Overview

Based on the material of the Old Norse Icelandic sources written down in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, this book demonstrates how medieval Scandinavians imagined Eastern Europe. It reconstructs the system of medieval Scandinavian perception of space in general, and the eastern part of the oecumene in particular. It also examines the unique information of these sources, of which the Russian chronicles were unaware: namely, the saga and skaldic poetry data concerning the visits of the four Norwegian kings to Old Rus in the late-tenth and mid-eleventh centuries.

Full Product Details

Author:   Tatjana N. Jackson (Researcher, Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences)
Publisher:   Arc Humanities Press
Imprint:   Arc Humanities Press
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9781641890267

ISBN 10:   1641890266
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   15 March 2019
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: Sources, Aims, Conventions Part 1: Eastern Europe in the Old Norse Weltbild Chapter 1: Austrhálfa on the “mental map” of medieval Scandinavians Chapter 2: Austrvegr and Other aust-place-names Chapter 3: Austmarr, “the Eastern Sea”, the Baltic Sea Chapter 4: Traversing Eastern Europe Chapter 5: East European rivers Chapter 6: Garðar/Garðaríki as a designation of Old Rus’ Chapter 7: Hólmgarðr (Novgorod), and Kænugarðr (Kiev) Chapter 8: Aldeigja/Aldeigjuborg, “Old Ladoga” Chapter 9: “Hǫfuð garðar” in Hauksbók, and Some Other Old Russian Towns Chapter 10: Bjarmaland Part 2: Four Norwegian kings in Old Rus’ Chapter 1: Óláfr Tryggvason Chapter 2: Óláfr Haraldsson Chapter 3: Magnús Óláfsson Chapter 4: Haraldr Sigurðarson Bibliography Index

Reviews

The Quellenwert of the Icelandic sagas has long aroused controversy among scholars, especially between historians and those specializing in philology or literature.[...] Fortunately for historians, Tatjana Jackson [...] endorses the more balanced position of T. M. Andersson, Gísli Sigurðsson and others concerning the interplay between the spoken and the written word, whereby writers of sagas drew upon both components. And she approaches the Old Norse Kings’ Sagas in light of Aron Gurevich’s dictum: it is “not a question of whether to use the sagas ..., but of how.” -- Jonathan Shepard * Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas / jgo.e-reviews 70, nos. 1-2 (2022): 222-224 *

Author Information

Tatjana N. Jackson is the leading Russian Scandinavianist and author of more than ten books and three hundred papers on Russian-Scandinavian relations of the Middle Ages.

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