The kingdom of Norway

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511496400.005

Chapter 4 - The kingdom of Norway

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 June 2009

Sverre Bagge and

Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide

Edited by

Nora Berend

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Sverre Bagge: Affiliation:
Prof. Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bergen
Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide: Affiliation:
Dr. Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bergen
Nora Berend: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

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Summary

BEFORE CHRISTIANITY: RELIGION AND POWER

The sources for the early history of Norway, including its Christianization, are relatively abundant, although most of them are late. It is therefore very often difficult to distinguish between reliable information and later inventions. This also applies to the information about pagan religion. Best known is the mythology, for which the most important source is the Elder Edda, a collection of twenty-nine pieces of pagan poems, ten of which deal with the gods, collected in written form around 1230 and preserved in an Icelandic manuscript from around 1270. The best known of these poems is Vọluspá, ‘the Volve's prophecies’, which deals with the creation of the world and its end. Other well-known writings in the collection include Hávamál, ‘the words of the High’, i.e. Odin, on how to live, and Skírnismál, which some scholars believe refers to a fertility cult. Further, the skaldic poetry, poems composed in praise of kings and chieftains, contains frequent allusions to the mythology.

There has been a long discussion on the date of the Eddic poems, but the majority of scholars believe that they have been preserved orally since the pagan period, or at least that the mythology contained in them goes back to this period. There is also some evidence to support this view, such as a quotation from the poem Hávamál in a skaldic stanza from the tenth century and from a Viking Age runic inscription in the Eddic metre.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy
Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' c.900–1200
, pp. 121 - 166

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511496400.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2007

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