By analysing physical remains reflecting the games, behaviour and clothing of children (specifically toys and shoes) it has been possible to obtain new information and shed new light on the everyday life of children in medieval Bergen
The Emergence of the North
December 5, 2012 By
Apart from this bipolar system that contrasted North and South, authors writing in the Old Norse-Icelandic language also appear to use the term Norðrlönd within a quadripolar system that held good beyond the immediate region: Norðrlönd, the Vestrlönd (the British Isles), Suðrríki (Germany, the Holy Roman Empire), and Austrríki or Austrvegr (Russia and other lands to the East).
The Church in Fourteenth-Century Iceland: Ecclesiastical Administration, Literacy, and the Formation of an Elite Clerical Identity
November 28, 2012 By
In what follows, therefore, I provide a detailed study of Icelandic clergy and the institutions of the Icelandic Church in the period from 1300 to 1404.
Nordic Witchcraft in Transition: Impotence, Heresy and Diabolism in 14th-century Bergen
November 26, 2012 By
Within the orbit of witchcraft, what is the relationship between sexuality, heresy, and diabolism?
Murder and Execution within the Political Sphere in Fifteenth Century Scandinavia
November 23, 2012 By
A quick glance at the regnal list of fifteenth-century Sweden shows that members of the nobility were at each others’ throats more or less all the time, especially from the 1430s and onwards.
The Schism that never was: Old Norse views on Byzantium and Russia
November 23, 2012 By
It is my contention that, in the general view of Icelanders, the Christian world was united, ’catholic’ in the original meaning of the word. Christianity in the East was thought to have similar roots to Christianity in Iceland and differences between the religions of Nordic and Eastern people were considered insignificant.
Haraldr the Hard-Ruler and his poets
November 19, 2012 By
If Haraldr’s contemporaries and the early writers did not know him as hardradi, what did they call him?
Iron Smelting in Vinland
October 7, 2012 By
Any former iron smelting site presents a special problem for archaeologists. The process of converting iron rich ore into a working iron bar requires a complex series of steps. Each separate function is most likely to be undertaken by heavily modifying the previous equipment set up. Unfortunately for the archaeologist, the evidence of those important earlier stages is certain to be blurred, if not totally obliterated, by later steps. It will be the very last part of the whole process which alone remain as evidence.
Draumkvedet and the Medieval English Dream Vision: A Study of Genre
September 23, 2012 By
The Medieval English dream vision evidence influences from a variety of earlier vision literature, notably the apocalyptic vision and narrative dream.
Re-forging the smith: an interdisciplinary study of smithing motifs in Völuspá and Völundarkviða
August 29, 2012 By
In this dissertation I examine key smithing motifs in the eddic poems Võluspá and Võlundarkviña in relation to the socio-cultural role of smithing techniques and sites in early medieval Scandinavia.
The Participation of the Kings in the Early Norwegian Sailing to Bjarmeland (Kola Peninsula and Russian Waters) and the Development of a Royal Policy Concerning the Northern Waters in the Middle Ages
August 14, 2012 By
The first move of Norwegians into the polar regions was to Finmark. Archaeologists cannot say for certain how early the Fins and the Norwegians came into cultural contact with each other.
Modern nationalism and the medieval sagas
August 5, 2012 By
Nineteenth-century romanticism had a special interest in both the medieval world and primitive, untainted rural culture. As the nineteenth century progressed and turned into the early twentieth, the Danes fell more and more under the nostalgic spell, tending to look upon the Icelanders through increasingly romantic and patronizing eyes
Iceland’s external affairs in the Middle Ages: The shelter of Norwegian sea power
July 21, 2012 By
The main aim of this paper is to test the case of Iceland within the framework of small- state theory and answer its key consideration by examining whether Iceland, as a small entity/country, had external shelter or stood on its own during the Middle Ages.
Fishponds as garden features: the example from the Archbishop’s Palace, Trondheim
July 9, 2012 By
Until the 1990’s, however, little was known of the nature of the buildings in the eastern and southern wing of the courtyard in the palace for the time until 1640.
The Plants used in a Viking Age Garden A.D. 800-1050
June 27, 2012 By
Overpopulation in the Scandinavian countries created the Viking society, whose tradesmen, settlers and sea warriors had a considerable influences on the European countries. In return, influenced by what they saw, they brought back goods of all kinds, probably also seeds and posssibly plants.
Ship grave hall passage – the Oseberg monument as compound meaning
June 10, 2012 By
The ship in Oseberg does not give the impression of a ship sailing the
sea—moored, as it is, to its bollard stone—but it does give the impression of a ship loaded and ready to take off. The overall installation is organised in a way similar to most boat- and ship-graves.
Researchers look to save deteriorating Viking treasures of Oseberg
June 6, 2012 By
Conservation experts in Norway are conducting tests to see if a solution can be found on how to save important archaeological finds from the Viking Age that were discovered in Oseberg in 1904.
Á Þá Bitu Engi Járn: a brief note on the concept of invulnerability in the Old Norse Sagas
May 20, 2012 By
Harald made for Thorir’s ship because he was the greatest berserk, and very brave. There was the fiercest fighting on both sides. Then the king ordered his berserks forward. They were called wolfskins; but iron could not bite on them and when they charged nothing could withstand them
The genetic and historical linkage between the Old Norwegian Sheep, the Icelandic Sheep and the Navajo Churro
May 19, 2012 By
It may be possible to substitute a readily available double coated sheep fleece from the American Southwest for the original Scandinavian double coated fleece in order to make suitable vadmal fabric for clothing
Rural Settlements in Medieval Norway, AD 400-1400
March 12, 2012 By
In the 5th and 6th centuries the three aisled longhouse with a byre and a living section appears to dominate on rural settlements in all regions. From the 7th century onwards the diversity is greater.
Ohthere’s voyages seen from a nautical angle
January 22, 2012 By
But whatever Ohthere and his English hosts exchanged in the way of news and information, the re- corded account keeps closely within ränge of its objective: a geography of unknown and little known areas of Scandinavia and their inhabitants.
No Longer a Feuding Society? Legal Practice and Kingship in Late 13th-Century Iceland
January 13, 2012 By
The Icelandic Free State (c.930-1262) is well known as a model of ‘a feuding society,’ due to its unique social system based on the principle of feuding without any jurisdiction by a king. Iceland came under the rule of a Norwegian king in the early 1260s, and it is generally thought that feuds in Iceland came to an end as a result of the royal legislation introduced from 1271
Why so Many Viking Age Swords in Norway?
January 2, 2012 By
Logically it does not seem reasonable that Norway should have had so many more weapons than Sweden and Denmark, not to mention the military superpower Frankia. All the same, it seems that a comparatively rather larger part of the adult and free men were buried with weapons in Norway than in other countries.
Archaeologists uncover early Christian community in Norway
December 9, 2011 By
The cathedral in Stavanger was built in the year 1125, and is one of the earliest pieces of evidence for permanent settlement in the Norwegian town. However, new analyses of medieval skeletons found beneath the cathedral suggest that Christians lived in Stavanger for several generations prior to this.
Christianization of the Norse c.900-c.1100: A Premeditated Strategy of Life and Death
December 7, 2011 By
Examines how Christianization of the Norse in the tenth and eleventh centuries was the effect of a premeditated mission strategy borne from the experiences of converting the Anglo-Saxon English in the seventh century AD.
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