A Brief History of the Vikings
Page 26
35 Heimskringla, pp.646–7.
36 DeVries, Norwegian Invasion, p.242ff., mounts a series of convincing arguments concerning Tostig’s double-dealings with the Normans. He may have even been hoping to play Harald the Ruthless against William the Bastard, and emerge as the ultimate victor. But such discussions belong to a study of English history, and we must concern ourselves specifically with the Vikings.
37 DeVries, Norwegian Invasion, p.255. The town has grown to such an extent that there are now streets and houses all over the original site of the battle.
38 DeVries, Norwegian Invasion, p.269–70. The exact site of the final showdown is unknown today, as the river has changed course, but Battle Flats, where many skeletons were unearthed during the Victorian age, would appear to be a rather obvious contender.
39 Heimskringla, p.653.
40 Ibid., p.655. There are elements here of the Balder legend (or that of Achilles), since Harald’s long coat of mail, incongruously named ‘Emma’, was said to be impervious.
41 Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, p.199.
Chapter 10 – Children of Thor
1 The last battle between the English and the Normans was fought in Albania, where Anglo-Saxon Varangians took great pleasure in attacking invaders from Norman Italy in the name of the Byzantine Emperor. They were, however, defeated.
2 Haywood, Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age, p.45.
3 Ultimately, the falling sea levels would cut off several of the greatest Viking ports – the waters around Hedeby were too shallow for deep-draft ships by 1071, and the famous entrepot was replaced by nearby Schleswig. Haywood, Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age, p.95.
4 Marcus, Conquest of the North Atlantic, p.155.
5 Haywood, Historical Atlas of the Vikings, p.97.
6 Jones, History of the Vikings, p.309.
7 Rink, Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, p.323.
8 Ibid., p.313.
9 Marcus, Conquest of the North Atlantic, p.162.
10 Ibid.
11 Wawn, Vikings and the Victorians, p.16.
12 Niitema et al. Old Friends Strong Ties, pp.14–18.
13 Ibid, p.72.
14 Wahlgren, The Kensington Stone, p.3.
INDEX
Abasgun 108
Abbasid Caliphate 106
Adam of Bremen 63, 122, 161
Advice to an Emperor 193
Aegir 18
Aelfgifu 184
Aelfheah, Archbishop of Canterbury 172
Aella, King of Yorkshire 74
Aesir 18, 21, 36, 38
Aethelred Unraed (‘Unready’) 121, 127, 128, 163–5, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173–5
Aethelstan (son of Aethelred Unraed) 174
Aethelwulf, King of Wessex 75
Afghanistan 105, 108
Africa, North 186, 192
Aifur 103
Åland 99
Alcis 34
Alcuin 50, 52
Alfheim, King of 58
Alfhild 58, 198
Alfred the Great 75–80, 129, 192
Alof 88
amber 25, 49
America, North, Viking landings in 13, 53–4, 143, 148–59, 222–8
Anatolia 192
Andersen, Magnus 53–4
Andover 129
Andvari 40–1
Angantyr 23
Angles/Angle-land 4, 6, 7, 12, 50
Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, The 7, 9, 48, 50, 125, 163, 164, 166, 169, 170, 173, 211–12
Anglo-Saxons 5–7, 129
language 50
Angul 24
Anna, Princess 114–15
Annales Bertiani 104
Annals of Ulster 69
L’Anse aux Meadows 151, 226–8
Anskar 61–2, 63
Arcadiopolis, battle of 113
archaeology 16, 226–7
linguistic 32, 101, 224
see also burial mounds; cemeteries; grave-goods; ship-burials
Arctic Sea 100
Argyllshire 216
Ari the Learned 143
Armagh 69, 72, 74
Arnarson, Finn 188, 203–4
Arnarson, Ingolf 141–2
Arnarson, Kalf 184, 204
Arnarson, Thorberg 203, 212
Arthur, King 6
Asa, Queen 57, 58
Asgard 39, 44
Asia Minor 191
Asleifarson, Svein 216
Assandon, Battle of 175–6
Astrid (daughter of Olof Skötkonung) 180
Astrid (mother of Crowbone) 124, 198
astronomy 17
Asvaldsson, Thorvald 145
Athelstan, King of England 78, 92, 93, 172
Athens 191
atrocities
English 12, 165, 167
Viking 12, 172
Aud the Deep-Minded 142–3
Aud (wife of Turgeis) 72
Audhumla 20
Aurelianus, Ambrosius 6
aurora borealis 27
Azerbaijan 108
Badon Hill 6
Baffin Island 150
Baghdad 11, 107, 114
Baku 108
Balder 41–3, 46
Baltic Sea 25, 59, 60, 98, 99
Basil II, Emperor (the Bulgar-Slayer) 114–15, 190, 191
Batavii 4
Bath 173
Beaduheard 50, 51
‘bear-shirts’ 26
beliefs, Viking 16–17, 36–7, 44–5
Benjahir 105
Beorhtic, King of Wessex 50
Beorhtric 169
Beothuk Indians 154
Beowulf 25, 41
Berda 108
Berezany 106
Bergen 218, 223
Bergljót 203
berserkir 26
Bifrost 33, 45
bird-arson 111, 192
Birka 61, 98–9, 106
Bjarnarson, Guthroth 116, 117
Bjarni Herjolfsson 148–50
Björkö 98
Bjorn (son of Fairhair) 91
Black Sea 4, 18, 102, 104, 106, 109, 196, 215
boar, worship of the 23
Bodvar the Wise 56
Boe 43
Boleslav 124, 160–1
Bosphorus 109, 196
Boudicca, Queen 1–2
Bragi 18–19
Brattahlid 152, 153
Brentford 175
Britain
Crowbone circumnavigates 124–5
and Iceland 221–2
kingdoms of 6–7
Roman rule 1–2, 4–5
Saxon settlement of 5–6
Vikings control eastern coast of 80
see also England; Ireland; Scotland; Wales
Brittany 7
Bructeri 3
Brusason, Rognavald 188–9
Brynhildr 27
Bulgars/Bulgaria 109, 112, 193
Buri 20
burial mounds 24
Byrhtnoth 126–7
Byzantine Empire 10–11, 13, 99, 103–5, 106, 108–13, 162, 190–6, 215
Caithness 68, 89, 143, 216
Cambridge 75
Canada 150–1, 217, 219
Canninefates 4
Canterbury 171–2
Canute the Great, King of England 167, 173–4, 175–9, 180, 181–4, 187, 194, 197, 207
Canute the Holy, King of Denmark (St Canute) 214
Cape Cod 152, 223
Carlingford Lough 73
Carpini, Friar 225
Caspian Sea 10, 106, 107, 108, 112
Celts 121, 142
cemeteries 71, 84, 101, 105
Cervianus, Aurelius 1, 2, 5
Charlemagne 52, 59–61
Charles the Bald 62
Charles the Simple 86
Chauci 3–4
Chicago World Fair 53
children, exposure of 144
China 11, 13, 225
Chippenham 77
chivalry 160
Christianity
echoes of in Viking sagas 44, 46–7
Viking conv
ersions to 14, 61–3, 64–5, 78, 80, 95–7, 110–12, 114–15, 118, 120, 123, 129–30, 131–6, 179, 180
Christmas 95, 97
Cimbri 3, 23
Cirencester 192
clergy, as targets of Vikings 49, 52
Cleveland 209
climate, changes in 5, 44, 117, 217–18, 229
Clonmacnoise 72
Clontarf, battle of 216
Clyde, River 74
coins 105–6, 170, 214, 223
Columbus, Christopher 158, 223, 224, 225
Columcille 69
compasses, solar 55
Conrad, Emperor 183
Constantine VII, Emperor 112
Constantine IX, Emperor 195
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Emperor 103
Constantinople 10, 83, 99, 104, 111–12, 114, 190, 191, 194, 195–6, 215
Viking attacks on 108–10, 112–13, 115
constellations 17
Copford 167
Cornwall 125, 163, 178
Crab Island 221
creation, myth of 19–20
Crimea 106, 115, 215
cross-dressing 56
Crusades 67
curachs 138
Cwichelm’s Barrow 167
Dan 24
danegeld 76, 122, 167, 181–2
Danelaw 78, 79, 80, 128, 165, 172
Daneskin 167–8
Danevirke 60–1, 63, 119, 120
Danube, River 110
Davis Strait 153, 159
days of the week 33–4
De Administrando Imperio 103
Delaware river 222
Denmark
attacked by Germany 119–20
burial sites 24
Christianity in 61–3, 64–5, 215
origin of name 24
place-names 19
power struggles in 64–5, 94, 215
raids on the Vik 94
Swedish control of 64
and trade routes 59
tribes 3–4
Viking raids on 197, 200–1
war with Franks 60–3
Derby 77
Derwent, River 211
Devon 163, 165
Diplomatarium Islandicum 143
dísir 36
divorce 56
DNA testing 14, 66, 228
Dnieper, River 101, 102, 103, 108
Don, River 18, 106
Dorset 76, 176
Dragon’s heads 54
dreams 36
Drevljane tribesmen 110–11
Dristra 113
drums, shamanic 35
Dublin 70–1, 73–4, 125, 142
Dunvegan Castle 217
dwarves 36, 40–1
Eadric Streona (‘the Acquisitor’) 168
East Anglia 6, 74, 79, 163, 165, 171, 176, 178
East Saxons 6, 125–6
Edda 16, 17, 45
Edgar the Atheling 215
Edgar, King of England 121
Edington, battle of 77
Edith (daughter of Aethelred Unraed) 171
Edmund I, King of England 93
Edmund, King of East Anglia 74–5
Edmund Ironside 174–6, 215
Edward the Confessor 177, 206
Edward the Elder, King of Wessex 78
Edwin, Earl 209
Eggertsson, Gunnar 227
Egil’s Saga 90
Eider, River 60
eiderdown 25
Einar Paunch-shaker 161, 162–3, 184, 202–3
Eindridi 203
Elfsborg 222
Elgar, Edward 8
Ellisif, Princess 190, 196, 203, 208
elves 36
Emma, Queen 128, 175, 177, 184
End-Times 44–6
England
Danes massacred in 12, 164–5
foundation of modern 79
invasion of 1066 207–12
navy 169
Norse place-names in 228
Viking raids on 121–2, 125–9, 163–78, 214–15
English Channel 4, 86, 121
Erik Bloodaxe 37, 90–4, 97, 116, 118, 163, 209
Erik, Earl of Trondheim 123, 161, 162–3, 176, 178, 179
Erik the Red 145–8, 150, 152, 154, 157, 219
Erik the Victorious 56, 119, 120, 122, 123, 124, 130
Erik’s Saga 152
Eriksson, Leif 223, 226–8
Eríkssonur, Leif xiv
Erp 143
Essex 6, 79, 125, 127, 175
Estonia xii, 12, 99, 124, 189
Eyjolf the Lame 56
Eystein the Bad 95
Eystein Orri 212
Eyvind Kelda 132
Eyvind the Plagerist 56
Faeroes 10, 54, 85, 140, 220
Fafnir 39, 41
family feuds 87–97, 160
family trees xiv, 123, 233–8
famine 166
Fárbauti 38
Fatimid Caliphate 192
Fenris 39, 44–5
Finland/Finns 12, 13, 14, 32, 37, 99, 99–100, 180–1
Finnmark 85
fires, sacred 35
Five Boroughs 76–7, 173
Fjorgynn 34, 35
Folkstone 125
Formosus, Pope 78
Franks/Francia 4, 6, 50, 59, 65, 104, 124, 129, 170, 173
alliance with Wessex 75
grant land to Vikings 86
war with Saxons and Danes 60–2
Frey 18, 23, 34, 45, 97, 144
Freya 18, 34, 39
Freydis (daughter of Erik the Red) 157–8
Freyfaxi 23
Frigg 18, 34, 42
Frisia 61
Funen 24
furs 25, 50, 100, 104, 108
futhark runic alphabet xiii
Fuzhou 11
fylgjur 36
Fyn 65
Gainsborough 173
Galti, Snaebjorn 146
Gandalf 82
gandir 36
Gannascus 4
Gardar the Swede 139
Garm 45
Gate Fulford 209
Gaul see Franks/Francia
Geira, Princess 124
Georgia 114
Germany 59, 112, 119–20, 218
Geysa, Thorkel 200–1
giants 35, 38, 45
Ginnungagap 19
Goda 125
Godard Point, Maine 214
Godfred 60, 61, 63
Godric 127
gods
German 34
Norse 18–33, 38–47
Godwine, Earl 175, 177, 206
Godwinson see Harold II
Gokstad ship 53–4, 58
Gorm the Old 64, 82
Goths 4, 23
Gotland 25, 64, 98–9, 106, 137
Graiae 21
grave-goods 24, 28, 53, 57, 67, 98–9, 105, 106, 108, 170
Great Army, Viking 75–6
Great Heathen Host 66–80, 164, 208
Greece 10, 21
Greek fire 109
Greenland
Christianity in 153, 218
colonisation of 147–8, 158–9, 217
discovery of 146–7
Inuits in 218–20
last Vikings in 218–21
under Norwegian rule 218
Greenlander Saga 149, 150, 151, 152, 156, 157
Greenwich 172
Gregory, Father 111
Grendel 25
Grimnismal 17
Grjotgarth 117
Gudrid xii, 152, 154–6
Gulathing Law 83
Gulf Stream 140, 147
Gunnbjörn’s Skerries 145, 146
Gunnhild Kingsmother 37, 56, 90–1, 93, 94, 97, 116, 117, 118, 123, 124
Gunnhild (sister of Forkbeard) 165
Gunnhilde (daughter of Canute) 183
Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue 128
Gunroth the Generous 58
Guthorm 81–2, 129
Guthroth the Radiant 87, 88, 92
Guthrum 75–8, 164, 192
Gytha (daughter
of Forkbeard) 123
Gytha (daughter of Harold Godwinson) 215
Gytha (of Hordaland) 82, 85
Hadstock 167
Haetheyn 41
Hagia Sophia Cathedral 111, 191
hairstyles, Viking 50, 113
Haka Dale 82
Hakon IV, King of Norway 217
Hakon VII, King of Norway 216
Hakon, Earl 131, 184
Hakon the Good, King of Norway 92–7, 116, 133, 172
Hakon the Great, Earl 117–19, 120, 124, 129
Halfdan (Danish ‘king’) 63
Halfdan the Black 57, 58–9, 81
Halfdan the Black (grandson of above) 92
Halfdan Longshanks 87, 88–90
Halfdan the Stingy 58
Halfdan the Wide-Grasper 74
Hallgerd Long-legs 56
Halli the Sarcastic 56
Halogaland 180
Hamburg 62
hamingjur 36
Hanseatic League 218
Harald II, King of Denmark 174
Harald Bluetooth xiii, 64–5, 91, 94, 117, 118–20, 122, 123, 127
Harald Fairhair 59, 81–92, 116, 117, 131, 135, 141, 163, 170, 178–9
Harald Goldenbeard 59
Harald Grenske 118, 130, 131, 166
Harald Greycloak (Harald II, King of Norway) 116–18, 123, 163
Harald Red-Beard 58
Harald the Ruthless (Hardraada) 2, 186–213, 214, 217
Harald Wartooth 29, 30
Hardanger Fjord 50
Hardegon 64
Harold II, King of England (Godwinson) 177, 206, 207, 209–13, 215
Harthacanute, King of England 184, 194, 205–6
Hastings, battle of 213
Hebrides 49, 51, 68, 86, 124, 130, 139, 216, 217
Hedeby 60, 61, 62–3, 64, 98, 106, 119–20, 201
Hedin the Sorcerer 135
Heimdall 18, 33, 45
Heimskringla xiv, 8, 16, 18, 57, 58, 81, 82, 83, 84, 87, 90–1, 93, 96, 118, 124, 129, 131, 132, 143, 160–2, 170, 178, 179, 187, 188, 198, 201, 207, 223
Heithmork 58
Hel 19, 39
Helgi, King 64
Helsingaland 95, 181
Henry III of Germany 183
Henry VIII, King of England 221
Heorot 25
Herebald 41
heregeld 122
Heruls 4, 104
hidden folk 35–6
hides 168
hillingar effect 138–9, 145
History of the Danes 24, 29
History of the English 177
Hoder 42–3
Holand, Hjalmar Rued 223–4
Hollander, Lee xiv
Holmgard see Novgorod
homosexuality 56
Hordaland 25, 82
Horik the Elder 62, 63
Horik the Younger 62
horses, sacred 23, 144
Hrafn the Dueller 146
Hreidmar 40, 41
Hring 30
Hrodmarrson, Leif 141–2
Hrolf the Walker 86, 128, 129, 213
Hromund the Lame 55
Hrothgar, King 25
Humber, River 74, 209
Huntingdon, Henry 177
Husavik 139
Hygelac 23
Ibn Battúta 11
Ibn Fadlan xii, 107
Ibn Rustah 107
Ice Age 2