Abstract
The paper applies the assumption that small states/entities need economic and political shelter in order to prosper, to the case of Iceland in the period from 1400 to the Reformation in the mid-16th century. Also, it applies the findings from the first paper in this ‘hexalogy’ (a six-paper series) on Iceland’s external relations in a historical context, i.e. that Iceland enjoyed societal shelter in the Middle Ages, to this period. The aim is both to analyse whether or not Icelanders enjoyed economic, political and societal cover from their engagements with the Danes, English and Germans and to evaluate the validity of the ‘shelter theory’. The paper argues that Iceland enjoyed considerable economic and societal shelter from its encounters with English and German merchants and fishermen in a period in which Danish political cover was formally in place but was not effective in practice. Moreover, the paper claims that the shelter theory, and small-state studies in general, need to take notice of the importance of social communication with the outside world for a small entity/state. Also, the Danish political vacuum in our late Medieval Period provided the islanders with economic opportunities and social engagements with the wider world. This was at the cost of continued domestic clashes between the islanders themselves, on the one hand, and between them and ‘outsiders’ on the other. Our findings indicate that in the case of Iceland there might be a trade-off between the benefits of strict political cover by a single external actor, and the economic and societal opportunities accompanied by a lack of political affiliations.
Highlights
The aim of this paper is to examine whether Iceland’s external relations provided its inhabitants with political, economic and societal shelter in the period extending from the beginning of the 15th century to the Reformation in the mid-16th century
When the theory that small states need external shelter is applied to the Middle Ages, it has already been implicitly asserted that states, small and large, were the principal actors in world politics at the time
These relations provided Icelanders with important economic and societal shelter. They were not provided with political shelter
Summary
The aim of this paper is to examine whether Iceland’s external relations provided its inhabitants with political, economic and societal shelter in the period extending from the beginning of the 15th century to the Reformation in the mid-16th century. Iceland’s engagement with the outside world is used as a case study in order to evaluate the theory that small states/entities need external shelter to thrive, economically and politically. When the theory that small states need external shelter is applied to the Middle Ages, it has already been implicitly asserted that states, small and large, were the principal actors in world politics at the time. This is the same criticism that has been directed against Realism’s treatment of the past, i.e., its attempt to force a statist understanding of world politics onto past international structures, regardless of political realities (Linklater 2009, 145). The conclusion offers a summary of the main findings regarding Iceland’s external cover and further suggestions on modifications of the shelter theory
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