#olaf sigurdarson
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
mozart2006 Ā· 4 months ago
Text
Impressioni da Bayreuth 2024 - GƶtterdƤmmerumg
Foto Ā©Enrico Nawrath Da fervente appassionato wagneriano quale sono, il viaggio estivo a Bayreuth ĆØ per me da anni una consuetudine. Continue reading Impressioni da Bayreuth 2024 ā€“Ā GƶtterdƤmmerumg
Tumblr media
View On WordPress
0 notes
eddathoughts Ā· 5 years ago
Text
Poem by Harald Sigurdarson
Iā€™ve recently re-unearthed a book in my collection of translated Viking poetry fragments on the themes of love and war. Hereā€™s one by Harald Sigurdarson, an 11th C king of Norway, in which he describes his escape from the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 when he was 15 years old:
I remained upright
in battle while wounds bled;
the farmersā€™ troop grew fuller,
destroyer of shields dealt death.
Now, with little glory
I slink through the forests;
who knows, whether Iā€™ll become
widely famous later?
This one is interesting to me on a number of levels!
Firstly, the poem embodies aĀ ā€œlive to fight another dayā€ perspective, which seems somewhat contrary to the modern popular perception that I think exists of the Vikings being aĀ ā€œdeath before dishonorā€ kinda people. It reminds me of how the word cunning used to have a more complimentary vibe conveying skillfulness, whereas its sense of deceitfulness probably didnā€™t arise until the late 14th C.
Secondly, Iā€™m always interested to note the Viking preoccupation with fame, and with someoneā€™s name living on after their death. Itā€™s not something Iā€™m much fussed about, personally, so Iā€™m always vaguely baffled by it. In this case, Haraldā€™s hopes indeed came to fruition - Harald Sigurdarson is the same person as Harald Hardrada, who attacked the north of England in 1066 shortly before William the Conquerer attacked in the south. If Iā€™m remembering my primary school history lessons correctly, despite Haraldā€™s attack being unsuccessful, historians (at least sometimes) credit it with wearing out the English forces enough that Williamā€™s (albeit unrelated) attack succeeded.
Interestingly, Haraldā€™s half-brother Olaf, who was killed at Stiklestad, also achieved long-lasting fame - he was canonized as St Olaf in 1164.
Thirdly, thereā€™s something Iā€™m terribly curious about, and my Googling skills havenā€™t led me to any satisfactory conclusions! Can anybody explain to me the difference betweenĀ ā€œSigurdarsonā€ andĀ ā€œSigurd(s)sonā€? The out-of-practice half-trained morphophonologist in me is dying to know!
40 notes Ā· View notes