Language And History In Viking Age England

This is the first ever book-length study for the nature and significance of the linguistic contact between speakers of Old Norse and Old English in Viking Age England. It investigates in a wide-ranging and systematic fashion a foundational but under-considered factor in the history and culture of the Vikings in England. The subject is important for late Anglo-Saxon and Viking Age history; for language and literature in the late Anglo-Saxon period; and for the history and development of the English language. The work's primary focus is on Anglo-Norse language contact, with a particular emphasis on the question of possible mutual intelligibility between speakers of the two languages; but since language contact is an emphatically sociolinguistic phenomenon, the work's methodology combines linguistic, literary and historical approaches, and draws for its evidence on texts in Old English, Old Norse and Anglo-Latin, and other forms of linguistic and onomastic material

This text is the first book-length study of the nature of the linguistic relations between speakers of Norse and English in Viking Age England, with particular focus on whether or not the two speech communities were mutually intelligible. The author examines the closeness of the historical evolution of the two communities and compares their phonological systems; analyzes the Scandinavianization of Old English place names and relates it to the process of dialect intelligibility; considers aspects of Anglo-Norse contact as reflected in three Anglo-Saxon sources; examines literary accounts and anecdotal evidence; and assesses future directions for further study of the Old Norse language in England. The text is derived from Townend's doctoral thesis. Distributed by The David Brown Book Company. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Drawing from recent archaeological and linguistic evidence, as well as more traditional literary and narrative sources, the author distinguishes between the initial phase of migrations in the ninth and tenth centuries, and the secondary period of settlement up to c. 1100 AD. He emphasizes, too, the differences in nature and intensity of the Viking impact on the societies that were slowly developing into the historic kingdoms of England and Scotland, and the more complex political structures of Wales and Ireland. Throughout the book, the effects of the Scandinavian invasions on Britain are set within the wider European context.

Follow an epic story of the Viking Age that traces the historical trail of an ancient piece of jewelry found in a Viking grave in England to its origins thousands of miles east in India. An acclaimed bioarchaeologist, Catrine Jarman has used cutting-edge forensic techniques to spark her investigation into the history of the Vikings who came to rest in British soil. By examining teeth that are now over one thousand years old, she can determine childhood diet—and thereby where a person was likely born. With radiocarbon dating, she can ascertain a death-date down to the range of a few years. And her research offers enlightening new visions of the roles of women and children in Viking culture. Three years ago, a Carnelian bead came into her temporary possession. River Kings sees her trace the path of this ancient piece of jewelry back to eighth-century Baghdad and India, discovering along the way that the Vikings’ route was far more varied than we might think—that with them came people from the Middle East, not just Scandinavia, and that the reason for this unexpected integration between the Eastern and Western worlds may well have been a slave trade running through the Silk Road, all the way to Britain. Told as a riveting history of the Vikings and the methods we use to understand them, this is a major reassessment of the fierce, often-mythologized voyagers of the North—and of the global medieval world as we know it.

A new narrative history of the Viking Age, interwoven with exploration of the physical remains and landscapes that the Vikings fashioned and walked: their rune-stones and ship burials, settlements and battlefields.

Why did the Vikings sail to England? Were they indiscriminate raiders, motivated solely by bloodlust and plunder? One narrative, the stereotypical one, might have it so. But locked away in the buried history of the British Isles are other, far richer and more nuanced, stories; and these hidden tales paint a picture very different from the ferocious pillagers of popular repute. Eleanor Parker here unlocks secrets that point to more complex motivations within the marauding army that in the late ninth century voyaged to the shores of eastern England in its sleek, dragon-prowed longships. Exploring legends from forgotten medieval texts, and across the varied Anglo-Saxon regions, she depicts Vikings who came not just to raid but also to settle personal feuds, intervene in English politics and find a place to call home. Native tales reveal the links to famous Vikings like Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons; Cnut; and Havelok the Dane. Each myth shows how the legacy of the newcomers can still be traced in landscape, place-names and local history. This book uncovers the remarkable degree to which England is Viking to its core.

Fra ca. år 800 til år 1066 var England utsatt for de sjøfarende skandinavenes, vikingenes, herjinger. De var imidlertid ikke bare vandaler, men også handelsmenn og nybyggere. Under denne perioden ble det engelske riket for første gang samlet under en leder og det anglosaksiske samfunnet gjennomgikk store endringer. Denne boka tar for seg det anglo-skandinaviske samfunnet - landbruksbosettinger og økonomi, fremveksten av byer, handel og utveksling, håndverk og industri, gravskikker og minnesmerker i form av steiner. Gjennomillustrert med fotos og strektegninger, hovedsakelig i svart/hvitt, men noen fotos i farger. Noen kart.

This text traces the language from its obscure Indo-European roots to its 21st-century position as the world's first language. It describes the history of English within the British Isles, its changing roles in different places, and its rise to global pre-eminence.