In recent years the precise location and nature of Viking Dublin have been much debated. It is now generally accepted that there was a longphort phase from 841 to 902: a period of enforced exile from 902 to 917, and thereafter a dún phase.
Navegación y embarcaciones en la época vikinga: diferentes fuentes para su estudio (Shipping and navigation in the Viking Age: different sources for study)
June 4, 2014 By
This article (in Spanish) is about Viking shipping and navigation.
‘Warrior-women’ in Viking Age Scandinavia? A preliminary archaeological study
June 3, 2014 By
This paper seeks to provide a new contribution to the debates on Viking Age women by focusing on a rather controversial notion of ‘female warriors’. The core of the article comprises a preliminary survey of archaeological evidence for female graves with weapons (axes, spears, swords and arrowheads) from Viking Age Scandinavia.
The Headless Norsemen: Decapitation in Viking Age Scandinavia
June 3, 2014 By
I will concentrate my attention only on single and double decapitation burials and mostly those from the area of Scandinavia. What did similar practices mean? What kinds of individuals were subject to decapitation? Were they criminals, slaves, aggressors, deserters swathed in infamy or perhaps unfortunate victims of bloody attacks?
Primstav and Apocalypse Time and its Reckoning in Medieval Scandinavia
May 22, 2014 By
This work is intended as an exploration of methods of time-reckoning and conception in Medieval Scandinavia. In the main this is tied to the dynamism between a duality: that of the cyclical and linear models of time‟s progression. Involved in this study are sources verbal and pictoral.
Approaches to paganism and uses of the pre-Christian past in Geoffrey of Monmouth and Snorri Sturluson
May 5, 2014 By
The dissertation is a comparative analysis of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s and Snorri Sturlusson’s descriptions of paganism and uses of pre-Christian history. What was the function of these pre-Christian narratives, and what apporaches were used by the two authors to construct a complete image of the past, acceptable to their contemporary societies?
From Asset in War to Asset in Diplomacy: Orkney in the Medieval Realm of Norway
May 5, 2014 By
This paper looks at how Orkney figured in Norwegian royal strategies in the west and presents key examples which show its transition from a tool of war to a forum for peace.
Bjarmaland and interaction in the North of Europe from the Viking Age until the Early Middle Ages
April 6, 2014 By
This article intends to look at interaction in the very north of early medi- eval Europe with Bjarmaland as a starting point. After a short introduction to sources and historiography about Bjarmaland, the main content of the sources will be shortly discussed in order to establish what kind of informa- tion the written sources have to offer.
Auðun of the West Fjords and the Saga Tradition: Similarities of Theme and Structural Suitability
April 5, 2014 By
This paper evaluates the story of Auðun from the West Fjords, a þáttr dating from the Sturlunga period of medieval Iceland. It compares the short prose narrative to the much longer sagas in terms of their mutual concerns with kings, peace, and the place of Iceland in a larger Christian world.
Childbirth Miracles in Swedish Medieval Miracle Collections
April 2, 2014 By
The chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth was very real for medieval women, and still is in many Third World countries. In Medieval Catholic Western Europe, including Scandinavia, these risks, and the absence of medically schooled persons who could give efficient help, led many women to turn to the saints for intercession.
Towards a first chronology for the middle settlement of Norse Greenland
March 30, 2014 By
The so-called Middle Settlement (Mellembygden) of Norse/Viking Greenland has received far less attention than either of its larger Eastern and Western counterparts.
Dutch medieval bone and antler combs
March 18, 2014 By
Bone and antler combs are common finds in medieval northern europe. Two major types occur in the netherlands: the composite comb, usually made of antler, and the longbone comb.
All the King’s Men: Icelandic Skalds at Scandinavian Court
March 10, 2014 By
Spanning the gap between Iceland and mainland Scandinavia and sitting somewhere between freemen and nobility on the social scale were Icelandic court skalds, who frequented courts on the mainland throughout the Viking Age.
Women in early towns
March 8, 2014 By
What do we know about women’s role in these societies? What did women do and how numerous were they? And did they pay the same role in Viking-Age proto-towns as in more developed medieval urban communities?
Book Review: An Early Meal: A Viking Age Cookbook and Culinary Odyssey
March 6, 2014 By
A book that any non-academic Viking-enthusiast would love to have on their shelf or in their kitchen.
In quest for the lost gamers: An investigation of board gaming in Scania, during the Iron and Middle Ages
February 22, 2014 By
The games we play today are of course not entirely the same as those played a thousand years ago,
BOOKS: Daily Life in the Middle Ages
February 16, 2014 By
Ever wonder how monks, women and Vikings lived their day to day lives in the Middle Ages? These books will give you a glimpse into their world.
Runic and Latin Written Culture: Co-Existence and Interaction of Two Script Cultures in the Norwegian Middle Ages
February 1, 2014 By
Runic and Latin Written Culture: Co-Existence and Interaction of Two Script Cultures in the Norwegian Middle Ages Stephanie Elisabeth Baur: zur Erlangung des Grades Magistra Artium im Fachbereich Nordische Philologie Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen: Deutsches Seminar Abteilung für Skandinavistik, Magisterarbeit, 14. Juni (2011) Abstract When Latin writing finally reached Scandinavia sometime in the 11th century, it was […]
Kings, chieftains and public cult in pre-Christian Scandinavia
January 22, 2014 By
The article addresses the question of the performance of pre-Christian public cult by political leaders in early medieval Scandinavia.
Orkneyinga saga : A Work in Progress?
January 19, 2014 By
The reconstituted text conventionally known as Orkneyinga saga has many points of interest for Old Icelandic literary history, in addition to any intrinsic literary qualities, and its interest as a source for the history and culture of Scandinavian Scotland.
The Ship in the Field
January 17, 2014 By
An article exploring the possibility of a connection between the Vanir gods, specifically the goddess Freyja, with the Scandinavian stone ships and boat burials, and hypothesizing a field of the dead in early Germanic mythology.
The Acculturation of Scandinavians in England: A consideration of the burial record
January 11, 2014 By
he portrayal of the ‘Vikings’ as an archetypal barbarian ‘other,’ wreaking death and destruction wherever they went, was already current in the medieval period, but in England the depictions became more extreme in the centuries after the attacks.
Worldly Unease in Late Medieval European Travel Reports
January 11, 2014 By
Comparing the Book of John Mandeville with Jean de Jeanville’s Vie Saint Louis and William of Rubruck’s Journey, this chapter argues that cosmopolitan perspectives in these texts seem to emerge in spite of rather than because of their contacts with other cultures.
Medieval Cookbooks: Something to Inspire the Medieval Cook in all of us!
January 5, 2014 By
Baby it’s cold outside. Brrrrr! It’s January, snow is blowing, frost is nipping at your toes – it’s a great time to cook a hearty, hot meal. Want to make it even better? Try a medieval menu! Here are a few books to inspire the medieval cook in all of us.
Finland, Tallinn and the Hanseatic League: Foreign Trade and the Orientation of Roads in Medieval Finland
November 24, 2013 By
What was the role of Finland in the trade of the Hanseatic League in the Middle Ages? Thisquestion has been widely discussed in Finnish history since 1882, when J.W. Ruuth publishedhis study on the relationship between Finland and the Hanse before 1435.
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