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Þáttr Ólafs Geirstaða Alfs
"Þáttr Ólafs Geirstaða Alfs" is a ''þáttr '', a short anecdotal story, about the semi-legendary Norse king Olaf Geirstad-Alf. It is preserved in ''Flateyjarbók'', a saga collection that was written at the end of the 14th century. Olaf Geirstad Alf, who is also one of the kings who appear in the poem ''Ynglingatal'', is said to have been king of Vestfold or Grenland in Norway in the late 9th century. Content "Þáttr Ólafs Geirstaða Alfs" consists of four short chapters. The first is about Olaf's family background and the farm of Geirstad where he reportedly lived. A verse from ''Ynglingatal'' is also reproduced here. The second chapter is about Olaf's dream. The author recounts that Olaf called a thing on his farm to tell people about a dream he had had, in which a black bull that came through the country, killing a lot of people, and at last it killed Olaf's hird. Olaf thought that this dream was a warning of disease and famine coming. He therefore asked the people at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
þáttr
The ''þættir'' (Old Norse singular ''þáttr'', literally meaning a "strand" of rope or yarn)O'Donoghue (2004:226). are short stories written mostly in Iceland during the 13th and 14th centuries. The majority of ''þættir'' occur in two compendious manuscripts, '' Morkinskinna'' and ''Flateyjarbók'', and within them most are found as digressions within kings' sagas. Sverrir Tómasson regards those in ''Morkinskinna'', at least, as '' exempla'' or illustrations inseparable from the narratives that contain them, filling out the picture of the kings' qualities, good and bad, as well as adding comic relief.Sverrir Tómasson (2006:111-13). Íslendinga þættir The short tales of Icelanders or ''Íslendinga þættir'' focus on Icelanders, often relating the story of their travels abroad to the court of a Norwegian king. List of short tales: * '' Albani þáttr ok Sunnifu'' * '' Arnórs þáttr jarlaskálds'' * '' Auðunar þáttr vestfirzka'' * '' Bergbúa þáttr'' * '' Bolla þ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tumulus
A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus. Tumuli are often categorised according to their external apparent shape. In this respect, a long barrow is a long tumulus, usually constructed on top of several burials, such as passage graves. A round barrow is a round tumulus, also commonly constructed on top of burials. The internal structure and architecture of both long and round barrows have a broad range; the categorization only refers to the external apparent shape. The method of may involve a dolmen, a cist, a mortuary enclosure, a mortuary house, or a chamber tomb. Examples of barrows include Duggleby Howe and Maeshowe. Etymology The word ''tumulus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Royal Nordic Society Of Antiquaries
The Royal Nordic Society of Antiquaries (; ) was founded in Denmark on 28 January 1825 by among others Carl Christian Rafn and Rasmus Rask. The company's aim is to promote Norse literature, history and archaeology. The society was first royal on 9 May 1828. The Society admitted the first woman to the society in 1951; Anna Elsa Hornum was the second, recommended by Professor Johannes Brøndsted. The Society publishes ''Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie'' The Society has also published works by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, ''Ledetraad Nordic Oldkyndighed'' (1836), Carl Christian Rafn, ''Antiquitates Americanae'' (1837), ''konung skuggsjá (Kongespeilet)'' in Danish translation by Finnur Jónsson Finnur Jónsson (May 29, 1858 – March 30, 1934) was an Icelandic philologist and Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Copenhagen. He made extensive contributions to the study of Old Norse literature. Finnur Jónsson was born a ... (1926) and his ''Lexico ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Olaf
Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was 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 Lutheran and Anglican Communions. The saga of Olav Haraldsson and the legend of Olaf the Saint becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Åsta Gudbrandsdatter
Åsta Gudbrandsdatter (c. 975/980 – c. 1020/1030) was the mother of two Norwegian kings, Saint Olaf and Harald Hardrada. The primary source for the life of Åsta is Snorri Sturluson's saga Heimskringla, a 13th-century collection of tales about the lives of the Norwegian kings. In the chronicle, Åsta is described as "generous and high-minded" and as a keen political player and guiding influence on her royal husbands and children. Her parents were Gudbrand Kula and Ulfhild. Wife of Harald Grenske Åsta Gudbrandsdatter first appears in Snorri's 'Saga of King Olaf Tryggvason' as the wife of Harald Grenske (Grenski), ruler of Vestfold. In the summer of 994, although already married to Åsta, Harald traveled to the Baltic and proposed marriage to his foster-sister Sigrid. He had learned that her landholdings in Sweden were no less extensive than his own in Norway, and promised to abandon Åsta, who although "good and clever" was not as well-born as he was. Sigrid refuse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viken, Norway
Viken (Old Norse: Vík or Víkin), or Vika, was the historical name during the Viking Age and the High Middle Ages for an area of Scandinavia that originally surrounded the Oslofjord and included the coast of Bohuslän. Its definition changed over time, and from the Middle Ages, Viken included only Bohuslän. During the Viking Age, Viken was defined as the strait running between Norway and the northwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark. It is located in what is now southeastern Norway and the northwestern Swedish province of Bohuslän. During the Viking Age, Viken was the northernmost Danish province. Control over Viken shifted between Danish and Norwegian kings in the Middle Ages, and Denmark continued to claim Viken until 1241. '' Viken'' was also controversially chosen as a neologistic name for the administrative region consisting of a merger of the counties of Akershus, Buskerud, and Østfold. History The cultural hub is centred in Oslo, but the capital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olaf Tryggvasson
Olaf Tryggvason (960s – 9 September 1000) was King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson, king of Viken (Vingulmark, and Rånrike), and, according to later sagas, the great-grandson of Harald Fairhair, first King of Norway. He is numbered as Olaf I. Olaf was important in the conversion of the Norse to Christianity, but he did so forcibly within his own kingdom. He is said to have built the first Christian church in Norway in 995, and to have founded the city of Trondheim in 997. A statue dedicated to him is located in the city's central plaza. Historical information on Olaf is sparse. He is mentioned in some contemporary English sources, and some skaldic poems. The oldest narrative source mentioning him briefly is Adam of Bremen's ''Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' of ''circa'' 1070. In the 1190s, two Latin versions of ''"Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar"'' were written in Iceland, by Oddr Snorrason and Gunnlaugr Leifsson – these are now lost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harald Grenske
Harald Grenske (10th century) was a petty king in Vestfold in Norway. Harald Grenske was the son of Gudrød Bjørnsson. Gudrød is claimed to have been grandson of Harald I of Norway, Harald Fairhair and the king of Vestfold. Harald's cognomen ''Grenske'' is due to his being raised in the district of Grenland, Norway. When Harald was only 11 years old, his father was slain by the sons of Gunnhild Gormsdóttir (i.e. Harald II of Norway, Harald Greyhide and his brothers). Harald fled to Oppland and from there to Sweden, where he stayed with the powerful strongman Skagul Toste. They went on Viking expeditions together, principally within areas of the Baltic Sea. When the sons of Gunnhild had been banished, Harald Grenske followed Haakon Sigurdsson who ruled Norway as a vassal of the Danish king Harald Bluetooth. Harald became the king of Vestfold and Agder. He married Åsta Gudbrandsdatter, Åsta, the daughter of Gudbrand Kula. Harald subsequently abandoned Åsta to woo Sigrid the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hird
The hird (also named "De Håndgangne Menn" in Norwegian), in Scandinavian history, was originally an informal retinue of personal armed companions, hirdmen or housecarls. Over time, it came to mean not only the nucleus ('Guards') of the royal army but also a more formal royal court household. Etymology The term comes from Old Norse ''hirð'', (meaning Herd) again from either Old English ''hir(e)d'' 'household, family, retinue, court'See for instance, 'hirð' in Cleasby-Vigfusson, ''Icelandic-English Dictionary''online copy/ref> or perhaps the old German cognate ''heirat'' 'marriage', both of which can mean "body of men" or more directly linked to the term for hearthguard, or men of one's own home and hearth. History While the term is often used in Norse sagas and law codices, it is a medieval term – the sagas were primarily written down in the 12th century using the language of their own time. There is some uncertainty as to what the term replaced, although the term ''hlid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anecdote
An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Anecdotes may be real or fictional; the anecdotal digression is a common feature of literary works and even oral anecdotes typically involve subtle exaggeration and dramatic shape designed to entertain the listener. An anecdote is always presented as the recounting of a real incident involving actual people and usually in an identifiable place. In the words of Jürgen Hein, they exhibit "a special realism" and "a claimed historical dimension". Etymology and usage The word ''anecdote'' (in Greek: ἀνέκδοτον "unpublished", literally "not given out") comes from Procopius of Caesarea, the biographer of Emperor Justinian I (). Procopius produced a work entitled (''Anekdota'', variously translated as ''Unpublished Memoirs'' or as ''Secret History'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thing (assembly)
A thing, also known as a folkmoot, assembly, tribal council, and Thing (assembly)#Etymology, by other names, was a governing assembly in early Germanic peoples, Germanic society, made up of the free people of the community presided over by a lawspeaker. Things took place regularly, usually at prominent places accessible by travel. They provided legislative functions, as well as social events and trade opportunities. In modern usage, the meaning of this word in English and other languages has shifted to mean not just an assemblage of some sort but simply an object of any kind. Thingstead () or "thingstow" () is the English term for the location where a thing was held. Etymology The word appears in Old Norse, Old English, and modern Icelandic language, Icelandic as , in Middle English (as in modern English), Old Saxon, Old Dutch, and Old Frisian as (the difference between ''þing'' and ''thing'' is purely orthographical), in German language, German as , in Dutch language, Dut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
