Anglo-Saxon Era
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Anglo-Saxon Era’
Snorro Sturluson records some of the miracles attributed to Olaf II, King of Norway, after Englishman Bishop Grimkell declared him a saint.
King Olaf II Haraldsson (?995-1030) ruled Norway from 1015 to 1028. A year after Olaf died in the Battle of Stiklestad on July 29th, 1030, Grimkell, English-born Bishop of Nidaros (Trondheim), glorified him as a saint. Here, Snorro Sturluson records some of the miracles that were reported at Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, St Olaf’s shrine, where building began in 1070.
Magnus had just reasserted Norway’s authority over The Isles and Man, when he stumbled into a party of Normans harassing the King of Gwynedd.
In 1098, Magnus III ‘Barelegs’, King of Norway, boldly reasserted Norway’s authority over the Isles and Man, a realm of islands around Scotland’s coastline which the Vikings had dominated for over two centuries. Pleased with his progress, Magnus sailed on south to Anglesey, where he stumbled upon a party of Normans celebrating victory over Gruffudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd.
Barely a generation after Harald Hardrada narrowly missed out on taking the English crown, his grandson Magnus re-asserted Norway’s authority over The Isles and Man.
Vikings increasingly dominated the northern coasts of the British Isles after King Harald Fairhair united Norway’s petty kingdoms in 872, at the Battle of Hafrsfjord. After Godred Crovan, lord of The Isles and Man, died in 1095 his successor Ingimundr was assassinated, and King Magnus III ‘Barelegs’, who had chosen him, was not pleased. In 1098, Magnus set out from Trondheim with a large fleet.
When the angels rebelled against their Maker, they demanded a kingdom of their own in a land without him — and he gave them what they wanted.
In the Anglo-Saxon poem Genesis, we have heard how God created angels to serve him in glory, and how one — dearly beloved, and the mightiest — roused others to bring war against their Maker, craving thrones and servants of their own. The rebels were thrust forth from heaven, but worse awaited them: for a weak and inferior creature called Man was to take their place.
After winning the English crown at the Battle of Hastings, William of Normandy ensured everyone understood what kind of man their new King was.
Edward Freeman — Liberal politician, Balkan nationalist, and Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford — was a man of vigorous (and at times objectionable) opinions, but in the following passage he puts that passion to good use. He casts an eye for us upon the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the day when William of Normandy seized the English crown from Harold Godwinson.
In the days of Henry II, relations with our cross-Channel neighbours were fractious, but we were fast friends with the people of Norway.
Charles Isaac Elton, QC (1839-1900) was a distinguished barrister, antiquary and Somersetshire MP. Following a tour of Norway in 1862-3, he recorded some of his experiences in a little traveller’s guide, Norway, the Road and the Fell, (1864) in which he celebrated Britain’s natural affinity with her northern neighbour.