1.
Orkney
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Orkney /ˈɔːrkni/, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of Great Britain. Orkney is 16 kilometres north of the coast of Caithness and comprises approximately 70 islands, the largest island Mainland is often referred to as the Mainland. It has an area of 523 square kilometres, making it the sixth-largest Scottish island, the largest settlement and administrative centre is Kirkwall. A form of the dates to the pre-Roman era and the islands have been inhabited for at least 8500 years, originally occupied by Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes. Orkney was invaded and forcibly annexed by Norway in 875 and settled by the Norse, the Scottish Parliament then re-annexed the earldom to the Scottish Crown in 1472, following the failed payment of a dowry for James IIIs bride Margaret of Denmark. Orkney contains some of the oldest and best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe, Orkney is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, a constituency of the Scottish Parliament, a lieutenancy area, and a historic county. The local council is Orkney Islands Council, one of only three Councils in Scotland with a majority of elected members who are independents. In addition to the Mainland, most of the islands are in two groups, the North and South Isles, all of which have a geological base of Old Red Sandstone. The climate is mild and the soils are fertile, most of the land being farmed. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, the significant wind and marine energy resources are of growing importance, and the island generates more than its total yearly electricity demand using renewables. The local people are known as Orcadians and have a distinctive Orcadian dialect of Scots, there is an abundance of marine and avian wildlife. Pytheas of Massilia visited Britain – probably sometime between 322 and 285 BC – and described it as triangular in shape, with a northern tip called Orcas and this may have referred to Dunnet Head, from which Orkney is visible. Speakers of Old Irish referred to the islands as Insi Orc island of the pigs, the archipelago is known as Ynysoedd Erch in modern Welsh and Arcaibh in modern Scottish Gaelic, the -aibh representing a fossilized prepositional case ending. The Anglo-Saxon monk Bede refers to the islands as Orcades insulae in his seminal work Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Norwegian settlers arriving from the ninth century reinterpreted orc as the Old Norse orkn seal. The plural suffix -jar was later removed in English leaving the modern name Orkney, according to the Historia Norwegiæ, Orkney was named after an earl called Orkan. The Norse knew Mainland Orkney as Megenland Mainland or as Hrossey Horse Island, the island is sometimes referred to as Pomona, a name that stems from a sixteenth-century mistranslation by George Buchanan, which has rarely been used locally. A charred hazelnut shell, recovered in 2007 during excavations in Tankerness on the Mainland has been dated to 6820–6660 BC indicating the presence of Mesolithic nomadic tribes
2.
Shetland
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Shetland /ˈʃɛtlənd/, also called the Shetland Islands, is a subarctic archipelago that lies northeast of the island of Great Britain and forms part of Scotland, United Kingdom. The islands lie some 80 km to the northeast of Orkney and 280 km southeast of the Faroe Islands, the total area is 1,466 km2 and the population totalled 23,210 in 2012. The largest island, known simply as Mainland, has an area of 967 km2, making it the third-largest Scottish island, there are an additional 15 inhabited islands. The archipelago has a climate, a complex geology, a rugged coastline and many low. Humans have lived in Shetland since the Mesolithic period, and the earliest written references to the date back to Roman times. The early historic period was dominated by Scandinavian influences, especially Norway, when Scotland became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, trade with northern Europe decreased. Fishing has continued to be an important aspect of the economy up to the present day, the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s significantly boosted Shetland economy, employment and public sector revenues. The local way of life reflects the Scots and Norse heritage of the isles including the Up Helly Aa fire festival, the islands have produced a variety of writers of prose and poetry, often in Shetland dialect. There are numerous areas set aside to protect the fauna and flora. The Shetland pony and Shetland Sheepdog are two well known Shetland animal breeds, other distinguished local breeds include the Shetland sheep, cow, goose, and duck. The Shetland pig, or grice, has been extinct since approximately 1930, the islands motto, which appears on the Councils coat of arms, is Með lögum skal land byggja. This Icelandic phrase is taken from the Danish 1241 Basic Law, Codex Holmiensis, and is mentioned in Njáls saga. The name of Shetland is derived from the Old Norse words, hjalt, in AD43 and 77 the Roman authors Pomponius Mela and Pliny the Elder referred to the seven islands they call Haemodae and Acmodae respectively, both of which are assumed to be Shetland. Another possible early reference to the islands is Tacitus report in AD98, after describing the discovery and conquest of Orkney. In early Irish literature, Shetland is referred to as Inse Catt—the Isles of Cats, the Cat tribe also occupied parts of the northern Scottish mainland and their name can be found in Caithness, and in the Gaelic name for Sutherland. It is possible that the Pictish cat sound forms part of this Norse name and it then became Hjaltland in the 16th century. As Norn was gradually replaced by English in the form of the Shetland dialect which shares similarities with Scots English. The initial letter is the Middle Scots letter, yogh, the pronunciation of which is almost identical to the original Norn sound, /hj/
3.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
4.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
5.
Earl of Orkney
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The Earl of Orkney was originally a Norse jarl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, the Earls status as a Norwegian vassal was formalised in 1195. In 1232, a Scottish dynasty descended from the Mormaers of Angus replaced the family descended from the Mormaers of Atholl. This family was in turn replaced by the descendants of the Mormaers of Strathearn and later still by the Sinclair family, rognvald Eysteinsson, Earl of Møre fl. 865–890 is sometimes credited with being the founder of the earldom, by implication the Orkneyinga saga identifies him as such for he is given dominion over Orkney and Shetland by King Harald Finehair, although there is no concrete suggestion he ever held the title. The Heimskringla states that his brother Sigurd was the first to hold the title. Sigurds son Guthorm ruled for a year and died childless, rognvalds son Hallad then inherited the title. However, unable to constrain Danish raids on Orkney, he gave up the earldom and returned to Norway, Torf-Einarr then succeeded in defeating the Danes and founded a dynasty which retained control of the islands for centuries after his death. Smyth concludes that the role of the brothers Eysteinsson lacks historical credibility, dates are largely conjectural, at least until his death recorded in 1014. One of the sources for the lives and times of these earls is the Orkneyinga saga. One of the key events of the saga is the martyrdom of Earl Magnus Erlendsson, later Saint Magnus, c. The last quarter of the saga is taken up with a tale of Earl Rögnvald Kali Kolsson. After the murder of Earl Jon Haraldsson some sixty years later, Magnus and he may have been a descendent of Earl Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, although this has never been corroborated, and was a descendent of Earl Harald Maddadson on his mothers side. However, the line of specifically Norse earls is said to have come to an end when Earl Magnus II was granted his title by Haakon IV of Norway c. In 1236, Magnus, son of Gille Brigte, Mormaer of Angus, was granted the Earldom of Orkney by King Haakon Haakonsson, Magnus, son of Gille Brigte, c. 1236–1239 Gille Brigte, son of Magnus, 1239–, Gille Brigte, son of Gille Brigte, perhaps the same as the previous Gille Brigte. –1256 Magnus, son of Gille Brigte, 1256–1273 Magnus Magnusson, 1273–1284 Jón Magnússon, 1284–c. 1300–1321 Some time after Magnus Jonssons death, around 1331, the Earldom was granted to Maol Íosa, Mormaer of Strathearn, Maol Íosa ruled Orkney and Caithness from 1331 to 1350. He left several daughters, but no sons, Orkney passed to his son-in-law, the Swedish councillor Erengisle Suneson
6.
Earldom of Orkney
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For the title in the Peerage of Scotland see, Earl of Orkney The Earldom of Orkney was a Norwegian feudal dignity in Scotland which had its origins from the Viking period. The title of Earl of Orkney was heritable, Orkney and Shetland, to the north, lie off the northernmost tip of Caithness, Scotland. Norwegian Vikings probably either came to the islands first as farmers who were seeking land or as warriors who were claiming territory and riches as was common with Viking conquests elsewhere. The question of whether the Picts were completely massacred by the settling Vikings, migrated away, or were assimilated, in peaceful coexistence, however, aside from traces of their lives there, their culture did not endure in the early history or character of Orkney. The Orkneyingasaga is largely fictional however and was not, being written in Iceland, instead, it should be culled for historical details with great care and these data should be matched and compared against data from other sources. Some of his enemies left Orkney for Iceland and perhaps the Faroes, the martyrdom of Earl Magnus in 1117 resulted in the building of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. Christian I never paid the money owed to James father and thus the two groups became part of the Scottish kingdom. The jarldom, without a clear Norse line nor the support or mechanism for that line to continue, were given over to Scottish lords. In 1471, James gave lands in Caithness to William, the Earl of Orkney, in exchange for his lands, William Sinclair exchanged the title for that of Earl of Caithness in 1470, moving the connection between these two earldoms back towards the mainland once again. In 1567 James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, husband of Mary, when Mary lost her claim to the throne, her husband also lost his to Orkney and the title was considered extinct. Robert Stewart was created as the Earl of Orkney and the revived but his son. George Hamilton was created as the Earl of Orkney in the creation of the title in 1696. It is through his family and those families his has married into that the title has survived today, today, these influences are still found in Orkney and Shetland, making their character somewhat novel and distinct from that of other parts of Scotland. Kingdom of the Isles Earl of Orkney Morris, Christopher,1978 Orkneyjar detailing the history and culture of the Orkney Isles
7.
Northern Isles
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The Northern Isles is an archipelago comprising a chain of islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The climate is cool and temperate and much influenced by the surrounding seas, there are two main island groups, Shetland and Orkney. Both have a renewable energy industry. They also share a common Pictish and Norse history, the islands played a significant naval role during the world wars of the 20th century. Tourism is important to both archipelagos, with their distinctive prehistoric ruins playing a key part in their attraction, and there are regular ferry, the Scandinavian influence remains strong, especially in relation to local folklore, and both island chains have strong, although distinct, local cultures. The place names of the islands are dominated by their Norse heritage, the phrase Northern Isles generally refers to the main islands of the Orkney and Shetland archipelagos. Stroma, which lies between mainland Scotland and Orkney, is part of Caithness, and so falls under Highland council area for government purposes. It is, however, clearly one of the isles of Scotland. Fair Isle and Foula are outliers of Shetland, but would normally be considered as part of Shetland, similarly, Sule Skerry and Sule Stack, although distant from the main group, are part of Orkney and technically amongst the Northern Isles. However, the small islands that lie off the north coast of Scotland are in Highland. Orkney is situated 16 kilometres north of the coast of mainland Scotland, the largest island, known as the Mainland has an area of 523.25 square kilometres, making it the sixth largest Scottish island. The total population in 2001 was 19,245 and the largest town is Kirkwall, Shetland is around 170 kilometres north of mainland Scotland, covers an area of 1,468 square kilometres and has a coastline 2,702 kilometres long. Lerwick, the capital and largest settlement, has a population of around 7,500, Orkney has 20 inhabited islands and Shetland a total of 16. The superficial rock of Orkney is almost entirely Old Red Sandstone, Middle Devonian basaltic volcanic rocks are found on western Hoy, on Deerness in eastern Mainland and on Shapinsay. Correlation between the Hoy volcanics and the two exposures has been proposed, but differences in chemistry means this remains uncertain. Lamprophyre dykes of Late Permian age are found throughout Orkney, glacial striation and the presence of chalk and flint erratics that originated from the bed of the North Sea demonstrate the influence of ice action on the geomorphology of the islands. Boulder clay is abundant and moraines cover substantial areas. The geology of Shetland is quite different and it is extremely complex, with numerous faults and fold axes
8.
Harald Fairhair
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Harald Fairhair is remembered by medieval historians as the first King of Norway. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, most of his life remains uncertain, since the extant accounts of his life in the sagas were set down in writing around three centuries after his lifetime. A few remnants of skaldic praise poems attributed to court poets exist which seem to refer to Haralds victories against opponents in Norway. Two of his sons, Eric Bloodaxe and Haakon the Good, the only early sources mentioning him are the two skaldic poems Haraldskvæði and Glymdrápa, which have been attributed to Þorbjörn Hornklofi or alternatively to Þjóðólfr of Hvinir. The first poem has only been preserved in fragments in 13th century Kings sagas and it describes life at Haralds court, mentions that he took a Danish wife, and that he won a battle at Hafrsfjord. The second relates a series of battles Harald won and his life is described in several of the Kings sagas, none of them older than 12th century. His protector-regent was his mothers brother Guthorm, the unification of Norway is something of a love story. It begins with a proposal that resulted in rejection and scorn from Gyda. She said she refused to marry Harald before he was king over all of Norway, in 872, after a great victory at Hafrsfjord near Stavanger, Harald found himself king over the whole country. However, his opponents leaving was not entirely voluntary, many Norwegian chieftains who were wealthy and respected posed a threat to Harald, therefore, they were subjected to much harassment from Harald, prompting them to vacate the land. At last, Harald was forced to make an expedition to the West, to clear the islands, the earliest narrative source which mentions Harald, the 12th century Íslendingabók notes that Iceland was settled during his lifetime. Harald is thus depicted as the cause of the Norse settlement of Iceland and beyond. Iceland was settled by malcontents from Norway, who resented Haralds claim of rights of taxation over lands, there are several accounts of large feasting mead halls constructed for important feasts when Scandinavian royalty was invited. The older Swedish king, on the hand, had to stay in the old feasting hall. The Swedish king was so humiliated that he killed Áki, according to the saga sources, the latter part of Haralds reign was disturbed by the strife of his many sons. The number of sons he left varies in the different saga accounts, twelve of his sons are named as kings, two of them over the whole country. When he grew old, Harald handed over the power to his favourite son Eirik Bloodaxe. Eirik I ruled side-by-side with his father when Harald was 80 years old, Harald died three years later due to age in approximately 933
9.
Hebrides
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The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland. There are two groups, the Inner and Outer Hebrides. This diversity is reflected in the given to the islands. The Hebrides are the source of much of Scottish Gaelic literature, today the economy of the islands is dependent on crofting, fishing, tourism, the oil industry, and renewable energy. The Hebrides have lower biodiversity than mainland Britain, but there is a significant presence of seals, the Hebrides have a diverse geology ranging in age from Precambrian strata that are amongst the oldest rocks in Europe to Paleogene igneous intrusions. The Hebrides can be divided into two groups, separated from one another by the Minch to the north and the Sea of the Hebrides to the south. The Inner Hebrides lie closer to mainland Scotland and include Islay, Jura, Skye, Mull, Raasay, Staffa, there are 36 inhabited islands in this group. The Outer Hebrides are a chain of more than 100 islands, there are 15 inhabited islands in this archipelago. The main islands include Barra, Benbecula, Berneray, Harris, Lewis, North Uist, South Uist, in total, the islands have an area of approximately 7,200 square kilometres and a population of 44,759. A complication is that there are descriptions of the scope of the Hebrides. The Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland describes the Inner Hebrides as lying east of the Minch, there are various islands that lie in the sea lochs such as Eilean Bàn and Eilean Donan that might not ordinarily be described as Hebridean, but no formal definitions exist. In the past, the Outer Hebrides were often referred to as the Long Isle, today, they are also known as the Western Isles, although this phrase can also be used to refer to the Hebrides in general. The Hebrides have a temperate climate that is remarkably mild and steady for such a northerly latitude. In the Outer Hebrides the average temperature for the year is 6 °C in January and 14 °C in summer, the average annual rainfall in Lewis is 1,100 millimetres and sunshine hours range from 1,100 –1,200 per annum. The summer days are long, and May to August is the driest period. The Hebrides were settled during the Mesolithic era around 6500 BC or earlier, after the conditions improved enough to sustain human settlement. Occupation at a site on Rùm is dated to 8590 ±95 uncorrected radiocarbon years BP, there are many examples of structures from the Neolithic period, the finest example being the standing stones at Callanish, dating to the 3rd millennium BC. Cladh Hallan, a Bronze Age settlement on South Uist is the site in the UK where prehistoric mummies have been found
10.
Hekla
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Hekla, or Hecla, is a stratovolcano in the south of Iceland with a height of 1,491 m. Hekla is one of Icelands most active volcanoes, over 20 eruptions have occurred in, during the Middle Ages, Europeans called the volcano the Gateway to Hell. Hekla is part of a ridge,40 km long. The most active part of ridge, a fissure about 5.5 km long named Heklugjá, is considered to be the volcano Hekla proper. Hekla looks rather like a boat, with its keel being a series of craters. The volcanos frequent large eruptions have covered much of Iceland with tephra, 10% of the tephra created in Iceland in the last thousand years has come from Hekla, amounting to 5 km3. The volcano has produced one of the largest volumes of lava of any in the world in the last millennium, in Icelandic Hekla is the word for a short hooded cloak which may relate to the frequent cloud cover on the summit. An early Latin source refers to the mountain as Mons Casule, after the eruption of 1104, stories, probably spread deliberately through Europe by Cistercian monks, told that Hekla was the gateway to Hell. The Cistercian monk Herbert of Clairvaux wrote in his De Miraculis, The renowned fiery cauldron of Sicily and that cauldron is affirmed to be like a small furnace compared to this enormous inferno. A poem by the monk Benedeit from circa 1120 about the voyages of Saint Brendan mentions Hekla as the prison of Judas, the Flatey Book Annal wrote of the 1341 eruption that people saw large and small birds flying in the mountains fire which were taken to be souls. In the 16th century Caspar Peucer wrote that the Gates of Hell could be found in the abyss of Hekla Fell. The belief that Hekla was the gate to Hell persisted until the 1800s, there is still a legend that witches gather on Hekla for Easter. Hekla has a morphological type between that of a row and stratovolcano sited at a rift-transform junction in the area where the south Iceland seismic zone. The unusual form of Hekla is found on very few volcanoes around the world, Hekla is situated on a long volcanic ridge of which the 5.5 km Heklugjá fissure is considered Hekla proper. This fissure opens along its length during major eruptions and is fed by a magma reservoir estimated to have a top 4 km below the surface with centroid 2.5 km lower. The tephra produced by its eruptions is high in fluorine which is poisonous to animals, Heklas basaltic andesite lava generally has a SiO2 content of over 54%, compared to the 45–50% of other nearby transitional alkaline basalt eruptions. It is the only Icelandic volcano to produce calc-alkaline lavas, phenocrysts in Heklas lava can contain plagioclase, pyroxene, titanomagnetite, olivine & apatite. When not erupting Hekla is often covered with snow and small glaciers, Hekla is located on the mid-ocean ridge, a diverging plate boundary
11.
Oddi
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Oddi at Rangárvellir was a center of learning in South Iceland during the Middle Ages. For centuries it was the home of the powerful family. The two best known leaders in Oddi were Sæmundur Sigfússon the Learned and his grandson Jón Loftsson, the famous historian Snorri Sturluson was brought up and educated in Oddi by Jón Loftsson. It has been suggested that the name of the Edda is derived from Oddi
12.
Saga
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They were written in the Old Norse language, mainly in Iceland. The tales are usually realistic, except legendary sagas, sagas of saints, sagas of bishops and they are sometimes romanticised and fantastic, but always dealing with human beings one can understand. The term saga originates from the Norse saga, and refers to what is said, statement or story, tale and it is cognate with the English word saw, and the German Sage. Icelandic sagas are based on traditions and much research has focused on what is real. The accuracy of the sagas is often hotly disputed, most of the manuscripts in which the sagas are preserved were taken to Denmark and Sweden in the 17th century, but later returned to Iceland. Classic sagas were composed in the 13th century, scholars once believed that these sagas were transmitted orally from generation to generation until scribes wrote them down in the 13th century. However, most scholars now believe the sagas were conscious artistic creations, however, this clothing is not contemporary with the events of the saga as it is a closer match to the clothing worn in the 12th century. There are plenty of tales of kings, everyday people and larger than life characters, the sagas describe a part of the history of some of the Nordic countries. The British Isles, northern France and North America are also mentioned and it was only recently that the tales of the voyages to North America were authenticated. Most sagas of Icelanders take place in the period 930–1030, which is called söguöld in Icelandic history, the sagas of kings, bishops, contemporary sagas have their own time frame. Norse sagas are generally classified as, the Kings sagas, sagas of Icelanders, Short tales of Icelanders, Contemporary sagas, Legendary sagas, Chivalric sagas, Saints sagas, Kings sagas are of the lives of Scandinavian kings. They were composed in the 12th to 14th centuries, family Sagas, are stories of real events, passed in oral form till they eventually were recorded, mostly in the 13th century. These are the highest form of the classical Icelandic saga writing, some well-known examples include Njáls saga, Laxdæla saga and Grettis saga. The material of the Short tales of Icelanders sagas is similar to Íslendinga sögur, the narratives of the Contemporary Sagas are set in 12th- and 13th-century Iceland, and were written soon after the events they describe. Most are preserved in the compilation Sturlunga saga, though some, Legendary Sagas blend remote history with myth or legend. The aim is on a narrative and entertainment. Scandinavias pagan past was a proud and heroic history for the Icelanders, Chivalric sagas are translations of Latin pseudo-historical works and French chansons de geste as well as native creations in the same style. While sagas are generally anonymous, a literary movement in the 14th century involves sagas, mostly on religious topics, with identifiable authors
13.
Heimskringla
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Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet, the name Heimskringla was first used in the 17th century, derived from the first two words of one of the manuscripts. Snorri had himself visited Norway and Sweden, for events of the mid-12th century, Snorri explicitly names the now lost work Hryggjarstykki as his source. The composition of the sagas is Snorris, the earliest parchment copy of the work is referred to as Kringla. It voyaged from Iceland to Bergen, Norway and was moved to Copenhagen, at that time it had lost the first page, but the second starts Kringla heimsins, the Earths circle of the Laing translation. In the 17th century copies were made by Icelanders Jon Eggertson, eggertsons copy went to the Royal Library at Stockholm. The Copenhagen manuscript was among the many destroyed in the Copenhagen Fire of 1728. Only one leaf of the manuscript survived and it is now kept in the National, by the mid-16th century, the Old Norse language was unintelligible to Norwegian, Swedish or Danish readers. At that time several translations of extracts were made in Norway into the Danish language, the first complete translation was made around 1600 by Peder Claussøn Friis, and printed in 1633. This was based on a known as Jofraskinna. This edition also included the first printing of the text in Old Norse, a new Danish translation with the text in Old Norse and a Latin translation came out in 1777-1783. An English translation by Samuel Laing was finally published in 1844, in the 19th century, as Norway was achieving independence after centuries of union with Denmark and Sweden, the stories of the independent Norwegian medieval kingdom won great popularity in Norway. Heimskringla, although written by an Icelander, became an important national symbol for Norway during the period of romantic nationalism, Heimskringla consists of several chapters, each one individually called a saga, which can be literally translated as tale. The subsequent sagas are devoted to individual rulers, starting with Halfdan the Black, the stories are told with a life and freshness, giving a picture of human life in all its reality. A version of the Óláfs saga helga, which is about the saint Olaf II of Norway, is the main part and his 15-year-long reign takes up about one third of the entire work. This saga is an epic in prose, and is also of particular relevance to the history of England. The first part of the Heimskringla is rooted in Norse mythology, as it advances, fable and fact all curiously intermingle, the value of Heimskringla as a historical source has been estimated in different ways during recent times. The historians of mid-19th century put great trust in the truth of Snorris narrative
14.
Snorri Sturluson
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Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing and he was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history. For stylistic and methodological reasons, Snorri is often taken to be the author of Egils saga, as a historian and mythographer, Snorri is remarkable for proposing the hypothesis that mythological gods begin as human war leaders and kings whose funeral sites develop cults. As people call upon the war leader as they go to battle, or the dead king as they face tribal hardship. Eventually, the king or warrior is remembered only as a god and he also proposed that as tribes defeat others, they explain their victory by proposing that their own gods were in battle with the gods of the others. Snorri Sturluson was born in Hvammur into the wealthy and powerful Sturlungar family of the Icelandic Commonwealth and his parents were Sturla Þórðarson the elder of Hvammur and his second wife, Guðný Böðvarsdóttir. He had two brothers, Þórðr Sturluson and Sighvatr Sturluson, two sisters and nine half-siblings. By a quirk of circumstance Snorri was raised from the age of three by Jón Loftsson, a relative of the Norwegian royal family, in Oddi, Iceland. The resulting settlement would have beggared Páll, but Jón Loftsson intervened in the Althing to mitigate the judgment and, to compensate Sturla, offered to raise, Snorri therefore received an excellent education and made connections that he might not otherwise have made. He attended the school of Sæmundr fróði, grandfather of Jón Loftsson, at Oddi and his father died in 1183 and his mother as guardian soon wasted Snorris share of the inheritance. The two families arranged an marriage in 1199 between Snorri and Herdís, the daughter of Bersi Vermundarson. From her father, Snorri inherited an estate at Borg and a chieftainship and he soon acquired more property and chieftainships. Snorri and Herdís were together for four years at Borg and they had at least two children, Hallbera and Jón. The marriage succumbed to Snorris philandering, and in 1206, he settled in Reykholt as manager of an estate there and he made significant improvements to the estate, including a hot outdoor bath. The bath and the buildings have preserved to some extent. During the initial years at Reykholt he fathered five children by three different women, Guðrún Hreinsdóttir, Oddný, and Þuríður Hallsdóttir, Snorri quickly became known as a poet, but was also a successful lawyer. In 1215, he became lawspeaker of the Althing, the public office of the Icelandic commonwealth. In the summer of 1218, he left the position and sailed to Norway
15.
Old Norse
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Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during about the 9th to 13th centuries. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century, Old Norse was divided into three dialects, Old West Norse, Old East Norse and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own features and shared in changes to both other branches. The 12th century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes spoke the same language, another term used, used especially commonly with reference to West Norse, was norrœnt mál. In some instances the term Old Norse refers specifically to Old West Norse, the Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, settlements in Kievan Rus, eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in settlements in the East. In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language, in Kievan Rus, it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod, probably lasting into the 13th century there. Norwegian is descended from Old West Norse, but over the centuries it has heavily influenced by East Norse. Old Norse also had an influence on English dialects and Lowland Scots and it also influenced the development of the Norman language, and through it and to a smaller extent, that of modern French. Various other languages, which are not closely related, have heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman dialects, Scottish Gaelic. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Ruotsi and Rootsi, of the modern languages, Icelandic is the closest to Old Norse. Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system, contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the phonemes, has changed at least as much as in the other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain asymmetric mutual intelligibility. Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, the languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders
16.
Legend
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Legend, for its active and passive participants, includes no happenings that are outside the realm of possibility, but may include miracles. Legends may be transformed over time, in order to keep fresh and vital. Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being believed by the participants. The Brothers Grimm defined legend as folktale historically grounded, a modern folklorists professional definition of legend was proposed by Timothy R. Legend is a loanword from Old French that entered English usage circa 1340. The Old French noun legende derives from the Medieval Latin legenda, in its early English-language usage, the word indicated a narrative of an event. The word legendary was originally a noun meaning a collection or corpus of legends and this word changed to legendry, and legendary became the adjectival form. By 1613, English-speaking Protestants began to use the word when they wished to imply that an event was fictitious, thus, legend gained its modern connotations of undocumented and spurious, which distinguish it from the meaning of chronicle. In 1866, Jacob Grimm described the tale as poetic. Questions of categorising legends, in hopes of compiling a series of categories on the line of the Aarne–Thompson folktale index. Compared to the highly structured folktale, legend is comparatively amorphous, in Einleitung in der Geschichtswissenschaft, Ernst Bernheim asserted that a legend is simply a longstanding rumour. Gordon Allport credited the staying-power of some rumours to the persistent cultural state-of-mind that they embody and capsulise, in the narrow Christian sense, legenda were hagiographical accounts, often collected in a legendary. Hippolyte Delehaye distinguished legend from myth, The legend, on the hand, has, of necessity. It refers imaginary events to some real personage, or it localizes romantic stories in some definite spot, stories that exceed the boundaries of realism are called fables. For example, the talking animal formula of Aesop identifies his brief stories as fables, the parable of the Prodigal Son would be a legend if it were told as having actually happened to a specific son of a historical father. If it included a donkey that gave sage advice to the Prodigal Son it would be a fable, Legend may be transmitted orally, passed on person-to-person, or, in the original sense, through written text. Jacob de Voragines Legenda Aurea or The Golden Legend comprises a series of vitae or instructive biographical narratives and they are presented as lives of the saints, but the profusion of miraculous happenings and above all their uncritical context are characteristics of hagiography. The Legenda was intended to inspire extemporized homilies and sermons appropriate to the saint of the day, the vanishing hitchhiker is the best-known urban legend in America, traceable as far back as 1870, but it is found around the world including in Korea and Russia. In the legend, a girl in a white dress picked up alongside of the road by a passerby
17.
Harald Maddadsson
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Harald Maddadsson was Earl of Orkney and Mormaer of Caithness from 1139 until 1206. He was the son of Matad, Mormaer of Atholl, and Margaret, of mixed Norse and Gaelic blood, and a descendant of Scots kings, he was a significant figure in northern Scotland, and played a prominent part in Scottish politics of the twelfth century. The Orkneyinga Saga names him one of the three more powerful Earls of Orkney with Sigurd Eysteinsson and Thorfinn Sigurdsson, thus the succession of the earldom was of great interest to the Scots king David I. Harald Maddadsson was born shortly before Rognvald Kali Kolsson took control of the Earldom of Orkney, the Orkneyinga Saga reports the official tale, that Paul had abdicated, and the rumour that he was killed on the orders of Haralds mother. Earl Paul had not been well loved by his female kin and his mother and her sister, Frakkok, had previously tried to murder him with a poisoned shirt which instead caused the death of his brother Harald Haakonsson. Rognvald represented the faction in the Earldom. It is said that Frakkok and her supporters had originally intended to advance the claims of Harald Haakons son Erlend on Pauls death, however, Matad and Margaret, with King David backing them, imposed the infant Harald Maddadson as joint ruler with Rognvald. The main threat to Harald Maddadsson and Rognvald Kali came from Erlend Haraldsson, the old conspirator, however, was soon disposed of, burned to death in her hall near Helmsdale. The Orkneyinga Saga names Svein Asleifsson as the killer, and says that he came to Caithness from the south, from Atholl, with Rognvalds blessing and this Svein Asleifsson had also been the man in whose custody Earl Paul had disappeared. In 1150 or 1151, Harald visited Norway with Earl Rognvald, during this visit Rognvald made his decision to go on crusade, as recounted at length in the Saga. After Harald returned to Orkney and Rognvald departed on his expedition, King Eystein Haraldsson, eldest brother of Ingi, during this operation he encountered Harald near Thurso and captured him. Harald was freed in return for a ransom in gold and by giving his oath to Eystein, Eystein then went on to raid the coasts of Scotland and England. Possibly as a result of Eysteins activities, King David granted half of Caithness to Haralds cousin, the result, as recounted in the Orkneyinga Saga, was a political struggle which ended with Erlends murder in 1154. Rognvald too was killed, in 1158, Svein Asleifsson was again heavily involved in this dynastic conflict. In 1153 King David died, to be succeeded by his young grandson, King Eystein too died in a war with his brothers Ingi and Sigurd which left Ingi the sole surviving son of Harald Gilli. As a result, by 1158 Harald Maddadsson was undisputed Earl of Orkney, from the death of Rognvald, Harald Maddadsson pursued a policy of supporting the enemies of the kings of Scotland, first Malcolm IV, who died young in 1165, then Malcolms brother William. An expedition to Ross by King William and his brother Earl David in 1179 may have related to Haralds activities. Two years later the rebellion of Domnall, son of Máel Coluim mac Uilleim, broke out in Ross and Moray, the rebellion was not finally suppressed until 1187
18.
Classical element
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Ancient cultures in Egypt, Babylonia, Japan, Tibet, and India had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to air as wind and the fifth element as void. The Chinese Wu Xing system lists Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and these different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as cosmology. Sometimes these theories overlapped with mythology and were personified in deities, some of these interpretations included atomism but other interpretations considered the elements to be divisible into infinitely small pieces without changing their nature. Centuries of empirical investigation have proven that all the ancient systems were incorrect explanations of the physical world. It is now known that atomic theory is an explanation, and that atoms can be classified into more than a hundred chemical elements such as oxygen, iron. These elements form chemical compounds and mixtures, and under different temperatures and pressures, the concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, particularly in a context, the four states-of-matter describe matter. Similar lists existed in ancient China and Japan, in Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of sensory experience. A Greek text called the Kore Kosmou ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus, names the four fire, water, air. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire, the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water, fish, air and earth, the snake avoids the open air. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire, for instance salamanders and it is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies outer envelope. Each soul, accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four. According to Galen, these elements were used by Hippocrates in describing the body with an association with the four humours, yellow bile, black bile, blood. Medical care was flexible and primarily about helping the patient stay in or return to his/her own personal natural balanced state. In other Babylonian texts these phenomena are considered independent of their association with deities, though they are not treated as the component elements of the universe, the five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the elements, can be perceived by all five senses – hearing, touch, sight, taste. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen, next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen
19.
Magnus Barefoot
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Magnus Olafsson, better known as Magnus Barefoot, was King of Norway from 1093 until his death in 1103. As the only son of King Olaf Kyrre, Magnus was proclaimed king in southeastern Norway shortly after his fathers death in 1093, in the north his claim was contested by his cousin, Haakon Magnusson, and the two co-ruled uneasily until Haakons death in 1095. Disgruntled members of the nobility refused to recognise Magnus after his cousins death, after securing his position domestically, Magnus campaigned around the Irish Sea from 1098 to 1099. He raided through Orkney, the Hebrides and Mann, and ensured Norwegian control by a treaty with the Scottish king, based on Mann during his time in the west, Magnus had a number of forts and houses built on the island and probably also obtained suzerainty of Galloway. He sailed to Wales later in his expedition, winning control of Anglesey after repelling the invading Norman forces from the island, following his return to Norway Magnus led campaigns into Dalsland and Västergötland in Sweden, claiming an ancient border with the country. After two unsuccessful invasions and a number of skirmishes Danish king Eric Evergood initiated peace talks among the three Scandinavian monarchs, fearing that the conflict would get out of hand. Magnus concluded peace with the Swedes in 1101 by agreeing to marry Margaret, in return, Magnus gained Dalsland as part of her dowry. He set out on his western campaign in 1102. Magnus entered into an alliance with Irish king Muirchertach Ua Briain of Munster, into modern times, his legacy has remained more pronounced in Ireland and Scotland than in his native Norway. Among the few domestic developments known during his reign, Norway developed a more centralised rule and moved closer to the European model of church organisation. Popularly portrayed as a Viking warrior rather than a monarch, Magnus was the last Norwegian king to fall in battle abroad. Most information about Magnus is gleaned from Norse sagas and chronicles, while the later sagas are the most detailed accounts, they are also generally considered the least reliable. Additional information about Magnus, in particular his campaigns, is found in sources from the British Isles, Magnus was born around the end of 1073 as the only son of King Olaf Kyrre. The historical consensus has favoured Tora Arnesdatter, but the claims have also gained support. Anders Stølen has argued that she was a daughter of Ragnvald jarl, Magnus grew up among the hird of his father in Nidaros, de facto capital of Norway at the time. His fathers cousin, the chieftain Tore Ingeridsson, was foster-father to Magnus, in his youth, he was apparently more similar to his warlike grandfather, King Harald Hardrada, than to his father. According to Snorri Sturluson, Magnus was considered handsome and gifted in learning, although he was shorter in stature than his grandfather Harald, he was reportedly known as Magnus the Tall. Magnus more-common byname, Barefoot or Barelegs, was—according to Snorri—due to his adopting the Gaelic dress of the Irish and Scots, a short tunic, which left the lower legs bare
20.
Nordic countries
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The Nordic countries or Nordics are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic, where they are most commonly known as Norden. They consist of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, the population of the Nordic countries are mainly Scandinavian or Finnish, with Greenlandic Inuit and the Sami people as minorities. Of todays native languages, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, the non-Germanic languages spoken are Finnish, Greenlandic and several Sami languages. The main religion is Lutheran Christianity, the Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, history, their use of Scandinavian languages and social structure. Politically, Nordic countries do not form an entity. Especially in English, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, Scandinavian Peninsula on the other hand covers mainland Norway and Sweden as well as the northernmost part of Finland. At 3,425,804 square kilometers, the area of the Nordic countries would form the 7th-largest country in the world. Uninhabitable icecaps and glaciers comprise about half of area, mostly in Greenland. In January 2013, the region had a population of around 26 million people, the Nordic countries cluster near the top in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development. Although the area is linguistically heterogeneous, with three unrelated groups, the common linguistic heritage is one of the factors making up the Nordic identity. The North Germanic languages Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are considered mutually intelligible and these languages are taught in school throughout the Nordic countries. Swedish, for example, is a subject in Finnish schools. Danish is mandatory in Faroese and Greenlandic schools, as these states are a part of the Danish Realm. Iceland also teaches Danish, since Iceland too was a part of the Danish Realm until 1918, there is a high degree of income redistribution and little social unrest. The Nordic countries consists of historical territories of the Scandinavian countries, areas that share a common history and it is meant unambiguously to refer to this larger group, since the term Scandinavia is narrower and sometimes ambiguous. The Nordic countries are considered to unambiguously refer to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The term is derived indirectly from the local term Norden, used in the Scandinavian languages, unlike the Nordic countries, the term Norden is in the singular. The demonym is nordbo, literally meaning northern dweller, especially outside of the Nordic region the term Scandinavia is often used incorrectly as a synonym for the Nordic countries
21.
Rognvald Eysteinsson
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Rognvald Eysteinsson sometimes referred to with the bynames of the Wise or the Powerful was the jarl of Møre in Norway and a key figure in the founding of the Norse Earldom of Orkney. There are three conflicting sources regarding Rognvald and the creation of the Earldom, hence some scholars emphasise contemporary accounts, such as Irish sources, at the expense of the sagas. In particular, most historians now doubt that Rognvald undertook a great voyage, from Norway to the islands of Shetland. It is now believed that any such voyage occurred after Rognvalds lifetime. This expedition is supposed to have been undertaken at the behest of king Harald Fairhair. William P. L, the oldest account that may refer to Rognvald and the Earldom of Orkney appears to be the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland. These annals are believed to date from the lifetime of Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic and these events are placed after an account of the devastation of Fortriu, dated to around 866, and the mention of an eclipse confirms a date of 865. Much of the information it contains is hard to corroborate, Rognvald is also referred to in Snorri Sturlusons Heimskringla, written in Iceland. While the Historia Norvegiae includes an account of the foundation of the Orkney earldom, as well as some details about pre-Viking Orkney. It is not certain that the Ragnall of the Irish annals is synonymous with Rognvald Eysteinsson, the relevant entry goes on to describe Ragnalls older sons raiding in Spain and North Africa, but there is no specific mention of the Earldom of Orkney. There is no agreement in the sources on Rognvalds parentage. According to the Irish annals, Ragnall was the son of Halfdan and this is generally understood to mean Halfdan the Black, which would make Ragnall the brother of King Harald Fairhair. This is contradicted by later Norse sagas, which suggest that Halfdan was Rognvalds grandfather, the Orkneyinga saga says that Rognvald was the son of Eystein Ivarsson and grandson of Ívarr Upplendingajarl. He was married, according to the Orkneyinga saga to Ragnhild, both sagas refer to six sons. The oldest, by concubines, were Hallad, Einarr and Hrollaug, the latter were Ivar, Hrólfr, and Thorir the Silent. Hrólfr, who was so big that no horse could carry him, hence his byname of Ganger-Hrólf, is identified by the writers with Rollo. In the Orkneyinga saga Rognvald was made the Earl of Møre by Harald Fairhair, Rognvald accompanied the king on a great military expedition. First the islands of Shetland and Orkney were cleared of vikings who had been raiding Norway and then continued on to Scotland, Ireland, during this campaign Rognvalds son Ivarr was killed and in compensation Harald granted Rognvald Orkney and Shetland. Rognvald thereafter returned to Norway, giving the northern isles to his brother Sigurd Eysteinsson, Sigurd had been the forecastleman on Haralds ship and after sailing back east the king gave Sigurd the title of earl
22.
Vikings
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The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
23.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
24.
Isle of Man
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The Isle of Man, also known simply as Mann, is a self-governing crown dependency in the Irish Sea between England and Northern Ireland. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann, the Lord of Mann is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. Foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of the British Government, the island has been inhabited since before 6500 BC. Gaelic cultural influence began in the 5th century and the Manx language, in 627, Edwin of Northumbria conquered the Isle of Man along with most of Mercia. In the 9th century, Norsemen established the Kingdom of the Isles, magnus III, King of Norway, was also known as King of Mann and the Isles between 1099 and 1103. In 1266, the became part of Scotland under the Treaty of Perth. After a period of alternating rule by the kings of Scotland and England, the short form often used in English, Mann, is derived from the Manx Mannin, though sometimes the name is written as Man. The earliest recorded Manx form of the name is Manu or Mana, the Old Irish form of the name is Manau or Mano. Old Welsh records named it as Manaw, also reflected in Manaw Gododdin, the name for an ancient district in north Britain along the lower Firth of Forth. The oldest known reference to the calls it Mona, in Latin, in the 1st century CE, Pliny the Elder records it as Monapia or Monabia. Later Latin references have Mevania or Mænavia, and Eubonia or Eumonia by Irish writers and it is found in the Sagas of Icelanders as Mön. The name is cognate with the Welsh name of the island of Anglesey, Ynys Môn, usually derived from a Celtic word for mountain. The name was at least secondarily associated with that of Manannán mac Lir in Irish mythology, later, a Manannán is recorded as the first king of Mann in a Manx poem. The island was cut off from the islands around 8000 BC. The first residents were hunter gatherers and fishermen, examples of their tools are kept at the Manx Museum. There were also the local Ronaldsway and Bann cultures, during the Bronze Age, burial mounds became smaller. Bodies were put in stone-lined graves with ornamental containers, the Bronze Age burial mounds created long-lasting markers around the countryside. The ancient Romans knew of the island and called it Insula Manavia although it is whether they conquered the island
25.
Sigurd Eysteinsson
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Sigurd Eysteinsson or Sigurd the Mighty was the second Earl of Orkney – a title bequeathed to Sigurd by his brother Rognvald Eysteinsson. A son of Eystein Glumra, Sigurd was a leader in the Viking conquest of what is now northern Scotland and his death was said to have been caused by the severed head of Máel Brigte, whom Sigurd defeated in battle. As he rode a horse with Máel Brigtes head attached to his saddle as a trophy, the wound became infected, later causing Sigurds death. The two main sources for Sigurds life are the Norse Heimskringla and Orkneyinga sagas, the king of Norway, Harald Finehair, subdued the pirate Vikings with the aid of Rognvald Eysteinsson of Møre. During the conquest, Rognvalds son, Ivar, was killed, with the consent of Harald, Rognvald transferred the title and lands to his brother Sigurd, who was one of Haralds forecastlemen. The Historia Norvegiæ, written around the time as the sagas but from a different source, corroborates the conquest of the islands by Rognvalds family. His exploits in conquering the north of Scotland became legendary and earned him the epithet, according to the Orkneyinga saga, towards the end of his reign, Sigurd challenged a native ruler, Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed, to a 40-man-a-side battle. Treacherously, Sigurd brought 80 men to the fight, Máel Brigte was defeated and beheaded. Sigurd strapped the head to his saddle as a trophy, but as Sigurd rode, the leg became inflamed and infected, and as a result Sigurd died. He was buried in a known as Sigurds Howe, or Sigurðar-haugr. The location of Sigurds Howe is most probably modern-day Sidera or Cyderhall near Dornoch, Sigurds death was apparently followed by a period of instability. He was succeeded by his son Guttorm, who died within a few months, Rognvald made his son Hallad Earl of Orkney, but Hallad could not contain the pirate Vikings, resigned his earldom and returned to Norway in disgrace. The sagas say that Rognvalds other sons were more interested in conquering places other than Scotland, the Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens. Orkneyinga Saga, The History of the Earls of Orkney
26.
Forecastle
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Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors living quarters. Related to the meaning is the phrase before the mast which denotes anything related to ordinary sailors. The syncope of the word, focsle or focsle, is common among nautical terms, the positioning of the apostrophes represents silent letters, thus focsle. In medieval shipbuilding, a ship of war was usually equipped with a tall and it served as a platform for archers to shoot down on enemy ships, or as a defensive stronghold if the ship were boarded. A similar but usually much larger structure, called the aftcastle, was at the aft end of the ship, having such tall upper works on the ship was detrimental to sailing performance. Sailors stationed on the forecastle, or forecastle men, were responsible for handling the headsails, in the Royal Navy of the 17th and 18th centuries, these roles were reserved for older seamen who lacked the agility to go aloft or take other more strenuous duties aboard. By the end of the 19th century, raised forecastle had become a feature on warships again, in an attempt to keep forward gun positions from getting unacceptably wet on heavy seas. In addition the forecastle may provide additional crews quarters as in the past, a disadvantage of such a design is the structural weakness at the forecastle break relative to a flush deck structure. Media related to Forecastles at Wikimedia Commons
27.
Kings of Scots
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The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, the first King of Scots was Kenneth MacAlpin, the distinction between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of the Picts is rather the product of later medieval myth and confusion from a change in nomenclature i. e. The Kingdom of the Picts just became known as Kingdom of Alba in Gaelic, which became known in Scots and English as Scotland. By the late 11th century at the very latest, Scottish kings were using the term rex Scottorum, or King of Scots, to refer to themselves in Latin. The title of King of Scots fell out of use in 1707, thus Queen Anne became the last monarch of the ancient kingdoms of Scotland and England and the first of Great Britain, although the kingdoms had shared a monarch since 1603. Her uncle Charles II was the last Scottish monarch actually to be crowned in Scotland, the reign of Kenneth MacAlpin begins what is often called the House of Alpin, an entirely modern concept. * Evidence for Eochaids reign is unclear, he may never have actually been King, if he was, he was co-King with Giric. † Eochiad was a son of Run, King of Strathclyde and he was also the heir-general of Malcolm I, as his paternal grandfather, Duncan of Atholl was the third son of Malcolm I. The House of Dunkeld was therefore related to the House of Alpin. Duncan was killed in battle by Macbeth, who had a long, in a series of battles between 1057 and 1058, Duncans son Malcolm III defeated and killed Macbeth and Macbeths stepson and heir Lulach, and claimed the throne. Edgar triumphed, sending his uncle and brother to monasteries, after the reign of David I, the Scottish throne was passed according to rules of primogeniture, moving from father to son, or where not possible, brother to brother. The last King of the House of Dunkeld was Alexander III, Alexander had himself remarried, but in early 1286 he died in an accident while riding home. His wife, Yolande of Dreux, was pregnant, but by November 1286 all hope of her bearing a child had passed. Accordingly, in the Treaty of Salisbury, the Guardians of Scotland recognised Alexanders three-year-old granddaughter, Margaret of Norway, Margaret remained in her fathers Kingdom of Norway until Autumn 1290, when she was dispatched to Scotland. However, she died on the journey in Orkney, having never set foot on Scottish soil and she is thus sometimes not considered Queen by nationalists. The death of Margaret of Norway began an interregnum in Scotland caused by a succession crisis. With her death, the descent of William I became extinct, the Scottish Magnates invited Edward I of England to arbitrate the claims, he did so, but forced the Scots to swear allegiance to him as overlord. For ten years, Scotland had no King of its own, the Scots, however, refused to tolerate English rule, first William Wallace and then, after his execution, Robert the Bruce fought against the English
28.
Kingdom of the Isles
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The Kingdom of the Isles comprised the Hebrides, the islands of the Firth of Clyde and the Isle of Man from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD. The islands were known to the Norse as the Suðreyjar, or Southern Isles as distinct from the Norðreyjar or Northern Isles of Orkney, the historical record is incomplete, and the kingdom was not a continuous entity throughout the entire period. The islands concerned are sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Mann, at times the rulers were independent of external control, although for much of the period they had overlords in Norway, Ireland, England, Scotland or Orkney. At times there also appear to have competing claims for all or parts of the territory. The islands involved have a land area of over 8,300 square kilometres. Hostility between the Kings of the Isles and the rulers of Ireland, and intervention by the crown of Norway were recurring themes and this came to an end with the emergence of Somerled, on whose death in 1164 the kingdom was split in two. Just over a century later the islands part of the Kingdom of Scotland. The principal islands under consideration are as follows, The Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea equidistant from modern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the islands of the Firth of Clyde some 140 kilometres to the north, the largest of which are Bute and Arran. The southern Inner Hebrides to the west and north of the Kintyre peninsula, including Islay, Jura, Mull, the Inner Hebrides to the north of Ardnamurchan, made up of the Small Isles, Skye, Raasay and their outliers. The Outer Hebrides, aka the Long Island to the west, Anglesey in modern Wales may also have been part of the insular Viking world from an early stage. Orkney is some 180 kilometres east-northeast of the Outer Hebrides, Shetland is a further 80 kilometres further northeast, the total distance from the southern tip of the Isle of Man to the Butt of Lewis, the northern extremity of the Outer Hebrides, is approximately 515 kilometres. The presence of the monastery on Iona led to part of Scotland being relatively well documented from the mid-6th to the mid-9th centuries. However, from 849 on, when Columbas relics were removed in the face of Viking incursions, written evidence from sources all. The sources for information about the Hebrides and indeed much of northern Scotland from the 8th to the 11th century are thus almost exclusively Irish, English or Norse. The main Norse text is the Orkneyinga Saga, which should be treated with care as it was based on oral traditions, the archaeological record for this period is relatively scant, particularly in comparison to the numerous Neolithic and Iron Age finds in the area. Scholarly interpretations of the period have led to widely divergent reconstructions of Viking Age Scotland and Barrett has identified four competing theories, none of which he regards as proven. It is clear that the king, as used by. This is different from the way the word was used in the emerging Kingdom of Scotland at the time
29.
Torf-Einarr
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Einarr Rognvaldarson often referred to by his byname Torf-Einarr, was one of the Norse Earls of Orkney. The son of the Norse jarl, Rognvald Eysteinsson and a concubine, after battling for control of the Northern Isles of Scotland and a struggle with Norwegian royalty, Einarr founded a dynasty which retained control of the islands for centuries after his death. He is portrayed as a warrior and has various characteristics in common with the Norse God Odin. The reasons for his nickname of Turf are not certain, the sources for Einarrs life are exclusively the Norse sagas, none of which were written down during his lifetime. The Orkneyinga saga was first compiled in Iceland in the early 13th century, Einarr is also referred to in the Heimskringla, which is of a similar vintage to the Orkneyinga saga. Torf-Einarrs Saga itself is now lost and a passage is recorded in the Landnámabók. These verses, penned by Einarr himself about his feud with Hálfdan Long-Legs, were the source of most of the saga writer’s information about him, Einarr was the youngest son of Rognvald Eysteinsson, Earl of Møre, Norway, by a concubine. According to the sagas and the Historia Norvegiae Rognvalds family conquered the Orkney, Rognvalds brother, Sigurd Eysteinsson, was made Earl of Orkney and after his death on campaign he was succeeded by his son, Guthorm, who died shortly afterward. Rognvald then sent one of his own sons, Hallad, to govern the islands, the Orkneyinga saga states that Einarr was one of six brothers, the others being, Hallad, Hrollaug, Ivar, Hrólfr, and Thorir the Silent. The three eldest, Hallad, Einarr and Hrollaug, were sons of Rognvald, and were grown men when their brothers born in marriage were still children. Ivar was killed on an campaign with King Harald Finehair, which resulted in the Norðreyar being gifted to his family as compensation. Hrólfr was so big that no horse could carry him, hence his byname of Göngu-Hrólf, Thorir the Silent was Rognvalds third son by his marriage to Ragnhild. Ari Þorgilsson quotes a section from the lost Torf-Einarr’s Saga in the Landnámabók. It begins, Earl Turf-Einarr had a daughter in his youth, the Landnámabók goes on to make brief reference to Einars travels there. It also lists his two sons, Eyjolf and Ljot, and some details about them and their descendents, the sagas describe Einarr as tall, ugly and blind in one eye, but sharp-sighted nonetheless. Einarrs brother Hallad was unable to control in Orkney due to the predations of Danish pirates. He resigned his earldom and returned to Norway as a common landholder, hallads failure led to Rognvald flying into a rage and summoning his sons Thorir and Hrolluag. He asked which of them wanted the islands but Thorir said the decision was up to the earl himself, Rognvald predicted that Thorirs path would keep him in Norway and that Hrolluag was destined seek his fortune in Iceland
30.
Rollo
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Rollo was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, a region of France. He is sometimes called the 1st Duke of Normandy, Rollo emerged as the outstanding personality among the Norsemen who had secured a permanent foothold on Frankish soil in the valley of the lower Seine. Rollo is first recorded as the leader of these Viking settlers in a charter of 918 and he was succeeded by his son, William Longsword in the Duchy of Normandy that he had founded. The offspring of Rollo and his followers known as the Normans. The name Rollo is generally presumed to be a latinisation of the Old Norse name Hrólfr – a theory that is supported by the rendition of Hrólfr as Roluo in the Gesta Danorum. It is also suggested that Rollo may be a latinised version of another Norse name. The byname Walker is usually understood to suggest that Rollo was so physically imposing that he could not be carried by a horse and was obliged to travel on foot. Norman and other French sources do not use the name Hrólfr, the 10th century Norman historian Dudo records that Rollo took the baptismal name Robert. A variant spelling, Roul, is used in the 12th-century Norman French Roman de la Rou, Rollo was born in the latter half of the 9th century, his place of birth is unknown. The earliest well-attested historical event associated with Rollo is his leadership of Vikings who besieged Paris in 885–886, perhaps the earliest known source to mention Rollos early life is the French chronicler Richer of Reims, who claims that Rollo was the son of a Viking named Ketill. Medieval sources contradict each other regarding whether Rollos family was Norwegian or Danish in origin, in part, this disparity may result from the indifferent and interchangeable usage in Europe, at the time, of terms such as Vikings, Northmen, Danes, Norwegians and so on. A biography of Rollo, written by the cleric Dudo of Saint-Quentin in the late 10th Century, one of Rollos great-grandsons and a contemporary of Dudo was known as Robert the Dane. According to Dudo, a king of Denmark was antagonistic to Rollos family, including his father – an unnamed Danish nobleman –. Following the death of Rollo and Gurims father, Gurim was killed, Dudo appears to have been the main source for William of Jumièges and Orderic Vitalis, although both include additional details. Likewise, the 12th-century English historian William of Malmesbury stated that Rollo was born of noble lineage among the Norwegians, a chronicler named Benoît wrote in the mid-12th Century Chronique des ducs de Normandie that Rollo had been born in a town named Fasge. This has since been interpreted as referring to Faxe, in Sjælland, Fauske, in Hålogaland. Benoît also repeated the claim that Rollo had been persecuted by a ruler and had fled from there to Scanza island. While Faxe was physically much closer to Scania, the scenery of Fasge, described by Benoît
31.
Normandy
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Normandy is one of the regions of France, roughly corresponding to the historical Duchy of Normandy. Administratively, Normandy is divided into five departments, Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne and it covers 30,627 km², forming roughly 5% of the territory of France. Its population of 3.37 million accounts for around 5% of the population of France, Normans is the name given to the inhabitants of Normandy, and the region is the homeland of the Norman language. The historical region of Normandy comprised the region of Normandy, as well as small areas now part of the départements, or departments of Mayenne. For a century and a following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman. Archaeological finds, such as paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Celts invaded Normandy in successive waves from the 4th to the 3rd century BC, when Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there were nine different Celtic tribes living in Normandy. The Romanisation of Normandy was achieved by the methods, Roman roads. Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy, in the late 3rd century, barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Coastal settlements were raided by Saxon pirates, Christianity also began to enter the area during this period. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the east, while the Saxons subjugated the Norman coast, the Roman Emperor withdrew from most of Normandy. As early as 487, the area between the River Somme and the River Loire came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis, the Vikings started to raid the Seine Valley during the middle of the 9th century. As early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, after attacking and destroying monasteries, including one at Jumièges, they took advantage of the power vacuum created by the disintegration of Charlemagnes empire to take northern France. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Norwegian Viking leader Hrólfr Ragnvaldsson, Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory which he, the name Normandy reflects Rollos Viking origins. The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and they became the Normans – a Norman-speaking mixture of Saxons and indigenous Franks and Celts. Besides the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent conquests of Wales and Ireland, Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville, Rainulf Drengot and Guimond de Moulins played important parts in the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Crusades. They also carved out a place for themselves and their descendants in the Crusader states of Asia Minor, the 14th century Norman explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a kingdom in the Canary Islands
32.
W. G. Collingwood
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William Gershom Collingwood was an English author, artist, antiquary and professor of Fine Arts at University College, Reading. His father, also William, was a watercolour artist, and had married Marie Eliabeth Imhoff of Arbon, soon young William was sketching with his father in the Lakes, North Wales, and Switzerland. In 1872, he went to University College, Oxford, where he met John Ruskin, during the summer of 1873 Collingwood visited Ruskin at Brantwood, Coniston. Two years later Collingwood was working at Brantwood with Ruskin and his associates, Ruskin admired his draughtsmanship, and so Collingwood studied at the Slade School of Art between 1876 and 1878. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880, for many years Collingwood dedicated himself to helping Ruskin, staying at Brantwood as Ruskins assistant and travelling with him to Switzerland. In 1883 he married Edith Mary Isaac and settled near to Ruskin in the Lake District, Collingwood edited a number of Ruskins texts and published a biography of Ruskin in 1893. In 1896, Arthur Ransome met the Collingwoods and their children, Dora, Barbara, Ursula, Ransome learned to sail in Collingwoods boat, Swallow, and became a firm friend of the family, even proposing marriage to both Dora and Barbara. After a summer of teaching Collingwoods grandchildren to sail in Swallow II in 1928, Ransome wrote the first book in his Swallows and he used the names of some of Collingwoods grandchildren for his characters, the Swallows. By the 1890s Collingwood had become a painter and also joined the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian. He wrote a number of papers for its Transactions, becoming editor in 1900. Collingwood was particularly interested in Norse lore and the Norsemen, and he wrote a novel, in 1897, Collingwood travelled to Iceland where he spent three months over the summer exploring with Jón Stefánsson the sites around the country in which the medieval Icelandic sagas are set. Collingwood was a member of the Viking Club and served as its president, in 1902 he co-authored again with Jón Stefánsson the first translation it published, a translation of Kormáks saga entitled, The Life and Death of Kormac the Skald. His study of Norse and Anglican archaeology made him recognized as a leading authority. Collingwood joined the Admiralty intelligence division at the outbreak of the First World War, in 1919, he returned to Coniston and continued his writing with a history of the Lake District and perhaps his most important work, Northumbrian Crosses of the pre-Norman Age. He was a climber and swimmer, and a tireless walker into advanced age. In 1927 he experienced the first of a series of strokes and his wife died in 1928, followed by Collingwood himself in 1932. Following the Armistice of 1918, and the treaty of 1919. His knowledge of and enthusiasm for Scandinavian crosses is displayed at Grasmere where the memorial on Broadgate Meadows is a pastiche of an Anglian cross, the short verse at its base was penned by his close friend Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley who was chair of the memorial committee
33.
Odin
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In Germanic mythology, Odin is a widely revered god. In the modern period, Odin continued to be acknowledged in the folklore of Germanic Europe. Forms of his name appear frequently throughout the Germanic record, though narratives regarding Odin are mainly found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland and these texts make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology. In Old Norse texts, Odin is depicted as one-eyed and long-bearded, frequently wielding a spear named Gungnir, and wearing a cloak, Odin is attested as having many sons, most famously the god Baldr with Frigg, and is known by hundreds of names. Odin has an association with Yule, and mankinds knowledge of both the runes and poetry is also attributed to him. In Old Norse texts, Odin is given primacy over female beings associated with the battlefield—the valkyries—and oversees Valhalla, where he receives half of those who die in battle, the other half are chosen by the goddess Freyja for her afterlife location, Fólkvangr. In later folklore, Odin appears as a leader of the Wild Hunt and he has also been associated with charms and other forms of magic, particularly in Old English and Old Norse texts. Odin has been a frequent subject of study in Germanic studies, in the modern period, Odin has inspired numerous works of poetry, music, and other forms of media. He is venerated in most forms of the new religious movement Heathenry, together with other gods venerated by the ancient Germanic peoples, some branches focus particularly on him. The Old Norse theonym Óðinn and its cognates, including Old English Wōden, Old Saxon Wōden, the masculine noun *wōđanaz developed from the Proto-Germanic adjective *wōđaz, related to Latin vātēs and Old Irish fáith, both meaning seer, prophet. Adjectives stemming from *wōđaz include Gothic woþs possessed, Old Norse óðr, mad, frantic, furious, additionally the Old Norse noun æði rage, fury and Old High German wuotī madness derive from the feminine noun *wōđīn, from *wōđaz. Over 170 names are recorded for the god Odin and these names are variously descriptive of attributes of the god, refer to myths involving him, or refer to religious practices associated with the god. This multitude of names makes Odin the god with the most names known among the Germanic peoples, the weekday name Wednesday derives from Old English wōdnesdæg. Cognate terms are found in other Germanic languages, such as Middle Low German wōdensdach, all of these terms derive from Proto-Germanic *Wodensdag, itself a Germanic interpretation of Latin Dies Mercurii. However, in Old High German, the derived from Odins was replaced by a translation of Church Latin media hebdomas. The earliest records of the Germanic peoples were recorded by the Romans and they regard it as a religious duty to offer to him, on fixed days, human as well as other sacrificial victims. Hercules and Mars they appease by animal offerings of the permitted kind, in this instance, Tacitus refers to the god Odin as Mercury, Thor as Hercules, and Týr as Mars, and the identity of the Isis of the Suebi has been debated. But their rankings in their respective religious spheres may have very different
34.
Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney
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Saint Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, sometimes known as Magnus the Martyr, was Earl of Orkney from 1106 to about 1115. Magnuss grandparents, Earl Thorfinn and his wife Ingibiorg Finnsdottir, had two sons, Erlend and Paul, who were twins, through Ingibiorgs father Finn Arnesson and his wife, the family was related to the Norwegian Kings Olav II and Harald II. His story is told in three Icelandic sagas, Orkneyinga saga, Magnús saga skemmri, and Magnús saga lengri, there are also two surviving Latin accounts of his life. An early medieval Latin life no longer survives, but was incorporated into Magnús saga lengri, born in 1080, Magnus was the second son of Erlend Thorfinnsson, Earl of Orkney. Erlend and his brother Paul ruled jointly, in 1098, King Magnus Barelegs of Norway took possession of the islands and deposed Erlend and Paul, installing his illegitimate son Sigurd as ruler. From Orkney, King Magnus set out for an expedition along the west coast of Scotland, taking Magnus Erlendsson. Magnus first served Magnus of Norway as skutilsvein, Haakon, then became regent on behalf of the Norwegian prince, Sigurd, who made Haakon earl in 1105. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, Magnus had a reputation for piety and gentleness and he refused to fight in a Viking raid in Anglesey, Wales, because of his religious convictions, and instead stayed on board the ship during the Battle of Anglesey Sound, singing psalms. He was obliged to refuge in Scotland, but returned to Orkney in 1105. Having failed to reach an agreement, he sought help from King Eystein I of Norway and their followers fell out, and the two sides met at the Thing on the Orkney mainland, ready to do battle. Peace was negotiated and the Earls arranged to meet each other on the island of Egilsay at Easter, Magnus arrived with his two ships, but then Haakon treacherously turned up with eight ships. Haakons standard bearer, Ofeigr, refused to execute Magnus, and it was said that Magnus first prayed for the souls of his executioners. According to the sagas, the took place after Easter. The year is given as 1115, but this is impossible as 16 April fell before Easter that year. Sigurd Towrie follows Orkney Historian Gregor Lamb in placing the death of Magnus in 1118, Magnus was first buried on the spot where he died. According to his legend, the area around his grave miraculously became a green field. Later Thora, Magnus mother, asked Haakon to allow her to him in a Church. Haakon gave his permission and Magnus was then buried at Christchurch at Birsay, there were numerous reports of miraculous happenings and healings
35.
Sigurd the Stout
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Sigurd Hlodvirsson, popularly known as Sigurd the Stout from the Old Norse Sigurðr digri, was an Earl of Orkney. The main sources for his life are the Norse Sagas, which were first written some two centuries or more after his death. These engaging stories must therefore be treated with caution rather than as historical documents. Sigurd was the son of Hlodvir Thorfinnson and a descendent of Torf-Einarr Rognvaldson. Sigurds tenure as earl was apparently free of the kin-strife that beset some other incumbents of this title and he was able to pursue his military ambitions over a wide area. He also held lands in the north of mainland Scotland and in the Sudrøyar, the Annals of Ulster record his death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, the earliest known reference to the earldom of Orkney. The saga tales draw attention to Sigurds conversion to Christianity and his use of a raven banner. This ambiguous theme and the lack of detailed records of his life have led to a variety of interpretations of the saga material by modern scholars. The sources for Sigurds life are almost exclusively Norse sagas, none of which were written down at the time of the events they record, the Orkneyinga Saga was first compiled in Iceland in the early 13th century and much of the information it contains is hard to corroborate. Sigurd also appears briefly in St Olafs Saga as incorporated into the Heimskringla, the Orkneyinga Saga reports that Sigurd was the son of Hlodvir, one of the five sons of Thorfinn Skull-Splitter, and Eithne. She is said to be a daughter of a King Kjarvalr, the period after Earl Thorfinns death was one of dynastic strife, three of Earl Hlodvirs brothers ruled before him, although he died in his bed before being succeeded by Sigurd, probably in the 980s. Sigurds patronymic is an one and there would appear to be a connection with this name. Sigurd was in the position that on his accession to the earldom there seem to have been no other serious contenders. Sigurds great-grandfather, Torf-Einarr, lost the rights of the Orkney. These rights were restored by Sigurd, the Burray hoard of silver ring-money has been dated to the period 997-1010, during Earl Sigurds reign. Sigurds domain included not just Orkney itself but also Shetland, which formed part of the earldom, for the latter his overlords were the Kings of Scotland rather than of Norway. The extent of these mainland dominions is uncertain, according to the rather dubious source, Njals Saga, they included Ross, Moray, Sutherland and the Dales. At the time Moray would have included districts on the west coast including Lochaber, smyth notes the density of dalr placenames on Scotlands west coast and it has even been suggested that the Dales is a reference to Dalriada, although it is more likely that it means Caithness
36.
Battle of Clontarf
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The Battle of Clontarf was a battle that took place on 23 April 1014 at Clontarf, near Dublin, on the east coast of Ireland. It lasted from sunrise to sunset, and ended in a rout of the Viking and it is estimated that between 7,000 and 10,000 men were killed. Although Brians forces were victorious, Brian himself was killed, as were his son Murchad, Leinster king Máel Mórda and Viking leaders Sigurd and Brodir were also slain. After the battle, the Vikings of Dublin were reduced to a secondary power, Brians family was temporarily eclipsed, and there was no undisputed high king of Ireland until the late 12th century. The battle was an important event in Irish history and is recorded in both Irish and Norse chronicles, in Ireland, the battle came to be seen as an event that freed the Irish from foreign domination, and Brian was hailed as a national hero. This view was popular during English and British rule in Ireland. Although the battle is viewed in a more critical light. The Vikings began carrying out raids on Gaelic Ireland in the eighth century. Vikings first established themselves in Dublin in 838, when they built an area, or longphort. Over time, many Vikings were assimilated into Gaelic society and became the Norse-Gaels, amlaíbs son, Sigtrygg Silkbeard, who was king of Dublin from 990, allied himself with his uncle Máel Mórda mac Murchada, king of Leinster. They met Máel Sechnaill and Brian Boru at the Battle of Glenmama in 999, in the tenth century, the Dál gCais, until then a small kingdom in what is now County Clare, began to expand. By the time of his death in 951, Cennétig mac Lorcáin had become king of Thomond and his son, Mathgamain mac Cennétig, was king of Munster when he died in 976. Mathgamains brother, Brian Boru, quickly asserted his claim to the kingship of Munster, then invaded Leinster, in 998 he attacked the Uí Néill stronghold of Meath. Máel Sechnaill responded by attacking Munster in 999, and over the years the two kings struggled for supremacy in Ireland. Brian received the hostages of Leinster and Dublin from Máel Seachnaill, after they had jointly defeated the Vikings at Glenmama, Brian resumed his attacks on Máel Seachnaill. In 1002 he marched with the army to Athlone, and took the hostages of Connacht. He was now the high king of Ireland. It was not long, however, before fighting was renewed, Flaithbertach Ua Néill, king of the Cenél nEógain, resented the rise of Brian Boru
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