The Viking Age and the Scandinavian Peace

Studia Maritima vol. 34, 2021

Þórarinn loftunga, an Icelandic poet, was famous for his service for Knútr in riki, the King of England and Denmark. The skald played an important role in events he described in his poetry. It mainly refers to the taking over of Norway by Knútr in 1028 and efforts to establish Knútr's son Sveinn in Norway in the early 1030s as a follower and heir of the king Óláfr Haraldsson whose status as saint was just about to rise 1. Knútr, as other rulers of that time, was eager to use skaldic poetry as one of the main channels of royal propaganda. That's why his court in England gathered a substantial number of skalds who were delivering their compositions praising the king and legitimising both his status and achievements 2. Þórarinn loftunga belonged to this group, being its important member. The present article is the second part of the threefold study on Þórarinn's poetry with each part devoted to a different skald's composition. As I have already noted in the first part, the main aim of my study is to contextualise Þórarinn's poetry as a whole and determine if it can be treated as a sophisticated insight not only into the politics of Knútr in riki (and his son Sveinn) but also the skald's own artistic input 1

Earl RÍ ognvaldr Brúsason 'was one of the handsomest of men, with a À ne head of golden hair, smooth as silk. At an early age he grew to be tall and strong, earning a great reputation for his shrewdness and courtesy . . .'. His uncle, Earl ÞorÀ nnr, 'grew to become a great chieftain. He was unusually tall and strong, an ugly looking man with a black head of hair, sharp features, a big nose and bushy eyebrows, a forceful man, greedy for fame and fortune. He did well in battle, for he was both a good tactician and full of courage.' 1 These two descriptions are typical of how earls are portrayed in Orkneyinga saga, the focus being on their appearance and personal abilities. The author of Orkneyinga saga usually depich only earls, and in this way underlines their importance and distinction. The earls were taller, stronger, more aggressive and smarter than other men in Orkney. It is self-evident that the descriptions of the earls' personal skills reÁ ect virtues that were meaningful in the power struggle in Orkney; otherwise they would not have been mentioned.

Moving Words in the Nordic middle ages: Tracing Literacies, Texts and Verbal Communities, 2019

Social Norms in Medieval Scandinavi, 2019

Beyond Medieval Europe publishes monographs and edited volumes that evoke medieval Europe's geographic, cultural, and religious diversity, while highlighting the interconnectivity of the entire region, understood in the broadest sense-from Dublin to Constantinople, Novgorod to Toledo. The individuals who inhabited this expansive territory built cities, cultures, kingdoms, and religions that impacted their locality and the world around them in manifold ways.

Social Norms in Medieval Scandinavia, 2019

Beyond Medieval Europe publishes monographs and edited volumes that evoke medieval Europe's geographic, cultural, and religious diversity, while highlighting the interconnectivity of the entire region, understood in the broadest sense-from Dublin to Constantinople, Novgorod to Toledo. The individuals who inhabited this expansive territory built cities, cultures, kingdoms, and religions that impacted their locality and the world around them in manifold ways.

In the North, the East and West meet. Festschrift for Jens Petter Nielsen / R.A. Myklebost and S. Bones, 2019

This paper deals with a known from the Icelandic sagas collision of the Russian-Norwegian relations of the mid-eleventh century, namely the marriage in the winter of 1044/45 between the future Norwegian king Haraldr inn harðráði (the Harsh Ruler) Sigurðarson (1046–1066) and the Russian princess Elizaveta (Ellisif of the sagas), daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, grand prince of Kiev (1016–1054). Marriage in the Middle Ages served as a means of linking families, as a basis for political alliances. And indeed, this marriage strengthened Russian-Norwegian ties, but it still had some other consequences: it led to a temporary alliance between Haraldr and a powerful Jarl Sveinn Úlfsson, the future Danish king Svend Estridsen (1047–1076). Grounds for the latter can be found in the phenomenon of mágsemd ‘affinity by marriage’ which is investigated in this paper.

Social Norms in Medieval Scandinavia, eds. Jakub Morawiec, Aleksandra Jochymek and Grzegorz Bartusik. Beyond Medieval Europe. Amsterdam: Arc Humanities Press (Arc), 1-15., 2019

Beyond Medieval Europe publishes monographs and edited volumes that evoke medieval Europe's geographic, cultural, and religious diversity, while highlighting the interconnectivity of the entire region, understood in the broadest sense-from Dublin to Constantinople, Novgorod to Toledo. The individuals who inhabited this expansive territory built cities, cultures, kingdoms, and religions that impacted their locality and the world around them in manifold ways.

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