Religious and Cultural Boundaries between Vikings and Irish: The Evidence of Conversion (original) (raw)
Related papers
Using word choice in medieval annals, it is possible to discern changes in native Irish attitudes towards Scandinavian raiders as they gradually settled in Ireland. In the early medieval Annals of the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster, among others, references to the Vikings clearly shift from the Latin gentilibus to the Gaelic finn/dubhgallaibh, and for a single referent there is a clear change from 'heathen' and 'marauder' to the simple 'foreigner' in both languages. An examination of two different groups of Scandinavians in Dublin affirms the intentionality in these changes: historically, one was less violent and more easily assimilated than the other, which the wording reflects.
The Last European Barbarians: The Vikings
The Viking Age in European history lasted for about three hundred years, from just before 800 to 1066 or so. This was a period when Scandinavian pirates regularly attacked Europe, arriving from the North on their fast ships. Viking-Age Europeans suffered greatly under this last major onslaught of foreign barbarians. The Vikings plundered and robbed, Europeans were hauled off into slavery, killed, and tortured by the Vikings.
2001
This compilation of 13 papers by scholars from Ireland, England and Denmark, consider the extent and nature of Viking influence in Ireland. Created in close association with exhibitions held at the National Musem of Ireland in 1998-99 and at the National Ship Museum in Roskilde in 2001, the papers discuss aspects of religion, art, literature and placenames, towns and society, drawing together thoughts on the exchange of culture and ideas in Viking Age Ireland and the extent to which existing identities were maintained, lost or assimilated.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Portrayals of Vikings in “The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland"
The 'Fragmentary Annals of Ireland' contains a lively pseudo-historical narrative which has been dated to the eleventh century. I explore how the portrayals of different groups of vikings in this text were engineered to preserve and enhance the reputation of its Irish royal hero: Cerball of Osraige (r. 842-888). This study highlights how ninth-century history was re-written to suit eleventh-century political circumstances. I also analyse the structure of chronicle, and question how it has influenced historians' perceptions concerning the identities of different vikinggroups in Ireland.
Between the 8th and 11th centuries, the Vikings surged from their Scandinavian homelands to trade, raid and invade along the coasts of Europe. Their reach stretched from Newfoundland (Canada) to Baghdad (Syria); their battles were as far-flung as Africa and the Arctic. Were they great seafarers or desperate farmers, noble heathens or oafish pirates: the last pagans or the first of the modern Europeans, being the ancestors of their admirable modern descendants? This book puts medieval chronicles, Norse sagas and Muslim accounts alongside more recent research into ritual magic, genetic profiling and climatology. It includes biographical sketches of some of the most famous Vikings, from Erik Bloodaxe to Saint Olaf, King Canute to Leif the Lucky. It explains why so many Icelandic settlers had Irish names; how the Norsemen took over Normandy (and then conquered England); and how the last Viking colony was destroyed by English raiders.
What was the nature of the Viking raids on Irish church settlements during the first Viking Age?
2020
When the Vikings crossed the treacherous Irish Sea and first came into contact with the Irish Christian people, it was inevitable the initial reaction was hostility towards these heathen foreigners who appeared innately violent. However, Ireland was a country deeply divided with feuding kingdoms battling for territorial gains and regional supremacy. The Church in Ireland during the first Viking Age was not only a mediator of salvation and a vehicle of culture, but also an instrument of political rule and secular wealth. The Viking marauders who ravaged and pillaged the Irish church settlements and monasteries, with particular ferocity during the 830s and 840s, were mirroring a trait which was already rife within the Irish communities; and indeed, this dissertation will discuss whether some of the attacks during this period were Irish–Norse alliances. Furthermore, within sixty years of the first raid on Rechru in 795, there was political acceptance of the Vikings by many Irish leaders. As the Vikings became deeply embroiled in Irish secular politics, as both mercenaries and stakeholders, I will explore how their motivations for the church raids evolved during the first Viking Age from plundering, captive–taking and intimidation to more complex political machinations.