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Olaf Geirstad-Alf
Olaf Gudrødsson (c. 810 – c. 860), known after his death as Olaf Geirstad-Alf "Olaf, Elf of Geirstad" (Old Norse Ólafr Geirstaðaalfr), was a semi-legendary petty king in Norway. A member of the House of Yngling, he was the son of Gudrød the Hunter and according to the late ''Heimskringla'', a half-brother of Halfdan the Black. Gudrød and Olaf ruled a large part of Raumarike. The ''Þáttr Ólafs Geirstaða Alfs'' in Flateyjarbók records a fantastical story of how he was worshipped after his death and on his own instructions, his body was then decapitated so that he could be reborn as Olaf II of Norway (St. Olaf). Two not necessarily conflicting hypotheses identify Geirstad with Gjerstad, formerly ''Geirekstad'' in Agder, and with Gokstad (possibly also a contraction of ''Geirekstad'') in Vestfold, the location of the mound Gokstadhaugen, where the Gokstad Ship was excavated. The theory that Olaf thus had a connection with the ship burial is unproven. ''Ynglinga saga'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their Viking expansion, overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the Christianization of Scandinavia and the consolidation of Scandinavian kingdoms from about the 7th to the 15th centuries. The Proto-Norse language developed into Old Norse by the 8th century, and Old Norse began to develop into the modern North Germanic languages in the mid-to-late 14th century, ending the language phase known as Old Norse. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century. Old Norse was divided into three dialects: Old West Norse, ''Old West Norse'' or ''Old West Nordic'' (often referred to as ''Old Norse''), Old East Norse, ''Old East Norse'' or ''Old East Nordic'', and ''Ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ynglinga Saga
''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his ''Heimskringla''. It was first translated into English and published in 1844 by Samuel Laing. Snorri Sturluson based his work on an earlier ''Ynglingatal'' which is attributed to the Norwegian 9th-century skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, and which also appears in ''Historia Norwegiae''. It tells the most ancient part of the story of the House of Ynglings (''Scylfings'' in ''Beowulf''). Snorri described the descent of the kings of Norway from this royal house of Sweden. ''Ynglinga saga'' is the first part of Snorri's history of the ancient Norse kings, the ''Heimskringla.'' Snorri's work covers the history of the Norwegian kings from the mythical prehistoric age until 1177, with the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla. Interwoven in this narrative are references to important historical events. The saga deals wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ''Prose Edda'', which is a major source for what is today known as Norse mythology, and ''Heimskringla'', a history of the Norwegian kings that begins with legendary material in ''Ynglinga saga'' and moves through to early medieval Scandinavian history. For stylistic and methodological reasons, Snorri is often taken to be the author of ''Egil's saga''. He was assassinated in 1241 by men claiming to be agents of the King of Norway. Biography Early life Snorri Sturluson was born in (commonly transliterated as Hvamm or Hvammr) as a member of the wealthy and powerful Sturlungar clan of the Icelandic Commonwealth, in AD 1179. His parents were ''Sturla Þórðarson the Elder'' of ''Hvammur'' and his second wife, ''Guðný Böðvarsdóttir''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick York Powell
Frederick York Powell (4 January 1850 – 8 May 1904) was an English historian and scholar. Biography He was born on 4 January 1850 at 43 Woburn Place, Bloomsbury, London, the son of Frederick Powell, a commissariat merchant, and his wife Mary Powell, daughter of Dr James Powell. He was educated at the Manor House School at Hastings, and Rugby School. He matriculated at the University of Oxford in 1868 as an unattached student, the following year joining Christ Church, where he took a first-class degree in law and modern history in 1872. Whilst at Oxford, he was a member of the exclusive Stubbs Society. Powell was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1874. He became law-lecturer and tutor of Christ Church, fellow of Oriel College, delegate of the Clarendon Press, and in 1894 he was made Regius Professor of Modern History in succession to James Anthony Froude. In June 1901 he received an honorary doctorate ( LLD) from the University of Glasgow during celebrations for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guðbrandur Vigfússon
Guðbrandur Vigfússon, known in English as Gudbrand Vigfusson, (13 March 1827 – 31 January 1889Jón þorkelsson, "Nekrolog över Guðbrandur Vigfússon" in ''Arkiv för nordisk filologi'', Sjätte bandet (ny följd: andra bandet), Lund, 1889, pp 156-163.) was one of the foremost Scandinavian scholars of the 19th century. Life He was born of an Icelandic family in Breiðafjörður. He was brought up, until he went to a tutor's, by his kinswoman Kristín Vigfússdóttir, to whom, he records, he owed not only that he became a man of letters but almost everything. He was sent to the old school at Bessastaðir and (when it moved there) at Reykjavík. In 1849, already a fair scholar, he came to Copenhagen University in the Regense College, where as an Icelander he received four-years free boarding under the Garðsvist system. After his student course, he was appointed ''stipendiarius'' by the Arna-Magnaean trustees, and worked for fourteen years in the Arna-Magnaean Library ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hilda Ellis Davidson
Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson (born Hilda Roderick Ellis; 1 October 1914 – 12 January 2006) was an English folklorist. She was a scholar at the University of Cambridge and The Folklore Society, and specialized in the study of Celtic and Germanic religion and folklore. A graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge, Davidson was a Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, throughout much of her career. She specialized in the interdisciplinary study of Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse religion and folklore, on which she was the author of numerous influential works. Davidson was a prominent member of The Folklore Society, and played an active role in the growth of folklore studies as a scientific discipline. Throughout her career, Davidson tutored a significant number of aspiring scholars in her fields of study, and was particularly interested in encouraging gifted women to pursue scholarly careers. Early life Hilda Ellis Davidson was born in Bebington, Cheshire, England, on 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Åsta Gudbrandsdatter
Åsta Gudbrandsdatter (c. 975/980 – c. 1020/1030) was the mother of two Norwegian kings, King Olaf II of Norway and King Harald III of Norway. The primary source for the life of Åsta is Snorri Sturluson's saga Heimskringla, a 13th-century collection of tales about the lives of the Norwegian kings. In the chronicle, Åsta is described as "generous and high-minded" and as a keen political player and guiding influence on her royal husbands and children. Her parents were Gudbrand Kula and Ulfhild. Wife of Harald Grenske Åsta Gudbrandsdatter first appears in Snorri's 'Saga of King Olaf Tryggvason' as the wife of Harald Grenske (Grenski), ruler of Vestfold. In the summer of 994, although already married to Åsta, Harald traveled to the Baltic and proposed marriage to his foster-sister Sigrid. He had learned that her landholdings in Sweden were no less extensive than his own in Norway, and promised to abandon Åsta, who although "good and clever" was not as well-born as he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tumulus
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus. Tumuli are often categorised according to their external apparent shape. In this respect, a long barrow is a long tumulus, usually constructed on top of several burials, such as passage graves. A round barrow is a round tumulus, also commonly constructed on top of burials. The internal structure and architecture of both long and round barrows has a broad range; the categorization only refers to the external apparent shape. The method of may involve a dolmen, a cist, a mortuary enclosure, a mortuary house, or a chamber tomb. Examples of barrows include Duggleby Howe and Maeshowe. Etymology The word ''tumulus'' is Latin for 'mound' or 'small hill', which is derived from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Draugr
The draugr or draug ( non, draugr, plural ; modern is, draugur, fo, dreygur and Danish language, Danish, Swedish language, Swedish, and no, draug) is an undead creature from the Scandinavian saga literature and folktale. Commentators extend the term ''draugr'' to the undead in medieval literature, even if it is never explicitly referred to as such in the text, and designated them rather as a ("barrow-dweller") or an , literally "again-walker" ( is, afturganga). Overview Draugar live in their graves or royal palaces, often guarding treasure buried with them in their burial mound. They are revenants, or animated corpses with a corporeal body, rather than ghosts which possess intangible spiritual bodies. Terminology Old Norse ' is defined as "a ghost, spirit, esp. the dead inhabitant of a cairn".Cleasby; Vigfusson edd. (1974) ''An Icelandic-English dictionary''. s. vdraugr/ref> Often the ''draugr'' is regarded not so much as a ghost but a revenant, i.e., the reanimated of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Óláfs Saga Helga
''Óláfs saga helga'' or the ''Saga of St. Olaf'', written in several versions, is one of kings' sagas (''konunga sǫgur'') on the subject of King Olaf Haraldsson the Saint. List of saga versions *'' Oldest Saga of St. Olaf'', ca. 1190, mostly lost. *''Legendary Saga of St. Olaf'', ca. 1210. *''Óláfs saga helga'' by Styrmir Kárason, ca. 1220, mostly lost. *''Separate Saga of St. Olaf'', by Snorri Sturluson, ca. 1225. *''Óláfs saga helga'' in ''Heimskringla'', by Snorri Sturluson, ca. 1230. *''Óláfs saga helga'' in ''Flateyjarbók'', an expanded version of the ''Separate Saga of St. Olaf''. Overview The saga draws from skaldic poetry and Latin hagiography, with embellishments from popular oral legends. The earliest version, the so-called '' Oldest Saga of St. Olaf'' probably written in Iceland, has not survived except in a few fragments. The next version, commonly known as the ''Legendary Saga of St. Olaf'' (also designated ''Helgisagan um Ólaf digra Haraldsson'' "Holy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Olaf And The Little People
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the title may refer to tribal kingship. Germanic kingship is cognate with Indo-European traditions of tribal rulership (c.f. Indic ''rājan'', Gothic ''reiks'', and Old Irish ''rí'', etc.). *In the context of classical antiquity, king may translate in Latin as '' rex'' and in Greek as '' archon'' or '' basileus''. *In classical European feudalism, the title of ''king'' as the ruler of a ''kingdom'' is understood to be the highest rank in the feudal order, potentially subject, at least nominally, only to an emperor (harking back to the client kings of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire). *In a modern context, the title may refer to the ruler of one of a number of modern monarchies (either absolute or constitutional). The title of ''king'' is us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Þjóðólfr Of Hvinir
Þjóðólfr ór Hvini (anglicized as Thjódólf of Hvinir or Thiodolf; fl. late 9th–early 10th c. AD), was a Norwegian skald, said to have been one of the court-poets of the semi-legendary Norwegian king Harald Fairhair. His name suggests that he was from the region of Hvinir (Kvinesdal). Two skaldic poems, '' Haustlǫng'' (Autumn-long) and ''Ynglingatal'' (Enumeration of the Ynglingar), are generally attributed to him. Works Both ''Haustlǫng'' and ''Ynglingatal'' are ascribed to Þjóðólfr of Hvinir from a relatively early period. They were preserved, along with some other of his verses, by the 13th-century Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson in the ''Prose Edda''. A third poem, ''Hrafnsmál'', is also attributed to him by Snorri, although scholars rather think that it was composed by another of Harald Fairhair's court-poets named Þórbjǫrn Hornklofi. Þjóðólfr composed ''Ynglingatal'' for Ragnvald Heidumhære, a chieftain from Vestfold (Oslofjord). The poem tells a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
