In
Norse legend, Valland is the name of the part of Europe which is inhabited by
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
and
Romance peoples. The element ''Val-'' is derived from *''
Walhaz
*''Walhaz'' is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic word meaning 'foreigner', or more specifically 'Roman', 'Romance-speaker' or '(romanized) Celt', and survives in the English words of 'Wales/ Welsh' and 'Cornwall'. The term was used by the ancien ...
'', a Proto-Germanic word whose descendants were used in various Germanic languages to refer to the inhabitants of the
Western Roman Empire
In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...
.
Mythological context
In the genealogy section of ''
Flateyjarbók
''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey, Breiðafjörður, Flatey") is an important medieval Iceland, Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and p ...
'', there are two kings of Valland named Auði and
Kjárr, who may have been a late reflection of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
and the
Roman Emperors in
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
:
[Anderson, Carl Edlund. (1999). ''Formation and Resolution of Ideological Contrast in the Early History of Scandinavia''. Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic (Faculty of English). p. 44.](_blank)
Kjárr and his daughter
Ölrún also appear in the ''
Völundarkviða'', where she is a
Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become ('single fighters' or 'once fighters').Orchard (1997:36) and Li ...
who marries the hero
Egil:
It is mentioned in
Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra that Hringr, the king of Denmark and son of Sköld dagsson, was married to Sigrid, who was the daughter of Vilhálm - or William - king of Valland.
Legendary and historical context
In the ''
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 (117 ...
'' by
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
, Valland is mentioned several times as the
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
name for
Gaul
Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
. It was the country where
Rollo
Rollo (, ''Rolloun''; ; ; – 933), also known with his epithet, Rollo "the Walker", was a Viking who, as Count of Rouen, became the first ruler of Normandy, a region in today's northern France. He was prominent among the Vikings who Siege o ...
carved out
Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
:
:Rolf Ganger went afterwards over sea to the West to the Hebrides, or Sudreys; and at last farther west to Valland, where he plundered and subdued for himself a great earldom, which he peopled with Northmen, from which that land is called Normandy.
[{{Cite web , url=http://www.northvegr.org/lore/heim/003_05.php , title=Harald Harfager's Saga at Northvegr. , access-date=2007-01-27 , archive-date=2007-09-30 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930210618/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/heim/003_05.php , url-status=dead ]
In ''
Hrómundar saga Gripssonar'', the hero Hrómund slays an undead witch-king named Þráinn who had been the king of Valland.
See also
*
Blakumen
''Blakumen'' or ''Blökumenn'' were a people mentioned in Scandinavian sources dating from the 11th through 13th centuries. The name of their land, ''Blokumannaland'', has also been preserved. Victor Spinei, Florin Curta, Florin Pintescu and ot ...
Notes and references
Saga locations
Viking Age populated places
Exonyms