Arnved Nedkvitne is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History from the universities of Trondheim and Oslo. His main field of study has been pre-modern Norwegian social and economic organisation. Relevant monographs include: The Peasant Economy of the Atlantic and North Sea Coast of Norway 1500-1730 (Oslo 1988, translation of the Norwegian title), Lay Belief in Norse Society (Copenhagen 2009) and The German Hansa and Bergen 1100-1600 (Cologne 2014).

INTRODUCTION / 1 The problem / 2 Earlier research / 3 The contribution of this volume / CHAPTER I THE INITIAL SETTLEMENT IN AD 985/6 / 1 The Icelandic sagas as historical sources / 2 The first Greenlanders / 3 Conclusion / CHAPTER II POLITICAL ORGANISATION / 1 Ethnic identity / 2 Violence in a pre-state society / 3 Jurisdiction on pre state Greenland / 4 Financing state functions in the pre state period / 5 Ties to the Norwegian king before 1261 / 6 Attempts to organise a state administration after 1261/ CHAPTER III CHURCH AND RELIGION / 1 Christianisation / 2 Church organisation before the parish (AD 1000-1124) / 3 The parish 1124 - 1340 / 4 The Gardar diocese / 5 The monasteries / 6 The supernatural and the natural world / 7 The Greenland church in its final decades 1340-1410 / CHAPTER IV TRADE AND SHIPPING / 1 The imports / 2 The exports / 3 Quantifying trade and shipping to Norse Greenland / 4 Crossing the Greenland Ocean / 5 Overseas destinations / 6 Ships and boats / 7 The merchants / 8 The political framework for trade and shipping / CHAPTER V SUBSISTENCE FOOD PRODUCTION / 1 The basis: animal husbandry / 2 Providing fodder for domestic animals / 3 Animal husbandry in crisis? / 4 Hunting and fishing as flexible supplements / 5 The quality of the Norse Greenlanders' diet / 6 Norse and Inuit adaptation to the Greenland environment / 7 Did the last Norsemen die from starvation or undernourishment? / CHAPTER VI ONE LAND - TWO SOCIETIES / 1 Inuit attitude to violence / 2 Norse encounters with Inuit from beginning to end / 3 We found a rich land, but are not destined to enjoy it.