“[Ne] com Unlaf mid scipum”. A Summary of the Current State of Research with Regard to Olaf Tryggvason’s Assumed Presence at the Battle of Maldon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31261/SPiP.2019.15.01Keywords:
battle of Maldon, Óláfr Tryggvason, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Viking age, AD 991 in EnglandAbstract
Over the last several dozen years, the issue of assumed presence of Óláfr Tryggvason in the battle of Maldon has been discussed repeatedly, predominantly by the British and Scandinavian researchers. However, it should be noted that the analyses were usually perfunctory, or even marginal, and thus they functioned merely as a more or less essential supplement to the subject matter discussed in a particular publication. Among the assumed participants of events from August 991, except for the future ruler of Norway, there is a mention of King of Denmark Sweyn Forkbeard and otherwise unknown Jóstein and Guðmund. Since the presence of Sweyn in the battle of Maldon has been disputed by the vast majority of historians, Óláfr remains the only historical figure among the assumed leaders of the Scandinavian invaders, which unfortunately is the reason why some historians – and also researchers in literature of the Middle Ages following them – see in him, though quite unreasonably, a leading Viking figure. The present paper therefore attempts to provide a comparison of the sources (apart from the Old English alliterative poem known as “The Battle of Maldon,” those are mainly different versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as well as various historical or hagiographic works), and their critical confrontation with the above opinion.
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