The Picts and the Martyrs or Did Vikings Kill the Native Population of Orkney and Shetland?
I suspect that the Norse invaders of Orkney and Shetland didn’t just overwhelm’, or ‘submerge’ the native population: I think they killed them.
Viking raids were for more than just money, historian says
In his article, ‘What really caused the Viking Age? The social content of raiding and exploration’, Steven P. Ashby, a medieval archaeologist and lecturer at the University of Cambridge, outlines the many factors that would have prompted Norsemen – both the elites and the regular men – to conduct their raids across Europe.
Vikings in the Prehistoric Landscape: Studies on Mainland Orkney
Norse colonists in Orkney contended not only with the islands’ existing occupants, but also with a foreign landscape filled with visible ancient monuments. This paper provides a brief synthesis of the results of research on the landscapes of Viking-Age and Late-Norse Orkney which explored the strategies undertaken by the Norse settlers to re-model their social identities in their adopted environment.
‘Black Men and Malignant-Looking’: The Place of the Indigenous Peoples of North America in the Icelandic World View
As they headed back to the ship they saw three hillocks on the beach inland from the cape. Upon coming closer they saw there were three hide-covered boats, with three men under each of them.
The Rök Stone – Riddles and answers
Challenges to the mind were popular at the Frankish court at the time of the Rök Stone. Due to the political situation in Scandinavia at that time the stone was made in a combined Swedish and international context. The methods of the stone are clearly influenced by the Frankish renaissance initiated by Alcuin of York.
Of thieves, counterfeiters and homicides: crime in Hedeby and Birka
Material evidence of prehistoric crime is rare. A compilation of finds from Hedeby harbour however offers three case studies, where three different offences – thievery, counterfeiting and homicide – are likely.
The Viking women who disappeared
Women played an important part in Viking Age society, and their role far exceeded that of mother and the ‘housewife’. Why, then, are they barely mentioned in the history books?
BOOKS: Medieval Ireland
In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, here are some great books on medieval Ireland!
Choosing Heaven: The Religion of the Vikings
The Viking-age gods stemmed from two races – Aesir and Vanir.
Ceremonial Drinking in the Viking Age
Drinking ceremonies played a very important social role in Viking Age Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England.
A Quick Guide to Norse Gods
The Norse pantheon includes some very interesting characters. This is a little guide to get you started about learning who these gods and goddesses were.
Winter, snow and cold in the life of the Westviking
The main purpose of this paper is to examine how the Westviking were influenced by winter, snow and cold in their day-to-day life as they were making progress in the West.
Norse Elements in the work of J.R.R. Tolkien
The books of J.R.R. Tolkien contain multiple Characters, Places and Plots that remind the reader of Old Norse Poetry. This essay gives a short and incomplete overview on the most obvious elements.
Norsemen And Vikings: The Culture That Inspired Decades Of Fear
Thoughts of these monstrous men link themselves with words such as bloodlust, raids, and conqueror. Which leaves one to ponder why these men have come to be forever linked with such carnage, surely they must have had some redeeming qualities?
Bárðar saga as a source for reconstruction of pre-Christian religion?
Paper by Eldar Heide given at the second meeting of the Old Norse Folklorist Network
Þur sarriþu þursa trutin: Monster-Fighting and Medicine in Early Medieval Scandinavia
This paper seeks evidence among our extensive Scandinavian mythological texts for an area which they seldom discuss explicitly: the conceptualisation and handling of illness and healing.
Norse Religion and Ritual Sites in Scandinavia in the 6th – 11th century
Today we have increasing opportunities for archaeological identification of the pre-Christian rites in the various accounts given by the written sources.
Can you solve Odin’s Riddles?
Here are 14 riddles that the Norse god Odin says to King Heidrek. Can you solve them?
Houses and domestic life in the Viking Age and medieval period
This thesis examines the representations of houses as physical structures in the Íslendingasögur with specific emphasis on the material aspect of housing culture in the Viking Age and medieval period, as well as the interactions between material culture and text.
Holy Islands and the Otherworld: Places Beyond Water
In this article I attempt to demonstrate that there is a connection between holy islands and notions of an Otherworld beyond water. I believe that the essence of holy islands is their location on the other side of water.
Ancient Viking Art
These skilled warriors and seamen had a unique art. Probably the best known artifices of them are the tombstones with engraved drawings; most of them preserve writings with rune scripts and therefore they are called runastones.
Amending the Ascetic: Community and Character in the Old English Life of St. Mary of Egypt
Among the most eligible saints for such treatment, Mary of Egypt deserves particular consideration: her popularity is evidenced by over a hundred extant Greek manuscripts of her Life and her uniquely prominent position in the Lenten liturgical cycle in the Eastern Church.
Greenland Norse Knowledge of the North Atlantic
What did the Norse know about climate, and what was the role of driftwood in their lives?
Yggdrasill and the divine ‘food chain’
One of the better-known images Old Norse mythology has passed down to us is, without a doubt, that of the ash Yggdrasill: the holy place of the gods. There, as High said to Gangleri, each day the Nordic deities held their courts.