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Supplementary Notes

The creation of this project was inspired by several different factors and despite the scope of this project, there was simply not enough room to discuss everything. Therefore, in addition to the website, there is also a forty-page essay about the Scandinavian mercenary that can be found here if one is interested in delving deeper into the topic. Please do note, this written portion of the project is quite large, so set aside some time if you are interested.

The essay includes a light historiography that discusses sources which are covered here in the bibliography in a more interconnected manner. This segment shows how the most important primary and secondary sources provided the inspiration for the creation of this project. In addition to that, the essay also paves the way for a few original arguments about how the Scandinavian mercenary should be defined in modern scholarship.

This section of the thesis has been included so that interested parties can investigate exactly how certain sources were used throughout. Each of these links contains relevant bibliographic information alongside a short paragraph that describes the main purpose of that particular entry. For the most part, these paragraphs include relevant facts about where an entry was used, how it was used, and how it ranks amongst the other cited sources.

Primary Sources

Environmental Influences

• Ibn-Fadlan, Risala

Byzantium and Eastern Europe

• Kekaumenos, Consilia et Narrationes
• De Re Strategica
• Michael Psellos, The Chronographia
• Snorri Sturluson, King Harald's Saga
• Other Icelandic Sagas
• Nestor, The Russian Primary Chronicle

Kingdom of the Franks

• The Annals of St. Bertin
• The Royal Frankish Annals
• Nithard, Histories

Early-Medieval British Isles

• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
• The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland

Secondary Sources

• Abels, Richard
• Aberth, John
• Bagge, Sverre
• Blöndal, Sigfús
• Brown, Stephen D. B.
• Caferro, William
• Contamine, Philippe
• Crosby, Alfred W.
• DeVries, Kelly
• Economou, Christos, Anna Kjellstrom, and Ionnis Panagopoulos
• Fallgren, Jan-Henrik
• Forte, Angelo, Richard Oram, and Frederick Pedersen
• Gillmor, C. M.
• Hoffmann, Richard C.
• Jakobsson, Sverrir
• Kirby, David and Merja-Liisa Hinkkanen
• Knudson, Kelly J., Barra O'Donnabhain, Charisse Carver, Robin Cleland, and T. Douglas Price
• Kurrlid-Klitgaard, Peter and Gert T. Svendsen
• Magnusdottir, Audur G.
• Mallett, Michael
• Price, Neil
• Pye, Michael
• Raffield, Ben, Mark Collard, and Neil Price
• Rekdal, Jan Erik and Charles Doherty
• Roesdahl, Else
• Somme, Axel
• Valante, Mary A.
• Whited, Tamara L., Jens I. Engels, Richard C. Hoffmann, Hilde Ibsen, and Wybren Verstegen
• Williams, Gareth
• Winroth, Anders

Media Sources

***This website is for educational purposes, it is not for profit***

Media sources can either be found here or in the credits portion of a map. I apologize in advance for any uncited or improperly cited media, unfortunately, this was the last part of my project to be completed and therefore is the most incomplete. If I have used your image and you would like to be credited for it please e-mail me at haydencshaw@gmail.com and I will be sure to add it ASAP.

Banner Images

• "Viking Raid by Damascus," Clint Cearley

Maps

• “Carta marina,” Olaus Magnus, 1539. Wikimedia Commons.
• “Canute rebukes his courtiers” Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville, pre-1885. Wikimedia Commons.
• “Vikings Plundering,” Lorenz Frolich, 1883. Wikimedia Commons.
• “King Olaf arriving in Norway,” Peter Nicolai Arbo, 1860. Wikimedia Commons.
• “The Harbor of Theodosius,” Unknown. Wikimedia Commons.

Conclusion

• “View from a ridge between Segla and Hesten, Senja, Norway,” Simo Rasanen, August 2014. Wikimedia Commons.
• “Funeral of a Rus’ nobleman,” Henryk Siemiradzki, 1883. Wikimedia Commons.
• “Leif Eiriksson discovers North America,” Christian Krohg, 1893. Wikimedia Commons.

Bibliography

• “Harald Fairhair,” Flateyjarbok, 14th century Iceland. Wikimedia Commons.