Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age

The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse

By: Judith Jesch

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Hardcover | 14 June 2001

At a Glance

Hardcover
346 Pages

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23.39 x 15.6 x 2.06

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A critical survey of the vocabulary of Viking ships and their crews, of fleets and sailing and battles at sea, based on the runic and skaldic evidence from c.950-1100, and studied within the context of Viking activity in the period.

The Vikings were the master mariners and ship-builders of the middle ages: their success depended on these skills. Spectacular archaeological finds of whole or partial ships, from burial mounds or dredged from harbours, continue to give new and exciting evidence of their practical craftsmanship and urge to seek new shores. The nautical vocabulary of the Viking Age, however, has been surprisingly neglected - the last comprehensive study was published in 1912 and was heavily dependent on post-Viking Age sources.
Far better contemporary sources from the later Viking Age are available to document the activities of men and their uses of ships from c.950-1100, and Judith Jesch undertakes in this book the first systematic and comparative study of such evidence. The core is a critical survey of the vocabulary of ships and their crews, of fleets and sailing and battles at sea, based on runic inscriptions and skaldic evidence from c.950-1100. This nautical vocabulary is studied within the larger context of "viking" activity in this period: what that activity was and where it took place, its social and military aspects, and its impact ondevelopments in the nature of kingship in Scandinavia.

JUDITH JESCH is Reader in Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham, and author of Women in the Viking Age.

Industry Reviews

A timely and impressive work, which will be indispensable to all students of Viking Age history and literature. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW [Eric Christiansen]

An excellent survey, thoroughgoing, erudite, most carefully produced, and very much up-to-date. SPECULUM

Thorough and lucid... an important contribution to Viking studies... As a book to read from cover to cover it is illuminating and enjoyable; as a reference work for repeated use it will prove invaluable. SAGA-BOOK

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List of figures
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: Rocks and Rhymes	p. 1
The Karlevi stone	p. 1
Runic inscriptions, skaldic verse and the late Viking Age	p. 6
Literacy and orality	p. 9
The runic corpus	p. 12
The skaldic corpus	p. 15
Semantic study of skaldic verse and runic inscriptions	p. 33
Sources and conventions	p. 39
Ships and men in the late Viking Age	p. 42
Viking Activities	p. 44
Vikings	p. 44
Death and war	p. 57
Trade	p. 63
Pilgrimage	p. 66
Viking Destinations	p. 69
'East' and 'west'	p. 69
The western route	p. 70
The European continent and further south	p. 80
The eastern route	p. 89
Scandinavia	p. 107
Ships and Sailing	p. 119
Words for 'ship'	p. 120
Names of ships	p. 136
The ship and its parts	p. 137
In harbour and on land	p. 166
The vocabulary of sailing	p. 171
The Crew, the Fleet and Battles at Sea	p. 180
Manning a ship	p. 180
The fleet and the troop	p. 187
Battles at sea	p. 203
Group and Ethos in War and Trade	p. 216
The group and its vocabulary	p. 216
The ideology of battle	p. 243
The symbolism of battle: ravens and banners	p. 252
Murder and betrayal	p. 254
Treachery and politics	p. 261
Epilogue: Kings and Ships	p. 266
From vikings to kings	p. 266
Royal and other ships in the eleventh century	p. 269
Works cited	p. 277
The runic corpus	p. 295
The skaldic corpus	p. 301
Index of words and names	p. 317
General index	p. 323
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age

The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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