Vikings – Review of Episode 3: Dispossessed
What happens to Ragnar and his band of merry men this week?
Saga Motifs on Gotland Picture Stones: The Case of Hildr Högnadóttir
This article will only examine one of these legends, namely the ‘Hildr legend’ in the context of two of these stones, lärbro stora hammars and stenkyrka smiss . An attempt will be made to place the images in a larger context than has been done before, and by doing so to strenghten the probability that they were indeed intended to refer to the original Hildr legend.
The Slave Trade of Dublin: Ninth to Twelfth Centuries
It is however, often assumed that taking of slaves reached it peak in the ninth and tenth centuries and that the advent of Christianity made the institution of slavery morally unacceptable.
Vikings – Review of Episode 2: Wrath of Northmen
A little preparation, a little prayer, a little plunder…
Limits of Viking influence in Wales
Wales experienced sporadic raids, a few settlers and trade, writes Mark Redknap.
Vikings – Review of Episode 1: Rites of Passage
A review of the series premiere of Vikings
“The Wrath of the Northmen”: The Vikings and their Memory
These raiding peoples emerge out of all three Scandinavian homelands–Norway, Sweden, and Denmark–sending off their young men all over the known world in search of wealth and prestige.
“A Furore Normannorum, Libera Nos Domine!” A Short History of Going Berserk in Scandinavian Literature and Heavy Metal
The following essay aims to portray the history of the motif from Old Norse literature to its presence in today’s culture and particularly in heavy metal music. I aim to show how the motif is used to act as both a channel for aggression and as social criticism.
Scandinavian late Viking Age art styles as a part of the visual display of warriors in 11th-century Estonia
Artefacts decorated in Scandinavian Late Viking Age art styles have been known for a long time in the Estonian archaeological material, and were first published as early as 1914 by Max Ebert; a more comprehensive overview was given in 1929 by Birger Nerman. The finds include silver-plated and sometimes partially gilded weapons, as well as belt and scabbard fittings, plaques, and only a few pieces of jewellery.
Coastal Command: Surveying Scotland’s maritime superhighway
From ground level, the western Scottish seaboard can be a place of glorious isolation. Dave Cowley and Colin Martin climb to 2,000 feet to reveal once bustling sea-lanes and a Viking harbour.
‘The Storm is Coming’: Vikings to premiere on History Channel in March
The latest TV Drama that will be focusing on the Middle Ages, Vikings, will be premiering in North America on March 3, 2013. The show will be aired on the History Channel in the United States and History Television in Canada.
The Sack of Viking Limerick
They carried of their jewels and their best property, and their saddles beautiful and foreign; their gold and their silver; their beautifully woven cloth of all colours and of all kinds…
The Vikings at L’Anse aux Meadows – a ‘temporary base camp’
A new study of the archaeological remains from the only confirmed Viking settlement in North America argues that it was never meant to be a long-term settlement. It is also very likely that it was the home to at least one Norse woman.
The Scandinavian element beyond the Danelaw
The present paper concentrates on the Scandinavian element present in Eng- lish in the area beyond the Danelaw, i.e. in the West Midlands and Southern parts of the country.
The Gendered Landscape: A discussion on gender, status and power expressed in the Viking Age mortuary landscape
I will attempt to show that the gender roles of the Viking Age are perhaps often interpreted and represented too simplistically, and that popular stereotypes fail to take into account the complex multitude of categories, variations and negotiations which one ought to expect from the interpretation of gender.
The Children of Ash: Cosmology and the Viking Universe
What I am really going to be talking about throughout these lectures is stories, the power of stories, and the role that narrative played in the life of the Vikings, its influence on their perception of the world in which they understood themselves to move.
Greenland’s Viking settlers gorged on seals
A Danish-Canadian research team has demonstrated the Norse society did not die out due to an inability to adapt to the Greenlandic diet: an isotopic analysis of their bones shows they ate plenty of seals.
INTERVIEW: Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths
An interview with author Nancy Brown on her latest medieval offering: “Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths”.
Tolkien’s Heroic Criticism: A Developing Application of Anglo-Saxon Ofermod to the Monsters of Modernity
The structure of this study follows the development of Tolkien’s social criticism and heroic aesthetic. The study begins by looking at some biographical elements of Tolkien’s life and how those elements shaped the creation of Tolkien’s anti-hero, the Hobbit.
Horses of Agency, Element, and Godliness in Tolkien and the Germanic Sagas
What is the contract between man and equine that allows a beast ten times our size and one hundred times our strength to willingly serve in our ambitions? What magnetism (and who placed it) is it that draws humanity and horses together?
Up Helly Aa: an ancient Viking festival?
Each year on the last Tuesday of January the town of Lerwick is awash with Vikings. The day culminates with the burning of an ornate longship, complete with dragon head and tail, thus creating a striking image of a Norse sea – king’s funeral pyre.
Alfred the Great: Viking Wars and Military Reforms
The purpose of this piece is to examine Alfred the Greats Viking wars and to ascertain why his kingdom of Wessex survived the Viking onslaught in the ninth century.
Viking Camps in Ninth-century Ireland: Sources, Locations and Interactions
The first part will reflect on how viking bases can be identified in written records. This is followed by a study of the location of these camps.
Hincmar of Reims on King-making: The Evidence of the Annals of St. Bertin, 861–882
The Histories and Chronicles Hincmar had in mind were presumably Frankish ones; and Lothar II, succeeding his father, thus clearly came into this section of Hincmar’s third category. But of the timing or form of Lothar’s becoming king, Hincmar said not a word, preferring, instead, to spell out the Biblical lesson that a bad king (and he hastily disclaimed any allegation that Lothar’s father had been a bad king) would see the succession depart from his line.