DOCSLIB.ORG

The Conquest of Norway by the Ynglings

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Conquest of Norway by the Ynglings Transactions of the Royal Historical Society http://journals.cambridge.org/RHT Additional services for Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here The Conquest of Norway by the Ynglings Henry H. Howorth Transactions of the Royal Historical Society / Volume 1 / Issue 04 / December 1884, pp 309 - 363 DOI: 10.2307/3677976, Published online: 12 February 2009 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/ abstract_S0080440100005727 How to cite this article: Henry H. Howorth (1884). The Conquest of Norway by the Ynglings. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 1, pp 309-363 doi:10.2307/3677976 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/RHT, IP address: 144.32.128.70 on 09 Jul 2015 3O9 THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY BY THE YNGLINGS. BY HENRY H. HOWORTH, F.S.A., F.R. Hist. Soc. {Read June 1882.) HAVING by your favour in a former paper tried to dissect the early history of Sweden, I propose to do the same now for Norway. My purpose is not to enter into the region of very early tradition where there is no foothold for criticism, but rather to try and throw some light on that border-ground where history and fable meet, and which is lit up, when illuminated at all, by very dim twilight. Before we enter into the main part of our subject, we must lay down certain postulates which it i» necessary to remem- ber, and which, it is possible, may not meet with universal acquiescence. In the first place we hold that among the Norsemen such a thing as a parvenu ruler or chief was un- known. Among no race was loyal attachment to the sacred stock, to which alone the kings and chiefs belonged, more marked. The slaughter of particular chiefs was common enough, but the slaughter was followed by their being replaced by others of the same family and blood. The families which had this hereditary privilege were deemed to be the direct descendants of the famous companions of Odin, the Asirs, and to them, and them alone, belonged the privilege of ruling. In the next place we cannot help thinking that the amount of disintegration in the communities which held Scandinavia in early days has been a good deal exaggerated by the recent critical historians. It is true that before the end of the eighth century there was not the cohesion in the government that there was in later times, and that the 3IO TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETV. supreme chief was not the autocrat he afterwards became: that his authority was considerably distributed, and that there were a number of so-called district kings who divided the lands among them, each controlling his own patrimony ; but it seems to us that there was, nevertheless, a very distinct acceptance of the feudal and patriarchal notions by which the head of the house, the supreme high priest of the com- munity, was de facto, as well as de jure, the supreme ruler of all. We take it that the community was, in this respect, organised very much as a Scotch clan or an Irish sept was, with the senior chief and many subordinate and semi-inde- pendent ones. The district chiefs all belonged to the same race, as all the Campbells or Macleods theoretically do: all having a common ancestor, all obeying at critical times, and at all times acknowledging as their head, the Lord of Dunvagan or the Macallum Mor. Thus we find that when the great chief had a mortal struggle, the various branches of the house gathered round him at the summons, and joined their ships to his. The amount of independence exercised by the district kings no doubt varied with the locality. In districts like Western Norway, where every fiord is separated by difficult barriers from the rest, or where the intercourse either by land or water was difficult, and probably intermittent only, the maximum of independence would be reached. There the little community and, in many cases, the isolated farm would be practically independent. The same rule, caused by the same circumstances, held good in the Peloponnesus in ancient times and in the promontory of Sorento in mediaeval ones. In more fertile and thickly peopled districts, which were more accessible and better worth looking after, the authority of the supreme chief was doubtless more marked and his visits more frequent: the association of liberty with a rugged country being well explained in such instances at least. These postulates are reasonable, and generally accepted, and are both supported by ample evidence. Thus, if we turn to the earliest poetic literature of the North, the ' Traveller's Tale' and ' Beowulf we are struck by finding the Scandi- THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY BY THE YNGLINGS. 311 navian district divided into a number of so-called ' gaus,' or provinces, each one occupied by a separate clan, as in Ireland and Celtic Scotland in mediaeval times ; each clan subject to a royal stock, all belonging to the sacred caste tracing descent from Odin and his Asirs, and thus having, for its chiefs at least, a common pedigree. A few lines of the ' Traveller's Tale' well exhibit this division into communities, each with its royal caste. Thus, we take the following at haphazard:— Sigehere longest Ruled the Sea Danes. Hnaef the Hokings, Helm the Wulfings, Wald the Woings, Wod the Thyrings, Saeferth the Sycs, The Swedes Ongendtheov, Sceafthere the Ymbers, Sceafa the Longbeards, &c, &c. Thorpe edition of the Scap, 219. It is not our present purpose to examine these clans and their ruling stocks in detail. Our story begins at a much later stage, when the gaus, or petty communities, were being consolidated into larger kingdoms by the absorption of several by the more vigorous and ambitious among them. This consolidation had a very potent effect indeed on the social condition of the north of Europe. Denmark and Sweden were the first to feel its effects, and were presently followed by Norway. Norway's consolidation took place just at the beginning of its written history, and, in fact, its real history begins with this consolidation, and to describe it in part is the purpose of this paper. The consolidation took place under the leadership of the royal stock of the Ynglings, which, if we are to credit the very reasonable tradition to be presently referred to, was expelled from Sweden by the Scioldungs. This revolution is described for us in the last chapter of the Ynglinga Saga, the general truth of which we 312 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY. cannot see the smallest reason to doubt. This consolidation of power in the North, and especially the internecine struggle between the Scioldungs and the Ynglings just referred to, more than aught else caused, as we believe, the vast impulse given to piracy and foreign colonisation in the ninth and tenth centuries, and converted what had previously been, so far as our facts point, a peaceable, trading, stay-at-home folk into an army of plunderers which assailed every part of the European seaboard. It was as exiles and expatriated chieftains that many of the Norsemen emigrated from their rugged homes, and the migration only ceased when the rival stocks of sacred blood had settled down into what became their normal dis- tribution. Before we enter on our subject we must say some- thing about our authorities. In a previous paper of this series, on the Early History of Sweden, I urged that the Heimskringla and the Scioldung Saga, of which last we have fragments remaining, the most important being the well-known Sogubrot, were probably written by one person, and I suggested that this person was Snorri, the author of the Heimskringla. Since writing that paper I have had the advantage of reading the admirable prolegomena to the Sturlunga Saga, written by Professor Vigfusson, in which I find my main contention confirmed— namely, that the early part of the Heimskringla and the original draft of the Scioldunga were by one hand. Professor Vigfusson has, however, I think, shown very clearly that the author of the two in their early form was not Snorri, as I urged, but his predecessor, Ari Frode, who was born in 1067 and died in 1148, and who was doubtless the first Norse writer who wrote prose history. One of the books he is* known to have written was called the' Konunga-bok,1 or Book of Kings. In regard to it, Professor Vigfusson tells us,' The superscription of the Codex Frisianus has the words, '' Here beginneth the Book of Kings according to the records of Priest Ari the Historian : opening from the threefold division of the world, which is followed by the History of all the Kings of Norway." To this statement a short introduction THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY BY THE YNGLINGS. 313 containing a life of Ari is prefixed. The words quoted can only mean, either that the following Sagas are Ari's " Book of Kings," or that they are derived therefrom ; and the Ynglinga we take to be the very work of Ari, abridged here and there, but still preserving in many chapters (especially those which depict the life and rites of the heathen days) his characteristic style and words. The discrepancy between the mythology of the Ynglinga and the Prose Edda' may be noted as some slight confirmation of this view.'2 Dr. Vigfusson concludes that Ari's ' Konunga-bok ' probably ended with the death of King Harald Sigurdson, commonly called Harald Hardrada.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • ERIN MICHELLE GOERES: the Poetics of Commemoration: Skaldic Verse and Social Memory, C
    Scandinavica Vol 55 No 2 2016 ERIN MICHELLE GOERES: The Poetics of Commemoration: Skaldic Verse and Social Memory, c. 890–1070. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2015. Pp. 194. ISBN 978-0-19-874574-7. As its subtitle indicates, this study of commemorative skaldic verse in Norse-speaking royal and comital courts of the Viking Age is framed in terms of a ‘conception of memory as a social process, and of literary texts as expressions of that process’ (p. 3). The Introduction provides helpful orientation in scholarship on social or collective memory since the idea was developed by the French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs. ‘The importance of the skald’s role as the articulator of social memory is nowhere more evident than in commemorative verse’ (p. 11), and throughout the book stress is placed on the way in which collective memory of the past functions to explain and support present identity. Goeres argues, moreover, that skalds are aware of the role that they play, so that their verse articulates not only social memory but also the process of social memory-making. The five central chapters of the book present a series of case studies. In each of the lucidly written chapters Goeres pays careful attention to the textual sources for the poems under discussion and the prose narrative contexts in which the verses are preserved. Although the book is primarily a study of skaldic poems, rather than of the later prosimetric texts in which alone they survive (in often incomplete form), Goeres recognises that it is not possible (or at least not sensible) simply to reconstruct the skaldic poems and ignore the prose in which they are embedded.
    [Show full text]
  • Skaldic Slam: Performance Poetry in the Norwegian Royal Court
    Lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni trú Félagsvísindasvið Skaldic Slam: Performance Poetry in the Norwegian Royal Court Anna Millward Leiðbeinandi: Terry Gunnell Félags- og mannvísindadeild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands December 2014 Norrænn trú Félags- og mannvísindadeild 1 Anna Millward MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis MA Kennitala: 150690-3749 Winter 2014 DEDICATION AND DISCLAIMER I owe special thanks to Prof. Terry Gunnell for his continued encouragement, help and enthusiasm throughout the process of researching and writing this dissertation. Many of the ideas put forward in this dissertation are borne out of interesting conversations and discussions with Prof. Gunnell, whose own work inspired me to take up this subject in the first place. It is through Prof. Gunnell’s unwavering support that this thesis came into being and, needless to say, any mistakes or errors are mine entirely. Ritgerð þessi er lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í Norrænni Trú og er óheimilt að afrita ritgerðina á nokkurn hátt nema með leyfi rétthafa. © Anna Millward, 2014 Reykjavík, Ísland 2014 2 Anna Millward MA in Old Nordic Religions: Thesis MA Kennitala: 150690-3749 Winter 2014 CONTENTS Introduction pp. 5-13 Chapter 1. Skálds, Scholar, and the Problem of the Pen 1.1. What is Skaldic Poetry? pp. 14-15 1.2. Form and Function pp. 15-22 1.3. Preservation Context pp. 22-24 1.4. Scholarly Approaches to Skaldic Verse p. 25 1.5. Skaldic Scholarship: post-1970s pp. 26-31 1.6. Early Skaldic Scholarship: pre-1970s pp. 31-36 1.7. Skaldic as Oral Poetry, Oral Poetry as Performance pp. 36-43 1.8.
    [Show full text]
  • Henry Rider Haggard's Nordicism?
    Henry Rider Haggard’s Nordicism? When Black Vikings fight alongside White Zulus in South Africa Gilles Teulié To cite this version: Gilles Teulié. Henry Rider Haggard’s Nordicism? When Black Vikings fight alongside White Zulus in South Africa. E-rea - Revue électronique d’études sur le monde anglophone, Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherche sur le Monde Anglophone, 2020, 18.1. hal-03225904 HAL Id: hal-03225904 https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03225904 Submitted on 13 May 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives| 4.0 International License E-rea Revue électronique d’études sur le monde anglophone 18.1 | 2020 1. Reconstructing early-modern religious lives: the exemplary and the mundane / 2. Another Vision of Empire. Henry Rider Haggard’s Modernity and Legacy Henry Rider Haggard’s Nordicism? When Black Vikings fight alongside White Zulus in South Africa Gilles TEULIÉ Electronic version URL: https://journals.openedition.org/erea/10251 DOI: 10.4000/erea.10251 ISBN: ISSN 1638-1718 ISSN: 1638-1718 Publisher Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherche sur le Monde Anglophone Brought to you by Aix-Marseille Université (AMU) Electronic reference Gilles TEULIÉ, “Henry Rider Haggard’s Nordicism? When Black Vikings fight alongside White Zulus in South Africa”, E-rea [Online], 18.1 | 2020, Online since 15 December 2020, connection on 14 May 2021.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Medieval Manuscripts: Use and Abuse” Call for Submissions: Essays in Anglo-Saxon Studies 5, “Anglo-Saxon Traces” Recent and Forthcoming Publications
    OLD ENGLISH NEWSLETTER Published for The Old English Division of the Modern Language Association of America by The Department of English, University of Tennessee, Knoxville VOLUME 40 NUMBER 3 Spring 2007 ISSN 0030-1973 Old English Newsletter Volume 40 Number 3 Spring 2007 Editor R. M. Liuzza, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Associate Editors Year’s Work in Old English Studies: Daniel Donoghue, Harvard University Bibliography: Thomas Hall, University of Notre Dame Contributing Editors Research in Progress: Heide Estes, Monmouth University Conference Abstracts: Robert Butler, Alcorn State University Bibliography: Melinda Menzer, Furman University Editorial Board Patrick W. Conner, West Virginia University Antonette diPaolo Healey, Dictionary of Old English David F. Johnson, Florida State University Catherine Karkov, University of Leeds Ursula Lenker, University of Munich Mary Swan, University of Leeds Assistant to the Editor: Teresa Hooper The Old English Newsletter (ISSN 0030-1973) is published for the Old English Division of the Modern Lan- guage Association by the Department of English, University of Tennessee, 301 McClung Tower, Knoxville, TN, 37996-0430; email [email protected]. The generous support of the International Society of Anglo- Saxonists and the Department of English at The University of Tennessee is gratefully acknowledged. Subscriptions: The rate for institutions is $20 US per volume; the rate for individuals is $15 per volume, but in order to reduce administrative costs the editors ask individuals to pay for two volumes at once at the discounted rate of $25. Individual back issues can be ordered for $5 each. All payments must be made in US dollars. A subscription form is online at http://www.oenewsletter.org/OEN/subscription_form.pdf.
    [Show full text]
  • Beowulf, Ynglingatal and the Ynglinga Saga
    Beowulf, Ynglingatal and the Ynglinga Saga : fiction or history? Rausing, Gad Fornvännen 80, 163-178 http://kulturarvsdata.se/raa/fornvannen/html/1985_163 Ingår i: samla.raa.se Beowulf, Ynglingatal and the Ynglinga Saga Fiction or History? By Gad Rausing Rausing, G. 1985. Beowulf, Ynglingatal and the Ynglinga Saga. Fiction or History? Fornvännen 80. Stockholm. Can Beowulf be used to test the value of the earliest Norse sagas as historical sources? Since at least one, and possibly two, of the persons and of the events mentioned in Beowulf can be corroborated and dated with the help of contem­ porary chronicles we must, until the opposite can be proved, accept the rest of the accounts as historical. Since several persons who figure in Beowulf are also mentioned in other, independent sagas, Ynglingatal, the Ynglinga Saga and Widsid, we must assume them to be historical and, if so, also the rest of the east of these sagas. The geographical notices in Beowulf also appear to fit reality and the conclusions appear to be confirmed by the distribution of the archaeological material. Thus, those modern historians who have denied the historical value of the sagas appear to bc wrong, since they have not taken into account all the material available. Beowulf should be taken as "history" and so should all the sagas with the same east, Ynglingatal, the Ynglinga Saga och the Sköldunga Saga. Gad Rausing, 78 Addison road, London W14 8ED, England. Our convcntional and arbitrary division of in Viking-age Seandinavia, where new fami­ the past into "prehistoric" and "historie" lies came into power, apparently in the up­ times is misleading, there being no clear bor- heavals during the "missionary period", derline between the two.
    [Show full text]
  • Ragnar Lothbrok and the Semi-Legendary History of Denmark
    RAGNAR LOTHBROK AND THE SEMI-LEGENDARY HISTORY OF DENMARK Senior Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Undergraduate Program in the Department of History William Kapelle, Advisor In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts by RYAN HALL KACANI MAY 2015 Copyright by Ryan H. Kacani Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor William Kapelle for advising me on this thesis, as well as Professors Gregory Freeze and Charles McClendon for serving on my defense committee. I would like to thank Nicholas Galinski for providing valuable eyes in the final stages of editing. And above all I would like to thank Rita, without whom this never would have been completed, and who not only guided me through this project, but guides me through life itself. CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter One: The History of Denmark and 5 Sweden to the Battle of Brávellir (c. 500-c. 750) Chapter Two: Expansion and the House of 22 Godfred in the Ninth Century (c. 750-867) Chapter Three: The Story of the Legendary 45 Ragnar Lothbrok Chapter Four: Reginheri and Other 64 Historical Ragnar Models Chapter Five: The Sons of Reginheri and 81 Lothbroka Conclusions 114 Appendix: Maps, Genealogies, and 117 Timelines Bibliography 129 INTRODUCTION From the late eighth to the late eleventh centuries, nearly the entirety of Europe was held at the mercy of Scandinavian raiders. These Viking warriors took countless riches from the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England and Carolingian France, and, when plunder was not plentiful, extorted thousands of pounds of silver from the regions’ rulers.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Writing in Medieval Wales
    Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Historical writing in medieval Wales Jones, Owain Award date: 2013 Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 HISTORICAL WRITING IN MEDIEVAL WALES OWAIN WYN JONES Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Bangor University 2013 I SUMMARY This study focusses on the writing of history in medieval Wales. Its starting-point is a series of historical texts in Middle Welsh which, from the second quarter of the fourteenth century, begin to appear together in manuscripts to form a continuous history, termed the Welsh Historical Continuum. The central component of this sequence is a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s influential history of the Britons. The main questions of the first part of the thesis are when and why these historical texts were first combined, and to what degree this Welsh historiographical phenomenon reflects broader European trends.
    [Show full text]
  • A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: Cosmography & Anglo-Saxon Ship Burials
    A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: Cosmography & Anglo-Saxon Ship Burials Jeremy Taylor & Mark Taylor VERSION 2 (2020) A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: V2 (2020) 1 WWW.ARCANELANDSCAPE.COM CONTENTS Introduction PAGE 3 to 4 Introductory Concepts PAGE 5 to 14 Context PAGE 15 to 26 Funerary Rites PAGE 27 to 31 The Proposed Solstice Alignment PAGE 32 to 34 Design Principles PAGE 35 to 44 Sutton Hoo PAGE 45 to 55 Snape PAGE 56 to 60 Eastbridge PAGE 61 to 62 Secondary Sites PAGE 63 to 67 Tertiary Sites PAGE 68 to 70 Cosmology PAGE 71 to 79 Golden Gates PAGE 80 to 84 Theories PAGE 85 to 88 Bibliography & Thanks PAGE 89 to 105 A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: V2 (2020) 2 WWW.ARCANELANDSCAPE.COM INTRODUCTION The period in Britain between 400 and 600 A.D. is referred to as the Dark Ages; this was because recorded history ceased following the departure of the Romans in 410 A.D. Even though this period spanned eight to ten generations, we barely know a handful of people from this era. Additionally, the written sources that we do have are from the minor fragments forming only two or three written sources [1]. Our modern day skyline is still peppered by the echoes and traces of our ancestors, through their use of temple worship on and in the landscape; however, the absence of any ‘official status’ through an accurate literary record means there is no ‘neat’ formalised account of to whom these temples were built to honour, or clarity behind these old belief systems. “Writing only came with the Church, and the conversion of the Old English had taken place before they were able to put down their ancient beliefs and myths” [2].
    [Show full text]
  • Kings' Sagas and Norwegian History : Problems and Perspectives
    Kings’ Sagas and Norwegian History For use by the Author only | © 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV The Northern World North Europe and the Baltic c. 400–1700 A.D. Peoples, Economies and Cultures Editors Barbara Crawford (St. Andrews) David Kirby (London) Jón Viðar Sigurðsson (Oslo) Ingvild Øye (Bergen) Richard W. Unger (Vancouver) Piotr Gorecki (University of California at Riverside) VOLUME 54 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/nw. For use by the Author only | © 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV Kings’ Sagas and Norwegian History Problems and Perspectives By Shami Ghosh LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 For use by the Author only | © 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV Cover illustration: Copenhagen, Royal Library, GkS 1009 fol. (‘Morkinskinna’). Photo: Arnamagnæan Institute, University of Copenhagen; reproduced with permission. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ghosh, Shami. Kings’ sagas and Norwegian history : problems and perspectives / by Shami Ghosh. p. cm. — (The northern world : North Europe and the Baltic c. 400–1700 A.D. Peoples, economies and cultures, 1569-1462 ; v. 54) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-20989-3 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Sagas—History and criticism. 2. Old Norse literature—History and criticism. 3. Norway— Historiography. 4. Norway—History—To 1030—Sources. 5. Norway—History—1030–1397— Sources. 6. Kings and rulers in literature. 7. Norway—Kings and rulers. 8. Literature and history—Norway. I. Title. II. Series. PT7184.G56 2011 948.1’01072—dc23 2011029158 ISSN 1569-1462 ISBN 978 90 04 20989 3 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface.
    [Show full text]
  • Scripta Islandica 60
    SCRIPTA ISLANDICA ISLÄNDSKA SÄLLSKAPETS ÅRSBOK 60/2009 ––––––––––– REDIGERAD AV DANIEL SÄVBORG under medverkan av Guðrún Nordal (Reykjavík) Heimir Pálsson (Uppsala) Pernille Hermann (Århus) Mindy MacLeod (Melbourne) Else Mundal (Bergen) Rune Palm (Stockholm) With English summaries UPPSALA, SWEDEN Tryckt med bidrag från Samfundet Sverige–Island © Författarna och Scripta Islandica ISSN 0582-3234 Sättning: Textgruppen i Uppsala AB Tryckning: Reklam & Katalogtryck AB, Uppsala 2010 Innehåll DANIEL S ÄVBORG, Scripta Islandica 60 . 5 SVANHILDUR Ó SKARSDÓTTIR, To the letter: Philology as a core component of Old Norse studies. 7 JOHN M CKINNELL, Ynglingatal – A minimalist interpretation. 23 LARS L ÖNNROTH, Old Norse text as performance. 49 ELENA G UREVICH, From accusation to narration: The transforma- tion of senna in Íslendingaþættir. 61 THEODORE M. A NDERSSON, The formation of the Kings’ Sagas. 77 HELGI S KÚLI K JARTANSSON, Law recital according to Old Icelandic law: Written evidence of oral transmission? . 89 TERRY G UNNELL, Ansgar’s conversion of Iceland. 105 HELEN F. L ESLIE, Border crossings: Landscape and the Other World in the Fornaldarsögur. 119 TSUKUSU I TÓ, The Gosforth fishing-stone and Hymiskviða: An example of inter-communicability between Old English and Old Norse speakers. 137 Författarna i denna årgång . 159 Scripta Islandica 60 Scripta Islandica fyller sextio år. Jubileet firas med tidskriftens mest in- ternationella nummer hittills. Här finns nio artiklar, åtta av dem skrivna av ickesvenska författare. De kommer från Island, England, USA, Ryss- land och Japan. Några av författarna har länge funnits med inom forsk- ningen, andra är nytillkomna. Theodore Andersson publicerade sin första vetenskapliga artikel 1962, för övrigt också den gången om muntlig tradition i sagalitteraturen, medan Helen Leslie här publicerar sin allra första artikel.
    [Show full text]
  • Religious Strategies for Political Authorization— a Case Study
    chapter 3 Religious Strategies for Political Authorization— A Case Study As noted in chapter 2, the social and political structure differed in the three investigation areas, and it also varied over time. In the following chapter I will delve into the question of the religious strategies for rulership in these three areas, although the investigation here will be limited to the mythical- narrative dimension and a case study. I will investigate and compare traditions connected to three representative ruling families in the investigation areas, namely the Swedish-Norwegian Ynglingar, the Norwegian Earls of Lade, and the Icelandic chieftain family called the Þórsnesingar. These traditions appear in Old Norse skaldic poetry, Kings’ Sagas, and Sagas of Icelanders, and also in Latin texts. None of the descriptions may be regarded as strictly “historical”, but we may at least reach medieval opinions in them about these pre-Christian rulers and their religious-mythic strategies. By means of the skaldic poetry we may also grasp some attitudes prevalent in Viking Age society. It will be argued that the kings called the Ynglingar and the Earls of Lade had a quite similar religious strategy, while the Icelandic chieftains used another strategy. It is sug- gested that these differences are related to the variations in the social-political structures in the three areas. This conclusion has formed the basis for the gen- eral hypothesis of this study. 3.1 The Kings Called the Ynglingar In my opinion, there was a fundamental ideological and cosmological system of thinking in the uppermost aristocratic milieus of the Late Iron Age Mälaren region.
    [Show full text]
  • Heimskringla I
    SNORRI STURLUSON HEIMSKRINGLA VOLUME I The printing of this book is made possible by a gift to the University of Cambridge in memory of Dorothea Coke, Skjæret, 1951 Snorri SturluSon HEiMSKRINGlA VOLUME i tHE BEGINNINGS TO ÓlÁFr TRYGGVASON translated by AliSon FinlAY and AntHonY FAulKES ViKinG SoCiEtY For NORTHErn rESEArCH uniVErSitY CollEGE lonDon 2011 © VIKING SOCIETY 2011 ISBN: 978-0-903521-86-4 The cover illustration is of the ‘Isidorean’ mappamundi (11th century), of unknown origin, diameter 26 cm, in Bayerische Staatsbibliotek, Munich, Clm 10058, f. 154v. It is printed here by permission of Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. East is at the top, Asia fills the top half, Europe is in the bottom left hand quadrant, Africa in the bottom right hand quadrant. The earliest realisations of Isidore’s description of the world have the following schematic form: E ASIA MEDITERRANEUM N TANAIS NILUS S EVROPA AFRICA W Printed by Short Run Press Limited, Exeter CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ vii Authorship ...................................................................................... vii Sources ............................................................................................. ix Manuscripts ....................................................................................xiii Further Reading ............................................................................. xiv This Translation ............................................................................
    [Show full text]