EUH 4185 – Weekly Topics

[01/14] Introduction. Who were the Vikings? Vikings in European history [Brink 4-7]; visit the exhibit “Vikings: Beyond the Legend”

[01/16] Myths about the Vikings [McDonald 473-480 and 495-498]; read “Eight Viking Myths Busted” and Brian McMahon’s “The Vikings: myths and misconceptions“

Sources

[01/21] Written sources and associated problems; archaeology and numismatics [

Brink

350-367, 281-290, and 629-638;

Sawyer

1-26]; for an example of Runic inscription, see

the rune stone U 194 from Upplands Väsby (Sweden)

and the

Jelling rune stones (Denmark)

; browse the

Life of Anskar

, see a presentation of

Snorri Sturluson’s Chronicle of the Kings of Norway

; browse Saxo Grammaticus’

Gesta Danorum

; see the five

Skuldelev ships

and visit Lejre, with the

hall

of a Scandinavian chieftain

Geography and landscape

[01/23] Landscape, resources, communications, and people [

Sawyer

27-48;

Brink

57-66 and 274-280;

McDonald

2-15]; see shaded relief maps of

Norway

Sweden

Denmark

, and

Iceland

; see also pictures of a

fjord

and of the

Hekla

volcano in Iceland

[01/28] People

The ninth century

[01/30] Viking raids: why and how [

Sawyer

51-54;

Brink

193-203;

McDonald

204-210 and 224-239]; see

Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne

, Charlemagne’s

letters

and

capitularies

and

Agobard of Lyon

on the division of the Empire; read a short biography of

Alcuin

; see also

the on-line map

and an example of

Carolingian script

; see also a Carolingian coin (a

penny of Charlemagne

), the bridge at

Pont de l’Arche

, the ringfort at

Camp de Péran

, the two

tortoise brooches

, such as found at Pîtres; see also maps of the

843 division of the Empire

and of the

Viking raids

[02/04] England and Ireland [Brink 341-349; McDonald 246-263]; see the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (on the first Viking raid on Wessex) and the Annals of Ulster, liasten to a podcast on the Orkneyinga saga, and the Old English inscription in the Codex Aureus mentioning earldorman Aelfred; visit Jarlshof, Balladoole, Repton, and Dublin; see a brief presentation of Alfred’s Jewel and a picture of the Cross of the Scriptures at Clonmacnoise; see also on-line maps of the ninth- and tenth-century Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and of ninth-century Ireland

Vikings in the West and in the East

[02/04]

In-class assignment #1

. Iceland and Greenland [

Brink

562-570;

McDonald

306-307 and 311-321]; see a brief

history

and a

map

of the Norse settlement in Greenland; see a plan of the

Brattahlid settlement

and the

house

said to have been that of Erik the Red; see also a

map of Iceland

[02/11] Viking ships and eastern trade [

Brink

170-192;

McDonald

188-189]; see an example of

clinker construction

and a depiction of a Viking priare on the

Hejnum stone

; see also the Skuldelev ships (nos.

, and

) and the

Krampmacken replica

of a Viking ship that travelled from the Baltic to the Black Sea

[02/13] The Rus’ Vikings [Brink 543-561; McDonald 277-294]; see the Russian Primary Chronicle and a shaded relief map of Russia

The tenth century

[02/18] Denmark under the Jelling dynasty [Sawyer 54-57; Brink 652-663; McDonald 425-429]; see the Jelling mounds and church; visit Trelleborg and Fyrkat; see a map and an aerial photograph of the Danevirke

[02/20] Danelaw [Brink 375-384; McDonald 246-252 and 429-431]; visit the Jorvik Viking Center in York; see presentations of the Cuerdale hoard, the Gosforth cross, and the Brompton hogbacks; see the Anglo-Saxon poem about the Battle of Maldon; see also an example of Aethelred’s pennies of the small cross type

Second Viking Age

[02/25] In-class assignment #2. British Isles [Brink 391-438; McDonald 267-268 and 452-459]; see the Braddan and Kirk Andreas crosses; read about the Viking-Age Isle of Man; visit Clonmacnoise with its monastic towers; read about Viking-Age Dublin, Wexford and Waterford, as well as about the Viking cemeteries excavated in Kilmainham and Islandbridge; see a biographical note for Olaf Cuarán, king of Dublin; visit the archaeological site at Dublin-Temple Bar; see examples of Ringerike and Urnes ornamental styles; see the Cross of Cong and the Clonmacnoise crozier

[02/27] Iceland, Greenland, America [Brink 571-617; McDonald 322-330]; see the Brattahlid settlement; visit L’Anse aux Meadows (see the smithy found on the site) and the Goddard site in Maine that produced a coin of King Olaf Kyrre; see two pages of the Jonsbok manuscript of the Grágás

[03/04] Kievan Rus’ [Brink 496-542; McDonald 294-304]

Viking society

[03/06] Written sources and archaeology [Brink 11-22 and 49-56]; read Ibn Fadlan’s account of a Rus’ ship burial (Risalat); see the rune stone from the island of Berezan’ mentioning a félag

[03/11] Kings and royal retinues [Sawyer 86-89 and 92-94; McDonald 28-37, 157-158, and 434-444]; see one of the mounds excavated at Borre (Norway) and some artifacts found within the great hall at Slöinge; see the great halls found at Borg (Lofoten Islands, Norway) and Lejre (Sjaelland, Denmark; see also a view of the reconstructed interior); read the Life of Anskar, ch. 26 on the power of the Svea kings

Before the conversion to Christianity

[03/14] Paganism [Brink 235-273; McDonald 65-74 and 173-177]; see the Stora Hammars rune stone, with a depiction of a human sacrifice to Odin; see pictures of Hemlanden, the main cemetery of Birka, and of Lindholm Hø je in Denmark

[03/25] Mythology [Brink 212-234 and 291-323; McDonald 44-65 and 138-139]; read Völuspá

Conversion to Christianity

[03/27] Early attempts. Denmark and Iceland [

Sawyer

57-58 and 100-108;

Brink

621-628;

McDonald

368-389 and 398-400]; see the cathedrals in

Roskilde

and

Trondheim

; see examples of stave churches from

Hopperstad

Urnes

, and

Borgund ;

see another account of the conversion of Iceland in

Njal’s Saga

[04/01] Rus’; see an

icon of SS. Boris and Gleb

and read the account of their

passion

After the Viking Age

[04/03]

In-class assignment #3

. Native saints: St. Olav, St. Knud, St. Erik, and St. Birgitta (Bridget) [

Sawyer

214-232;

McDonald

403-404]; see the

St. Olav frontal

and visit the

Stiklestad National Culture Center

; visit the

Uppsala Cathedral

, read St. Bridget’s

Revelations to the Pope

, and visit the

Vadstena Abbey

[04/08] The Danish empire and the post-Viking Middle Ages [

Sawyer

57-71;

Brink

665-667]; see a portrait of

Valdemar the Great

on one of his coins and a Romantic version of the story about the

Dannebrog

at the battle at Lyndanis (1219); visit

Tallinn, ca. 1300

, the

Kalmar castle

, the medieval city of

Abo (Turku)

, and the

Vyborg (Viipuri)

castle; read a short biography of

Alexander Nevsky

Land and kingdom, trade and towns

[04/10] Landowners and peasants; family and inheritance; law, kings and

things

[

Sawyer

80-85, 89-92, 129-142 and 166-87;

Brink

67-82;

McDonald

18-28]; see the itinerary of the

Eriksgata

, ca. 1200; visit the

Kronborg Castle

; learn more about the Danish

Folketing

, the Norwegian

Storting

, and the

Sameting

in Sweden

[04/15] Church organization; trading centers and towns [Sawyer 108-123 and 144-165; Brink 83-149]; see images of the Benedictine Selja Abbey and the Cistercian Hoved ø ya Abbey in ruins; visit the church of the Augustinian chapter in Vestervig and the Cistercian abbey at Alvastra

Scandinavian women[

[04/17] Before conversion [Sawyer 188-196; McDonald 96-104 and 111-120]; see the ship in which the Viking-age woman was buried in Oseberg (Norway)

[04/22] In-class assignment #4. After conversion; Valkyries and the myth of the “shield maiden” [Sawyer 197-213; McDonald 95-96 and 480-484]; watch Éowyn of Rohan fighting like a man and listen to a particularly good version of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries“; see the Hollywood version of Viking history in Eastern Europe and of Viking-Muslim cooperation and Goscinny and Uderzo‘s version of a Viking raid