Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- 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 11 Óláfr Tryggvason
- Chapter 12 Óláfr Haraldsson
- Chapter 13 Magnús Óláfsson
- Chapter 14 Haraldr Sigurðarson
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Part 2 - Four Norwegian Kings in Old Rus’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- 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 11 Óláfr Tryggvason
- Chapter 12 Óláfr Haraldsson
- Chapter 13 Magnús Óláfsson
- Chapter 14 Haraldr Sigurðarson
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
En, gramr— né frák fremra
friðskerði þér verða—
austr vast ár it næsta,
ǫrðuglyndr, í Gǫrðum.
(“And, resolute ruler, the following year
you were east in Garðar;
I never heard of ﹛a peace-diminisher﹜ [WARRIOR]
becoming more distinguished than you.”)
(Bǫlverkr Arnórsson, Drápa about Haraldr harðráði)This part of the book is dedicated to information preserved in the sagas and skaldic poems on the visits to Old Rus’ of four Norwegian kings— namely Óláfr Tryggvason in 977– 986 (chapter 11), Óláfr Haraldsson in 1029– 1030 (chapter 12), his son Magnús from 1029 until 1035 (chapter 13), and Haraldr Sigurðarson in the early 1030s and in 1044– 1045 (chapter 14).
The circumstances of their appearance in Rus’ are quite different. According to the sagas, Óláfr Tryggvason, at the age of nine, is rescued from Estonian captivity by his mother's brother who comes there to collect taxes for the Russian prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, ransoms the boy, and takes him to Hólmgarðr to the court of Prince Vladimir. Óláfr Haraldsson, after having been the king of Norway for fifteen years, flees from his political opponents to the Russian prince Yaroslav the Wise and his wife Ingigerðr. After one winter in Rus’, he decides to return to his own kingdom and try to regain his dominion in Norway, but he leaves his six-year-old son Magnús, with whom he has come to Rus’, in safe-keeping of the prince and his wife. Haraldr Sigurðarson, at the age of fifteen, flees to Rus’ after the Battle of Stiklastaðir, stays here for some time, leaves Rus’ for ten years and serves in the Varangian guard in Constantinople, comes back to Rus’, marries Yaroslav's daughter Elisabeth, and returns to his country to become the king of Norway.
All four Norwegian kings are seeking a short-term refuge in Rus’, and obtain it. They are welcomed by the Russian prince and his wife and are highly honoured and respected there. Óláfr Tryggvason and Magnús Óláfsson are brought up by the Russian prince (Vladimir and Yaroslav, respectively). Óláfr Tryggvason and Haraldr Sigurðarson occupy a high position in the Russian military service. All of them leave Rus’ for their own country in an attempt to gain (or regain) power in Norway.
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- Eastern Europe in Icelandic Sagas , pp. 115 - 116Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2019