Related Research Articles
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (1178/79–1241) c. 1230. The name Heimskringla was first used in the 17th century,derived from the first two words of one of the manuscripts.
Vikings is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia,who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided,pirated,traded and settled throughout parts of Europe. They also voyaged as far as the Mediterranean,North Africa,Volga Bulgaria,the Middle East,and North America. In some of the countries they raided and settled in,this period is popularly known as the Viking Age,and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a collective whole. The Vikings had a profound impact on the early medieval history of Scandinavia,the British Isles,France,Estonia,and Kievan Rus'.
Ragnar Lodbrok,according to legends,was a Viking hero and a Danish and Swedish king. He is known from Old Norse poetry of the Viking Age,Icelandic sagas,and near-contemporary chronicles. According to the traditional literature,Ragnar distinguished himself by conducting many raids against the British Isles and the Holy Roman Empire during the 9th century. He also appears in Norse legends,and according to the legendary sagas Tale of Ragnar's Sons and a Saga about Certain Ancient Kings,Ragnar Lodbrok's father has been given as the legendary king of the Swedes,Sigurd Ring.
Harald I Fairhair was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,he reigned from c. 872 to 930 and was the first King of Norway. Supposedly,two of his sons,Eric Bloodaxe and Haakon the Good,succeeded Harald to become kings after his death.
The Norsemen were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages,during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the predecessor of the modern Germanic languages of Scandinavia. During the late eighth century,Scandinavians embarked on a large-scale expansion in all directions,giving rise to the Viking Age. In English-language scholarship since the 19th century,Norse seafaring traders,settlers and warriors have commonly been referred to as Vikings. Historians of Anglo-Saxon England distinguish between Norse Vikings (Norsemen) from Norway who mainly invaded and occupied the islands north and north-west of Britain,Ireland and western Britain,and Danish Vikings,who principally invaded and occupied eastern Britain.
A Skald,or skáld,is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry,one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry,the other being Eddic poetry,which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally composed on one occasion,sometimes extempore,and include both extended works and single verses (lausavísur). They are characteristically more ornate in form and diction than eddic poems,employing many kennings and heiti,more interlacing of sentence elements,and the complex dróttkvætt metre.
Flateyjarbók is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as Reykjavík,Stofnun Árna Magnússonar ííslenskum fræðum,GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name Codex Flateyensis. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and produced by the priests and scribes Jón Þórðarson and Magnús Þórhallsson.
A legendary saga or fornaldarsaga is a Norse saga that,unlike the Icelanders' sagas,takes place before the settlement of Iceland. There are some exceptions,such as Yngvars saga víðförla,which takes place in the 11th century. The sagas were probably all written in Iceland,from about the middle of the 13th century to about 1400,although it is possible that some may be of a later date,such as Hrólfs saga kraka.
The Viking revival was a movement reflecting new interest in,and appreciation for Viking medieval history and culture. Interest was reawakened in the late 18th and 19th centuries,often with added heroic overtones typical of that Romantic era.
Saint Sunniva is the patron saint of the Norwegian Church of Norway Diocese of Bjørgvin,as well as all of Western Norway.
The þættir are short stories written mostly in Iceland during the 13th and 14th centuries.
Óttarr svarti was an 11th-century Icelandic skald. He was the court poet first of Óláfr skautkonungr of Sweden,then of Óláfr Haraldsson of Norway,the Swedish king Anund Jacob and finally of Cnut the Great of Denmark and England. His poems are significant contemporary evidence for the careers of Óláfr Haraldsson and Cnut the Great.
The Skjöldunga saga was an Old Norse legendary saga. Dating from c. 1180 –1200,the saga was lost in its original form. The saga focused on the Danish dynasty of Scylding,the same semi-legendary dynasty featured in the Old English poem Beowulf. The fragmentary Icelandic text known as Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum is believed to be based on the Skjöldunga saga,perhaps deriving from a late version of that work. Another surviving source that contains material from the saga is Arngrimur's Ad catalogum regum Sveciæannotanda.
Helga þáttr Þórissonar is a þáttr or short legendary saga found within the Saga of Ólaf Tryggvason in the Flateyjarbók.
Kjárr,or Kíarr,is a figure of Germanic heroic legend that is believed to be the reflection of the Roman Emperors. In Old Norse sources,he appears as a king of the Valir who were the people of Valland.
Lagertha,according to legend,was a Viking ruler and shield-maiden from what is now Norway,and the onetime wife of the famous Viking Ragnar Lodbrok. Her tale was recorded by the chronicler Saxo in the 12th century. According to the historian Judith Jesch,Saxo's tales about warrior women are largely fictional;other historians wrote that they may have a basis in tales about the Norse deity Thorgerd.
Albani þáttr ok Sunnifu,also known as Seljumanna þáttr,is a short tale (þáttr) about the Irish princess Sunniva who,not wishing to marry a heathen king,flees to the Norwegian island of Selje with her brother Albanus and a number of followers. The residents of the island suspect Sunniva and her companions of killing their livestock and ask Jarl Hákon to kill these ‘bandits’. On seeing Jarl Hákon and his men approach,Sunniva and her companions retreat to their caves and pray that God will not allow them to be killed by the evil men. In answer to their prayers,the caves collapse on the group. Their bodies stay buried until discovered by Olaf Tryggvason,who has them exhumed and has a church built in dedication to them. Together with Sörla þáttr, Tóka þáttr Tókasonar, Norna-gests þáttr and Þorsteins þáttr uxafóts,the tale is part of a subgenre of "pagan-contact þættir".
Brenna Adams byskups is a short Old Norse narrative (þáttr) about Adam of Melrose,Bishop of Caithness and the events that led to his death in 1222. It is preserved in Flateyjarbók and sometimes included as an appendix to Orkneyinga saga.
Magnús Þórhallsson was an Icelandic priest who was one of two scribes who wrote the manuscript Flateyjarbók for Jón Hákonarson. Magnús was responsible for the second part of the manuscript after Jón Þórðarson left Iceland for Norway in the spring of 1388. Magnús also added three leaves to the front of the codex and rubricated and illuminated the entire manuscript. Ólafur Halldórsson has described his work as "among the most beautiful in medieval Icelandic manuscripts."
References
- 1 2 "Iceland: In the Path of the Vikings". Far Horizons. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- 1 2 "Dr Elizabeth Ashman-Rowe". University of Cambridge . Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- ↑ "Dr Elizabeth Ashman Rowe". Clare Hall, Cambridge . Retrieved August 24, 2020.
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
| Other | |
