The Viking age : a reader

Cover
Copyright
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: The Scandinavian Homelands
	1. The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan
	2. Description of the Islands of the North
Chapter Two: Scandinavian Society
	3. The Lay of Rig (Rígsþula)
	4. Politics in Harald Finehair’s Norway
	5. Hoskuld Buys a Slave
	6. Slave Revolts
		(a) Hjorleif ’s Slaves Revolt
		(b) A Slave Revolt in Egil’s Saga
	7. How the Hersir Erling Treated His Slaves
Chapter Three: Early Religion and Belief
	8. The Norse Creation Myth
	9. Ragnarok: The Doom of the Gods
	10. Odin Welcomes Eirik Bloodax to Valhalla
	11. Odin Hangs on Yggdrasil
	12. Odin and Human Sacrifice
		(a) The Death of King Vikar
		(b) The Deaths of Domaldi and Olaf Tretelgja
	13. Sigurd, the Earl of Lade, Sacrifices to the Gods
	14. The Temple at Uppsala
	15. A Temple in Iceland
	16. Norse Funeral Practices
		(a) Snorri’s History of Burial Practices
		(b) Odin Orders Cremation and Becomes a God
		(c) The Death of Baldur the Good
		(d) Gunnar’s Burial Mound
	17. The Living Dead
		(a) Gunnar’s Posthumous Poem
		(b) Grettir’s Fight with Glam
Chapter Four: Gender in the Viking Age
	18. Manly Men
		(a) Gunnar Weeps
		(b) The Death of Gunnar
		(c) Egil and Armod
	19. Unmanly Men
		(a) Deadly Insults from Grágás
		(b) A Flyting between Sinfjotli and Gudmund
		(c) Egil in Old Age
	20. Strong Women
		(a) Unn the Deep-MindedTakes Control of Her Life
		(b) The Goading of Hildigunn
		(c) The Prowess of Freydis, Daughter of Eirik the Red
	21. Mothers and Sons
		(a) Gudrun Drives Her Sons to Take Revenge
		(b) Gudrun Osvifrsdottir’s Incitement of Her Sons
	22. Making and Breaking Marriages
		(a) Betrothals from the Sagas
			(i) The Betrothal of Olaf Hoskuldsson
			(ii) How Unn Mordsdottir Found Herself Betrothed
		(b) Divorces from the Sagas
			(i) How Gudrun Divorced Thorvald
			(ii) Vigdis Divorces Thord Goddi
	23. Women’s Work
		(a) Housework in Laxdale Saga
		(b) Magical Women
			(i) The Greenland Prophetess
			(ii) A Phallic Ritual: Passing the Penis
	24. Men and Women Behaving Badly
		(a) Queen Gunnhild Has Her Way with Hrut
		(b) Gisli Sursson Defends the Family Honor
		(c) On the Penalties for Poetry
		(d) Hallfred the Troublesome Poet and Kolfinna
		(e) Grettir the Strong Puts a Woman in Her Place
	25. Same-Sex Encounters
		(a) Penitential of Saint Thorlak
		(b) Civil Penalties in Early Norwegian Law
		(c) Njal Gives a Garment to Flosi
		(d) King Harald Gormsson and the Land-Spirits
		(e) Gisli Sursson Fights Skeggi the Berserk
	26. Gender Instability: Trans-Genderand Gender-Shifting
		(a) From Gulathing Law: On Seriously Insulting Speech
		(b) Odin’s Wisdom and Arts
		(c) From Loki’s Flyting (Lokasenna)
		(d) Loki and Svadilfari: Loki’s Adventure as a Mare
	27. Cross-Dressing
		(a) Thor as a Bride
		(b) How Aud Dealt with Her Humiliating Divorce
Chapter Five: Viking Warriors and Their Weapons
	28. The Accomplishments of a Viking Warrior
		(a) Earl Rognvald Kali on Being a Gentleman
		(b) Gunnar Hamundarson, the Ideal Warrior
		(c) Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway
	29. Warrior Women
		(a) A Warrior Woman
		(b) The Waking of Angantýr (The Lay of Hervor, Hervararkviða)
	30. Valkyries
		(a) Helgi and Sigrun I
		(b) Helgi and Sigrun II
		(c) Brynhild’s Helride
	31. Berserkers and the Berserk Rage
		(a) Odin’s Berserks
		(b) Egil Skallagrimsson Fights a Berserk
	32. Weapons
		(a) King Magnus Barelegs Dresses to Kill
		(b) The Sword Skofnung
			(i) Hrolf Kraki and Skofnung
			(ii) Skeggi and Skofnung
			(iii) Kormak and Skofnung
			(iv) Thorkel Eyolfsson and Skofnung
			(v) Gellir Thorkelsson and Skofnung
		(c) Saint Olaf ’s Sword, Hneitir
Chapter Six: Fjord-Serpents: Viking Ships
	33. King Olaf Tryggvason Builds the Long Serpent
	34. Harald Sigurdarson’s Splendid Ship
	35. Animal Heads on the Prows of Ships
	36. A Sea-Battlefrom the Sagas: Olaf Tryggvason at the Battle of Svold
Chapter Seven: “Sudden and Unforeseen Attacks of Northmen”
	37. On the Causes of the Viking Expansion
	38. Viking Raids on England, 789–850/1
	39. Alcuin’s Letter to King Athelred, 793
	40. An English Gospel Book Ransomed from the Vikings
	41. Viking Raids on Ireland, 795–842
	42. The Martyrdom of Blathmac, 825
	43. The Life of Saint Findan
	44. Irish Resistance to the Norsemen
	45. Franks and Vikings, 800–829
	46. The Northmen in France, 843–865
	47. An Account of the Siege of Paris, 885–886
	48. Vikings in the Iberian Peninsula
		(a) Ibn al-Kutia.Year 230 (17 September 844–1 October 845)
		(b) Ibn Adhari. Year 229 (30 September 843–17 September 844)
Chapter Eight: “The Heathens Stayed”: Fromraiding to Settlement
	49. Viking Activities in England, 851–900
	50. The Martyrdom of Saint Edmund
	51. The Vikings in Ireland, 845–917
	52. Ketil Flatnose and His Descendants in the Hebrides
	53. Earl Sigurd and the Establishment of the Earldom of Orkney
	54. Runic Inscriptions from Maes Howe, Mainland, Orkney
	55. Runic Inscriptions from the Isle of Man
	56. Rollo Obtains Normandy from the King of the Franks
Chapter Nine: Austrveg: The Viking Road to the East
	57. The Rūs
	58. The Rūs Attack Constantinople
	59. On the Arrival of the Varangians
	60. A Muslim Diplomat Meets Rūs Merchants on the Volga 
River
	61. River Routes to Constantinople
	62. A Norwegian Soldier of Fortune in the East
	63. Rūs Expeditions to the Middle East
	64. The Yngvar Runestones
Chapter Ten: Into the Western Ocean: The faeroes, Iceland, Greenland, And Vinland
	65. The Islands in the Northern Ocean, c. 825
	66. Sailing Directions and Distances in the North Atlantic
	67. The Western Ocean
	68. Adam of Bremen on Iceland
	69. Icelandic Accounts of the Discovery and Settlement of Iceland
		(a) The Book of the Icelanders
		(b) The Book of Settlements
	70. Skallagrim’s Land-Take in Iceland
	71. The Settlement of Greenland
		(a) The Book of the Icelanders
		(b) The Book of Settlements
	72. The King’s Mirror on Greenland
	73. Adam of Bremen on Vinland
	74. The Norse Discovery of Vinland
	75. Thorfin Karlsefni in Vinland
Chapter Eleven: Viking Life and Death
	76. Advice for Sailors and Merchants
	77. Svein Asleifarson’s Viking Life
	78. Children
		(a) Young Grettir Helps around the Farm
		(b) Children Mimic Adults
		(c) The Child Is Mother of the Woman
		(d) Young Egil Plays for Keeps
	79. Games and Entertainment
		(a) A Horse-Fightfrom Njal’s Saga
		(b) Skallagrim’s Rough Play
		(c) Ball Games and Scraper-Gamesat Sand from Hord’s Saga
		(d) Entertainment at a Wedding Feast at Reykjaholar from The Saga of 
Thorgils and Haflidi
		(e) Mock Lawsuits from The Saga of the People of Ljosavatn
	80. The Jomsvikings Meet Their End
	81. The Burning of Njal
Chapter Twelve: From Odin to Christ
	82. Early Missions to the North: The Life of Saint Anskar
	83. The Conversion of the Danes under Harald Bluetooth
	84. Olaf Tryggvason and the Conversion of Norway
	85. A Poet Abandons the Old Gods
	86. The Christianization of Norway under Saint Olaf
	87. The Conversion of the Icelanders
	88. The Conversion of Greenland
	89. The Conversion of Orkney
	90. Christianity in Sweden
	91.
Christianity and the Church in Norway
	92. The Travels of King Sigurd, Jerusalem-Farer
	93. The Journey of Abbot Nikolas Bergsson from Iceland to Jerusalem
Chapter Thirteen: State-Buildingat Home and Abroad
	94. Harald Finehair and the Unification of Norway
	95. Denmark: The Jelling Stone
	96. State-Makingin Denmark: Unification and Expansion
	97. The Martyrdom of Alfeah (Saint Alphege)
	98. Knut the Great and the North Sea Empire
	99. The England Runestones
	100. The Earldom of Orkney at Its Zenith
Chapter Fourteen: The End of the Viking Age
	101. The Battle of Clontarf, 1014
	102. The Battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066
	103. The Battle of Largs, 1263
Chapter Fifteen: Reawakening Angantýr, Or Viking Revivals
	104. The First Revival
		(a) Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) and Norse Poetics
		(b) Saxo Grammaticus and Icelandic Sources
	105. Romantic Vikings
		(a) The Fatal Sisters: An Ode, from the Norse Tongue
		(b) The Vegtam’s [Odin’s] Kvitha [poem]; or The Descent of Odin: An Ode, from the Norse Tongue
	106. Operatic Vikings: Richard Wagner (1818–1883), from Das Rheingold, Scene Two
	107. Aryan Anthropology: Vikings in Politics
		(a) Halfdan Bryn: Methodology
		(b) Hans F.K. Günther on Nordic Man
		(c) Alfred Rosenberg: Creative Men and Beautiful, Motherly Women
	108. The Gods Reborn
		(a) Carl Jung: “Wotanism”
		(b) Odin Lives
		(c) Odinism in America
		(d) Versions of Ásatrú
			(i) The Icelandic Ásatrú Fellowship
			(ii) Foreningen Forn Sed Norge / The Society of the Ancient Faith in Norway
	109. Plundering the Vikings, from The Irish Times
	110. The Vikings in the Courtroom of History: Terrorists, Tourists, Others
		(a) Savage Warriors
		(b) Piracy and Commerce
		(c) Intruders of a Recognizable Type?
		(d) Revising the Revisionists
		(e) The Viking Diaspora
Epilogue
	111. Advice from Odin
Sources
Index of Topics
Index of Authors and Sources