Tag: viking
-
Strong Women and Battle in the Viking Age
unamoosedwerewolf asked: Hello! I have his question that I’ve been wondering about for a long time. So my friend once told me that there were more woman in battle than men. She said she got it of Internet (which isn’t such a reliable place either). However, I once read a book about runes and all the…
-
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!…
-
Women in the Viking Age, Part 1 (Overview)
Modern society has recently begun looking towards the Viking Age woman in order to find a historical place for strong, independent women. There is no fault in this, and there are many good reasons for this. Yet, women still did not have it easy, even in a society that made more effort to consider them.…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
Old Norse Greetings
Anonymous asked: Hi, could you please do a specific post on the use of greeting words? Prime examples are “hail” “hailsa” etc… lots of people getting into “vikings” use them without seeming to know the origins, meanings or proper usage… I will most gladly provide a detailed post on Viking Age greetings. Though, I think the…
-
Viking Age Society
Now that we are done with literature, we will begin discussing the aspects of Viking History that such literature has helped us to better understand. I have talked about this subject once before with @gothic-metalhead through the following ask. Some of that information will be provided here, but you may also refer to that post for more…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
