Scandinavian Scotland


Book Description

This study brings within its scope all those areas of present-day Scotland (and the Isle of Man) influenced by Scandinavian peoples, whether Norwegian, Danish or Irish-Norse, from the beginning of the Viking raids to the death of the great earl of Orkney, Thorfinn 'the Mighty' (c. 1065). A maritime realm with no territorial unity, this area ranges from the Orkney and Shetland Islands across northern Scotland and down the Hebrides to the Irish Sea, and it came under lasting, and in some areas permanent, influence from Viking raids and Norse settlement.




Vikings in Scotland


Book Description

1.Scotland Before the Vikings --2.Norwegian Background --3.Sources for Scandinavian Scotland --4.Regional Survey Part I: Northern Scotland --5.Regional Survey Part II: the West Highlands and Islands --6.Regional Survey Part III: South-West, Central, Eastern and Southern Scotland --7.Pagan Norse Graves Part I: Case Studies --8.Pagan Norse Graves Part II: Interpretation --9.Viking Period Settlements --10.Late Norse Settlements --11.Norse Economy --12.Silver and Gold --13.Earls and Bishops.




Scotland and Scandinavia, 800-1800


Book Description

Papers delivered at the first annual Mackie Symposium for historical study of Scotland's overseas links, held at the University of Aberdeen in September 1987.




The Norwegian Scots


Book Description

This study combines theoretical models drawn from folklore studies and anthropology to analyze the construction of cultural identity among the inhabitants of the Orkney Islands off the Northern Coast of Scotland. This work should appeal to scholars interested in anthropology, Scottish history, Scandinavian studies, ethnography, and folklore. by people in everyday interactions) in the process of creating and maintaining cultural identity in relation to the inhabitants of the Orkney Islands off the Northern Coast of Scotland. These narratives serve as the means by which a community negotiates and forms its self-identity and, therefore, provide a suitable window onto this cultural negotiation process. Combining symbolic interpretive theory from anthropology with performance theory from folklore, this analysis illuminates narrative as a cultural tool used to construct various identities, concepts of communality and community. This analysis, being directed towards the Orkney Islands, seeks to understand Orcadian identity in both its own perception of its separateness from mainland Scotland and the way in which it draws heavily on a sense of Scandinavian identity.




Scotland in Europe


Book Description

"If there is ocht in Scotland that’s worth ha’en / There is nae distance to which it’s unattached" – Hugh MacDiarmid A realignment of Scottish literary studies is long overdue. The present volume counters the relative neglect of comparative literature in Scotland by exploring the fortunes of Scottish writing in mainland Europe, and, conversely, the engagement of Scottish literary intellectuals with European texts. Most of the contributions draw on the online Bibliography of Scottish Literature in Translation. Together they demonstrate the richness of the creative dialogue, not only between writers, but also between musicians and visual artists when they turn their attention to literature. The contributors to this volume cover most of Europe, including the German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, France, Catalonia, Portugal, Italy, the Balkans, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Russia. All Scotland's major literary languages – Gaelic, Scots, English and Latin – are featured in a continent-wide labyrinth that will repay further exploration.




Scots-Scandinavian Links in Europe and America, 1550-1850


Book Description

During the 17th century, tens of thousands of Scots settled in Scandinavia, and a number of them would eventually become engaged as planters and merchants in the Danish colony of the Virgin Islands. Leaving no aspect of Scottish emigration to go unaddressed, David Dobson here identifies about 1,200 Scots who took up residence in Scandinavia and some of whose progeny made their way to the Americas.




West over Sea


Book Description

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 Culture and Settlement; Place-Names and Language. The combination provides a variety of new perspectives both on the Viking expansion and on Scandinavia's continued contacts across the North Sea in the post-Viking period. Contributors include: Lesley Abrams, Haki Antonsson, Beverley Ballin Smith, James Barrett, Paul Bibire, Nicholas Brooks, Dauvit Broun, Margaret Cormac, Neil Curtis, Clare Downham, Gillian Fellows-Jensen, Ian Fisher, Katherine Forsyth, Peder Gammeltoft, Sarah Jane Gibbon, Mark Hall, Hans Emil Liden, Christopher Lowe, Joanne McKenzie, Christopher Morris, Elizabeth Okasha, Elizabeth Ridel, Liv Schei, Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Brian Smith, Steffen Stumann Hansen, Frans Arne Stylegård, Simon Taylor, William Thomson, Gareth Williams, Doreen Waugh and Alex Woolf.




Sagas, Saints and Settlements


Book Description

This volume contains seven papers relating to Norse history and literature. Two cover issues of saga genre, two explore the relationship between sagas and medieval hagiography, and three consider aspects of the Norse settlement in Scotland from an interdisciplinary perspective. With contributions by Svanhildur Oskarsdottir, Phil Cardew, Haki Antonsson, Gareth Williams, Barbara Crawford and Simon Taylor.




Scandinavian Scotland


Book Description




An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland


Book Description

"My aim in it has been to convey a juster and less prejudiced notion than prevails at present respecting the Danish and Norwegian conquests." -Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae, An Account of the Danes and the Norwegians (1852) An Account of the Danes and the Norwegians in England, Scotland and Ireland (1852) by Jens Warsaae, was based on his research into the Scandinavian invasions of the European mainland. During the 10th century, the European mainland was invaded by Norse settlers from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, who intermarried with native tribes and came to be known as "Normans." While their influence on the history of France was significant, it was even stronger in England, which the Normans conquered in the 11th century. Warsaae's book, commissioned by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, was his attempt to revise the impressions that the 19th century British had of the effects of the Norman conquests on England. This replica of the original text is accompanied by numerous woodcuts.