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Danes (tribe)
The Danes were a North Germanic tribe inhabiting southern Scandinavia, including the area now comprising Denmark proper, Yorkshire, and the Scanian provinces of modern-day southern Sweden, during the Nordic Iron Age and the Viking Age. They founded what became the Kingdom of Denmark. The name of their realm is believed to mean " Danish March", viz. "the march of the Danes", in Old Norse, referring to their southern border zone between the Eider and Schlei rivers, known as the Danevirke. Origins The origin of the Danes remains undetermined, but several ancient historical documents and texts refer to them and archaeology has revealed and continues to reveal insights into their culture, beliefs, organization and way of life. The Danes first appear in written history in the 6th century with references in Jordanes' ''Getica'' (551 AD), by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours. They spoke Old Norse (''dǫnsk tunga''), which the Danes shared with the people in Norway and Sweden and later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Germanic Peoples
North Germanic peoples, commonly called Scandinavians, Nordic peoples and in a medieval context Norsemen, were a Germanic peoples, Germanic linguistic group originating from the Scandinavian Peninsula. They are identified by their cultural similarities, common ancestry and common use of the Proto-Norse language from around 200 AD, a language that around 800 AD became the Old Norse language, which in turn later became the North Germanic languages of today. The North Germanic peoples are thought to have emerged as a distinct people in what is now southern Sweden in the early centuries AD. Several North Germanic tribes are mentioned by Classical antiquity, classical writers in antiquity, in particular the Swedes (Germanic tribe), Swedes, Danes (Germanic tribe), Danes, Geats, Gutes and Rugii. During the subsequent Viking Age, seafaring North Germanic adventurers, commonly referred to as Vikings, raided and settled territories throughout Europe and beyond, founding several important po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scandza
Scandza was described as a "great island" by Gothic-Byzantine historian Jordanes in his work ''Getica''. The island was located in the Arctic regions of the sea that surrounded the world. The location is usually identified with Scandinavia. Jordanes was a Roman citizen living in Constantinople but described himself as being of Gothic descent. His ''Getica'', written in 551 AD, gives a history of the Goths, beginning in Scandza from where they later migrated to Gothiscandza, near the mouth of the Vistula River. The Swedish archaeologist Göran Burenhult describes this account as a unique glimpse into the tribes of Scandinavia in the 6th century. Geographical description through history Early Greek and Roman geographers used the name ''Scandia'' for various uncharted islands in Northern Europe. The name originated in Greek sources, which used it for a long time for different islands in the Mediterranean region. In the Iliad the name denotes an ancient city in Kythira, Greece. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norse Pantheon
In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature, various chronicles, runic inscriptions, personal names, place names, and other sources. This article contains a comprehensive list of Germanic deities outside the numerous Germanic Matres and Matronae inscriptions from the 1st to 5th century CE. Gods Goddesses Pseudo-deities and purported deities * Astrild, a synonym for the Roman deity Amor or Cupid invented and used by Nordic Baroque and Rococo authors * Frau Berchta, a purported deity and female equivalent of Berchtold proposed by Jacob Grimm * , a purported deity potentially stemming from a folk etymologyMeyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Band 2. Leipzig 1905, S. 832. * Holda, a purported deity proposed by Jacob Grimm * Jecha, a purported deity potentially stemming from a fol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norse Religion
Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic peoples. It was replaced by Christianity and forgotten during the Christianisation of Scandinavia. Scholars reconstruct aspects of North Germanic Religion by historical linguistics, archaeology, toponymy, and records left by North Germanic peoples, such as runic inscriptions in the Younger Futhark, a distinctly North Germanic extension of the runic alphabet. Numerous Old Norse works dated to the 13th-century record Norse mythology, a component of North Germanic religion. Old Norse religion was polytheistic, entailing a belief in various gods and goddesses. These deities in Norse mythology were divided into two groups, the Æsir and the Vanir, who in some sources were said to have engaged in an ancient war until realizing that they were equally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rune Stones
A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones date from the late Viking Age. Most runestones are located in Scandinavia, but there are also scattered runestones in locations that were visited by Norsemen during the Viking Age. Runestones are often memorials to dead men. Runestones were usually brightly coloured when erected, though this is no longer evident as the colour has worn off. The vast majority of runestones are found in Sweden. History The tradition of raising stones that had runic inscriptions first appeared in the 4th and 5th century, in Norway and Sweden, and these early runestones were usually placed next to graves. The earliest Danish runestones appeared in the 8th and 9th centuries, and there are about 50 runestones from the Migration Period in Scandinavia. Most runeston ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Runes
Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised purposes thereafter. In addition to representing a sound value (a phoneme), runes can be used to represent the concepts after which they are named (ideographs). Scholars refer to instances of the latter as ('concept runes'). The Scandinavian variants are also known as ''futhark'' or ''fuþark'' (derived from their first six letters of the script: ''Feoh, F'', ''Ur (rune), U'', ''Thurisaz, Þ'', ''Ansuz (rune), A'', ''Raido, R'', and ''Kaunan, K''); the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon variant is ''Anglo-Saxon runes, futhorc'' or ' (due to sound-changes undergone in Old English by the names of those six letters). Runology is the academic study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Norse Language
Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Proto-Scandinavian and Proto-North Germanic) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic in the first centuries CE. It is the earliest stage of a characteristically North Germanic language, and the language attested in the oldest Scandinavian Elder Futhark inscriptions, spoken from around the 2nd to the 8th centuries CE (corresponding to the late Roman Iron Age and the Germanic Iron Age). It evolved into the dialects of Old Norse at the beginning of the Viking Age around 800 CE, which later themselves evolved into the modern North Germanic languages ( Faroese, Icelandic, the three Continental Scandinavian languages, and their dialects). Phonology Proto-Norse phonology probably did not differ substantially from that of Proto-Germanic. Although the phonetic realisation of several phonemes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan (king)
Dan (or Halfdan) is the name of one or more legendary earliest kings of the Danes and Denmark, mentioned in medieval Scandinavian texts. The ''Lejre Chronicle'' The ''Chronicle of Lejre'' (''Chronicon Lethrense'') written about 1170 introduces a primeval King Ypper of Uppsala whose three sons were Dan, who afterwards ruled Denmark, Nori, who afterwards ruled Norway, and Østen, who afterwards ruled the Swedes. Dan apparently first ruled in Zealand for the Chronicle states that it was when Dan had saved his people from an attack by the Emperor Augustus that the Jutes and the men of Fyn and Scania also accepted him as king, whence the resultant expanded country of Denmark was named after him. Dan's wife was named Dana and his son was named Ro. The ''Rígsthula'' The Eddic poem ''Rígsthula'', tells how the god Ríg (said to be Heimdall), fathered a mortal son named Jarl. Jarl had twelve sons with Erna Herse's daughter, the youngest of which bore the name Kon the Young (Old Norse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sven Aggesen
Svend Aggesen (or "Sven"; also known as ''Aggessøn'', ''Aggesøn'' or ''Aagesen'', in Latin ''Sveno Aggonis''; born around 1140 to 1150, death unknown) is the author of '' Brevis historia regum Dacie'', one of the first attempts to write a coherent history of Denmark covering the period 300AD-1185AD. Only the ''Chronicon Roskildense'' may precede Aggesen's efforts. Family Sven Aggesen was born into a magnate family which had several well-known members. The earliest known family member that we know of with some certainty is Sven's great-grandfather, Thrugot, who was married to Thorgunna, daughter of Vagn Aggesøn, a grandson of the legendary Palne Toke. Thrugot and Thorgunna had two sons, Sven and Vagn. Sven Thrugotsøn (or Thorgunnasøn) had four sons. One, probably the eldest, Asser, was the first Archbishop of Lund (1104–1137) and also the first Archbishop of Scandinavia. Another, probably the youngest, Sven, was a canon in Lund, later in Viborg and even later (1132), bisho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the ''Gesta Danorum'', the first full history of Denmark, from which the legend of Amleth would come to inspire the story of ''Hamlet'' by Shakespeare. Life The '' Jutland Chronicle'' gives evidence that Saxo was born in Zealand. It is unlikely he was born before 1150 and it is supposed that his death could have occurred around 1220. His name Saxo was a common name in medieval Denmark. The name ''Grammaticus'' ("the learned") was first given to him in the ''Jutland Chronicle'' and the ''Sjælland Chronicle'' makes reference to Saxo ''cognomine Longus'' ("with the byname 'the tall'"). He lived in a period of warfare and Danish expansion, led by Archbishop Absalon and the Valdemars. The Danes were also being threatened ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025. Scholars call the anonymous author the "''Beowulf'' poet". The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 6th century. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by the monster Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and becomes king of the Geats. Fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a headland in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Widsith
"Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the ''Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th century, which contains approximately one-sixth of all surviving Old English poetry. "Widsith" is located between the poems " Vainglory" and " The Fortunes of Men". Since the donation of the ''Exeter Book'' in 1076, it has been housed in Exeter Cathedral in southwestern England. The poem is for the most part a survey of the people, kings, and heroes of Europe in the Heroic Age of Northern Europe. Date of original composition There is some controversy as to when "Widsith" was first composed. Some historians, such as John Niles, argue that the work was invented after King Alfred's rule to present "a common glorious past", while others, such as Kemp Malone, have argued that the piece is an authentic transcription of old heroic songs. Among ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
