Background, Persons, Places, Things

[Antman9]

THE WORLD
Iceland (Snæland)(Islandia)
Home of the Northmen: Snæland
Poulation: 70,000 to 80,000
Peoples: Norse, Goth, Vikings Norman
Occupations: Fishing, fowling, farming herding, trade
Livestock: Sheep & cattle
Crops:Some grains including rye, potatoes, carrots, turnips, cabbage
Trade: Iceland traded all over Europe, and as far east as Central Asia. Traders carried folding scales, for weighing coins to make sure they got a fair deal.
Religion: (1) A compound of myths surviving from savage times. (2)A new philosophy, encouraged by the Al-Thing, the first and eldest of gods, the Hight Allfather, in 929, resolving to ascertain the wonders and meaning of nature and the universe, and professing that right-minded men shall be with Him in Vingolf, and wicked men deserve hell, and thence shall be cast into Niithell, beneath the ninth world. The Norsemen give the Hight Allfather a noble, upright, great spirit, and place him upon a high level.
Exports: Wool, cloth, horn, dried fish, honey, furs, ivory, etc.
Imports: Wood for building, iron for tools, honey, wine, grain, silver, silk, spices, wine, jewelry, glass, pottery, etc.

Goths
The Goths consisted of the tribes in Jutland, the Scandinavian peninsular, and the intermediary islands, therefore comprising today's Denmark, and the south of Sweden and Norway. (1)

Viking
Viking is a term used by modern scholars to refer to the Nordic-speaking peoples from southern Scandinavia who raided, traded and settled in Europe and the British Isles roughly between A.D. 793-1066. They would have identified themselves as Danes, Svear, Goths, Norwegians, etc. There never really was a single "Viking" culture; only a loose assortment of people with shared ideas, economies, religious beliefs, and a common Germanic language known today as Old Norse. (1)

Norse
Norse is used to refer to the Western Scandinavian people of the late Viking Age and early Medieval period. Originally, Norse was a linguistic term for the language spoken by Western Scandinavians - from Norway to Greenland, via Iceland and the Atlantic islands: Shetland, Orkneys, Fereys, Hebrides, Man etc.. It is closely related to Old Norse, which was spoken by all Vikings. More generally, Norse connotes Vikings who have converted to Christianity and are no longer engaged in raiding, but who still maintain the same farming and seafaring life style and a clan-based political structure. (1)

Norman
Norman is the term used to describe people from the region of Normandy in France, a region that was occupied by Danish and Norwegian Vikings from around 850 AD and who got their rule accepted by the French King in 911.

'Norman' also happens to be the exact term used in Scandinavia used to describe people from Norway, spoken the same way but written as Nordmann meaning 'man from north'. (1)


PERSONS
Ásmundr Ingolfsson
Captain of the Elliði a knörr cargo ship. The party encountered the captain when they boarded his ship in Stavanger, Norway bound for Þorlákshöfn, Snæland on March 18, 1100.


PLACES
Þorlákshöfn
Primary Southern Port City
Population: 370
Location: Gullbringusýsla peninsula (SW Iceland)
Attraction: The only viable harbour on Iceland's southern coastline between Grindavík in the west and Höfn in the east, and serves as one of two departure points.

Hafnir
Lesser Known/Hidden Port City
Population: 27
Location: Gullbringusýsla peninsula (SW Iceland)
Attraction: Kirkjuvogur (Religious Port) - Kirkjuvogur (Church Cove) was a mansion in Hafnir, an annexed church site of the Grindavik parish, which was long served by the reverends of Utskalar. Still earlier, Kirkjuvogur was served from Hvalsnes. It now serves as the primary religious port of entry on the southern for any who should worship the Al-Thing, the first and eldest of gods, the Hight Allfather.[/

Hoffell
Farmers Port City
Population: 541
Location: Southeastern coast, adjacent to the Vatnajökull glacier (SE Iceland)
Attraction: Protected seaport, popular with fisherman and farmers.

Oddi
Center for Learning
Population: 7
Location: Due east of Þorlákshöfn, and west of Eyjafjallajökull (glacier filled volcanic crater)
Attraction: Center for Learning in South Iceland, founded by Sæmundur Sigfússon the Learned, and original home to the Oddaverjar, one of the most powerful family clans in the medieval Icelandic Commonwealth.


THINGS
Supernatural
Al-Thing (the Hight Allfather)
Al-Thing, the first and eldest of gods, the Hight Allfather. A central thing, and a speaker to speak a single "law" for the whole island; The first God. The Al-Thing created the heavens and the earth and everything therein.

The Al-Thing encouraged men to adopt a new philosophy in 929, resolving to ascertain the wonders and meaning of nature and the universe, and professing that right-minded men shall be with Him in Vingolf, and wicked men deserve hell, and thence shall be cast into Niithell, beneath the ninth world. The Norsemen give the Hight Allfather a noble, upright, great spirit, and place him upon a high level.

Ships
Elliði
A Knörr cargo ship. The party boarded the Elliði in Stavanger, Norway on March 18, 1100 and sailed for 14 days and 8 hours, stopping only briefly at Torshavn in the Færøerne islands.

Karve (Karvi)
Karves (or Karvi) were a small type of longship with broad hull, somewhat similar to the knarr cargo ships.[1] Karves were used for both war and ordinary transport, carrying people, goods or livestock. Because they were able to navigate in very shallow water, they were also used for coasting. Karves had broad beams of approximately 5 m (17 feet), were up to 21 m (70 feet) in length, and allowed for up to 16 oars. (4)

Knörr (knarr)
A knarr is a type of Norse merchant ship used by the Vikings. The knarr (Old Norse: knǫrr, plural knerrir) was constructed using the same clinker-built method as longships, karves, and faerings.

Knarr is the Old Norse term for a type of ship built for long sea voyages and used during the Viking expansion. The knarr was a cargo ship; the hull was wider, deeper and shorter than a longship, and could take more cargo and be operated by smaller crews. They were built with a length of about 16 m (54 ft), a beam of 5 m (15 ft), and a hull capable of carrying up to 24 tons. It was primarily used to transport trading goods like walrus ivory, wool, timber, wheat, furs and pelts, armour, slaves, honey, and weapons. It was also used to supply food, drink, weapons and armour to warriors and traders along their journeys across the Baltic, the Mediterranean and other seas. Knerrir routinely crossed the North Atlantic carrying livestock such as sheep and horses, and stores to Norse settlements in Iceland, Greenland and Vinland as well as trading goods to trading posts in the British Isles, Continental Europe and possibly the Middle East. They may have been used in colonising, although a similar small cargo vessel (the byrthing) is another possibility. (2)

It was capable of sailing 75 miles (121 km) (2.7 knots) in one day and held a crew of about 20-30. (3)


Cuisine
Meduwyrt: The meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria). Is used by the Anglo-Saxons to give additional flavor to their mead.
Ydromellum: Apples and honey fermented together, usually in water but one recipe gives wine.
Oxymel: A mixture of vinegar, honey and water.
Mulsum: Wine and honey or wine, water and honey.
Hydromel: Honey diluted in water (becomes mead when fermented).


SOURCES
Iceland
Useful Info about Iceland
Tundra
Icelandic Cuisine
Culture of Iceland

Miscellaneous Background/Historical Sources
(1) The Forgotten History of Norse Trade (ca. 700-1349)
Germanic Mythology
Saemundur the Learned
Sæmundr fróði
Icelndic Invisible Elves
Elves Living Beneath the Rocks
Hrafn Haengsson
Starka Varna (Viking rowing song)

The Völsunga Saga
The Saga of the Volsungs
The Story Of The Volsungs, (Volsunga Saga)With Excerpts From The Poetic Edda

The Elder Eddas Of Saemund Sigfusson

Maps
Iceland TOPO Relief map
Geological Map of Iceland
Icelandic Trade Routes
Norgegian Sea

Things
(2) Knarr (cargo ship)
(3) Viking Ships
(4) Karve (Small Longship)
Viking Ship Classes

Tools
Sea Distance
Old Norse Ship Names And Ship Terms
Behind the Names: the etymology and history of first names
Behind the Names: the etymology and history of surnames

Pics
Doc Manager: Lár Sjöberg
Fisherman's Hut

TRANSLATIONS
ævintýramenn: Adventurers
Bryggju Framkvæmdastjóri: Dock manager
Drekka stofnun: Drinking establishment
drengur: Boy
Farmskrá: Manifest
Flytjandi Framkvæmdastjóri: Carrier Manager
gerjuð hákarl kjöt: Fermented shark meat
Gott kvöld: Good evening!
Hring: Lap
Já , faðir minn , hann var frá Svíþjóð : Yes , my father , he was from Sweden
Kveðjur: Greetings
matur markaði: Food market
Það er vit í: That makes sense
það er gott að heilsa þér aftur: it is good to greet you again
tunga er undarlegt . Ertu líka frá Svíþjóð? : your tongue is strange. Are you too from Sweden?
Vaðmál: Coarse, dense, undyed wool fabric typically used by the lower classes.
Vagninn: Wagon
Vagninn bílstjóri: Wagon driver
Velkomið að Viðurreyktetur: welcome to wood-smoked-eats
Velkominn: Welcome!