The Viking Age · A Reader · 2nd Edition by Somerville, Angus A. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One: The Scandinavian Homelands

1. The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan 2. A Description of the Islands of the North

Chapter Two: Scandinavian Society

3. The Lay of Rig (RígsÞula) 4. Politics in Harald Finehair’s Norway 5. Hoskuld Buys A Slave 6. How the Hersir Erling Treated his Slaves

Chapter Three: Early Religion and Belief

7. The Norse Creation-Myth 8. Ragnarok: The Doom of the Gods 9. A Prophetess in Greenland 10. Odin’s Wisdom and Arts 11. Odin Welcomes Eirik Bloodax to Valhalla 12. Odin Hangs on Yggdrasil 13. Odin and Human Sacrifice

(a) The Death of King Vikar (b) The Deaths of Domaldi and Olaf Tretelgja

14. Sigurd, the Earl of Lade, Sacrifices to the Gods 15. The Temple at Uppsala 16. A Temple in Iceland 17. King Harald Gormsson and the Land-Spirits 18. Norse Funeral Practices

(a) Snorri’s History of Burial Practices (b) Odin Orders Cremation and Becomes a God (c) The Death of Baldur the Good (d) Gunnar’s Burial Mound

19. The Living Dead

(a) Gunnar’s Posthumous Poem (b) Grettir’s Fight with Glam

Chapter Four: Women in the Viking Age

20. Unn the Deep-Minded Takes Control of her Life 21. Queen Gunnhild has her way with Hrut 22. The Prowess of Freydis, Daughter of Eirik the Red 23. A Warrior-Woman 24. Gudrun Drives her Sons to Take Revenge About Gudrun [a prose introduction] 25. Gudrun Osvifrsdaughter’s Incitement of her Sons 26. The Goading of Hildigunn 27. Betrothals from the Sagas

(a) The Betrothal of Olaf Hoskuldsson (b) How Unn Mordsdaughter Found Herself Betrothed

28. Divorces from the Sagas

(a) How Gudrun Divorced Thorvald (b) Vigdis Divorces Thord Goddi (c) How Aud Dealt with Her Humiliating Divorce

Chapter Five: Viking Warriors and their Weapons

29. The Accomplishments of A Viking Warrior

(a) Earl Rognvald Kali on Being a Gentleman (b) Gunnar Hamundarson, the Ideal Warrior (c) Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway

30. Berserkers and the Berserk Rage

(a) Odin’s Berserks (b) The Rage of Skallagrim and Egil (c) Egil Fights a Berserk (d) Grettir Fights a Berserk

31. Weapons

(a) King Magnus Barelegs Dresses to Kill (b) The Sword Skofnung (c) Sigmund, Sigurd, and the Sword Gram (d) Saint Olaf’s Sword, Hneitir (e) Viking Age Swords

Chapter Six: Fjord-Serpents: Viking Ships

32. King Olaf Tryggvason Builds the Long Serpent 33. Harald Sigurdarson’s Splendid Ship 34. King Sverrir’s Mariasud 35. The Great Ships of King Hakon IV 36. Animal Heads on the Prows of Ships 37. Sea-Battles in the Sagas

(a) Olaf Tryggvason at the Battle of Svold (b) Rognvald and Thorfinn the Mighty Fight It Out in the Orkneys (c) Earl Rognvald Kali in the Mediterranean (d) The Battle of Fimreite (Norafjord), 1184

Chapter Seven: “Sudden and Unforeseen Attacks of Northmen”

38. On the Causes of the Viking Expansion 39. Viking Raids on England, 789–850/1 40. Alcuin’s Letter to King Athelred, 793 41. An English Gospel Book Ransomed from the Vikings 42. Viking Raids on Ireland, 795–842 43. The Martyrdom of Blathmac, 825 44. The Life of Saint Findan 45. Irish Resistance to the Norsemen 46. Franks and Vikings, 800–829 47. The Northmen in France, 843–865 48. The Annals of St-Vast, 882–886 49. An Account of the Siege of Paris, 885–886 50. Vikings in the Iberian Peninsula

(a) Ibn al-Kutia. Year 230 (17 September 844–1 October 845) (b) Ibn Adhari. Year 229 (30 September 843–17 September 844)

Chapter Eight: “The Heathens Stayed”: From Raiding to Settlement

51. Viking Activities in England, 851–900 52. The Martyrdom of Saint Edmund 53. The Vikings in Ireland, 845–917 54. Ketil Flatnose and his Descendants in the Hebrides 55. Earl Sigurd and the Establishment of the Earldom of Orkney 56. Runic Inscriptions from Maes Howe, Mainland, Orkney 57. Runic Inscriptions from the Isle of Man 58. Rollo Obtains Normandy from the King of the Franks

Chapter Nine: Austrveg: The Viking Road to the East

59. The Piraeus Lion 60. The Rūs 61. The Rūs Attack Constantinople 62. On the Arrival of the Varangians 63. A Muslim Diplomat Meets Rūs Merchants on the Volga River 64. River Routes to Constantinople 65. A Norwegian Soldier of Fortune in the East 66. Rūs Expeditions to the Middle East 67. The Yngvar Runestones

Chapter Ten: Into the Western Ocean: The Faeroes, Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland

68. The Islands in the Northern Ocean, ca 825 69. Sailing Directions and Distances in the North Atlantic 70. The Western Ocean 71. Adam of Bremen on Iceland 72. Icelandic Accounts of the Discovery and Settlement of Iceland

(a) The Book of the Icelanders (b) The Book of Settlements (c) The Saga of the People of Eyri

73. Skallagrim’s Landtake in Iceland 74. The Settlement of Greenland

(a) The Book of the Icelanders (b) The Book of Settlements

75. The King’s Mirror on Greenland 76. Adam of Bremen on Vinland 77. The Norse Discovery of Vinland 78. Thorfinn Karlsefni in Vinland

Chapter Eleven: Viking Life and Death

79. Advice for Sailors and Merchants 80. Svein Asleifarson’s Viking Life 81. Egil in Youth and Old Age 82. Children

(a) Young Grettir Helps around the Farm (b) Children Mimic Adults (c) The Child Is Mother of the Woman (d) Choosing Sides in a Game

83. Games and Entertainment

(a) A Horse-fight from Njal’s Saga (b) A Horse-fight from Grettir’s Saga (c) A Throwing Game from Bard’s Saga (d) Games at Sand from Hord’s Saga (e) Entertainment at a Wedding Feast at Reykjaholar from The Saga of Thorgils and Haflidi (f) Mock Lawsuits from The Saga of the People of Ljosavatn

84. The Jomsvikings Meet their End 85. The Death of Gunnar 86. The Burning of Njal 87. The Death of Thormod Kolbrunarskald

Chapter Twelve: From Odin to Christ

88. Early Missions to the North: The Life of Saint Anskar 89. The Conversion of the Danes Under Harald Bluetooth 90. Olaf Tryggvason and the Conversion of Norway 91. A Poet Abandons the Old Gods 92. The Christianization of Norway Under Saint Olaf 93. The Conversion of the Icelanders 94. The Conversion of Greenland 95. The Conversion of Orkney 96. Christianity in Sweden 97. Christianity and the Church in Norway 98. The Travels of King Sigurd, Jerusalem-Farer 99. The Journey of abbot Nikolas Bergsson from Iceland to Jerusalem

Chapter Thirteen: State-Building at Home and Abroad

100. Harald Finehair and the Unification of Norway 101. State-Making in Denmark: The Jelling Stone 102. State-Making in Denmark: Unification and Expansion 103. The Martyrdom of Alfeah (Saint Alphege) 104. Knut the Great and the North Sea Empire 105. The England Runestones 106. The Earldom of Orkney at its Zenith

Chapter Fourteen: The End of the Viking Age

107. The Battle of Clontarf, 1014 108. The Battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066 109. The Decline of the Earls of Orkney 110. The Battle of Largs, 1263

Epilogue

111. Advice from Odin

Sources Index of Topics Index of Authors and Sources Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures

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