Goths Final Flashcards People Edition

Lief Eriksson

Norse explorer thought to be the first european to set foot on continental America. Son of Erik the Red. Established a Norse settlement at Vinland.

Erik the Red

Also called Erik Thorvaldsson. Norse explorer that founded the first european settlement on Greenland. Son of Thorvald Asvaldsson. Was exiled to Iceland for three years starting in 982.

Harald Hardrada

Also called Harald Sigurdsson. King of Norway from 1046-1066. Spent time as chief of the Varangian Guard. Exiled to kievan rus for a period of time in his youth. Co ruled Norway with Magnus the Good for a year until Magnus’ death. Could’t take over Denmark.

Harald Godwinsson

Last Anglo saxon king of England. Died in the battle of Hastings. Brother in law of king Edward the confessor. Defeated an invasion by Harald Hardrada in the battle of Stamford bridge. Son of Godwin, earl of essex.

William the Conquerer

Started as duke of Normandy, became the first Norman king of England. Descendant of Rollo. By 1060, following a long struggle, his hold on Normandy was secure. In 1066, following the death of Edward the Confessor, William invaded England, leading a Franco-Norman army to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.

Edward the Confessor

(c. 1003 – 5 January 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon English king and saint. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 until his death in 1066. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeeded Cnut the Great's son – and his own half-brother – Harthacnut. Following Harthacnut's death on 8 June 1042, Godwin, the most powerful of the English earls, supported Edward, who succeeded to the throne.^[1] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes the popularity he enjoyed at his accession – "before he [Harthacnut] was buried, all the people chose Edward as king in London.

Freydís Eiríksdóttir

Icelandic woman said to be the daughter of Erik the Red (as in her patronym), who figured prominently in the Norse exploration of North America as an early colonist of Vinland. Killed five women with an axe.

Rurik

He was a Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who, according to tradition, was invited to reign in Novgorod in the year 862.^[1][10] The Primary Chronicle states that Rurik was succeeded by his kinsman Oleg who was regent for his infant son Igor. The Laurentian Codex of 1377, which contains the oldest surviving version of the Primary Chronicle, states that Rurik first settled in Novgorod ("newtown"), while the Hypatian Codex of the 1420s states that Rurik first settled in Ladoga, before moving his seat of power to the newly founded city of Novgorod, a fort built not far from the source of the Volkhov River, where he stayed until his death.

Olga

She was a regent of Kievan Rus' for her son Sviatoslav from 945 until 957. She is known for her subjugation of the Drevlians, a tribe that had killed her husband Igor. Even though it was her grandson Vladimir who adopted Christianity and made it the state religion,^[7] she was the first ruler to be baptized.

Ingvar

Was the son of Östen and reclaimed the Swedish throne for the House of Yngling after the Swedes had rebelled against Sölve.^[1] He is reported to have fallen in battle in Estonia and been buried there.

Vladimir I

He was Prince of Novgorod from 970 and Grand Prince of Kiev from 978 until his death in 1015.^[12][13] The Eastern Orthodox Church canonised him as Saint Vladimir. Vladimir's father was Sviatoslav I of the Rurik dynasty. By 980, Vladimir had consolidated his realm to the Baltic Sea and solidified the frontiers against incursions of Bulgarians, Baltic tribes and Eastern nomads. Originally a follower of Slavic paganism, Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988,^[18][19][20] and Christianized the Kievan Rus.

Basil

Also called the bulgar slayer. One of the most important decisions taken during his reign was to offer the hand of his sister Anna Porphyrogenita to Vladimir I of Kiev in exchange for military support, thus forming the Byzantine military unit known as the Varangian Guard. The marriage of Anna and Vladimir led to the Christianization of the Kievan Rus' and the incorporation of later successor states of Kievan Rus' within the Byzantine cultural and religious tradition. Basil is seen as a Greek national hero but is a despised figure among Bulgarians.

Cnut the great

He was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035.^[1] The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rule are referred to together as the North Sea Empire by historians. As a Danish prince, Cnut won the throne of England in 1016 in the wake of centuries of Viking activity in northwestern Europe. His later accession to the Danish throne in 1018 brought the crowns of England and Denmark together. Cnut sought to keep this power base by uniting Danes and English under cultural bonds of wealth and custom. After a decade of conflict with opponents in Scandinavia, Cnut claimed the crown of Norway in Trondheim in 1028. In 1031, Malcolm II of Scotland also submitted to him, though Anglo-Norse influence over Scotland was weak and ultimately did not last by the time of Cnut's death.

Hardicnut

King of Denmark from 1035 to 1042 and King of England from 1040 to 1042. Harthacnut was the son of King Cnut the Great (who ruled Denmark, Norway, and England) and Emma of Normandy. When Cnut died in 1035, Harthacnut struggled to retain his father's possessions. Magnus I took control of Norway, but Harthacnut succeeded as King of Denmark and became King of England in 1040 after the death of his half-brother Harold Harefoot, king of England. Harthacnut himself died suddenly in 1042 and was succeeded by Magnus in Denmark and Edward the Confessor in England. Harthacnut was the last Dane to rule England.

Swein Forkbeard

King of Denmark from 986 until his death, King of England for five weeks from December 1013 until his death, and King of Norway from 999/1000 until 1014. He was the father of King Harald II of Denmark, King Cnut the Great, and Queen Estrid Svendsdatter. In the mid-980s, Sweyn revolted against his father, Harald Bluetooth, and seized the throne. In 1000, with the allegiance of Eric, Earl of Lade, Sweyn ruled most of Norway. In 1013, shortly before his death, he became the first Danish king of the English after a long effort.

Olaf Tryggvasson

King of Norway from 995 to 1000. He was the son of Tryggvi Olafsson. Olaf was important in the conversion of the Norse to Christianity, but he did so forcibly within his own kingdom. He is said to have built the first Christian church in Norway in 995, and to have founded the city of Trondheim in 997.

Harald Fairhair

He was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from c. 872 to 930 and was the first King of Norway.^[1][2] Supposedly, two of his sons, Eric Bloodaxe and Haakon the Good, succeeded Harald to become kings after his death. His life is described in several of the Kings' sagas, none of them older than the twelfth century. Their accounts of Harald and his life differ on many points, but it is clear that in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Harald was regarded as having unified Norway into one kingdom.

Ingolfur

He is commonly recognized as the first permanent Norse settler of Iceland, together with his wife Hallveig Fróðadóttir and foster brother Hjǫrleifr Hróðmarsson. According to tradition, they settled in Reykjavík in 874. According to the Icelandic Book of Settlements, he built his homestead in and gave name to Reykjavík in 874. The medieval chronicler Ari Þorgilsson said Ingolfr was the first Nordic settler in Iceland, but mentioned that Irish monks had been in the country before the Norsemen.

Aud the Deep Minded

She was a 9th-century settler during the age of Settlement of Iceland. The main source of information about her life in Iceland is Sturla Þórðarson's Landnámabók; Laxdæla saga, which calls her Unn, gives a varying account but has more on her background. She married Olaf the White (Oleif), son of King Ingjald, who had named himself King of Dublin after going on voyages to Britain and then conquering the shire of Dublin. They had a son named Thorstein the Red. After Oleif was killed in battle in Ireland, Aud and Thorstein journeyed to the Hebrides. She brought her grandson, Olaf Feilan, with her to Iceland.^[3][4] The ship had a crew of twenty men under her command and also carried thralls, men who had been taken prisoner in Viking raids near and around the British Isles. When Aud arrived in the western region of Iceland, she claimed all the land in Dalasýsla between the rivers Dögurðará and Skraumuhlaupsá for her family, and gave the thralls their freedom (making them freedmen, with a status between slave and free). She gave both the crewmen and the freedmen land to farm and make a living. One of the freedmen, Vifil, was given Vifilsdal, part of Hvammur í Dölum [is], the area in which Aud settled. Unlike most early Icelandic settlers, Aud was a baptized Christian. She erected crosses in a hilly area where she often went to pray, which became known as Krosshólar.

Harold Haakonsson

He was joint Earl of Orkney in 1122–1127.

Sweyn Estridsson

He was King of Denmark from 1047 until his death in 1076. He was the son of Ulf Thorgilsson and Estrid Svendsdatter, and the grandson of Sweyn Forkbeard through his mother's line. He was married at least two times, and fathered 20 children or more out of wedlock, including the five future kings Harald Hen, Saint Canute, Oluf Hunger, Eric Evergood, and Niels. He pillaged the Elbe-Weser area in 1040, but was caught by the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, who released him shortly thereafter. Svend was made a jarl under Danish king Harthacnut (the two were first cousins),^[4] and led a campaign for him against Norway, but was beaten by Magnus I of Norway.^[5] When Harthacnut died in 1042, Magnus claimed the Danish throne and made Svend the jarl of Jutland.^[6] In 1043, Sweyn fought for Magnus at the Battle of Lyrskov Heath at Hedeby, near the present-day border of Denmark and Germany.^[5] Sweyn won a great reputation at Lyrskov Heath, and had the Danish nobles crown him king in Viborg in Jutland.^[6] He was defeated by Magnus on several occasions, and had to flee to Sweden. Eventually he managed to return and establish a foothold in Scania. The war between Magnus and Sweyn lasted until 1045, when Magnus' uncle Harald Hardrada returned to Norway from exile. Harald and Sweyn joined forces, and Magnus decided to share the Norwegian throne with Harald.^[4] In 1047 Magnus died, having stated on his deathbed that his kingdom would be divided: Harald would get the throne of Norway, while Sweyn would be king of Denmark.^[6] Upon hearing of Magnus' death Sweyn said, "Now so help me God, I shall never yield Denmark".