tailieunhanh - The A to Z of the Vikings 30

The A to Z of the Vikings 30. This book provides a comprehensive work of reference for people interested in the Vikings, including entries on the main historical figures involved in this dramatic period, important battles and treaties, significant archaeological finds, and key works and sources of information on the period. It also summarizes the impact the Vikings had on the areas where they traveled and settled. There is a chronological table, detailed and annotated bibliographies for different themes and geographical locations, and an introduction discussing the major events and developments of the Viking age | 268 THORFINN THE MIGHTY SIGURDSSON paragraph of this saga describes the achievements of Thorfinn s descendants concluding that he was blest in his kin and that he had given the best account of the Vinland voyages. THORFINN THE MIGHTY SIGURDSSON ON Porfinnr inn riki SiguiOarsonr 1014 . Earl of Orkney Thorfinn was the grandson of the Scottish king Malcolm III Canmore and grew up in his court. As the relatively detailed treatment of his rule in Orkneyinga Saga suggests Thorfinn s rule was a significant period in the history of the earldom. As well as considerable territorial conquests in Scotland and the Hebrides Thorfinn s rule marked a new stage in the relationship between Orkney and Norway. From the time of Sigurd the Stout the earls had tended to look westward marrying into western noble families and concentrating their energies on conquest in the west. However Thorfinn married a Norwegian woman and maintained closer connections with the Norwegian court than previous earls of Orkney visiting the king three times. Thorfinn s career also combined traditional Viking activities with the role of a Christian ruler he raided in the British Isles served in Cnut I the Great s pingamannali3 visited the Imperial court made a pilgrimage to Rome and is credited with establishing the first fixed bishop s see in Orkney c. 1050 at Birsay. THORKELL THE TALL ON Porkell inn hdvi d. after 1023 . The son of Strut-Haraldr earl of the Danish island of Sjelland. Before his arrival in England Thorkell appears to have been one of the legendary Jomsvikings fighting against the Norwegians at Hjorungavagr and possibly also at Svold as part of a Danish-Swedish alliance. However Thorkell is best known as the leader of the immense raiding army that arrived at Sandwich in southeast England in August 1009. By 1011 the Scandinavian army had overrun East Anglia Essex Middlesex Oxfordshire Cambridgeshire Hertfordshire Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire half of Huntingdonshire and to the