Through a critical review of previous scholarship, the article argues that the conversion of the Danish king Harald Bluetooth should not be dated to c. 965, as is usually done, but to 963, which is the date implied by Widukind of Corvey. The cleric Poppo, whose ordeal convinced the king and his men of the superiority of Christ, was not an obscure missionary, but a close collaborator of Archbishop Bruno of Cologne, who at the time was the regent of Germany. On this background, a new interpretation of the political significance of the event in Germany and in Denmark is developed. Finally, it is suggested that the new clerical culture that was developing in German court circles in the mid-tenth century, as well as the concomitant exaltation of the German king and emperor’s quasi-sacral nature, made conversion a much more attractive option for pagan rulers in northern and eastern Europe than during previous centuries; this might contribute towards explaining the sudden success of Christianization in these reg...
{"title":"Poppo’s Ordeal: Courtier Bishops and the Success of Christianization at the Turn of the First Millennium","authors":"M. Gelting","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.1.102138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.1.102138","url":null,"abstract":"Through a critical review of previous scholarship, the article argues that the conversion of the Danish king Harald Bluetooth should not be dated to c. 965, as is usually done, but to 963, which is the date implied by Widukind of Corvey. The cleric Poppo, whose ordeal convinced the king and his men of the superiority of Christ, was not an obscure missionary, but a close collaborator of Archbishop Bruno of Cologne, who at the time was the regent of Germany. On this background, a new interpretation of the political significance of the event in Germany and in Denmark is developed. Finally, it is suggested that the new clerical culture that was developing in German court circles in the mid-tenth century, as well as the concomitant exaltation of the German king and emperor’s quasi-sacral nature, made conversion a much more attractive option for pagan rulers in northern and eastern Europe than during previous centuries; this might contribute towards explaining the sudden success of Christianization in these reg...","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"92 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124710928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The formulaic expression Þorr vigi appears on four runestone memorials spread across Denmark and southern Sweden, and another seven inscribed runestones from the same area similarly feature hammers - that is, symbols of Þorr. Amulets in the shape of small hammers are also well enough known from other Viking Age contexts, and Þorr's name similarly appears in several runic charms, at least one of which is clearly an apotropaic expression. Þorr and his hammer are also associated with blessings in Gylfaginning and Þrymskviða. But old Norse vig ja has traditionally been assumed to represent a rather different notion of 'consecration' than the manner in which it seems to be reflected in such contexts; the inherited Germanic root *weih/ weig is related to Latin victima 'victim, sacrifice' - its primary meaning is not 'bless'. Although used in later Christian contexts in a similar sense to consecratio, a closer investigation of the old Germanic semantics of blessing and hallowing suggests a rather different understanding of vig ja applied when this action was associated with Þorr and his iconic hammer.
{"title":"Þrymskviða, Vígja, and the Canterbury Charm","authors":"B. Mees","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.1.103879","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.1.103879","url":null,"abstract":"The formulaic expression Þorr vigi appears on four runestone memorials spread across Denmark and southern Sweden, and another seven inscribed runestones from the same area similarly feature hammers - that is, symbols of Þorr. Amulets in the shape of small hammers are also well enough known from other Viking Age contexts, and Þorr's name similarly appears in several runic charms, at least one of which is clearly an apotropaic expression. Þorr and his hammer are also associated with blessings in Gylfaginning and Þrymskviða. But old Norse vig ja has traditionally been assumed to represent a rather different notion of 'consecration' than the manner in which it seems to be reflected in such contexts; the inherited Germanic root *weih/ weig is related to Latin victima 'victim, sacrifice' - its primary meaning is not 'bless'. Although used in later Christian contexts in a similar sense to consecratio, a closer investigation of the old Germanic semantics of blessing and hallowing suggests a rather different understanding of vig ja applied when this action was associated with Þorr and his iconic hammer.","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124735070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article focuses on works attributed to Oddr Snorrason and Gunnlaugr Leifsson who were monks at Þingeyrar around the turn of the twelfth century. More specifically, the study examines their learned and creative use of biblical typology and symbolism in relation to King Olafr Tryggvason and the Swedish Viking Yngvarr viðforli. These figures become especially prominent when the theme of salvation is touched on; this, it is argued, was of considerable importance to the Icelandic aristocratic and intellectual elite in the second half of the twelfth century. This, in turn, may shed light on the active participation of the chieftains Gizurr Hallsson and Jon Loptsson in this early phase of saga writing in Iceland.
这篇文章的重点是Oddr Snorrason和Gunnlaugr Leifsson的作品，他们是12世纪之交Þingeyrar的僧侣。更具体地说，这项研究考察了他们对圣经类型学和象征主义的学习和创造性使用，并将其与奥拉夫·Tryggvason国王和瑞典维京人Yngvarr vi - ðforli联系起来。当涉及到救赎的主题时，这些形象变得尤为突出;有人认为，这对12世纪下半叶的冰岛贵族和知识精英来说是相当重要的。反过来，这可能会揭示酋长Gizurr Hallsson和Jon Loptsson在冰岛传奇写作的早期阶段的积极参与。
{"title":"Salvation and Early Saga Writing in Iceland: Aspects of the Works of the Þingeyrar Monks and their Associates","authors":"H. Antonsson","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.1.103195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.1.103195","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on works attributed to Oddr Snorrason and Gunnlaugr Leifsson who were monks at Þingeyrar around the turn of the twelfth century. More specifically, the study examines their learned and creative use of biblical typology and symbolism in relation to King Olafr Tryggvason and the Swedish Viking Yngvarr viðforli. These figures become especially prominent when the theme of salvation is touched on; this, it is argued, was of considerable importance to the Icelandic aristocratic and intellectual elite in the second half of the twelfth century. This, in turn, may shed light on the active participation of the chieftains Gizurr Hallsson and Jon Loptsson in this early phase of saga writing in Iceland.","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128393731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The prevailing view of the period of Viking rule in Brittany is that Scandinavians came from outside, attempted to subjugate the inhabitants and were eventually driven out by Bretons. On the basis of an examination of political language in Brittany during the ninth century, this paper instead argues that the period of Northman rule in the peninsula was the result of vicious factional politics. The development of regalian, Carolingian-influenced languages of legitimacy in the late ninth century is discussed and compared with alternatives to determine why Northman ideologies emerged as salient. The ‘Viking occupation’ is thus reinterpreted as arising out of the internal dynamics of the peninsula rather than being an alien intrusion.
{"title":"Vikings and Bretons? The Language of Factional Politics in Late Carolingian Brittany","authors":"Fraser McNair","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.5.109603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.5.109603","url":null,"abstract":"The prevailing view of the period of Viking rule in Brittany is that Scandinavians came from outside, attempted to subjugate the inhabitants and were eventually driven out by Bretons. On the basis of an examination of political language in Brittany during the ninth century, this paper instead argues that the period of Northman rule in the peninsula was the result of vicious factional politics. The development of regalian, Carolingian-influenced languages of legitimacy in the late ninth century is discussed and compared with alternatives to determine why Northman ideologies emerged as salient. The ‘Viking occupation’ is thus reinterpreted as arising out of the internal dynamics of the peninsula rather than being an alien intrusion.","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126933236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Compilator and Contemporary Literary Culture in Old Norse Hagiography","authors":"S. Battista","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.2.3017462","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.2.3017462","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125573990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Iceland differed from other Norse colonies as it lacked social structures found elsewhere, but also because the Icelanders established their own complex social structures. This article examines aspects of these social structures to determine how they contributed to a new Icelandic identity. The emergence of these social structures may be attributed to factors such as new patterns of social liability that may have developed in response to the unusually scattered population. The settlement pattern may have contributed to the significance of the role of law in early Iceland: a legal framework was required to manage the settlers’ claims and rights to the land. There emerged in Iceland a sense of what defined the settlers, its basis being the law and ‘legal attachment’. The uniqueness of Iceland’s social structures was intertwined with the landnam itself. It was the unsettled land that gave the Icelanders the freedom to create their society.
{"title":"Social Structures and Identity in Early Iceland","authors":"Stephen Pax Leonard","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.1.102140","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.1.102140","url":null,"abstract":"Iceland differed from other Norse colonies as it lacked social structures found elsewhere, but also because the Icelanders established their own complex social structures. This article examines aspects of these social structures to determine how they contributed to a new Icelandic identity. The emergence of these social structures may be attributed to factors such as new patterns of social liability that may have developed in response to the unusually scattered population. The settlement pattern may have contributed to the significance of the role of law in early Iceland: a legal framework was required to manage the settlers’ claims and rights to the land. There emerged in Iceland a sense of what defined the settlers, its basis being the law and ‘legal attachment’. The uniqueness of Iceland’s social structures was intertwined with the landnam itself. It was the unsettled land that gave the Icelanders the freedom to create their society.","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126698551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The island of Noirmoutier lies in the bay of Bourgneuf just south of the mouth of the River Loire, near Nantes in western France. In the early decades of the ninth century Noirmoutier and other nearby islands and coastal areas became primary targets for Scandinavian raids. What was so attractive about this small area for the Northmen? Why did they keep coming back year after year? After examining these early raids in some detail, this paper will highlight the importance of salt production and trade in this part of France in the early medieval period before suggesting the possibility that one of the objectives of the Northmen might well have been salt. The question of how the Northmen might have been able to profit from salt will also be posed and different possibilities explored.
{"title":"Salt and the Earliest Scandinavian Raids in France: Was there a Connection?","authors":"S. Lewis","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.5.112420","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.5.112420","url":null,"abstract":"The island of Noirmoutier lies in the bay of Bourgneuf just south of the mouth of the River Loire, near Nantes in western France. In the early decades of the ninth century Noirmoutier and other nearby islands and coastal areas became primary targets for Scandinavian raids. What was so attractive about this small area for the Northmen? Why did they keep coming back year after year? After examining these early raids in some detail, this paper will highlight the importance of salt production and trade in this part of France in the early medieval period before suggesting the possibility that one of the objectives of the Northmen might well have been salt. The question of how the Northmen might have been able to profit from salt will also be posed and different possibilities explored.","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126542509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The varied nature of Iron Age religious sites in Scandinavia has been the cause of much scholarly debate, particularly in terms of their continuity and centralization - or lack thereof. Little focus, however, has been placed on the general patterns of spatialization displayed by these sites in the wider pre-Christian landscape. This article therefore seeks to examine the social spaces engendered with sacral value by pre-Christian Scandinavians. Drawing on a range of evidence, including toponymic, textual, and archaeological corpora, a model is proposed whereby, despite the ongoing physical changes in such religious sites during the Iron Age, an underlying continuity may be found in the non-physical characteristics of their spaces. It is concluded that different manifestations of liminality - geographic, temporal, and dimensional - lay at the heart of these late Iron Age sacral spaces.
{"title":"Continuity and Change: Forms of Liminality in the Sacred Social Spaces of the Pre-Christian Nordic World","authors":"L. Murphy","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.5.112421","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.5.112421","url":null,"abstract":"The varied nature of Iron Age religious sites in Scandinavia has been the cause of much scholarly debate, particularly in terms of their continuity and centralization - or lack thereof. Little focus, however, has been placed on the general patterns of spatialization displayed by these sites in the wider pre-Christian landscape. This article therefore seeks to examine the social spaces engendered with sacral value by pre-Christian Scandinavians. Drawing on a range of evidence, including toponymic, textual, and archaeological corpora, a model is proposed whereby, despite the ongoing physical changes in such religious sites during the Iron Age, an underlying continuity may be found in the non-physical characteristics of their spaces. It is concluded that different manifestations of liminality - geographic, temporal, and dimensional - lay at the heart of these late Iron Age sacral spaces.","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122426165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Irish princess-virgin-martyr St Sunniva is one of the most enigmatic of Scandinavian saints. The site of her martyrdom, the island of Selja on the west coast of Norway, became an important monastic and episcopal centre during the eleventh century. Towards the end of the twelfth century her relics were translated to Bergen, the new centre of the bishopric, and a hagiographical text was written for liturgical use. This article presents a new reading of the Sunniva legend based on the wider hagiographical, political, and ecclesiastical contexts in which it developed. It argues that the legend, drawing from a continental hagiographical tradition of attributing Irish origins to obscure saints, sought to forge an identity for the bishopric of Bergen in its new royal and ecclesiastical environment.
{"title":"Constructing a Saint: The Legend of St Sunniva in Twelfth-Century Norway","authors":"Alexander O’Hara","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.1.100675","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.1.100675","url":null,"abstract":"The Irish princess-virgin-martyr St Sunniva is one of the most enigmatic of Scandinavian saints. The site of her martyrdom, the island of Selja on the west coast of Norway, became an important monastic and episcopal centre during the eleventh century. Towards the end of the twelfth century her relics were translated to Bergen, the new centre of the bishopric, and a hagiographical text was written for liturgical use. This article presents a new reading of the Sunniva legend based on the wider hagiographical, political, and ecclesiastical contexts in which it developed. It argues that the legend, drawing from a continental hagiographical tradition of attributing Irish origins to obscure saints, sought to forge an identity for the bishopric of Bergen in its new royal and ecclesiastical environment.","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122869108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Roma on Gotland in the Baltic Sea was an important place at the physical and symbolic centre of Iron-Age and Medieval Gotland. Roma has two particularly well-known historical features: the Cisterci ...
{"title":"Room for All? Spaces and Places for Thing Assemblies: The Case of the All-thing on Gotland, Sweden","authors":"N. Myrberg","doi":"10.1484/J.VMS.1.100308","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1484/J.VMS.1.100308","url":null,"abstract":"Roma on Gotland in the Baltic Sea was an important place at the physical and symbolic centre of Iron-Age and Medieval Gotland. Roma has two particularly well-known historical features: the Cisterci ...","PeriodicalId":404438,"journal":{"name":"Viking and Medieval Scandinavia","volume":"256 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133422674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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