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Olaf The Peacock
Olaf the Peacock or Olaf Hoskuldsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; c. 938–1006) was a merchant and chieftain of the early Icelandic Commonwealth, who was nicknamed "the Peacock" because of his proud bearing and magnificent wardrobe. He is a major character in the '' Laxdæla saga'' and is mentioned in a number of other Icelandic sources. The son of a slave woman, Olaf became one of the wealthiest landowners in Iceland and played a major role in its politics and society during the latter half of the tenth century. In addition to the ''Laxdæla Saga'' in which he takes a leading role, Olaf also is mentioned in ''Egils saga'', ''Njáls saga'', '' Gunnlaugs saga'', ''Kormáks saga'', '' Grettirs saga'' and the ''Landnámabók'', among others. Birth and upbringing Olaf was the son of Hoskuld Dala-Kollsson, a chieftain who lived in the Laxardal region. According to ''Laxdæla Saga'', Hoskuld purchased a mute thrall-woman named Melkorka from a Rus' merchant on Brännö whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melkorka
Melkorka (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) is the name given in ''Landnámabók'' and '' Laxdæla saga'' for the Irish mother of the Icelandic goði Ólafr Höskuldsson. It is possible that her name represents the Early Irish ''Mael Curcaig''. According to ''Laxdæla saga'', Hoskuld Dala-Kollsson purchased Melkorka, who he believed to be a selective mute thrall-woman, from a Rus' merchant on Brännöyar while on a trading expedition to Norway, and made her his concubine while away from his wife Jorunn Bjarnadottir. When Höskuldr returned home to Iceland, he took her with him. Despite Jórunn's irritation, the concubine was accepted into Höskuldr's household, though he remained faithful to Jórunn while in Iceland. The following winter the concubine gave birth to a son, to whom they gave the name Ólafr after Höskuldr's uncle, Olaf Feilan, who had recently died. ''Landnámabók'' mentions that Höskuldr and Melkorka had another son, Helgi, but he does not appear in ''Laxdæla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goði
Gothi or (plural , fem. ; Old Norse: ) was a position of political and social prominence in the Icelandic Commonwealth. The term originally had a religious significance, referring to a pagan leader responsible for a religious structure and communal feasts, but the title is primarily known as a secular political title from medieval Iceland. Etymology The word derives from , meaning "god".Byock, Jesse L. (1993). "Goði". Entry in ''Medieval Scandinavia, an Encyclopedia'' (Phillip Pulsiano, ed.), 230–231. Garland: NY and London, . It possibly appears in Ulfilas' Gothic language translation of the Bible as for "priest", although the corresponding form of this in Icelandic would have been an unattested . In Scandinavia, there is one surviving attestation in the Proto-Norse form from the Norwegian Nordhuglo runestone (Rundata N KJ65 U),The article ''gotiska'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1992) and in the later Old Norse form from three Danish runestones: DR 190 Helnæs, DR 192 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officially bequeathing private property and/or debts can be performed by a testator via will, as attested by a notary or by other lawful means. Terminology In law, an ''heir'' is a person who is entitled to receive a share of the deceased's (the person who died) property, subject to the rules of inheritance in the jurisdiction of which the deceased was a citizen or where the deceased (decedent) died or owned property at the time of death. The inheritance may be either under the terms of a will or by intestate laws if the deceased had no will. However, the will must comply with the laws of the jurisdiction at the time it was created or it will be declared invalid (for example, some states do not recognise handwritten wills as valid, or only in s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foster Son
Fosterage, the practice of a family bringing up a child not their own, differs from adoption in that the child's parents, not the foster-parents, remain the acknowledged parents. In many modern western societies foster care can be organised by the state to care for children with troubled family backgrounds, usually on a temporary basis. In many pre-modern societies fosterage was a form of patronage, whereby influential families cemented political relationships by bringing up each other's children, similar to arranged marriages, also based on dynastic or alliance calculations. This practice was once common in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. Fosterage in Scotland In medieval Highland society there was a system of fosterage among clan leaders, where boys and girls would leave their parent's house to be brought up in that of other chiefs, creating a fictive bond of kinship that helped cement alliances and mutual bonds of obligation. In his '' A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melkorkustaðir
Melkorkustead (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) was a farm in western Iceland during the Icelandic Commonwealth period. It was the home of Melkorka, mother of the gothi Olaf the Peacock Olaf the Peacock or Olaf Hoskuldsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; c. 938–1006) was a merchant and chieftain of the early Icelandic Commonwealth, who was nicknamed "the Peacock" because of his proud bearing and magnificent wardrobe. He .... The name in Irish could be: Myr Kjartan King of Irland or mael-Curcaigh or Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks, King of Aileach son af Niall Glundubh References *Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Palsson, transl. Laxdaela Saga. Penguin Classics, 1969. External links Runeberg Former populated places in Iceland {{iceland-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petty King
A petty kingdom is a kingdom described as minor or "petty" (from the French 'petit' meaning small) by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the numerous kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England unified into the Kingdom of England in the 10th century, or the numerous Gaelic kingdoms of Ireland as the Kingdom of Ireland in the 16th century). Alternatively, a petty kingdom would be a minor kingdom in the immediate vicinity of larger kingdoms, such as the medieval Kingdom of Mann and the Isles relative to the kingdoms of Scotland or England or the Viking kingdoms of Scandinavia. In the context of the Early Middle Ages or the prehistoric Iron Age, many minor kingdoms are also known as tribal kingdoms. In the parallel Southeast Asian political model, petty kingdoms were known as Mueang. By the European High Middle Ages, many post-Roman Early Middle Ages petty kingdoms had evolved into principalities, grand duchies, or duchies. By the European E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muirchertach Mac Néill
Muirchertach mac Néill (died 26 February 943), called Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks ( sga, Muirchertach na Cochall Craicinn), was a King of Ailech. Family Muirchertach belonged to the Cenél nEógain sept of the northern Uí Néill. He was the son of Niall Glúndub and Gormlaith, thus his father and both of his grandfathers—Niall's father Áed Finnliath and Gormlaith's father Flann Sinna—had been High King of Ireland. Máel Muire ingen Cináeda (died 913), his father's mother, had after the death of Áed been married to Flann Sinna, and had borne him Domnall (died 921) and Liagnach (died 932). She was a daughter of king of the Picts, Cináed mac Ailpín. His wife was Dubhdara ingen Cellaig, daughter of Cellach mac Cerbaill and sister of Donnchad mac Cellaig, both kings of Osraige.''The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory'' (Vol. 1) by William Carrigan. p. 44. https://books.google.com/books?id=74QNAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r& ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9–22. They also voyaged as far as the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, North Africa, Volga Bulgaria, the Middle East, and Greenland, North America. In some of the countries they raided and settled in, this period is popularly known as the Viking Age, and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a collective whole. The Vikings had a profound impact on the Early Middle Ages, early medieval history of Scandinavia, the History of the British Isles, British Isles, France in the Middle Ages, France, Viking Age in Estonia, Estonia, and Kievan Rus'. Expert sailors and navigators aboard their characteristic longships, Vikings established Norse settlem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olaf Feilan
Olaf ''Feilan'' Thorsteinsson (Old Norse: , Modern Icelandic: ; c. 890–940) was an Icelandic gothi of the Settlement period. He was the son of Thorstein the Red, jarl of Caithness, and his wife Thurid Eyvindsdottir.''Landnámabók'', (translations: ) The byname "'' feilan''" is derived from the Old Irish '' fáelán'', meaning ''wolfling'' or ''little wolf''. After the death of his father Olaf was reared by his grandmother Aud the Deep-minded, and emigrated with her to Iceland, where they settled at the estate called Hvamm in the Laxardal region. Olaf married a woman named Alfdis of Barra, around 920. According to the '' Laxdæla saga'' Aud (called "Unn" in the saga) held Olaf dearer than anyone else, and bequested the Hvamm estate to him after her death. She arranged Olaf's betrothal to Alfdis, and planned the wedding feast for the end of summer (or autumn), which she predicted "would be the last feast I would hold". She indeed died during the festivities that lasted 3-da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jorunn Bjarnadottir
Jórunn Bjarnadóttir (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ) is a female character who appears in '' Laxdœla saga'', one of the Icelandic family sagas (Icelandic: ''Íslendingasögur''). She first appears in chapter 9, where she is introduced as the wife of a powerful Icelandic chieftain (Icelandic: ''goði'') Höskuldr Dala-Kollsson from Höskuldsstaðir in Laxárdalur, Iceland.“Laxdœla saga.” in Laxdœla Saga, edited by Einar Ól. Sveinsson, 1–248. Vol. 5. Íslenzk Fornrit. Reykjavík: Hið Íslenzka Fornritafélag, 1934, chapter 9. Family Jórunn Bjarnadóttir is the daughter of Björn who settled Bjarnarfjörðr in North-Western Iceland. He is described as being both highly-born and very wealthy (''stórættaður maður og auðigr að fé''). Jórunn's mother is a woman named Ljúfa, although no further description is given. However, Jana K. Schulman in her article "Make Me a Match: Motifs of Betrothal in the Sagas of the Icelanders." suggests that in the sagas, successful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubinage was a formal and institutionalized practice in China until the 20th century that upheld concubines' rights and obligations. A concubine could be freeborn or of slave origin, and their experience could vary tremendously according to their masters' whim. During the Mongol conquests, both foreign royals and captured women were taken as concubines. Concubinage was also common in Meiji Japan as a status symbol, and in Indian society, where the intermingling of castes and religions was frowned upon and a taboo, and concubinage could be practiced with women with whom marriage was considered undesirable, such as those from a lower caste and Muslim women who wouldn't be accepted in a Hindu household and Hindu women who wouldn't be accepted in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
