Viking identities

State formation and pre-modern identities in the North

by Sverrir Jakobsson

A draft version of an article published in Arkiv för nordisk filologi, 125 (2010), 67-82.

„Egils saga and Empathy: Emotions and Moral Issues in a Dysfunctional Saga Family,“ Scandinavian Studies 80 (2008), 1–18.

by Ármann Jakobsson

„Masculinity and Politics in Njáls saga,“ Viator 38 (2007), 191–215.

by Ármann Jakobsson

Page proofs.

Viikinkiaika Suomessa – Viking Age in Finland (project announcement)

by Joonas Ahola

Ahola, J. & Frog, 05.2011 In : RMN Newsletter. 2, p. 59-60.

The Emergence of Norðrlönd in Old Norse Medieval Texts

by Sverrir Jakobsson

A draft version of a paper published in Iceland and Images of the North, eds. Sumarliði Ísleifsson & Daniel Chartier (Quebec, 2011), 25-40.

Å leve som viking

by Anett Ytre-Eide

Up Helly Aa: an ancient Viking festival?

by Brydon Leslie

Published in: The New Shetlander, 258, 2011, p.7-9

Review of “Pierre Bauduin, Le monde franc et les Vikings (VIIIe-Xe siècle) [The Frankish world and the Vikings], Paris: Albin Michel, 2009. Pp. 460”.

by gregory cattaneo

Grégory Cattaneo, “Pierre Bauduin, Le monde franc et les Vikings (VIIIe-Xe siècle) [The Frankish world and the Vikings], Paris: Albin Michel, 2009. Pp. 460”, in Journal of Scandinavian Studies 83 (4) Winter 2011, 440-445.

For the last fifteen years, Pierre Bauduin has been producing fruitful research on various topics connected with... more For the last fifteen years, Pierre Bauduin has been producing fruitful research on various topics connected with Scandinavian and French medieval history, such as the ethno genesis and the territorial boundaries of early Normandy, the Scandinavian establishments in Western Europe, the integration of the Vikings in the Frankish kingdom, questions of ethnic identities, and a useful synthesis on the Vikings. This work has made him a respected and influential specialist of the Vikings in his country and some might see in his work a continuation of the work of the late Lucien Musset, well-known by our readers. Le Monde franc et les Vikings, VIIIe- Xe siècle represents both a good achievement of his previous research and a major revitalization of the studies of the relations between the Frankish world and the Scandinavian societies from the eighth to the tenth centuries. Indeed, writing in a post-war context, Lucien Musset and Louis Halphen addressed the "invasions" in terms of a capitulation to the enemy in a climate of defeatism. In this book it is the concept of accommodation that...

'Vikings in the East' in Stefan Brink & Neil Price (eds.),The Viking World., (London & New York, 2008), 517-542.

by Fedir (Федір/Фёдор) Androshchuk (Андрощук)

Grand Princess Olga of Rus’ Shows the Bird: Her ‘Christian Falcon’ Emblem

by Roman Kovalev

This study is presently in the press. As courtesy to the publisher, it has been removed from the site.

Gardeła, L. (2011) Rethinking Viking Age 'Deviant Burials', In. Abstracts. European Association of Archaeologists. 17th Annual Meeting. 14-18 September 2011. Oslo-Norway, Oslo, 50

by Leszek Gardela

The Vikings and the natives: ethnic identity in England and Normandy c. 1000 AD

by Letty ten Harkel

The Medieval Chronicle 4 (2006), 175-188.

Wholeness and Holiness. Counting,Weighing and Valuing Silver in the Early Viking Period

by Christoph Kilger

In: Skre, D. 2008 (ed.). Means of Exchange. Dealing with Silver in the Viking Age. Kaupang Excavation Project Publication Series, vol. 2. Norske Oldfunn XXIII, pp 253-325, Aarhus.

This chapter examines the use of silver as a medium of payment in the Early Viking Period. Kaupang has yielded... more This chapter examines the use of silver as a medium of payment in the Early Viking Period. Kaupang has yielded comprehensive evidence of craft activity and long-distance trade crossing economic, political and ethnic boundaries. The working hypothesis of this chapter is that exchange across such borders was undertaken outside a socially binding “sphere”, a situation that was made possible by the existence of different forms of market trade. It is argued that there had existed standardised media of value, or “cash/money” in Kaupang, which made calculations and payment for goods possible. Such were the circumstances from when Kaupang was founded at the beginning of the 9th century to the abandonment of the town sometime in the middle of the 10th.

The use of “money” at Kaupang is approached from two angles. For “money” to be acceptable as an item of value depends on the one hand upon unshakable reference points that are rooted in an imaginary conceptual world. The value of “money” was guaranteed in terms of inalienable possessions which stabilized and at the same time initiated exchange relationships. On the other hand, money as a medium of exchange relates to a scale of calculation which legitimates and defines its exchange-value. This scale makes it possible to compare goods and put a price upon them.

In this study, it is argued that in the Viking Period there were three different principles of value and payment that were materially embodied in the outer form and weight of the silver object. These were coins, rings/ingots, and fragmented silver respectively. Both coins and rings/ingots were used and valued as complete objects. The wholeness of the object was essential for the concepts of value to exist. The meaning of the coin as an object of value was rooted in a world of Antique-Christian concepts, and its status as a unit of reckoning was guaranteed through seedcorn calculation. The value of the rings and ingots was rooted in the concept of the god Odin’s eternal and stable gold ring, and their character as calculable objects guaranteed through aurar-calculation: i.e. a given number of coins per eyrir (Norw.: øre; “ounce”). Hacksilver, by contrast, has no body, and its meaning as a form of currency was indissolubly dependent upon the use of standardized weights which sanctioned the economic value of this amorphous silver. The status of hacksilver as a calculable substance of value was guaranteed through ertog calculation.

· Gardeła, L. (2011) Buried with Honour and Stoned to Death? The Ambivalence of Viking Age Magic in the Light of Archaeology, Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia (4)2009, 339-375.

by Leszek Gardela

· Gardeła, L. (2010) Kamienie i śmierć. Groby czarowników i ambiwalencja magii seiðr w epoce wikingów. In W. Dzieduszycki, J. Wrzesiński (eds.), Tak więc po owocach poznacie ich. Funeralia Lednickie - spotkanie 12, Poznań: Stowarzyszenie Naukowe Archeologów Polskich, 273-293.

by Leszek Gardela

"Stones and death. The graves of sorcerers and the ambivalence of seidr magic in the Viking Age" "Stones and death. The graves of sorcerers and the ambivalence of seidr magic in the Viking Age"

Gardeła, L. (2011) Wiking bez głowy. Dekapitacja we wczesnośredniowiecznej Skandynawii, Pomniki Dawnego Prawa 13, 36-71

by Leszek Gardela

"The headless Viking. Decapitation in Early Medieval Scandinavia". This paper discusses the motif of... more "The headless Viking. Decapitation in Early Medieval Scandinavia". This paper discusses the motif of decapitation in the Viking Age. It includes a summary in German and Czech and 2 new artistic reconstructions of Viking Age deviant graves.

Errata: Grób Bj. 959 został znaleziony na cmentarzysku Hemlanden (Birka) a nie w części znanej jako Svarta Jorden.