Posts Tagged ‘Norway’

Some observations on martyrdom in post-conversion Scandinavia

Some observations on martyrdom in post-conversion Scandinavia

By Hari Antonsson

Saga-Book, Vol.28 (2004)

Introduction: The Irish Cogadh Caedhal re Gallaibh (‘The War of the Irish with the Foreigners’), composed in the early twelfth century, tells in an epic fashion of the battle of Clontarf which was fought in 1014 between the followers of Brian Boru, king of Munster, and the Vikings of Dublin and their Irish allies. The latethirteenth-century Njáls saga also tells in detail of the same encounter, possibly following here a lost Brjáns saga which may have dated from the late twelfth century. For a study of the two texts I refer to Goedheer’s monograph, but for the present purpose I wish only to draw attention to a single comparative feature: their presentation of King Brian’s death in battle.

In the Cogadh Brian stays away from the battle and instead occupies himself with prayers in his tent. There is no explicit reason given for Brian’s conduct although it is implied that he is kept from fighting by old age. Nevertheless, when Brian is attacked by the Viking Bróðir the king is still able to wield his sword. In the ensuing combat both Brian and his assailant are slain. Njáls saga, on the other hand, is more forthcoming about Brian Boru’s absence from battle. The king will not join the fight because the day is Good Friday; even when Bróðir has fought his way through the king’s shield-wall, Brian refuses to draw his sword. Instead he is defended by the young Taðkr, but to no avail; Bróðir’s sword slices through the boy’s hand and the same stroke decapitates the king of Munster. In turn, the Viking is killed by Brian’s retinue. Two miracles are noted: the king’s severed head re-attaches itself to his body and Brian’s blood heals Taðkr’s wound.

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10 Jul 2010
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Women’s oldest profession? Evidence from twelfth century Bergen, Norway

Women’s oldest profession? Evidence from twelfth century Bergen, Norway

By Gitte Hansen

Medieval Europe Paris 2007, 4th International Congress of Medieval and Modern Archaeology (2007)

Introduction: I am going to present a micro level study; A close up on activities at town plots in Bergen in twelfth century western Norway providing substance to our insight in the everyday life of ordinary people – the first generations of townspeople in this newly established town. The background for the present paper is a comprehensive study of the emergence of Bergen as a town. Interesting patterns in the distribution of artefacts showed up, and a puzzling one was the pattern formed by sausage pins, ordinary cooking tools and debris from workshops occupied by travelling artisans. Bergen is located on the south west coast of Norway.

During the Middle Ages Bergen appeared as the most important town in Norway. From the end of the thirteenth century it was known as the country’s largest trade centre and from the end of the twelfth century it was the ecclesiastic centre of western Norway. The story of the beginning of Bergen as a town is a somewhat untraditional one. The town was founded by a king probably about 1020/30. The archaeological sources show that plots were laid out and that some of these plots were taken into use after the foundation. In the next generations to come further royal investments were made in the town project; more areas were regulated and included in the townscape, streets were laid out and institutions such as churches and monasteries were founded. On the town plots where the ordinary townspeople were supposed to live development was, however, slow and activities sparse for the first 80 – 100 years after the initial foundation.

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7 May 2010
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Occupying town plots on the early development of habitation in Norwegian medieval towns

Occupying town plots on the early development of habitation in Norwegian medieval towns

By Petter B. Molaug

Medieval Europe Paris 2007, 4th International Congress of Medieval and Modern Archaeology (2007)

Introduction: The first Norwegian towns came into being during the 11th C, according to the traditional view of Norwegian scholars. This is primarily based on Heimskringla, the Kings’ sagas written by Snorri Sturlasson in the early 13th C (Heimskringla) and on other late narrative written sources. During the last 50 years the results of archaeological investigations have played an increasing role in the debate.

The traditional debate amongst Norwegian scholars has been if the towns were established by the kings, as described in the sagas, or if they developed from earlier habitations, markets or trading places. Today’s view is mostly in favour of Snorri’s version although the dating is modified. The ground where the town was built seems to have been part of a farm or area owned by the king. In Bergen, Oslo, Tønsberg and Trondheim, to mention the four largest and most well-known of the medieval Norwegian towns, there is solid archaeological evidence for farming prior to the urban development.

In all these towns it seems that the ground has been divided into plots as the first act. Such a division of the ground is known from older Scandinavian settlements, such as Kaupang, Ribe, Haithabu and Birka. The tenements are elongated with the short side towards the street or towards the water. Here the width is between 4,5m and 8m. In the 11th C Norwegian towns the width is usually from 8 to 13m. In Trondheim in the most central part the width around 1000 was roughly 8m, whereas the area towards the river Nid had wider plots during the earliest period. These were later divided. In Bergen the plots seems to bee rather regular in the northern part of the area where later the German wharf was established, measuring around 11,5m along the shoreline, wider in a southern part, measuring around 16m. In Oslo the width is more variable, between 11 and 15m in the oldest periods in the 11th C. In Tønsberg there are indications of 8m as a standard width in the oldest period, but high medieval tenements seem to be around twice as wide, and the interpretations are rather uncertain.

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3 Apr 2010
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Books, scribes and sequences in medieval Norway

Books, scribes and sequences in medieval Norway

By Åslaug Ommundsen

PhD Dissertation, University of Bergen, 2007

Introduction: The basic source material of this study is a selected group of manuscript fragments of Norwegian provenance containing a particular type of medieval chant, generally referred to as “sequences”. The emphasis here is not primarily on the sequences, but on the fragments transmitting them and the physical evidence of books which once existed in Norway in complete form.

This thesis explores how the fragments with sequences can be used to study a growing manuscript culture in the periphery and its innate European influences. The study of manuscript fragments is of immense importance in Norway to increase our knowledge of medieval book and scribal culture, as so little material is transmitted in the form of complete codices. In spite of this the fragments have attracted little attention, especially in the field of Latin philology.

In this study all Norwegian fragments with sequences are described in an illustrated catalogue. In addition, selected items are analysed to increase the knowledge of book and scribal culture in Norway and the influences upon it from other European regions in the twelfth and thirteenth century. The study also adresses the general challenge of fragment studies, and seeks to provide answers to the following questions:

How can fragments from Latin manuscripts, particularly liturgical, best be approached in a study of medieval book culture?

How can studies of such fragments shed light on the cultural transfer between European centres and the northern periphery in the Middle Ages?

Click here to read/download this thesis – Part 1 (PDF file)

Click here to read/download this thesis – Part 2 (PDF file)

29 Mar 2010
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Saga and East Scandinavia: Preprint papers of The 14th International Saga Conference

Saga and East Scandinavia: Preprint papers of The 14th International Saga Conference

Edited by Agneta Ney, Henrik Williams and Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist

Gävle: Gävle University Press, 2009

In August 2009, Uppsala University hosted the 14th International Saga Conference. Papers from the conference have now been made available online and can be downloaded as PDF files in two parts:

Part 1 – pages 1 to 550

Part 2 – pages 551 to 1081

Here is a list of English-language papers which have been published in full in this volume:

Part 1

Karelia, Finland and Austrvegr, by Sirpa Aalto and Ville Laakso

Dancing Images from Medieval Iceland, by Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir

Outlaws, women and violence. In the social margins of saga literature, by Joonas Ahola

The Formation of the Kings’ Sagas, by Theodore M. Andersson

Why be afraid? On the practical uses of legends, by Ármann Jakobsson

Writing origins: the development of communal identity in some Old Norse foundation-myths and their analogues in Guta saga, by Robert Avis

Individuality and Iconography: Jakob Sigurðsson’s Renderings of Codex Upsaliensis f.26v, by Patricia A. Baer

St. Óláfr and his Enemies in the Saga Tradition, by Sverre Bagge

“Gofuct dýr ec heiti”: Deer Symbolism in Sigurðr Fáfnisbani?, by Massimiliano Bampi

Muslims in Karlamagnúss saga and Elíss saga ok Rósamundar, by Bjørn Bandlien

Byzantium in the riddarasögur, by Geraldine Barnes

The World West of Iceland in Medieval Icelandic Oral Tradition, by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough

What do the norns actually do?, by Karen Bek-Pedersen

Ásmund á austrvega: The Faroese Oral Tradition on Ásmund and its Relation to the Icelandic Saga, by Chiara Benati

The ‘Other’ and the Noble Heathen: Ambiguous Representations of Grettir and Finnbogi, by Lisa Bennett

The Good, the Bad and the Devil! On rewriting a Religious Motif in some Virgin Martyr Legends, by Kjersti Bruvoll

Negotiations of Space and Gender in Brennu-Njáls Saga, by Katrina Burge

The Secret Lives of Lawspeakers: the portrayal of lögsögumenn in the Íslendingasögur, by Hannah Burrows

Vatnsdoela saga and Onomastics: the case of Ingimundr Þorsteinsson, by Jörg Büschgens

Sagas and Archaeology in the Mosfell Valley, Iceland, by Jesse L. Byock

An Icelandic Genesis, by Betsie A.M. Cleworth

Poets and Ethnicity, by Margaret Clunies Ross

Passing Time and the Past in Grettis Saga Ásmundarsonar, by Jamie Cochrane

Editing the Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda, by Matthew J. Driscoll

Anatomies off the Map: “Secret and distant freaks” and the Authorization of Identity in Medieval Icelandic and Irish Literature, by Amy Eichhorn-Mulligan

Which came first – the smith or the shaman? Volundarkviða, craftspeople and central place complexes, by Leif Einarson

Love affairs versus Social Status: A Theme in Kormáks saga?, by Elín Bára Magnúsdóttir

The ethical map of the Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar, by Alexey Eremenko

Reception and function of stories about the East, by Stefka G. Eriksen

From saga to Chronicle: Motif Migration inside Medieval Scandinavia, by Fulvio Ferrari

Narrative Trajectories between Nodal Points in the Cultural Landscape – The Eriksgata of King Ingjald, by Svante Fischer

Snorri Sturluson and oral traditions, by Frog

The Good, the Bad and the Undead: New Thoughts on the Ambivalence of Old Norse Sorcery, by Leszek Gardeła

Sensory deceptions. Concepts of mediality in the Prose Edda, by Jürg Glauser

On the Reception of Eastern Europe in Pre-Literate Iceland, by Galina Glazyrina

Saintly Exile: the commemoration of King Óláfr inn helgi in the poetry of Heimskringla, by Erin Goeres

Recreating Tradition: Sigvatr Þórðarson’s Víkingarvísur and Óttarr svarti’s Hofuðlausn, by Jonathan Grove

Alternative criteria for the dating of the sagas of Icelanders, by Guðrún Nordal

Ansgar’s Conversion of Iceland, by Terry Gunnell

Egill Skalla-Grímssonr on the Library Site in Trondheim?, by Jan Ragnar Hagland

More inroads to pre-Christian notions, after all? The potential of late evidence, by Eldar Heide

A Short Report from the Project on Codex Upsaliensis of Snorra Edda, by Heimir Pálsson

Law recital according to Old Icelandic law: Written evidence of oral transmission?, by Helgi Skúli Kjartansson

Hjarta sjónir. Ekphrasis and medium in Líknarbraut, by Kate Heslop

The Herjólfr Legend from Härjedalen and Its Resemblances to the Stories of Landnámabók, by Olof Holm

Sörla saga sterka and Rafn’s edition, by Silvia Hufnagel

Odin – an immigrant in Scandinavia?, by Anders Hultgård

The Gosforth Fishing-Stone and Hymiskviða: An Example of Inter-Communicability between the Old English and Old Norse Speakers, by Tsukusu Itó

Aldeigjuborg of the sagas in the light of archaeological data, by Tatjana N. Jackson

The Sea-Kings of Litla Skálda, by Judith Jesch

Royal Women and the Friðgerðarsaga Episode, by Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir

Biörner’s edition of the Friðþjófs saga ins froekna, by Vera Johanterwage

Where Old West and Old East Norse literature meet. A project outline, by Regina Jucknies

Sweden of the Sagas, by Kári Gíslason

Sweden and the Swedes in English language surveys of the Viking period, by John Kennedy

Celtic and Continental handicraft traditions; Template use on Gotlandic Picture Stones analysed by 3D-scanning, by Laila Kitzler Åhfeldt

When small words make a big difference: On adaptation and transmission of texts in Late Medieval
manuscripts, by Elise Kleivane

Rune stones and Saga, by Lydia Klos

Sverris saga in Uppsala De la Gardie 3, by James E. Knirk

When was the Battle of Helgeå?, by Annette Kruhøffer

Frithjof and Röde Orm: Two Swedish Viking impersonations, by Hans Kuhn

Part 2

Mirrors of the Self – Deconstructing Bipolarity in the Late Icelandic Romances, by Hendrik Lambertus

Troll and Ethnicity in Egils saga, by Paul S. Langeslag

Stjúpmoeðrasögur and Sigurðr’s Daughters, by Carolyne Larrington

Scribal Presence in Eggertsbók and Modern Editorial Attitudes, by Emily Lethbridge

Gendered memory – Rune stones, early Christian grave monuments and the Sagas, by Cecilia Ljung

The Gutnic runkalender and the ancient system of time calculus, by Maria Cristina Lombardi

Óðinn’s Role as a Guarantor of Law and Order in Norse Texts, by Lorenzo Lozzi Gallo

Royal Descent from Odin, by Emily Lyle

“Archaic” Assonance in the Strophes of Ragnarr Loðbróks Family and Other Early Skalds, by Mikael Males

The kauphús of Peter the Apostle in leiðarvísir: A Market or a Scribal Error?, by Tommaso Marani

Kenn mér réttan veg til þess kastala er Artús konungr sitr í: References to Kingship in the Old French Conte du Graal and its Old Norse and Middle English Adaptations, by Suzanne Marti

The Valtari story in Þidriks Saga af Bern: sources and parallels, by Inna Matyushina

Overcoming Óðinn: the Conversion Episode in Njáls saga, by Bernadine McCreesh

Alu and hale II: ‘May Thor bless’, by Bernard Mees

Óláfr soenski and his skalds in Old Norse tradition, by Jakub Morawiec

Time-reckoning, ritual time and the symbolism of numbers in Adam of Bremen’s account of the great sacrifice in Old Uppsala, by Andreas Nordberg

Imagining the Kalmar union: Nordic politics as viewed from a late 15th-century Icelandic manuscript, by Hans Jacob Orning

Runic Literacy and Viking-age Orality, by Rune Palm

West Slavic toponyms in Knýtlinga saga: orthographic adaptations or orthographic mistakes?, by Aleksandra Petrulevich

The East as a Model for the West: Translation Method and Aims in Alexanders saga, by Jonatan Pettersson

Hair Loss, the Tonsure, and Masculinity in Medieval Iceland, by Carl Phelpstead

The Thidrekssaga and the birth of the first Russian state, by Alessio Piccinini

Suffering a sea-change: poetic justice in Egill’s Sonatorrek, by Debbie Potts

Betrothal and betrayal: the eddic tradition’s treatment of Sigurðr, by Judy Quinn

Grettir the Deep: Traditional Referentiality and Characterisation in the Íslendingasögur, by Slavica Ranković

The women and Óðinn, by Margareta Regebro

A Hagiographical Reading of Egils saga, by Philip Roughton

Coming to Grips with the Beast, by Carrie Roy

Brenna at UpsÄlum: the Denial of Cosmos., by Giovanna Salvucci

The “Wild East” in Late Medieval Icelandic Romances – Just a Prop(p)?, by Werner Schäfke

Man as the Measure of All Things: The Relationship Between Mankind and the Gods in Eddic Wisdom Poetry, by Brittany Schorn

Germanic alliteration and oral theory, by Michael Schulte

Saga Accounts of Violence-motivated Far-travel, by John Shafer

Per sortes ac per equum. Lot-casting and hippomancy in the North after saga narratives and medieval chronicles, by Leszek P. Słupecki

Fornaldarsögur and the concept of literacy, by Terje Spurkland

Aspects of editing skaldic verse: The case of Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings, by Rolf Stavnem

Sigurðr Fáfnisbani as commemorative motif, by Marjolein Stern

Is Óðinn really ‘alles fader’?, by Mathias Strandberg

Though this be madness, yet there’s method in’t: aspects of word order in skaldic kennings, by Ilya V. Sverdlov

Centre and Periphery in Icelandic Medieval Discourse, by Sverrir Jakobsson

The Versions of Böglunga saga, by Þorleifur Hauksson

Magic in sagas: the curses of Katla and Glámr, by Bernt Øyvind Thorvaldsen

Earl Hákon of Orkney’s Journey to Sweden, by Maria-Claudia Tomany

“Ærið gott gömlum og feigum.” Seeking death in Njáls saga, by Torfi H. Tulinius

Sturla the trickster, by Úlfar Bragason

The Genealogies of West-Icelandic Family Sagas and their relation to the Sturlung family, by Jens Ulff-Møller

From the History of the Obscene: Evident and concealed meanings of the nickname Þambarskelfir, by Fjodor Uspenskij

Hrólfs saga kraka – A History of Editing, by Tereza Vachunová

The Archaeological Material Culture behind the Sagas, by Helena Victor

The reproduction of Old Icelandic close front rounded vowels (, <ý> and ) in a 17th c. manuscript (AM 105 fol) of a part of Hauksbók (AM 371 4to), by Francesco Vitti

Further Remarks on Ohthere’s Beormas, by Vilmos Voigt

Estranged Bedfellows: Saga Scholarship and Archaeological Research in Iceland, by Elisabeth Ida Ward

Kormáks saga and the naming of Scarborough – a likely story?, by Diana Whaley

The Development of Skaldic Language, by Tarrin Wills

Parody and genre in sagas of Icelanders, by Kendra Willson

Towards a Diachronic Analysis of Old Norse-Icelandic Color Terms: The Cases of Green and Yellow, by Kirsten Wolf

Kenning construal as a criterion for the stemmatic analysis of the Codex Upsaliensis in the transmission of Snorra Edda, by Bryan Weston Wyly

Hildibrandr húnakappi and Ásmundr kappabani in Icelandic sagas and Faroese ballads, by Yelena Sesselja Helgadóttir-Yershova

Håkon Jarl Ivarsson and Roðr, by Torun Zachrisson

On the symbiosis of orality and literacy in some Christian rune stone inscriptions, by Kristel Zilmer

12 Feb 2010
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Power and Conversion – a Comparative Study of Christianization in Scandinavia

Power and Conversion – a Comparative Study of Christianization in Scandinavia

By Alexandra Sanmark

Occasional Papers in Archaeology, Vol. 34 (2003)

Abstract: This book examines the Christianization of Scandinavia with the help of comparative material from Anglo-Saxon England, Old Frisia and Old Saxony. It is shown that Christianity spread from secular rulers and aristocracy downwards in society. In order to achieve widespread acceptance of Christianity, rulers employed specific measures, mainly legislation and material support to clerics. It is clear that in the conversion process, missionaries were necessary, but subordinate to secular rulers.

Various kinds of pressure were present in all conversions covered by this study, ranging from mild inducement to brutal force. The conversion of Saxony was particularly violent. While not as harsh, the conversion of Norway belongs in the same part of the spectrum. Forceful conversions included the use of military force, but also the introduction of strict laws and rigorous control systems. Rewards of social, political and material nature were however also significant.

Most important among the new laws were those that regulated the daily life of the population according to the Christian calendar, requiring observance of the seasonal fasts, Sundays and feast days. Other early decrees concerned baptism, churchyard burial and marriage regulations. Early Christian legislation, furthermore, provides a different picture of the Scandinavian pre-Christian religious custom than the Icelandic sources, suggesting that this was mainly a ‘nature religion’. The eddaic gods seem to have been either essentially literary creations, or of little significance for the wider population. The popular cultic rituals appear to have focused on other supernatural beings and magical practices.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. The Conversions of Anglo-Saxon England, Frisia and Saxony

Chapter 3. The Conversion of Scandinavia

Chapter 4. Pre-Christian Religious Custom and Early Christianity in Scandinavia

Chapter 5. Christian Dietary Regulations

Chapter 6. Seasonal Fasting Regulations

Chapter 7. Regulation of Work, Marriage, Baptism, and Burial

Chapter 8. Final Conclusions

Click here to read/download this book (PDF file)

29 Jan 2010
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Christianization of Norway

Christianization of Norway

By Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide

Conference Paper given in 2007

Introduction: A major change took place in Scandinavia around AD 1000: the emergence of a monarchy, the establishment of Christianity and urbanisation are the main elements of this change, followed by transformations in, for instance, social organisation, economy, technology and aesthetics. The order of events has since long been discussed in order to find the answer to the typical historical question: What came first and last in this historical sequence? What were the courses of events, and what were the consequences?

In a postdoctoral project I aimed to further knowledge about this chronology by focusing specifically on the change from Norse to Christian religion in Norway. I wished to analyse available information on chronology concerning three important aspects:

  • how long did the old Norse religion persist after Christianity was imposed
  • how early could a Christian cult be traced
  • and, because many scholars previously have stressed the possibility for syncretism or acculturation and gradual change, I also aimed to demonstrate whether there was a gradual shift from a Norse to Christian cult. In order to investigate the later aspect, I began mapping traces of cults from the period prior to the infiltration of Christianity into Norway, and ended my research with the establishment of the archbishopric of Nidaros.

Thus the period for my investigations was between c. AD 560 and 1152/53.

Early written sources describe missionary Christian kings who were baptised, often abroad, and who returned to Norway with missionaries, the example of King Håkon den gode (reign 934-961), who was raised in England, is a prime example of such a king. King Olav Tryggvason, brought up in Novgorod, and King Olav Haraldsson (St Olav) who reigned in the late 10th and early 11th century respectively are also described as kings who were important for the Christianization of Norway. This is particularly true of St Olav, who died in a battle in Trøndelag in 1030 (Bagge 2005). The year 1030 has thus been seen as the ‘official year’ for the Christianization of the Norwegian population.

Contemporary written sources are, however, scant for this early period, and the reliability for later documents concerning this period are uncertain. Contemporary archaeological material has sometimes been interpreted to fit within the context of the written sources, but quite often the interpretation tells a conflicting story. In some areas, for instance in Rogaland, archaeological evidence has pointed to a slow and gradual change to Christianity after an early introduction, maybe as early as the 8th century. But in the vast majority of areas in Norway material culture demonstrates a sudden stop in the Norse cult during the 10th – 11th century, and eventually the appearance of Christian churches. The differences in interpretation depend on differences in archaeological material in various regions, but also on differences in theoretical background and methods.

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24 Nov 2009
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Encountering ”Otherness” in the Heimskringla

Encountering ”Otherness” in the Heimskringla

By Sirpa Aalto

Ennen Ja Nyt, Vol.4 (2004)

Introduction: The Kings’ Sagas (konungasögur) are a genre of Icelandic sagas, which were written at the end of the 12th century and in the first half of the 13th century. This genre concentrates on telling about the kings of Norway and they can be compared with other contemporary historiography in Europe. The Heimskringla is often called the top of the Kings’ Sagas because of its sophisticated style. It was written by an Icelander, Snorri Sturluson (1178/79 1241), around the year 1230. Snorri himself was one of the leading Icelandic figures of his day: a highly educated chieftain, who had personal ties to King Hakon Hakonsson of Norway.

Historical anthropology is methodologically a good starting point for this topic, which is encountering “otherness” in the Heimskringla. Studying “otherness” is about studying mentalities. As Aron Gurevich has said:

One of the main tasks of historical anthropology is to reconstruct images of the world which are representative of different epochs and cultural traditions. This requires the reconstruction of the subjective reality which formed the content of the consciousness of people of a given epoch and culture.

“Otherness”, or “difference” as it is also nowadays called, as an object for study has just found its way into the field of history thanks to the French Annales school and historical anthropology, which have emphasized new approaches to old themes in history. During the last decades historians have studied all kinds of marginal groups and phenomena, and in this sense studying “otherness” continues this trend by giving a somewhat new perspective.

Historical anthropology also emphasizes that it is possible to use narratives, like the Heimskringla, as sources for history. According to Sverre Bagge

… there must be some connection between the specifically medieval kind of narrative and contemporary actors’ intentions and decisions; which means that the historical narratives become important sources for how medieval people understood themselves, their actions, and their society.

The authorship of Snorri has been widely debated, but if we consider that the Heimskringla can be seen as an expression of Norse mentality during the first half of the 13th century, there is no need to further discuss the question of authorship here.

Because the Heimskringla is not a geographical treatise it does not have comprehensive descriptions about countries and peoples. That is why “the others”, or “strangers”, were not easy to find. The best way to find descriptions on “otherness” is to study all kinds of contacts between people by asking the following questions. What kind of contacts would there be? What forms of “otherness” can be found in the Heimskringla? In which situations would “otherness” appear? Could “otherness” be categorized? What kind of elements would be involved with the concept of “otherness”? All in all, it is important to remember that “otherness” in the Heimskringla is just a reflection of mentality. Ultimately, “otherness” can reveal something about the Norse worldview in the 13th century and how the Norse people would define themselves and the world outside. A few examples of “otherness” have been chosen for this article in order to give an idea of how it appears in the Heimskringla.

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24 Jul 2009
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AT SMYRJA KONUNG TIL VELDIS: ROYAL LEGITIMATION IN SNORRI STURLUSON’S MAGNÚSS SAGA ERLINGSSONAR

AT SMYRJA KONUNG TIL VELDIS: ROYAL LEGITIMATION IN SNORRI STURLUSON’S MAGNÚSS SAGA ERLINGSSONAR

WANNER, KEVIN J.

VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH, Saga-Book p. 3, Vol. XXX (2006)

Introduction: FEW EVENTS OF THE NORWEGIAN MIDDLE AGES have generated as much discussion among historians as the mid-twelfth century coronation of Magnús Erlingsson. This event was revolutionary in several respects: it was the first coronation of any Scandinavian monarch; it was the first time a Norwegian was made king whose father was not king before him (or for whom this claim was not at least made); Norway’s churchmen had never before demanded, let alone received, such substantial concessions from the crown; and, finally, it helped to establish primogeniture and legitimate birth as privileged criteria in matters of royal succession in Norway. And yet, for all its importance, this event is poorly chronicled by contemporary sources.  We are not even certain of the year in which it took place. (Fagrskinna places the coronation in September 1163, Heimskringla in the summer of 1164.) Much of the discussion, then, about the coronation and its circumstances has revolved around attempts to determine just what happened, and when. In this effort, historians have had recourse to sources both documentary, in the form of letters and lawcodes, and narrative. As is typical, the former type has been preferred as evidence to the latter, and in this case distrust of literary testimony has been compounded by the fact that none of the extant narrative sources is thought to have been written by a Norwegian. For stories of Magnús’s reign and coronation we depend on three Icelandic sources: a chronicle of Norway’s kings, Fagrskinna (c.1220-25), a more extensive collection of kings’ sagas, Heimskringla (c.1225-35), and the monk Karl Jónsson’s saga (c.1185- early 1200s) of Sverrir Sigurðarson, the usurper who killed Magnús and in 1184 assumed his position; and one Danish, Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum (c.1210-20).

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16 Jul 2009
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The Double Impact of Christianization for Women in Old Norse Culture

The Double Impact of Christianization for Women in Old Norse Culture

By Else Mundal

Gender and Religion, edited by Kari Elisabeth Børresen, Sara Cabibbo and Edith Specht (Rome, 2001)

Abstract: The conversion to Christianity led to changes for everyone in Old Norse culture. Else Mundal considers changes to the status of women in the public sphere, the effects of marriage laws, and ideas on the nature of woman. The question of whether Christianity resulted in an improvement, or a worsening of conditions for women is still open to debate.

In Old Norse source material, conversion to Christianity is always referred to as a significant event which divides history into the ‘before’ and ‘after’. Although we acknowledge that Christian ideology was familiar in Old Norse society for a long time prior to christianization when Christianity enjoyed the status of the sole accepted religion, the official transference to the new religion led to changes in daily life for both women and men from the very beginning. These changes became manifexst, however, differently for women and men.

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24 May 2009
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