Harold III Research Articles

Gård – kongsgård – bispegård: spor etter bosetning og makt på domkirkeplatået i Trondheim i jernalder og tidlig middelalder

This article describes and discusses archaeological traces of a ‘landscape of power’ on the cathedral plateau in Trondheim; in particular, traces of the saga-mentioned Viking-Age farm and structures from the early medieval period linked to emerging institutions of royal and ecclesiastical power. Remains of the first bishop's palace have been identified near the site of King Olav the Gentle’s Christ Church, as well as traces of the medieval royal residence that King Harald Hardrada reputedly established in the same area in the mid-11th century. Adopting a long-term perspective, the article describes the materialities of elite power networks and practices which formed this important place on the Nidarnes peninsula during the Norwegian Iron Age and the early medieval period and discusses them in the context of changes and developments in topography and social organisation.

Rowing in the Breca Episode from a Narrative Perspective

Rowing in the Breca Episode from a Narrative Perspective

Magnus Barefoot — the Last Viking King of Norway?

In common opinion, Harald Hardrada’s death in the battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 is perceived as a symbolic end of the Viking Age. However, that moment could be moved to 24 August 1103, when, after ten years of his reign in Norway, Harald’s grandson, Magnus dies in an ambush in Ulster. Some of Old Norse records that describe Magnus’s reign compare both rulers and depict Magnus as the true and determined follower of his grandfather. For that reason it is not surprising that the circumstances of Magnus’s death are often shown as the fullest manifestation of that picture, including both its positive and negative facets. The king of Norway appears to be deeply interested in making his reign perceived as a direct continuation of Harald Hadrada’s times. That tendency concerns not only his political actions in general, but also the area of propaganda. The latter was in turn dominated by skalds composing for the king.

The saga of King Harald Hardrada and Viking chieftains with injured necks.

The saga of King Harald Hardrada and Viking chieftains with injured necks.

English history and Norman legend in the Icelandic saga of Edward the Confessor

In this, my third article on the sources of Saga Játvarðar konungs hins helga, the fourteenth-century Icelandic saga of Edward the Confessor, I hope to cover all the material that I have not dealt with previously. In my first article, on the hagiographical sources, I suggested that the saga writer used two specific texts, a service book containing the lections for St Edward's day and the Speculum Historiale of Vincent of Beauvais. In my second one, on the saga's version of the Anglo-Saxon emigration to Byzantium, I showed that this account was very closely related to the one in the anonymous and unpublished Chronicon Laudunensis. Here I wish to show the full extent of the saga's debt to CL. In doing this I also need to show how the saga writer used Scandinavian sources, a range of material that he acknowledges when he refers us to what is said í æfi Noregskonunga. The specific saga which he has utilized most fully is that of Harald Hardrada, Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar. Since he was compiling JS in the fourteenth century, HS would have been available to him in a number of recensions. Extant ones include the early-thirteenth-century Msk and Fsk, both of which may have been utilized by Snorri Sturluson in Hkr later in that century. Some of the later manuscripts of Hkr, such as Eirspennill, include interpolations and there are compilations, such as the fourteenth-century Hulda, which combine material from Msk and Hkr. The evidence indicates that the compiler of JS knew HS in more than one of these redactions.

Folklore and History

IN choosing this subject, I found I was following in the footsteps of a former President, Dr Margaret Murray, who gave an address on 'Folklore in History' in I955. It has been instructive to look back to this. Dr Murray found ingenious ways to explain folklore traditions by fitting them into a simple historical framework, as when here she suggests that stories of West Country giants might have originated in early invasions of peoples from south-eastern Europe. Her ideas always merit consideration, and we must accept her dictum: Folklore can become history and history folklore (i), while we can admire also the energy and perception which she showed in pursuit of evidence from the past. However in her approach to history she also shows those tendencies for which her work has been criticized; in her dedicated pursuit of a pattern she came increasingly to select what fitted it and to close her mind to other possibilities and complications. As serious folklorists, we have to consider whether there are discernible rules governing this two-way traffic between history and folklore, and where one may go wrong, 'ignoring date-time for dream-time' as a recent review of yet another credulous book on witchcraft put it (z). Today I want to discuss some different approaches to the subject made since 1955, basing my selection primarily on work which has appeared in our own journal. I shall be considering in particular Heroes and Heroines, Tyrants and Benefactors, Rebels and Messianic Rulers, and in general, the historic past as represented in folklore. First, let us pause to think what kind of persons attract to themselves legends, folktales and traditions, many of considerable antiquity, after their lives are over. I might mention for instance Charlemagne, Harald Hardradi, Francis Drake, Mary Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell, Bonny Prince Charlie, Dick Turpin and Nell Gwyn. What do these possess in common? Strong per-

The Later History of the Varangian Guard: Some Notes

The famous Varangian corps of mercenary soldiers in the service of the emperors of Byzantium is well known in its earlier days to have been recruited from the Scandinavian north. Forging their way from their own inhospitable lands the Northmen, first of all from Sweden, reached the Volga and the lands even to. the south of the Caspian; later by the ‘East Way’, called also the ‘Varangian Way’, they came down through Russia by way of the Dnieper and the Black Sea to Constantinople, first as pirates, then as traders, and finally as the most trusted guards of the imperial person. Later again they ventured on the all-sea route, the ‘West Way’, and also opened a path across Europe, either over the Alps or by way of Provence, and so through Italy: this was the ‘Southern Way’, otherwise called the ‘Way by Rome’ But in the eleventh century, in the first half of which Harald Hardrada, the most famous of all the Varangians, was in the imperial service, there was a certain change; recruits began to come increasingly from England.The first actual mention of the English name seems to be in a bull issued by the Emperor Alexios in 1088 to Christodoulos, the Abbot of the Monastery on Patmos.

Northmen of Adventure: A Survey of the Exploits of Dominant Northmen from the Earliest Times to the Norman Conquest

NORTHMEN OF ADVENTURE: a survey of the exploits of dominant Northmen from the earliest times to the Norman Conquest. By CHARLES MARSHALL SMITH. London: Longmans, Green & Co. I932. 9 x 57' inches; viii +390 pages; illustrations and sketch-maps. i6s Interest in the history of the Vikings has recently quickened, partly, no doubt, from the revival of theories of Nordic superiority. Kendrick's 'History of the Vikings' is the most authoritative and comprehensive of recent works, with which Mr. Smith does not attempt to compete. His book is intended for the general reader: he has accordingly drawn largely upon the Sagas for his story of the Northmen down to the Norman Conquest. He appears to be well acquainted with the literature of the period, and to give a fair summary of facts and opinions. The narrative ranges from Novgorod and Constantinople to Greenland and Labrador, and many striking characters, from the mythical Odin to Harald Hardrada, appear in it. Mr. Smith is so anxious to assert the superiority of the Northmen that he overworks the epithet dominant. Whatever the cause, the Vikings were in the main raiders, self reliant and courageous no doubt; it was only when fused with other peoples that they reached a high cultural standard. The author has concentrated upon Viking deeds of arms rather than upon the economic influences of their constant voyaging. G. R. C.