. Brendan might in fact be a fanciful retelling of a bishop of the Church inspecting small, remote monasteries, similar to those found off the west coast of Ireland.

 

[DanMcCollum]

As others have said, there's evidence that Irish monks made their home in Iceland prior to the settlement of the Norse. The Norse themselves mention it in their Sagas, for instance, and there's some archeological evidence as well.

Could you see non-religious settlement in Ireland at the time (or, at least, non-hermit settlement)? Yes, actually. The Irish early medieval crop package actually would have traslated to Iceland very well, And i actually worked an Irish Iceland into my Amalingian timeline (which I really need to get back to)

 

[Jurgen Wullenwever]

If Iceland had been Irish, then there might have been one strong Gaelic language today.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

It's one thing for monks wanting to be hermits to go off on a wildly dangerous voyage. It's another for whole families, AND livestock to.

Transporting those in a coracle would have been insanely dangerous. The Norse knarrar were MUCH better ships.

If they were going to have done anything like that, they'd have settled the Faroes first.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Also, don't forget that Ireland is wet and lush. So green it's called the Emerald Isle.
Iceland isn't. 'good agricultural land' in Iceland is grazing land with grass thick enough to raise cattle. (That probably means grass long and thick enough to hay for winter fodder.)
Iceland was surely the only settled place in Europe where grain cost as much as meat. And THAT was during Mediæval Warm Period.
It has a lot more in common with Norway than Ireland that way.

 

[Jurgen Wullenwever]

If instead of the Norse the previously uninhabited Iceland was settled by the Irish? The Norse stated Irish monks were there before they arrived but they were in small numbers.

How would it have developed and would it have likely fallen under the sphere of England/Britain?

Because Iceland's settlement was so small, the Norse intermarried with the some of indigenous Celts, resulting in a hybrid Nordic-Celtic culture. I doubt England/Scotland will be interested in a campaign to conquer Iceland unless circumstances force them to do so.

The Icelanders are said to have two thirds Scottish-Irish ancestry on the female side, while only one fifth Celtic on the male side, so an Irish Iceland is not that far from OTL, we just need to tweak the circumstances a bit. Say that the early population tilts more toward speaking Irish than Norse, and after some generations only Irish is spoken on Iceland, although heavily influenced by Norse, and the cultural connection is mainly to Ireland.

A more lasting impression made by the Irish monks could have supported this development, perhaps christianising Iceland (or keeping it Christian, since it already was) already in the 800s.

 

[Rognvald]

As others have said, there's evidence that Irish monks made their home in Iceland prior to the settlement of the Norse. The Norse themselves mention it in their Sagas, for instance, and there's some archeological evidence as well.

Could you see non-religious settlement in Ireland at the time (or, at least, non-hermit settlement)? Yes, actually. The Irish early medieval crop package actually would have traslated to Iceland very well, And i actually worked an Irish Iceland into my Amalingian timeline (which I really need to get back to)

Yes, you do need to get back to it!

 

[Jan Olbracht]

The Icelanders are said to have two thirds Scottish-Irish ancestry on the female side, while only one fifth Celtic on the male side, so an Irish Iceland is not that far from OTL, we just need to tweak the circumstances a bit. Say that the early population tilts more toward speaking Irish than Norse, and after some generations only Irish is spoken on Iceland, although heavily influenced by Norse, and the cultural connection is mainly to Ireland.

A more lasting impression made by the Irish monks could have supported this development, perhaps christianising Iceland (or keeping it Christian, since it already was) already in the 800s.

It was assumed, that Icelanders are descendants of Scandinavian men and Celtic women brought from Scotland and Ireland as slaves, but it is also possible, that mixing happened in coastal Scotland and Ireland, when Norsemen settled there and took local wives and their mixed Norse-Celtic descendants later colonized Iceland.

 

[Jurgen Wullenwever]

Perhaps the monks and hermits could have started schools for the children in the new settlements, teaching Christianity and Irish and other things.

 

[James Ricker]

If the Irish settled Iceland, the British would know where they were
Iceland would become part of the British Empire whether they liked it or not