| In that Book on the reckoning
of time, which the Venerable Bede drew up, there is mention made of the
Island called Tili, which in books is said to be six days' sailing north
from Britain. There he said day came not in winter, nor night in summer,
when day is at its longest. By wise men the reason why Iceland is called
Tili is held to be this, that, wide about the land the sun shines all night
when the day is at its longest, and that wide about it the sun is not seen
in the day time when night is at its longest.
When Iceland was discovered and peopled from Norway, Adrian was Pope of Rome, and after him John, he who was eighth of that name in the Apostolic seat, Louis, son of Louis, was Kaiser north of the Alps, and Leo and his son Alexander over Constantinople. Then was Harold Fairhair King over Norway and Eric the son of Eymund in Sweden, and Alfred the Great in England, and afterwards Edward his son, and Kiarval in Dublin, and Earl Sigurd the Mighty in Orkney. The Book of the Settlement |