Tag: Sagas
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Primary Sources for Odin’s Wandering Beyond Norse Mythology
du-ich-jeder-deactivated2017071 asked: Greetings friend,it is told That odin wanders among us. Do you have some source(s) That descripes those interactions? I know all the ones from the poetic and snorri edda, yet i am not satisfied. I love your blog and respect your knowledge a lot:) It has indeed been told that Óðinn wanders far in…
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Viking Age Weaponry
I originally had included this together with “Viking Warfare,” but, upon writing up that lesson, I realized that they should be split. So, next week we will begin out prelude into the raids. For now, we will bridge our way from art to war with the art of their weapons. Although we will not be covering…
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Women in the Viking Age, Part 3 (War)
The modern world longs for a place in our history in which women were not bound by the struggles they have faced for so long. The Viking realm has been no exception to this desire. The women in the Viking Age have presented us with an interesting situation. There is a significant amount of strong,…
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Women in the Viking Age, Part 2 (Law)
In general, women still lacked an independent legal status, similar to the condition for “Thralls.” Legal affairs were generally conducted through a guardian, such as her husband, father, or nearest male kin. Yet, despite facing such restrictions, women in Iceland held more rights than in any other Scandinavian or continental law codes. Women managed their households in…
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Primary Sources for Women in the Viking Age
tatterhood asked: Hello, I have a ‘quick’ question regarding your most recent post about Women in the Viking Age. You list your sources at the bottom, but do you know what (primary) source they use? (You have a truly wonderful source-list page, but there wasn’t a ‘Law and Society’/’Women’ section, so I thought I’d ask) Thanks!…
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Blood, Feud, and Honor in the Viking Age
Last week we discussed the ideal system of law in Viking Age society. Yet, that is just the surface of the system that actually existed. Although not directly related, feud was the true process for obtaining justice. Law was merely a phase that most feuds would go through. This lesson aims to shed light on…
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Law in the Viking Age
This week is a brief, uncomplicated overview of Viking Age Law. Most of this material, however, has been gathered from sources that pertain to later medieval Iceland. Still, the roots of Icelandic law run back to Viking Age Norwegian law. Keeping that in mind however, our understanding can never be without some level of doubt.…
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Sagas: Icelanders and Style
Last week, we discussed the two saga genres of Fornaldarsögur (mythical-heroic sagas) and Konungasögur (king sagas). This week, we will be discussing the third genre of saga literature:Íslendingasögur (family sagas). This final genre actually makes up the bulk of saga literature we have. It is also the genre that is most studied for historical information, in regards to medieval…
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Sagas: Kings and Heroes
This week, we will be discussing two genres of saga literature, king and mythical-hero. I will start by discussing the genres and then I will provide summaries of a few sagas that are well known from these categories. I will avoid summaries and spoiling details, but I will discuss the most popular kings and heroes…
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Sagas: Skalds and Poetry
This week we will begin a discussion on skalds (poets) and their tradition. Poetry had a much higher value in the medieval world than it does today. Words had power, so much so that they could even physically deform you. Law texts specifically note punishments for slandering someone’s name. This is not only unique to Scandinavian region…
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Sagas: Snorri and Eddas
This week we will continue our discussion of Viking Age related literature by entering the realm of the Edda and Eddic poetry. We will start by discussing an important Icelander named Snorri Sturluson, discussing the literature that has preserved much of our mythological material. Contents: Snorri Sturluson (d. 1241) Snorri Sturluson was a prominent member of…
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Sagas: Sources
This week’s lesson begins a multi-part series on the literature pertaining to the Vikings. This is among the more important of topics to understand for those wishing to study the period. Much of the information that we know about Vikings have come from this literature (and other literature from other places). The most important thing to…
