Eastern Europe in Icelandic Sagas

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.

Autorentext

JacksonTatjana N.:
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.

Inhalt

Introduction: Sources, Aims, ConventionsPart 1: Eastern Europe in the Old Norse WeltbildChapter 1: Austrhálfa on the "mental map" of medieval ScandinaviansChapter 2: Austrvegr and Other aust-place-namesChapter 3: Austmarr, "the Eastern Sea", the Baltic SeaChapter 4: Traversing Eastern EuropeChapter 5: East European riversChapter 6: Garðar/Garðaríki as a designation of Old Rus'Chapter 7: Hólmgarðr (Novgorod), and Kænugarðr (Kiev)Chapter 8: Aldeigja/Aldeigjuborg, "Old Ladoga"Chapter 9: "Hofuð garðar" in Hauksbók, and Some Other Old Russian TownsChapter 10: BjarmalandPart 2: Four Norwegian kings in Old Rus'Chapter 1: Óláfr TryggvasonChapter 2: Óláfr HaraldssonChapter 3: Magnús ÓláfssonChapter 4: Haraldr SigurðarsonBibliographyIndex