“Ek Skal Hér Ráða”: Themes of Female Honor in the Icelandic Sagas
A major goal of this thesis is to not only interpret the representations of women from these sagas, but also to place these representations in the context of the time and the writers. Icelanders wrote these sagas a couple centuries after the Viking age ended and are based nearly entirely on oral tradition.
Frankish Rivalries and Norse Warriors
Normandy can be said to have begun in 911 with the treaty of St.Clair-sur-Epte between Charles the Simple and the viking Rollo.
Reasons for hiding Viking Age hack silver hoards
The Viking Age was the period of extremely intensive deposition of metals in the history of Europe. The hoards deposited at that time contain in most cases hacked silver scraps.
The Vikings and a Turbulent Anglo-Scandinavian World
This talk will track the Vikings’ impact on medieval England, an impact with effects that are still evident today.
Between Apathy and Antipathy: The Vikings in Irish and Scandinavian History
… during the seventies there was a veritable boom in specialised studies of the Vikings in Ireland.
Evidence for Viking disruption from early Norman histories and commemorations of saints
Did the Vikings devastate the indigenous culture, leaving only a faint memory of Frankish society in Normandy or did they largely assimilate with ‘minimal disruption’ to Carolingian ways?
Skeletons found at mass burial site in Oxford could be ’10th-century Viking raiders’
Thirty-seven skeletons found in a mass burial site in the grounds of St John’s College in Oxford may not be who they initially seemed, according to Oxford University researchers studying the remains.
Identity and Economic Change in the Viking Age
This project surveys a selection of hoard assemblages in order to scrutinize the changing relationship between economy and identity in Viking Age Scandinavia.
The Viking Cities of Dublin and York: Examining Scandinavian Cultural Change and Viking Urbanism
Dubh Linn and Jorvik, as Dublin and York were known in the Viking Age, both experienced enormous change during their time as Viking colonial centers.
Representations of the Pagan Afterlife in Medieval Scandinavian Literature
I first address the question of the nature of Hel which, according to Snorri Sturluson’s thirteenth-century mythography, was the name both of an underworld home of the dead, and a goddess who presided over that realm.
Vikings not alone when they crossed the North Atlantic – mice hitched a ride too
New research has revealed that when the Vikings sailed across the North Atlantic to places like Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland, they brought with them the common house mouse.
The Scandinavian impact on Irish seafaring technology
In the Middle Ages mariners from both Ireland and Scandinavia sailed the North Atlantic, but in different types of ships and for very different reasons. The Irish sailors appear to have favoured skin-covered ships called curraghs as the means by which they sought out remote islands on which to establish monastic retreats.
New TV drama – “Vikings” – to be filmed in Ireland and Northern Europe
The History Channel in the US and History Television in Canada have announced they will be airing a scripted drama series, ‘Vikings’.
Rural Settlements in Medieval Norway, AD 400-1400
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.
The Stirrup as a Revolutionary Device
A German legal historian, Paul Roth, published in 1850 a work that set out the basic concept of feudalism. According to Roth, Charles Martel had combined the two existing institutions of ‘vassalage’ and ‘benefice’—that is, a vassal swore allegiance to his lord in return for which he was given some kind of benefice, usually rent-free land.
Linnaeus’s Game of Tablut and its Relationship to the Ancient Viking Game Hnefatafl
The British game historian H. J. R. Murray was the first to identify the importance of Linnaeus’s description of the rules of a Lapp game called Tablut. This game, he argued, was related to, and possibly identical with, an ancient Viking game called Hnefatafl, which the Icelandic sagas frequently reference
Ancient Skies of Northern Europe: Stars, Constellations, and the Moon in Nordic Mythology
Nordic mythology from 13th century Iceland contains descriptions that provide traditional depictions of the night sky, constellations, and the Moon. These were not only incorporated within the mythology but also formed the basis for their gods
The Fact and Fiction of Vikings in America
Adventure stories abound about the marauders of the north seas, the Vikings. Visions of sword-wielding giants of men and great swooping ships come easily to mind, but this is not the whole picture.
Could Vikings have navigated under foggy and cloudy conditions by skylight polarization?
There is archaeological evidence that the Vikings did not possess magnetic compass, and they navigated on the open sea with the help of a sundial composed of a wooden disc with a perpendicular gnomon in its centre.
Rune Stones Create a Political Landscape – Towards a Methodology for the Application of Runology to Scandinavian Political History in the Late Viking Age
The chapters are as follows. 1. Rune stones as historical sources 2. General information about Danish rune stones 3. The process of making a rune stone.
Medieval Movie Review: The Secret of Kells
The Secret of Kells, an Irish film set in the Middle Ages, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature – and for good reason – it is an excellent story and wonderfully drawn. Both kids and their parents will love this film!
‘Viking Empires’? Scandinavian Kingship and the nature and orchestration of Viking raids, c.800-c.950
To what extent were Viking raids part of a more general process of expansion by Scandinavian rulers? Were the Franks simply receiving a taste of their own medicine in the ninth and tenth centuries?
Vikings – the Rus – Varangians
Those who came from Scandinavia were called Rus and Varangians by peoples in Eastern Europe. French and Anglo-Saxon chroniclers sometimes divide the Vikings into ‘Danes’, ‘Swedes’ (Svear) and ‘Norsemen’ (Norwegians).
Viking Ethnicities: A Historiographic Overview
The word ‘viking’ is itself used by different scholars to mean different things. Its use in Modern English stems from the early 19th century and it was broadly used to describe people of Scandinavian cultural identity active in the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries.