This thesis examines the function of commemorative skaldic verse at the Viking-age court. The first chapter demonstrates that the commemoration of past kings could provide a prestigious genealogical record that was used to legitimize both pagan and early Christian rulers. In the ninth and early tenth centuries, poets crafted competing genealogies to assert the primacy of their patrons and of their patrons’ religions. The second chapter looks at the work of tenth-century poets who depict their rulers’ entrances into the afterlife. Such poets interrogate the role public speech and poetic discourse play in the commemoration of the king, especially during the political turmoil that follows his death. A discussion follows of the relationship between poets and their patrons in the tenth and eleventh centuries: although this relationship is often praised as one of mutual trust and reliance, the financial aspects of the relationship were often juxtaposed uneasily with expressions of emotional attachment. The death of the patron caused a crisis in these seemingly contradictory bonds between poet and patron. The final chapter demonstrates the dramatic development in the eleventh century of deeply emotional commemorative verse as poets become adopted into their patrons’ families through such Christian ceremonies as baptism and marriage. In these verses poets express their grief after the death of the king and record the performances of public mourning on the part of the kings’ followers. As the petty warlords of the Viking age adapted to medieval models of Christian kingship, the role of the skald changed too. Formerly serving as a propagandist and retainer in the king’s service, a skald documenting the lives of kings at the end of the Viking age could occupy an almost infinite number of roles, from kinsman and friend to advisor and hagiographer.

La colonisation médiévale scandinave au Groenland (986 – 1450 AD) et la reconquête agricole récente de la région sud-groenlandaise, favorisée par le réchauffement climatique en cours, constituent un modèle de référence particulièrement adapté à l’étude des relations entre une communauté humaine et son environnement. Dans cette perspective, une étude sédimentologique multiparamètre a été réalisée sur la séquence sédimentaire du lac d’Igaliku (N61°00’22”, W45°26’28”), situé au cœur de la principale implantation médiévale et du secteur agro-pastoral contemporain. Quatre mètres de sédiments, couvrant la totalité de l’évolution holocène du lac (~10000 ans), ont été étudiés à haute résolution temporelle. L’analyse comprend une caractérisation physico-chimique (densité, susceptibilité magnétique, diagraphie XRF, imagerie rayon-X, granulométrie laser, dosages carbone, azote et souffre, ICP-AES, isotopie δ13C et δ15N de la matière organique) et biologique (pollen, microfossiles non polliniques, diatomées) du sédiment. Vingt-huit datations radiocarbones, ainsi que la mesure l’activité du 210Pb et du 137Cs, permettent d’interpréter le signal sédimentaire dans un cadre chronologique très précis et de reconstruire l’évolution postglaciaire du lac et de son bassin versant, soumis aux contraintes glacio-isostatiques, aux forçages climatiques et aux impacts anthropiques. La première phase d’évolution du système lacustre est principalement sous contrôle isostatique avec une transition rapide d’un environnement marin pro-glaciaire vers un environnement lacustre après émersion du bassin, il y a 9500 ans. Par la suite, la séquence témoigne de l’évolution paléoclimatique de la région. Les paramètres limnologiques et terrestres suggèrent un réchauffement précoce, probablement interrompu par une période froide, sèche et venteuse entre 8600 et 8100 ans cal BP. Un second événement sec et venteux, de 5300 à 4800 ans cal BP, précède la transition néoglaciaire, qui se caractérise, à Igaliku, par une évolution vers un climat plus humide et peut-être plus froid à partir de 4800 cal BP, provoquant une mutation majeure des conditions écologiques terrestres et aquatiques. La diminution des flux de grains de pollen indique un refroidissement notable à partir de 3000 cal BP. Vers l’an 1000, suite à l’arrivée des colons scandinaves, le système lacustre passe sous un contrôle anthropique dominant. Le défrichement et l’introduction d’herbivores domestiques dans le bassin versant du lac produisent un doublement du taux d’érosion des sols (de 4 mm/siècle à 8 mm/siècle vers 1200 AD) et une modification de la qualité des influx organiques. Pour autant, les assemblages de diatomées indiquent que l’écologie du lac n’a été que faiblement affectée par l’agriculture médiévale. A partir de 1325 AD et jusqu’à la fin de la colonie scandinave, vers la moitié du XVe siècle, la végétation présente des signes de résilience et l’érosion des sols régresse. Cette déprise agro-pastorale, probablement en relation avec les prémices du Petit Âge Glaciaire, est en phase avec une importante mutation des pratiques de subsistance attestée par l’archéologie. Le retour du pastoralisme au début du XXe siècle marque une reprise des processus d’érosion, similaires, en intensité, à ceux engendrés par les colons scandinaves. En revanche, l’intensification et la modernisation des pratiques agricoles dans les années 1980 est responsable d’une érosion des sols spectaculaire (~21 mm/siècle) et d’une mutation de l’écosystème lacustre (eutrophisation) sans précédent depuis la formation du lac, il y a 9500 ans. Les effets combinés de l’agriculture et du réchauffement climatique en cours (amorcé dans les années 1920 à Igaliku) aura des conséquences environnementales difficiles à prévoir pour l’avenir de la région / The medieval Norse colonization of Greenland (986-1450 AD) and the subsequent reestablishment of agriculture in south Greenland, aided by recent climate warming, constitute a conceptual model that is particularly well adapted to understanding the relations between a community and its environment. In this perspective, a multi-parameter sedimentological study was undertaken on the sedimentary sequence of Lake Igaliku (N61°00’22”, W45°26’28”), situated in the heart of the medieval and current agricultural sector. The 4 m long sequence, covering the entire Holocene evolution of the lake (~10 000 years), was studied at high temporal resolution. The analyses included the physico-chemical characterization of the sediments (density, magnetic susceptibility, XRF, X-ray imaging, grain size, carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur content, ICP-AES, δ13C and δ15N isotopic ratios) as well as the biological components of the sediment (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, diatoms). 28 radiocarbon dates as well as 210Pb and 137Cs measurements created a precise temporal framework with which to reconstruct the postglacial evolution of the lake and its catchment in terms of isostatic constraints, climatic forcing and anthropogenic impacts. The first phase of basin evolution is primarily controlled by isostasy, with the rapid transition from glaciomarine conditions to a freshwater lake as the basin emerged from the fjord 9500 yr BP. Afterwards, the sedimentary sequence records the paleoclimatic evolution of the region. Paleolimnological and terrestrial proxies suggest an early warm phase likely interrupted by a cold, windy, dry period between 8600 yr BP and 8100 yr BP. A second dry, windy period between 5300 yr BP and 4800 yr BP predated the transition to neoglacial cooling, which is characterised at Igaliku by a switch to humid and perhaps cooler conditions after 4800 BP, and which caused a major shift in both aquatic and terrestrial ecology. Approximately 1000 AD, after the arrival of Norse settlers, the lacustrine system became anthropogenically dominated. Land clearing and domestic herbivores introduction in the lake catchment doubled the rate of soil erosion (from 4 mm century-1 to 8 mm century-1 by 1200 AD) and caused a major modification of the organic carbon influx. On the other hand, diatom assemblages demonstrate that the lake ecology was not strongly impacted by medieval agriculture at this site. After 1325 AD, until the end of the Norse tenure in the mid-15th century, terrestrial vegetation showed signs of rebound and soil erosion decreased. This agricultural diminishment, probably in relation to the beginning of the Little Ice Age, is consistent with an important change in subsistence patterns evidenced by archaeology in this region. The reestablishment of agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century marks the reinvigoration of erosional processes that are similar in intensity to that of the Norse settlement. On the other hand, the intensification and modernization of farming practices during the 1980s is responsible for marked soil erosion (21 mm century-1) and a shift in lake ecology (eutrophication) that is unprecedented in the 9500 yr history of the lake. The combined effects of agriculture and climate warming already underway (initiated in the 1920s at Igaliku) will have large environmental consequences for the future of this region

The development of the video game industry and the increasing popularity of the medium as a form of entertainment have led to significant developments in the discipline of game studies and a growing awareness of the cultural significance of video games as cultural artefacts. While much work has been done to understand the narrative aspect of games, there are still theoretical gaps on the understanding of how video games generate their narrative experience and how this experience is shaped by the player and the game as artefact. This interdisciplinary study investigates how meaning is created in Western Role Playing Games (WRPGs) video games by analysing the narrative strategies they employ in relation to those commonly used in Heroic Epic and Fantasy narratives. It adopts the Bakhtinian concepts of chronotope and dialogue as the main theoretical tools to examine the creation and integration of narratives in WRPGs with a special focus on the time-space perspective. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Dragon Age Origins were chosen as representatives of the WRPG video game genre while Beowulf and the tale of Sigurd, as it appears in the Poetic Edda and the Volsung Saga, were chosen as representatives of the Heroic Epic poetic tradition. References are also made to Fantasy novels, especially the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Textual analysis along with some techniques employed by researchers working with visual methodologies and compositional interpretation were used to analyse relevant aspects of the texts and games. The findings suggest that intertextual and genre materials considerably shape the narrative of WRPGs and exercise a profound dialogical effect on the ludonarrative harmony of the games investigated through their interaction with the game world and gameplay systems. This relationship is most visible in the chronotopic (time-space) aspect of the chosen games. The findings also suggest that Epic material dialogically orients the WRPG players' experience and adjusts their expectations and understanding of the fictional world. This study as well as the refining of chronotopic analytical tools to encompass chronotopic awareness, transportation, and flow may be of use in further chronotopic investigations of different games, literary genres, and/or other media artefacts.

The aim of this thesis is to understand the role of geomorphological change in the abandonment of Norse harbours in the North Atlantic. Nodes of maritime activities that were established by Norse settlers during the Scandinavian Viking Age often developed into important towns and cities. Some of these, however, disappeared for unknown reasons. Norse harbours in the North Atlantic varied in scale. They ranged from small landing beaches used by small boats for local use through to much larger anchorages handling considerable trade and being important nodes on the transatlantic trading network. Changes in coastal geomorphology necessitated a response from seafarers. In this thesis, a conceptual framework for the formation, recovery and stability of headland-dominated sandy beaches in high-energy environments is established, based on empirical observation and on the use of the MIKE21 numerical sediment transport model. Under persistent calm climatic conditions, nearshore seabed gradient is a weak control on beach formation and persistence in embayments. However, under persistent stormy conditions, nearshore sea bed gradient becomes the prominent control. Embayments with nearshore gradients of > 0.025 m/m inhibit beach recovery on a sub-annual timescale, while gradients < 0.025 m/m promote beach recovery. These ideas are assessed in the Shetland Islands, using numerical modelling, geomorphology and OSL dating on sand blow deposits. In the late Norse era beach landing sites in Unst became prone to depletion and destruction because of increased storminess. Numerical modelling (MIKE21) supports the idea that the recovery time of different sandy beaches on Unst is dependent on average nearshore slope. The beach at Sandwick has shallow nearshore gradients and recovers quickly in the face of storminess, but beach stability at Lunda Wick is more uncertain, and thus Lunda Wick represents a more problematic landing place. The Norse harbour of The Bishop's seat at Garðar in the Eastern Settlement of Greenland is assessed to evaluate the impacts of gradual long term geomorphological change on coastlines that lack soft-sediment. A high resolution, near shore bathymetric survey shows that, due to relative sea level rise of 1 m/500 years, the landing site became more difficult to access during the later period of Norse settlement and key onshore infrastructure was disrupted. The possible role of terrestrial supplies of sediment in changing the viability of landing places is assessed through an evaluation of the Norse trading centre of Gásir in northern Iceland. Geomorphological mapping and analysis of fluvial connectivity indicate that the delta on which Gásir is located is prone to aggradation from large, irregular pulses of sediment derived from landslides in the catchment. Written sources and geomorphological mapping indicate geomorphological changes around the same time that trade was shifting to the use of boats with a deeper draft. Cultural change and environmental changes would have reinforced each other in rendering the harbour site nonviable. Geomorphological forces acting on varying spatial and temporal scales have the potential to disrupt the use of landing sites. Whether environmental changes led to the abandonment of a landing site was strongly influenced by the seafarers' competence and available technology. Higher levels of competence would enable more problematic landing sites to be used, but there are limits to this adaptation. Technological changes, such as the use of larger and deeper draft boats, would have changed the geomorphic requirements for harbour sites, and thus may have led to a passive abandonment of the site over time rather than active abandonment such as that in the face of a catastrophic change of the shoreline. Coastal geomorphology was a critical factor affecting the use of Norse harbours, as it interacted with the wider cultural and economic developments in the North Atlantic realm. This thesis demonstrates that numerical sediment transport analysis is a powerful tool in coastal archaeological research as it can illuminate processes driving observable changes in the empirical record.

This is a study of the Old Norse (hereafter abbreviated to ON) setr/sætr and ærgi place-names in areas of Scandinavian settlement in Scotland. The elements setr/sætr and ærgi all have a general meaning of a place for summer grazing in the hills, referred to in Scotland as a shieling. However, the related terms setr and sætr, are employed as shielings names in Norway and are indistinguishable from each other in Britain. It is only in areas of Scandinavian settlement in Britain and the Faroes that ærgi is found to signify a shieling site. The element ærgi was adopted as a loanword from either, the Scottish Gaelic àirigh or Irish áirge, both of which can also have the meaning of a shieling. What is unusual about this adoption is it is rare for a more prestigious speech community (ON in this instance) to adopt a word from, what is believed to have been, a less prestigious language at the time (Gaelic). Various scholars have looked at this question, but none have adequately explained the reason for the adoption. Much of the previous research has relied on comparisons of local farming systems that were recorded many centuries after the Viking Age. Farming techniques from the fifteenth to twentieth century are unlikely to adequately represent the agricultural situation in the Viking Age due to different social imperatives. The overall question I want to answer in this thesis, is why Scandinavian settlers in Scotland adopted ærgi, when they already had corresponding ON terms for a shieling. The distribution of ON settlement names is one of the main pieces of evidence to prove Scandinavian settlement in Scotland during this period. This is especially true of secondary settlements, such as shielings, which rarely feature in early documentation. The language shift to either Gaelic or Scots-English is likely to have led to the loss of many ON place-names, but will also have fossilised some names in the landscape. The location of these settlement names can give an understanding of how Scandinavian settlers utilised the landscape and highlight differences in the use of different shieling names. This thesis is interdisciplinary in nature, but one based on cultural and historical geography. The first element of the study is to understand why shielings developed in Scandinavian society and if there are identifiable environmental factors behind their location. Studies in Norway suggest shielings developed as a response to environmental constraints to agriculture and social pressures to produce a surplus. A locational study of shielings in areas that were the likely origin of Viking settlers in Norway, highlighted seven key locations for shielings. These locational factors were then compared to setr/sætr-names in Scotland. The locations were broadly similar to Norwegian shielings, however, Scottish setr/sætr-names were more likely to be situated in slightly more fertile locations than Norwegian examples studied. A comparison of Scottish setr/sætr-names with ærgi-names also revealed the latter to be more likely found on even richer grazing land. The conclusion being, setr/sætr had a more general meaning of a place for summer grazing, whereas, ærgi was specifically linked to richer soils and richer grazing land. This link may relate to an intensive dairy economy, something which is known from contemporary documentary sources from the Gaelic world, but has not been proven in pre-Viking Age Norway.

Denna rapport avser verket Norse som jag – David Partorp – och min andra gruppmedlem – Jesper Flarup – har skapat. Norse är en modul till The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) med nordisk mytologi som tema. Norse följer en berättelse från mytologin vid namn Gudarnas skatter vars innehåll syftar till att två dvärgar ska tillverka tre skatter till gudarna. Berättelsen är hämtad från böckerna Nordens gudar och myter skriven av H R Ellis Davidson (1964/1984) samt Snorres Edda översatt av Björn Collinder (1970). Till detta huvuduppdrag tillkommer egenskrivna sidouppdrag.   Den frågeställning som ligger som grund för rapporten är:   Hur kan jag förmedla en bild av den nordiska mytologin genom mitt spel? Vilken händelse lämpar sig för att gestalta mytologin? Hur ska händelsen gestaltas?   Den första delfrågan behandlar alltså vad som ska berättas och den andra hur händelsen ska berättas.   För att besvara dessa frågor så används dels andra liknande spel; Rune (2000), Age of Mythology (2002) och World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (2008). Den litteratur som används är Game Design - Theory &amp; Practice (Rouse III, 2005), Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design (Rollings &amp; Adams, 2003), Nordisk mytologisk kosmologi som spelvärld - Vilka källor bör användas i skapandet av en spelvärld baserad på nordisk mytologi? (Nilsson, 2006) samt Fruktan, medkänsla och kritisk distans (Tjäder, 2000).   Huvudsakligen i Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design (Rollings &amp; Adams, 2003) används Christopher Voglers The Hero’s Journey (1993, i Rollings &amp; Adams, 2003) som definierar hur en berättelse är uppbyggd utifrån tolv steg.   Svar på första frågeställningen blev således historien Gudarnas skatter som återfinns i boken Nordens gudar och myter (Davidson, 1964/1984). Valet av just denna historia har bl.a. sin bakgrund i Aristoteles definitioner av ett drama.   Svar på andra frågeställningen med användandet av Voglers The Hero’s Journey (1993, i Rollings &amp; Adams, 2003) resulterade i ett icke-linjärt strukturerat uppdrag som följer nio av de tolv steg som beskrivs. De resterande tre stegen används först och främst till längre spel som har en djupare bakgrundshistoria (Rollings &amp; Adams, 2003). / Norse

In 1705 George Hickes published his book Linguarum vett. Septentrionalium Thesaurus (A Treasury of Ancient Northern Tongues) which contained, among other things, an Anglo-Saxon Grammar. In the final six chapters of this grammar, Hickes includes a history of the Anglo-Saxon language. It is the first recorded history of the English language; however, it is written in Latin, and so unavailable to many English speakers. Therefore, I have produced a sample translation of the third of the six chapters for this thesis (chapter 21, or Caput XXI), entitled De dialecto poetica, praesertim de dialecto poetica Dano-Saxonica (On the poetic dialect, especially the Dano-Saxon poetic dialect), marking the first stage in making these chapters available to English speakers today.

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In 1705 George Hickes published his book Linguarum vett. Septentrionalium Thesaurus (A Treasury of Ancient Northern Tongues) which contained, among other things, an Anglo-Saxon Grammar. In the final six chapters of this grammar, Hickes includes a history of the Anglo-Saxon language. It is the first recorded history of the English language; however, it is written in Latin, and so unavailable to many English speakers. Therefore, I have produced a sample translation of the third of the six chapters for this thesis (chapter 21, or Caput XXI), entitled De dialecto poetica, praesertim de dialecto poetica Dano-Saxonica (On the poetic dialect, especially the Dano-Saxon poetic dialect), marking the first stage in making these chapters available to English speakers today.

<p>Denna rapport avser verket <em>Norse</em> som jag – David Partorp – och min andra gruppmedlem – Jesper Flarup – har skapat. <em>Norse</em> är en modul till <em>The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion</em> (2006) med nordisk mytologi som tema. <em>Norse</em> följer en berättelse från mytologin vid namn <em>Gudarnas skatter</em> vars innehåll syftar till att två dvärgar ska tillverka tre skatter till gudarna. Berättelsen är hämtad från böckerna<em> Nordens gudar och myter</em> skriven av H R Ellis Davidson (1964/1984) samt <em>Snorres Edda </em>översatt av Björn Collinder (1970). Till detta huvuduppdrag tillkommer egenskrivna sidouppdrag.</p><p> </p><p>Den frågeställning som ligger som grund för rapporten är:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Hur kan jag förmedla en bild av den nordiska mytologin genom mitt spel? <ul><li>Vilken händelse lämpar sig för att gestalta mytologin?</li><li>Hur ska händelsen gestaltas?</li></ul></li></ul><p> </p><p>Den första delfrågan behandlar alltså <em>vad</em> som ska berättas och den andra <em>hur</em> händelsen ska berättas.</p><p> </p><p>För att besvara dessa frågor så används dels andra liknande spel; <em>Rune</em> (2000), <em>Age of Mythology</em> (2002) och <em>World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King</em> (2008). Den litteratur som används är <em>Game Design - Theory & Practice</em> (Rouse III, 2005), <em>Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design</em> (Rollings & Adams, 2003), <em>Nordisk mytologisk kosmologi som spelvärld - Vilka källor bör användas i skapandet av en spelvärld baserad på nordisk mytologi?</em> (Nilsson, 2006) samt <em>Fruktan, medkänsla och kritisk distans</em> (Tjäder, 2000).</p><p> </p><p>Huvudsakligen i <em>Andrew Rollings and</em> <em>Ernest Adams on Game Design</em> (Rollings & Adams, 2003) används Christopher Voglers <em>The Hero’s Journey</em> (1993, i Rollings & Adams, 2003) som definierar hur en berättelse är uppbyggd utifrån tolv steg.</p><p> </p><p>Svar på första frågeställningen blev således historien <em>Gudarnas skatter</em> som återfinns i boken <em>Nordens gudar och myter</em> (Davidson, 1964/1984). Valet av just denna historia har bl.a. sin bakgrund i Aristoteles definitioner av ett drama.</p><p> </p><p>Svar på andra frågeställningen med användandet av Voglers <em>The Hero’s Journey</em> (1993, i Rollings & Adams, 2003) resulterade i ett icke-linjärt strukturerat uppdrag som följer nio av de tolv steg som beskrivs. De resterande tre stegen används först och främst till längre spel som har en djupare bakgrundshistoria (Rollings & Adams, 2003).</p> / Norse