This volume gathers all older fuark inscriptions found in Denmark, Germany, England, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Bosnia, Rumania, Norway and Sweden. It contains essays on early runic writing, the historical and archaeological contexts of runic objects, and a new theory on the origin of runic writing. The book contains also a catalogue of the runic inscriptions found in the regions mentioned above. The catalogue gives datings, readings and interpretations, plus limited graphic, orthographic and linguistic analyses of the inscriptions from the above mentioned...

This work reveals the hitherto unrepresented relationship that developed between Scotland and Sweden during the second half of the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth centuries. Sweden's emergence as an independent Nordic, and indeed European, power required continual military and economic growth, which in turn necessitated a constant supply of manpower. The initially piecemeal migration of private individuals from Scotland bringing both martial and mercantile skills to Sweden gradually grew into an informal alliance, albeit officially sanctioned by the Swedes, based on personal...

This study offers a new model of political development for northern France through an analysis of the interrelationships between the counts of Boulogne and their neighbors in Flanders, Picardy, Normandy, and England. It also illuminates the little studied relations between less powerful counts and their neighboring territorial princes. Organized chronologically from the late ninth through mid-twelfth century, each chapter provides a political narrative and an analysis of the use of kinship and alliance (formal and informal) to govern and conduct politics. The final chapter examines the...

This book presents the fascinating story of Queen Margrete I and her rise to power in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Her political ambitions culminated in the founding of the Nordic Union in 1397, which had vital impact on the history of Scandinavia for the next centuries. The book analyses the most central sources and gives a vivid picture of medieval society in Denmark during the late Middle Ages. At the same time the book describes the character of this dynamic woman, who is considered as one of the most important rulers in the Middle Ages.
Only a very small part of the literature...

This volume deals with one of the most controversial issues in writings about early medieval history: the presence of Scandinavians, known as Rus, and their impact on Eastern Europe during the Viking Age. These studies give for the first time an extensive and detailed picture of the Norse population in the East by using, besides written narratives, a wide range of archaeological sources. The seven chapters survey the background, then depict the first Norse centres and sites of Norse colonists in the north-western Russia; further chapters contain information about the great number of...

The Popes and the Baltic Crusades examines the extension of the crusading idea from the Holy Land to the Baltic region. Highlighting the interplay between canon law, missionary ideas and politics, it shows how papal policy on the campaigns against the pagan peoples of north-eastern Europe developed from Pope Eugenius III's proclamation of a crusade against the Slavs in 1147 to the end of Innocent IV's pontificate in 1254. It also discusses the interaction between Rome and the princes and bishops of the Baltic region and demonstrates how these local leaders influenced papal crusading...

Focusing on print culture and links between propagandists, typographers, and northern Europe's merchant milieu, this book investigates dispersal and suppression of religious innovation in the 1520s and expands the interpretative scope for Reformation studies beyond national, political, or religious contexts.

This volume is a collection of 30 papers on the broad subject of the Scandinavian expansion westwards to Britain, Ireland and the North Atlantic, with a particular emphasis on settlement. The volume has been prepared in tribute to the work of Barbara E. Crawford on this subject, and to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the publication of her seminal book, Scandinavian Scotland. Reflecting Dr Crawford's interests, the papers cover a range of disciplines, and are arranged into four main sections: History and Cultural Contacts; The Church and the Cult of Saints; Archaeology, Material...

Medieval people viewed whales in complex and contradictory ways, from marvelous to monstrous to mundane, heaven-sent or hell-bent. Despite this, whales are conspicuous in their absence from most historical and archaeological dialogues on the Middle Ages. Drawing upon a wealth of legal, literary and material evidence, this work details the ways in which whales were sought out and scavenged at sea and shore, fought over in legal and physical battles, and prized for meat, bone and fuel. Using Old Norse sagas, laws and material culture, alongside comparative historical and ethnographic evidence,...

This book - inspired by historians like Fredric Cheyette, Stephen White and William Miller - applies a legal anthropological framework to Norwegian history. At the same time, it focuses on what happens when pre-state conflict patterns encounters a more stable royal power in the high middle ages. The author demonstrates how in the 12th and 13th century the king under strong clerical influence is depicted as just and omnipresent. However, a detailed survey of the king's conflicts shows that he to a substantial degree based his dominion on unpredictability and presence. The results presented in...