When visiting modern Iceland, a tourist need not have any special appreciation or interest in the Middle Ages to notice that it is a country preoccupied by the medieval. From touching down at the airport in Keflavik, where the first-class premier lounge has been named the ‘Saga Lounge’, to their arrival in the country's capital of Reykjavik, where shop fronts proudly display an assortment of Viking-related products, a visitor is assailed by various medievalisms. If they choose to take part in one of the many guided tours that run from the city, they will no doubt be regaled by stories of the country's past that emphasize the continuities between the Norse settlement and the modern European nation. Elements such as the closeness of Modern Icelandic and Old Norse-Icelandic, the former of which is often erroneously described by Icelanders and travel writers alike as ‘the language of the Vikings’, and the fact that many contemporary Icelanders can trace their ancestry back to the island's first settlers in the ninth century, are common inclusions for tour guides. Indeed, it can sometimes seem that if it is not related to the medieval, then it is not worth knowing.

For anyone interested in medievalisms, then, Iceland is a valuable case study. Due to its geographical isolation, caught as it is in the North Atlantic between Europe and North America, its settlement towards the end of the first millennium is deliberately broadcast as being far more definite than other countries that might be regarded as having their foundations in the medieval past. It is a medieval origin story apparently not obscured by the mists of time, but seemingly well documented through the Islendingabok. Although it is far beyond the scope of this chapter to provide a definitive description of Iceland's relationship with its medieval past, it is hoped that it will serve as an introduction to the country's national medievalisms, the transnational medievalisms that have been projected upon it, and the ideological debates they provoke.