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Memories of Viking Age Cultural Contact: England in the Íslendingasögur
- Edited by Joel T. Rosenthal, State University of New York, Stony Brook, Virginia Blanton, University of Missouri System
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- Book:
- Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 13 February 2024
- Print publication:
- 31 May 2023, pp 1-26
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- Chapter
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Summary
ENGLISH HISTORIES AND chronicles of the Viking Age (ca. 793–ca. 1066) are clear on the presence of Scandinavians on English shores. In these, Anglo-Scandinavian cultural interaction is usually characterized by conflict, defined by the actions of viking raiders and marauding Scandinavian armies, by their conquests and settlement in England's east and north. However, this is a one-sided perspective. There is no comparable Scandinavian record for the period. The Scandinavian cultures which contributed to the viking phenomenon left little record of how they self-identified or perceived their own actions. Nonetheless, it may be possible to reconstruct some sense of a Scandinavian perception of Viking Age cultural contact with England from later texts. Scandinavian literacy and the writing of the Scandinavian past flourished from the late-twelfth century, and Iceland was a locus for this activity. One corpus of texts which takes a particular interest in the events of the Viking Age is that of the Íslendingasögur (sagas of Icelanders). The Íslendingasögur comprise some forty-odd texts, most authored in the thirteenth century, all written in Old Norse-Icelandic vernacular, that relate the lives of Iceland's leading figures and families from the time that Scandinavian settlers arrived on the island ca. 870, through to the mid-eleventh century. While these are stories couched in literary conventions that make them difficult as historical sources, they nonetheless purport to be histories. Íslendingasögur narratives frequently intersect with historical events and figures of the Viking Age North Sea world, and this extends to England. Norwegians and Icelanders were, according to the Íslendingasögur, common visitors there, the corpus recording no fewer than thirty such journeys.
This study surveys Íslendingasögur references to England, categorizing the intent of the cultural contact they imply. Here, travel to England is rarely characterized as “viking,” but tends to be in aid of trade and commerce with, travel to, or settlement within, established communities. Where such activity does take on a martial aspect, as in the adventures of the skáld Egill Skallagrímsson, Bjǫrn Hítdoelakappi, and Gunnlaugr Ormstungu, the Icelanders usually take on a role in service to the English king, rather than as an antagonist or aggressor.
Passive and active components of neonatal innate immune defenses
- Matthew A. Firth, Patricia E. Shewen, Douglas C. Hodgins
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- Journal:
- Animal Health Research Reviews / Volume 6 / Issue 2 / December 2005
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 08 March 2007, pp. 143-158
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- Article
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Innate immune defenses are crucial for survival in the first days and weeks of life. At birth, newborns are confronted with a vast array of potentially pathogenic microorganisms that were not encountered in utero. At this age, cellular components of the adaptive immune system are in a naïve state and are slow to respond. Antibodies received from the dam are essential for defense, but represent a finite and dwindling resource. Innate components of the immune system detect pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) on microorganisms (and their products) by means of pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs). Soluble mediators of the innate system such as complement proteins, pentraxins, collectins, ficolins, defensins, lactoferrin, lysozyme etc. can bind to structures on pathogens, leading to agglutination, interference with receptor binding, opsonization, neutralization, direct membrane damage and recruitment of additional soluble and cellular elements through inflammation. Cell-associated receptors such as the Toll-like receptors (TLRs) can activate cells and coordinate responses (both innate and adaptive). In this paper, accumulated knowledge of the receptors, soluble and cellular elements that contribute to innate defenses of young animals is reviewed. Research interest in this area has been intermittent, and the literature varies in quantity and quality. It is hoped that documentation of the limitations of our knowledge base will lead to more extensive and enlightening studies.