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Holmgang
Holmgang (, , Danish language, Danish and , ) is a duel practiced by early medieval Scandinavians. It was a legally recognized way to settle disputes. The name ''holmgang'' (literally "holm-going") may derive from the combatants' dueling on a small island, or ''holm (island), holm'', as they do in the saga of Egill Skallagrímsson, alternatively figuratively in reference to an arena. At least in theory, anyone offended could challenge the other party to holmgang regardless of their differences in social status. This could be a matter of honor, ownership or property, demand of restitution or debt, legal disagreement or intention to help a wife or relative or avenge a friend. Holmgangs were fought 3–7 days after the challenge. If the person challenged did not turn up for the holmgang, the other man was considered just in his challenge. If the offended party did not turn up for the holmgang, they were deemed niðingr, and could have been sentenced to outlawry. In effect, if someo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holmgang (Anderson)
Holmgang (, , Danish and , ) is a duel practiced by early medieval Scandinavians. It was a legally recognized way to settle disputes. The name ''holmgang'' (literally "holm-going") may derive from the combatants' dueling on a small island, or ''holm'', as they do in the saga of Egill Skallagrímsson, alternatively figuratively in reference to an arena. At least in theory, anyone offended could challenge the other party to holmgang regardless of their differences in social status. This could be a matter of honor, ownership or property, demand of restitution or debt, legal disagreement or intention to help a wife or relative or avenge a friend. Holmgangs were fought 3–7 days after the challenge. If the person challenged did not turn up for the holmgang, the other man was considered just in his challenge. If the offended party did not turn up for the holmgang, they were deemed niðingr, and could have been sentenced to outlawry. In effect, if someone was unwilling or unable to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egill Skallagrímsson
Egil Skallagrímsson ( ; Modern Icelandic: ; 904 995) was a Viking Age war poet, sorcerer, berserker, and farmer.Thorsson, 3 He is known mainly as the anti-hero of '' Egil's Saga''. ''Egil's Saga'' historically narrates a period from approximately 850 to 1000 AD and is believed to have been written between 1220 and 1240 AD. Life Egil was born in Iceland, to Skalla-Grímr Kveldúlfsson and Bera Yngvarsdóttir; he was the grandson of Kveld-Úlfr (whose name means 'evening wolf'). Another of his ancestors, Hallbjörn, was Norwegian- Sami. Skalla-Grímr was a respected chieftain, and mortal enemy of King Harald Fairhair of Norway. He migrated to Iceland, settling at Borg where his father Kveld-Úlfr's coffin landed after being ritualistically set adrift as Skalla-Grímr's boat approached Iceland. Skalla-Grímr and wife Bera had two daughters, Sæunn and Þórunn, and two sons, Þorolfr and Egil. Egil composed his first poem at three years old. He exhibited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judicial Duel
Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the fight was proclaimed to be right. In essence, it was a judicially sanctioned duel. It remained in use throughout the European Middle Ages, gradually disappearing in the course of the 16th century. History Origins Unlike trial by ordeal in general, which is known to many cultures worldwide, trial by combat is known primarily from the customs of the Germanic peoples. The practice was "almost universal in Europe" according to medievalist Eric Jager. It was in use among the ancient Burgundians, Ripuarian Franks, Alamans, Lombards, and Swedes. It was unknown in Anglo-Saxon law and Roman law and it does not figure in the traditions of Middle Eastern antiquity such as the code of Hammurabi or the Torah. However, it is recorded in the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in the late 18th century in England, duels were more commonly fought using pistols. Fencing and shooting continued to coexist throughout the 19th century. The duel was based on a code of honor. Duels were fought not to kill the opponent but to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it. As such, the tradition of dueling was reserved for the male members of nobility; however, in the modern era, it extended to those of the upper classes. On occasion, duels with swords or pistols were fought between women. Legislation against dueling dates back to the medieval period. The Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215) outlawed duels and civil legislation in the Holy Roman Empire agains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Man Who Came Early
"The Man Who Came Early" is a science fiction short story by American author Poul Anderson. Similar in some respects to Mark Twain's '' A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'', Anderson's story sharply differs from Twain's in his treatment of the "primitive" society in which the time traveller finds himself and his assessment of a modern person's chances of survival in such a society. "The Man Who Came Early" was first published in the June 1956 issue of '' The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''. It was reprinted in ''The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sixth Series'' and the Anderson collection ''The Horn of Time''. In the 2010 collection ''Fragile and Distant Suns'',Amazon, Kindle this story is included under the name "Early Rise". Plot The story is presented in the first person, related by a Saga-Age Icelander named Ospak Ulfsson. During a violent thunderstorm, an unexplained phenomenon transports the titular 20th-century American US Army MP back in time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gunnlaugr Ormstunga
Gunnlaugr ormstunga (Old Norse: ; ; "serpent-tongue") was an Icelandic skald. His life is described in ''Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu'', where several of his poems are preserved. Gunnlaugr was born ca. 983. From an early age he proved himself impetuous, audacious, brave, and tough. He was also a skilled author of mostly derogatory poems, which earned him the cognomen ''ormstunga'' "serpent-tongue". After a quarrel with his father, Illugi, Gunnlaugr left his home at the age of twelve to stay for some time at Borg á Mýrum, Borg with Þorsteinn Egilsson, the son of Egill Skallagrímsson. There, he became acquainted with Þorsteinn's daughter, Helga the fair, reputedly the most beautiful woman on Iceland. Her hair was so ample that she could hide herself in it. When Gunnlaugr was eighteen, he went abroad. At that time, Helga became his fiancée, on the condition that she would wait no more than three years for Gunnlaugr. He visited the courts of Norway, Ireland, Orkney and Sweden an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saga
Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between Icelandic families. However, sagas' subject matter is diverse, including legendary saga, pre-Christian Scandinavian legends; Heilagramannasögur, saints and Biskupasögur, bishops both from Scandinavia and elsewhere; konungasögur, Scandinavian kings and Samtíðarsögur, contemporary Icelandic politics; and chivalric romances either translated from Continental European languages or composed locally. Sagas originated in the Middle Ages, but continued to be composed in the ensuing centuries. Whereas the dominant language of history-writing in medieval Europe was Latin language, Latin, sagas were composed in the vernacular: Old Norse and its later descendants, primarily Icelandic language, Icelandic. While sagas are written in prose, they s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berserker (Viking)
In the Old Norse written corpus, berserkers () were Scandinavian warriors who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English adjective '' berserk'' . Berserkers are attested to in numerous Old Norse sources. Etymology The Old Norse form of the word was (plural ), a compound word of ''ber'' and ''serkr''. The second part, ''serkr'', means (also found in Middle English, see ). The first part, ''ber'', on the other hand, can mean several things, but is assumed to have most likely meant , with the full word, ''berserkr'', meaning just , as in . Thirteenth-century historian Snorri Sturluson, an Icelander who lived around 200 years after berserkers were outlawed in Iceland (outlawed in 1015), on the other hand, interpreted the meaning as , that is to say that the warriors went into battle without armour, but that view has largely been abandoned, due to contradicting and lack of supporting evidence. Early beginnings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hrafn Önundarson
Hrafn (; ) is both a masculine byname, and personal name in Old Norse. The name translates into English as " raven". The Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ... form of the name is ''*Hræfn''. The name is paralleled by the English masculine given name '' Raven'', which is derived from the word "raven". The feminine form of this name is Hrefna. People with the name * Einar Hrafn Stefánsson, member of an Icelandic musical group Hatari * Hrafn Gunnlaugsson (born 1948), Icelandic film director * Hrafn Haengsson ( fl. 10th century), Icelandic jurist and goði * Hrafn Kristjánsson (born 1972), Icelandic basketball coach and player * Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson (born 9th century), first Norseman to deliberately sail to Iceland References {{given name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson ( ; November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until his death in 2001. Anderson also wrote historical novels. He won the Hugo Award seven times and the Nebula Award three times, and was nominated many more times for awards. Biography Poul Anderson was born on November 25, 1926, in Bristol, Pennsylvania to Danish parents. Soon after his birth, his father, Anton Anderson, relocated the family to Texas, where they lived for more than ten years. After Anton Anderson's death, his widow took the children to Denmark. The family returned to the United States after the beginning of World War II, settling eventually on a Minnesota farm. While he was an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, Anderson's first stories were published by editor John W. Campbell in the magazine ''Astounding Science Fiction'': "Tomorrow's Children" by Anderson and F. N. Waldrop in March 1947 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silverlock
''Silverlock'' is a novel by John Myers Myers published in 1949. The novel's settings and characters, aside from the protagonist, are all drawn from history, mythology, and other works of literature. In 1981, ''The Moon's Fire-Eating Daughter'' was published. Thematically related to ''Silverlock'', it was billed as a "sequel to ''Silverlock''" on the cover. Plot summary While on a sea voyage, a ship named '' Naglfar'' founders. One anhedonic passenger, A. Clarence Shandon ( M.B.A., Wisconsin), is washed ashore in a fictional land known as "The Commonwealth of Letters". He is befriended by Golias, who nicknames him "Silverlock" and who becomes his guide. Silverlock and Golias encounter figures from history, literature and mythology. Characters This is a partial listing of the characters, settings, and events that are drawn from history, and from works of literature and mythology. Some of the characters go by names other than those given below, thus the reader is expected to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
