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Thyle
A thyle ( OE ''þyle'', ON ''þulr'') was a member of the court associated with Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon royalty and chieftains in the Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ..., whose precise role is uncertain but probably had to do with the preservation of knowledge of the past and the judging of present statements against it. Most literary references are found in Icelandic and Old English literature like the '' Hávamál'', where the term ''Fimbulþulr'', "the great thyle", presumably refers to Odin himself, and '' Beowulf''. In '' Gautreks saga'', Starkad is referred to as a þulr after he sacrifices a king.Michael J. Enright, "The Warband Context of the Unferth Episode", ''Speculum'' 73.2 (1998) 297–337, , . The word also appears on the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unferth
In the Old English epic poem ''Beowulf'', Unferth or Hunferth is a thegn (a retainer, servant) of the Danish lord Hrothgar. He appears five times in the poem — four times by the name 'Hunferð' (at lines 499, 530, 1165 and 1488) and once by the appellation "the son of Eclafes" (at line 980). The name ''Unferth'' does not appear in any Old English manuscript outside of the Nowell Codex, which contains ''Beowulf'', and the meaning of the name is disputed. Several scholarly theories about Unferth have been proposed. Etymology Unferth's name can be understood in a number of ways. A common reading, by Morton W. Bloomfield is to see it as ''un'' + ''frith'', "mar peace": similarly, J. R. R. Tolkien considered the name to mean Unpeace/Quarrel, or perhaps 'Unfriend'. However, Searle's ''Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum'' lists several mentions of medieval historic personages, such as bishops and archbishops, named Hunfrith. Another reading, by Fred C. Robinson, is to see it as ''un'' + '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snoldelev Stone
The Snoldelev Stone, listed as DR 248 in the Rundata catalog, is a 9th-century runestone that was originally located at Snoldelev, Ramsø, Denmark. Description The Snoldelev Stone was first noted in 1810 and was turned over to the national Antiquities Commission in 1811. The runestone is now housed at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is in height. The stone is decorated with painted scratches depicting a design of three horns, possibly drinking horns, interlaced into a triangle as incomplete Borromean rings (similar to the Diane de Poitiers three crescents emblem). This symbol is also known from the Viking Age picture stone from Lillbjärs on Gotland. It is not known if or how it is related to the similarly triangular '' valknut'', which appears aside the interlaced horns on the Lillbjärs stone. The inscription on the Snoldelev Stone shows an early version of the Younger Futhark. Like the late Elder Futhark Björketorp Runestone, it uses an a-rune wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Oral Repositories
Oral repositories are people who have been trusted with mentally recording information constituting oral tradition within a society. They serve an important role in oral cultures and illiterate societies as repositories of their culture's traditional knowledge, values, and morals. Roles People termed as "oral repositories" have been likened to "walking libraries", leading to the saying "whenever an old man dies, it is as though a library were burning down". Roles vary, and can be titular, formal or informal, some professional specialists such as the Caucasian '' ashik'', or more commonly amateurs and knowledgeable generalists such as the '' bulaam'' of the Kuba people. Types of information held by oral repositories includes lineages, oral law, mythology, oral literature and oral poetry (of which oral history is often entwined), folk songs and aural tradition, and traditional knowledge. In many indigenous societies, such as Native American and San, these roles are ful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-Saxon Paganism
Anglo-Saxon paganism, sometimes termed Anglo-Saxon heathenism, Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian religion, Anglo-Saxon traditional religion, or Anglo-Saxon polytheism refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and 8th centuries AD, during the initial period of Anglo-Saxon England, Early Medieval England. A variant of Germanic paganism found across much of north-western Europe, it encompassed a heterogeneous variety of beliefs and cultic practices, with much regional variation. Developing from the earlier Iron Age religion of continental northern Europe, it was introduced to Britain following the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, Anglo-Saxon migration in the mid 5th century, and remained the dominant belief system in England until the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, Christianisation of its kingdoms between the 7th and 8th centuries, with some aspects gradually blending into English folklore, folklore. The pejorative terms ''paganis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symbel
Symbel ( OE) and sumbl ( ON) are Germanic terms for "feast, banquet". Accounts of the ''symbel'' are preserved in the Anglo-Saxon ''Beowulf'' (lines 489–675 and 1491–1500), '' Dream of the Rood'' (line 141) and '' Judith'' (line 15), Old Saxon '' Heliand'' (line 3339), and the Old Norse '' Lokasenna'' (stanza 8) as well as other Eddic and Saga texts, such as in the '' Heimskringla'' account of the funeral ale held by King Sweyn, or in the '' Fagrskinna''. Paul C. Bauschatz in 1976 suggested that the term reflects a pagan ritual which had a "great religious significance in the culture of the early Germanic people".First proposed at the Third International Conference of Nordic and General Linguistics, at the University of Texas at Austin, April 5–9, 1976 (published in 1978), elaborated in Bauschatz, "The Germanic ritual feast" and ''The Well and the Tree''; Pollington, ''Mead-hall''. Etymology The prevalent view today is that Old English , Old Saxon , ' (Old High German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skald
A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally composed to honor kings, but were sometimes Extemporaneous speaking, ex tempore. They include both extended works and single verses (''Lausavísa, lausavísur''). They are characteristically more ornate in form and diction than eddic poems, employing many kennings, which require some knowledge of Norse mythology, and heiti, which are formal nouns used in place of more prosaic synonyms. ''Dróttkvætt'' metre (poetry), metre is a type of skaldic verse form that most often use internal rhyme and alliteration. More than 5,500 skaldic verses have survived, preserved in more than 700 manuscripts, including in several sagas and in Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda'', a handbook of skaldic composition that led to a revival of the art. Many of these vers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jester
A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town markets, and the discipline continues into the modern day, where jesters perform at historical-themed events. Jester-like figures were common throughout the world, including Ancient Rome, China, Persia, and the Aztec empire. During the Post-classical history, post-classical and Renaissance eras, jesters are often thought to have worn brightly coloured clothes and Cap and bells, eccentric hats in a motley pattern. Jesters entertained with a wide variety of skills: principal among them were song, music, and storytelling, but many also employed acrobatics, juggling, telling jokes (such as puns and imitation), and performing Magic (illusion), magic tricks. Much of the entertainment was performed in a comic style. Many jesters made contemporary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christianization
Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individual conversions, but has also, in some instances, been the result of violence by individuals and groups such as governments and militaries. Christianization is also the term used to designate the conversion of previously non-Christian practices, spaces and places to Christian uses and names. In a third manner, the term has been used to describe the changes that naturally emerge in a nation when sufficient numbers of individuals convert, or when secular leaders require those changes. Christianization of a nation is an ongoing process. It began in the Roman Empire when the early individual followers of Jesus became itinerant preachers in response to the command recorded in Matthew 28:19 (sometimes called the Great Commission) to go to all the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monk
A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many religions and in philosophy across numerous cultures. The Greek word for "monk" may be applied to men or women. In English, however, "monk" is applied mainly to men, while ''nun'' is typically used for female monastics. Although the term ''monachos'' is of Christianity, Christian origin, in the English language ''monk'' tends to be used loosely also for both male and female ascetics from other religious or philosophical backgrounds. However, being generic, it is not interchangeable with terms that denote particular kinds of monk, such as cenobite, hermit, anchorite, or Hesychasm, hesychast. Traditions of Christian monasticism exist in major Christian denominations, with religious orders being present in Catholicism, Lutheranism, Oriental Ort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comitatus (classical Meaning)
In history writing, a ''comitatus'', which is Latin for a group of companions (''comites''), is an armed escort or retinue, especially in the context of Germanic people, Germanic warrior culture, where warbands were tied to a leader by an oath of fealty.S. H. Steinberg, ''A New Dictionary of British History'' (London 1963) p.b78 The concept describes the relations between a lord and his retainers. Traditionally scholars have seen such Germanic warbands as the origin of later, medieval European institutions involving nobles and their armed retainers. On the other hand, many scholars today consider the Roman era report of these warbands as more of a literary trope rather. Scholars Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson describe the ''comitatus'' more fully:A heroic warrior brought up in this [''comitatus''] tradition would show a reckless disregard for his life. Whether he was doomed or not, courage was best, for the brave man could win ''lof'' [glory among men] while the coward might ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scop
A ( or ) was a poet as represented in Old English poetry. The scop is the Old English counterpart of the Old Norse ', with the important difference that "skald" was applied to historical persons, and scop is used, for the most part, to designate oral poets ''within'' Old English literature. Very little is known about scops, and their historical existence is questioned by some scholars. Functions The scop, like the similar gleeman, was a reciter of poetry. The scop, however, was typically attached to a court on a relatively permanent basis. There, he most likely received rich gifts for his performances. The performances often featured the recitation of recognisable texts such as the "old pagan legends of the Germanic tribes." However, the scop's duties also included ''composing'' his own poetry in different situations, the eulogizing of his master. While some scops moved from court to court, they were (generally speaking) less nomadic than the gleemen and had positions of gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
