1. As evidenced in The Burning of Njal, how would you describe the position of women in Icelandic society during the Middle Ages? Research the role of women in Icelandic society today. How have things changed?

2. The original language of the sagas is called Old Icelandic, or Old Norse. It is most closely related to the other Scandinavian languages—Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian—and is the ancestor of modern Icelandic. How are these languages related to English? To German?

To the Romance languages— French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Rumanian?

3. What were the Vikings doing in the tenth and eleventh centuries elsewhere in Europe?

4. The Battle of Clontarf, fought between the Irish and the Vikings near Dublin in 1016, receives a small mention near the end of the book. Why is it an important battle in Irish history?

5. The Icelanders...