Viking and Medieval Scandinavia

The fornaldarsögur that subscribe to the myth of the Viking Empire have a degree of historical accuracy in that they describe Danes invading England, killing Northumbrian kings, and assuming rule there, whereas other fornaldarsögur portray Scandinavians in England as helpful heroes assisting rather weak Anglo-Saxon kings. Unlike the relationship between Scandinavians and the English, which these sagas represent as consistently positive, the relationship between the Scandinavians and the Scots varies, and the relationship with the Irish is entirely negative. The depiction of these peoples diverges considerably from that found in Íslendingabók, Landnámabók, Sturlunga saga, the Íslendingasögur, and the Íslendingaþœttir. The fornaldarsögur focus on England is argued to be the accidental result of mixing literary traditions handed down from the Viking Age with late medieval values and the influence of romance, and the contemporary relationships of Ireland, Scotland, and England probably reinforced their treatment in these fornaldarsögur.

The essay explores the well-known metaphor of referring to fate as something that is woven or spun and it attempts to explain why this metaphor works so well. Initially, a definition of what fate is is produced and the ways in which it operated in Old Norse tradition are discussed. Following this, an explanation of the technicalities of weaving is given. Finally, it is suggested that the interaction between the warp and weft on the loom is akin to the relationship between the given fate and the free choice of the individual, with the warp representing necessity and the weft possibility.

How profitable was a saint’s shrine? To what extent did the veneration of the saints enrich the Church? This article considers these questions for the case of medieval Iceland. It examines accounts of pilgrimage, vows to saints, and the indulgences that could be obtained by visiting or supporting churches or by performing prayers in the presence of a devotional picture, from the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries. It points out that prayers and other religious exercises were more common than payment or donation of goods both in the corpus of vows to the saints and as ways of obtaining indulgences.

This contribution focuses upon the role of external forces (strangers) in state formation. In many societies, the process of state formation appears to have conflicted with traditional patterns of social organization, which constrained the leading promoters of the state. In this situation, the incorporation of a third party of agents constitutes a potential strategy for those promoters to bypass the established order of society and implement a new organizational structure. Based on this assumption, archaeological data relating to a particular process of state formation, namely Viking-Age south Scandinavia (c. 900–1050), are evaluated. Individuals and groups of people of foreign origin are identified in the context of runic monuments, settlements, burials, and treasure finds. The roles of these ‘strangers’ in internal social affairs and the presuppositions and consequences of their involvement are discussed. It is argued that they functioned as influential catalysts, not only in the implementation of structural principles of state organization, but also in its later collapse.

The Irish princess-virgin-martyr St Sunniva is one of the most enigmatic of Scandinavian saints. The site of her martyrdom, the island of Selja on the west coast of Norway, became an important monastic and episcopal centre during the eleventh century. Towards the end of the twelfth century her relics were translated to Bergen, the new centre of the bishopric, and a hagiographical text was written for liturgical use. This article presents a new reading of the Sunniva legend based on the wider hagiographical, political, and ecclesiastical contexts in which it developed. It argues that the legend, drawing from a continental hagiographical tradition of attributing Irish origins to obscure saints, sought to forge an identity for the bishopric of Bergen in its new royal and ecclesiastical environment.

Taking a multidisciplinary approach, including onomastics and historical analysis, this paper will present the hypothesis that Ketill Flatnefr was a real warlord from Sogn who, at the beginning of the Viking Age, conquered the Kingdom of Dál Riata. The direct result was the appearance of the Gall-Ghàidheil in Ireland and the report of their activities in the Irish Annals. A further result was that the culture of Dál Riata was reflected in Icelandic traditions surrounding Ketil’s family in Iceland. The name Dál Riata may even lie behind the Icelandic district of Dalir.

St Olaf of Norway (d. 1030) was the first local saint of Scandinavia and remained important throughout the Middle Ages. His popularity was partly the result of conscious efforts to promote his cult, especially from the Nidaros arch-see. One major ‘campaign’ seems to have been launched in the late twelfth century and includes not only the writing of a Latin legend and miracle collection, but also an office and a sequence for the liturgical celebrations. This article discusses how the sequence Lux illuxit relates to the other works which were produced in Trondheim around the same time in connection with the cult of St Olaf.

This paper examines a variety of ninth- and tenth-century Norse objects, creative processes, and practices that challenge modern categories of sacred or secular through their intertwined practical and supernatural elements. Binding is the technique and motif of focus in examples from woodworking, metalworking, and textile production. Each example is analysed from a perspective considering the aesthetic, functional, and skill considerations and the belief system.

This article analyses an episode from the late thirteenth-century Eyrbyggja saga using Mary Douglas’s theories concerning correlations between purity and pollution beliefs and forms of socio-political organization. The episode involves the foundation by Þórólfr Mostrarskegg, a migrant from Norway, of Iceland’s first þing, described as a cultic site as well as legal assembly. To safeguard the þing’s sanctity, Þórólfr designates a small island as a Dritsker, or ‘Waste-Skerry’, to which attendees must wade in order to defecate. The saga further describes the Þórsnessþing’s relocation and reorganization after the original site is contaminated when other early settlers refuse to use Dritsker and blood is spilled on the assembly grounds. While scholars have tended to dismiss this story as an example of the trivial matters that could instigate feud in early Iceland, excrement and blood are here treated as crucial elements of a myth of origins for Icelandic society, in which attempts to construct the body politic play out through efforts to police and to resist policing of bodily orifices and waste. This article also considers the context of the saga’s production and its relationship to other texts, so as to speculate about its producers’ and audience’s interests in the themes analysed.

As a theoretical support for the aims of theorizing the Viking Age as a diaspora, this paper reflects on the impact of diaspora on identity, especially gender. The concept of gender is considered from three positions and within the intellectual framework of gender archaeology. First, the development of a concept of gender as a fluid negotiated identity, made not given, is introduced. Thereafter the relationship between material culture and gender is considered, arguing that it is through material things and practices that gender gains substance and is experienced. Thirdly, the disruptive yet formative effects of diaspora are outlined from a gender perspective. Throughout the intellectual arguments are related to Viking-Age studies by reference to case studies within Viking-Age archaeology.

This paper discusses both the urban and the rural architecture of the Irish Viking Age. Looking firstly at the extremely well-preserved Hiberno-Norse urban settlements, especially the Type 1 houses, it finds that the true nature of this architecture is a hybrid of both Norse and Irish characteristics. It considers the nature of the proposed ‘Viking’ rural settlements in Ireland and concludes that some of these may be better considered as expressions of a Hiberno-Norse identity rather than evidence of a simplistic, and misleading, ‘Viking’ settlement pattern. Returning to the well-preserved urban archaeology, the author applies Access Analysis to a single building level from Fishamble St. in Dublin, concluding that these homes were carefully organized with controls over movement and access. Finally, the Access Analysis methodology is applied to the Hiberno-Norse rural settlements and finds that some of the buildings demonstrate similar patterns of movement to those observed at Fishamble St. This hints that there may have been closer relationships between these sites and perhaps may be the first signs of an observable ‘mental template’ regulating the Hiberno-Norse architecture of Ireland.

Recent metal-detecting in areas of northern and eastern England has brought to light hundreds of Viking-Age brooches decorated in Scandinavian styles. While some objects are likely to be products of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian interaction, others are diagnostically Scandinavian and may have been imported from the Scandinavian homelands. The following considers the distribution of these items within England, together with their chronology and status. It suggests that such pieces were worn to express Scandinavian cultural affiliation within the Danelaw. Given the status of these brooches as female dress accessories, it proposes that women in particular had a key role in promoting a Scandinavian colonial identity. In this context, this paper contributes to increasing scholarly interest in the value of material form, decoration, and consumption for negotiating identity in the Danelaw.