Historia Norwegie

Written during the second half of the 12th century, the Historia Norwegie presents a lively and Christianised account of Norwegian history, particularly of the 10th century.

This book is the first of four planned volumes on the Norwegian realm and its dependencies in the central Middle Ages. As with future volumes, the underlying theme of this book is the transformation of Norway and parts of the Norse world into a monarchic state in the 12th and 13th centuries. The collection provides a presentation of the Norse world, the Norse community, the 'Norgesvelde' (the Norwegian domination), along with highlights of geographical, political, and cultural aspects. (Series: ROSTRA Books Trondheim Studies in History - No. 3)

The fragmentary medieval chronicle,, is the oldest piece of historical writing from Norway, and probably our first specimen of Norwegian literature. It was composed in Latin in the second half of the twelfth century, perhaps in the Oslo area. Only the beginning of the work exists today, but it offers, among other things, a detailed report of a shamanic séance among the Sami as well as a unique early geographical description of Norway and the North Sea realm. Furthermore, we are presented with an early version of the Norwegian kings' genealogy, beginning with the mythical Yngling kings and ending, abruptly, with Olav Haraldsson's claim to the throne in 1015. This is the first critical edition of the Latin text since 1880, accompanied by a modern English translation by Peter Fisher. The introduction and full commentary in English take stock of previous scholarships and are new contributions to the interpretation of the text. The late Inger Ekrem (1938-2000) was working as a senior research fellow at the University of Oslo, Department of Classics. Her main publications belong within the field of 16th and 17th century Norwegian Latin literature. Lars Boje Mortensen, PhD, is a professor of Medieval Latin at the University of Bergen. He is the author of a book on the Lombard history of Paulus Diaconus, various editions and numerous articles on early and high medieval historiography and learning. Peter Fisher is a professor emeritus from Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge. He has published translations of Saxo Grammaticus' and Olaus Magnus'.

The Viking Age was a period of profound change in Scandinavia. As kingdoms were established, Christianity became the encompassing ideological and cosmological framework and towns were formed. This book examines a central backdrop to these changes: the economic transformation of West Scandinavia. With a focus on the development of intensive and organized use of woodlands and alpine regions and domestic raw materials, together with the increasing standardization of products intended for long-distance trade, the volume sheds light on the emergence of a strong interconnectedness between remote rural areas and central markets. Viking-Age Transformations explores the connection between legal and economic practice, as the rural economy and monetary system developed in conjunction with nascent state power and the legal system. Thematically, the book is organized into sections addressing the nature and extent of trade in both marginal and centralized areas; production and the social, legal and economic aspects of exploiting natural resources and distributing products; and the various markets and sites of trade and consumption. A theoretically informed and empirically grounded collection that reveals the manner in which relationships of production and consumption transformed Scandinavian society with their influence on the legal and fiscal division of the landscape, this volume will appeal to scholars of archaeology, the history of trade and Viking studies.

Inspired by transnational research on medieval state formation, this book presents a comprehensive study of the political incorporation and subsequent judicial and administrative integration of Iceland, the Faroes, Shetland, and Orkney, into the Norwegian realm c. 1195-1397.

In Iceland’s Relationship with Norway c.870 – c.1100: Memory, History and Identity, Ann-Marie Long reassesses the development of early Icelandic society and how it was memorialised, with particular attention given to the place of Norway in Icelandic cultural memory.

In this book a MacArthur Award-winning scholar argues for a radically new interpretation of the conversion of Scandinavia from paganism to Christianity in the early Middle Ages. Overturning the received narrative of Europe's military and religious conquest and colonization of the region, Anders Winroth contends that rather than acting as passive recipients, Scandinavians converted to Christianity because it was in individual chieftains' political, economic, and cultural interests to do so. Through a painstaking analysis and historical reconstruction of both archeological and literary sources, and drawing on scholarly work that has been unavailable in English, Winroth opens up new avenues for studying European ascendency and the expansion of Christianity in the medieval period.

In Vox regis: Royal Communication in High Medieval Norway, David Brégaint examines how the Norwegian monarchy gradually managed to infiltrate Norwegian society through the development of a communicative system during the High Middle Ages, from c. 1150 to c. 1300.