|
Housecarls
A housecarl (; ) was a non-Slavery in medieval Europe, servile manservant or household bodyguard in medieval Northern Europe. The institution originated amongst the Norsemen of Scandinavia, and was brought to Anglo-Saxon England by the Anglo-Saxon England#England under the Danes and the Norman conquest (978–1066), Danish conquest in the 11th century. They were well-trained, and paid as full-time soldiers. In England, the royal housecarls had a number of roles, both military and administrative, and they fought under Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. Etymology Housecarl is a calque of the original Old Norse language, Old Norse term, ''húskarl'', which literally means "house man". ''Karl'' is cognate to the Old English language, Old English ''churl'', or ''ceorl'', meaning a man, or a non-servile peasant. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' uses ''hiredmenn'' as a term for all paid warriors and thus is applied to ''housecarl'', but it also refers to ''butsecarls'' and ''lith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Battle Of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman Conquest of England. It took place approximately northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory. The background to the battle was the death of the childless King Edward the Confessor in January 1066, which set up a succession struggle between several claimants to his throne. Harold was crowned king shortly after Edward's death but faced invasions by William, his own brother Tostig, and the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada (Harold III of Norway). Hardrada and Tostig defeated a hastily gathered army of Englishmen at the Battle of Fulford on 20 September 1066. They were in turn defeated by Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September. The deaths of Tostig and Hardrada at Stamford Bridge left William as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Turinge Stone
The Varangian Runestones are runestones in Scandinavia that mention voyages to the East () or the Eastern route (), or to more specific eastern locations such as ''Garðaríki'' in Eastern Europe. There are also many additional runestones in Scandinavia that talk of eastward voyages such as the Greece Runestones, Italy Runestones, and inscriptions left by the Varangian Guard. Other runestones that deal with Varangian expeditions include the Serkland Runestones (dealing with expeditions to the Middle East) and the Ingvar Runestones (erected in honor or memory of those who travelled to the Caspian Sea with Ingvar the Far-Travelled). There is also a separate article for the Baltic expeditions runestones. In addition, there were also voyages to Western Europe mentioned on runestones that are treated in the articles Viking Runestones, England Runestones and Hakon Jarl Runestones. Most of the runestones were raised during the Christianization of Scandinavia, Christianization of the 11 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Thralls
A thrall was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The status of slave (, ) contrasts with that of the freeman (, ) and the nobleman (, ). Etymology Thrall is from the Old Norse , meaning a person who is in bondage or serfdom. The Old Norse term was lent into late Old English, as . The term is from a Common Germanic ("runner", from a root "to run"). Old High German had a cognate, , meaning "servant, runner". The English derivation ''thraldom'' is of High Medieval date. The verb "to enthrall" is of Early Modern origin (metaphorical use from the 1570s, literal use from 1610). The corresponding term in Old English was (from Proto-Germanic , perhaps from a PIE root , "to run"). A related Old English term is "labourer, hireling" (from Germanic , cognate with Gothic "hireling", a derivation from "reward", from the same root as English '' earn''). The term was borrowed into Irish as , where it is used interchangeably with which is a cognate of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Magnus The Good
Magnus Olafsson (; Norwegian and Danish: ''Magnus Olavsson''; – 25 October 1047), better known as Magnus the Good (; Norwegian and Danish: ''Magnus den gode''), was King of Norway from 1035 and King of Denmark from 1042 until his death in 1047. Magnus was an illegitimate son of Saint Olaf, and fled with his mother Alfhild when his father was dethroned in 1028. He returned to Norway in 1035 and was crowned king at the age of 11. In 1042, he was also crowned king of Denmark. Magnus ruled the two countries until 1047, when he died under unclear circumstances. After his death, his kingdom was split between Harald Hardrada in Norway and Sweyn Estridsson in Denmark. Early life Magnus was an illegitimate son of King Olaf Haraldsson (later Saint Olaf) by his English concubine Alfhild, Carl Frederik Bricka, ''Dansk Biografisk Lexikon'', vol. XI aar – Müllner 1897p.44 originally a slave ( thrall) of Olaf's queen Astrid Olofsdotter. Born prematurely, the child was weak and u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Olaf II Of Norway
Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title ''Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae'' () and canonised at Nidaros (Trondheim) by Bishop Grimketel, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. His remains were enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral, built over his burial site. His sainthood encouraged the widespread adoption of Christianity by Scandinavia's Vikings/Norsemen. Pope Alexander III confirmed Olaf's local canonisation in 1164, making him a recognised saint of the Catholic Church, and Olaf started to be known as ''Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae'' – ''eternal king of Norway''. Following the Reformation, he was a commemorated historical figure among some members of the Lutheranism, Lutheran and Anglican Communions. The saga of Olav Haraldsson an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sigvatr Þórðarson
Sigvatr Þórðarson or Sighvatr Þórðarson or Sigvatr Thórðarson or Sigvat the Skald (995–1045) was an Icelandic skald. He was a court poet to King Olaf II of Norway, as well as Cnut the Great, Magnus the Good and Anund Jacob, by whose reigns his floruit can be dated to the earlier eleventh century. Sigvatr was the best known of the court skalds of King Olaf and also served as his marshal (''stallare''), even baptizing his son Magnus. Approximately 160 verses of Sigvatr's poetry have been preserved, more than from any other poet of this period. The style of Sigvat's poems is simpler and clearer than that which generally characterises older compositions. Although his verse is still dense, he uses fewer complex poetic circumlocutions than many of his predecessors, and as a Christian poet, he by and large avoids allusions to pagan mythology. Most of his surviving poems were texts that praised King Olaf. Many of the poems from St. Olaf's saga in '' Heimskringla'' are by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Heimskringla
() is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (1178/79–1241) 1230. The title was first used in the 17th century, derived from the first two words of one of the manuscripts (''kringla heimsins'', "the circle of the world"). is a collection of sagas about Swedish and Norwegian kings, beginning with the saga of the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings, followed by accounts of historical Norwegian rulers from Harald Fairhair of the 9th century up to the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla in 1177. Some of the exact sources of ''Heimskringla'' are disputed, but they include earlier kings' sagas, such as Morkinskinna, Fagrskinna and the 12th-century Norwegian synoptic histories and oral traditions, notably many skaldic poems. The author or authors explicitly name the now lost w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
U 330, Snåttsta
U, or u, is the twenty-first letter and the fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pronounced ), plural ''ues''. Name In English, the name of the letter is the "long U" sound, pronounced . In most other languages, its name matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History U derives from the Semitic waw, as does F, and later, Y, W, and V. Its oldest ancestor goes back to Egyptian hieroglyphs, and is probably from a hieroglyph of a mace or fowl, representing the sound or the sound . This was borrowed to Phoenician, where it represented the sound , and seldom the vowel . In Greek, two letters were adapted from the Phoenician waw. The letter was adapted, but split in two, with Digamma or wau being adapted to represent , and the second one being Upsilon , which was originally adapted to represent , later front ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Grand Prince Of Kiev
The Grand Prince of Kiev (sometimes also Grand Duke) was the title of the monarch of Kievan Rus', residing in Kiev (modern Kyiv) from the 10th to 13th centuries. In the 13th century, Kiev became an appanage principality first of the grand prince of Vladimir and the Mongol Golden Horde governors, and later was taken over by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Rus' chronicles such as the ''Primary Chronicle'' are inconsistent in applying the title "grand prince" to various princes in Kievan Rus'. Although most sources consistently attribute it to the prince of Kiev, there is no agreement which princes were also "grand prince", and scholars have thus come up with different lists of grand princes of Kiev. Background Origins According to a founding myth in the ''Primary Chronicle'', Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv and their sister Lybid co-founded the city of Kiev (Kyiv), and the oldest brother Kyi was "chief of his kin" (). Some western historians (i.e., Kevin Alan Brook) suppose that Kie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Yaroslav The Wise
Yaroslav I Vladimirovich ( 978 – 20 February 1054), better known as Yaroslav the Wise, was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1019 until his death in 1054. He was also earlier Prince of Novgorod from 1010 to 1034 and Prince of Rostov from 987 to 1010, uniting the principalities for a time. Yaroslav's baptismal name was George after Saint George. Yaroslav was a son of Vladimir the Great and Rogneda of Polotsk. Yaroslav ruled the northern lands around Rostov before being transferred to Novgorod in 1010. He had a strained relationship with his father and refused to pay tribute to Kiev in 1014. Following Vladimir's death in 1015, Yaroslav waged a complicated war for the Kievan throne against his half-brother Sviatopolk, ultimately emerging victorious in 1019. As the Grand Prince of Kiev, Yaroslav focused on foreign policy, forming alliances with Scandinavian countries and weakening Byzantine Empire, Byzantine influence on Kiev. He successfully captured the area around present-day Tartu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
