Lebedev, Gleb S. The Vikings in Scandinavia

• Author: Lebedev, Gleb S.
• Title: The Vikings in Scandinavia
• Published in: The Viking Age in the Northern Europe, vol. 2
• Place, Publisher: Leningrad, USSR: Leningrad University Publishing House
• Year: 1985
• Pages: xxx?
• E-text: gumer.info
• Reference: Lebedev. Gleb S. The Vikings in Scandinavia. The Viking Age in the Northern Europe. Leningrad, USSR: Leningrad University Publishing House, 1985, pp. xx?

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• Key words: history (sagnfræði), social reality (samfélagsmynd)

Annotation

A study of the Viking Age, in particular its image in Egils saga, from a Marxist point of view. Lebedev concentrates on the first 27 chapters of Egil's Saga, which, according to him, could also be called „The saga of Thorolf Kveldulfsson“. There he finds various important evidence of both the social and economic structure of Scandinavian society in the times of Kveldulf and his descendants. Lebedev sees Thorolf first as an active participant in the changing of society (from a tribal to a feudal system) and then as a reactionist, as a part of the historical past opposing the king and the new regime.

Lýsing

Marxísk rannsókn á víkingatímanum, einkum þó á því hvernig hann birtist í Egils sögu. Lebedev beinir athygli að fyrstu 27 köflum sögunnar, sem mætti að hans mati einnig kalla Sögu Þórólfs Kveldúlfssonar. Í þeim finnur hann ýmsar mikilvægar vísbendingar um félagsleg og efnahagsleg einkenni norræns miðaldasamfélags á dögum Kveldúlfs og afkomenda hans. Lebedev sýnist að Þórólfur sé virkur þátttakandi í því að breyta samfélagsgerðinni (úr ættflokkasamfélagi í konungsveldi) en snúist síðan gegn hinni sögulegu þróun með því að spyrna fótum við vaxandi völdum konungsins.

References

Chapter 6: að koma í þeirra sveit: "Here we witness a new social phenomenon: a Viking opposing the tribal aristocracy while supporting the royal authority. For him this is the only chance to get promoted and improve his status, rising above the traditional hierarchy." (Russian text: «Перед нами – новое социальное явление: викинг, в оппозиции к родовой знати, становится опорой королевской власти. Для него это – единственная возможность повысить свой статус на родине, поднявшись над племенной иерархией».)

Chapter 9: “The brilliant career of the Viking in the feudal society is connected to the destruction of all sorts of clan relationships, including the violated order of inheritance”. (Russian text: «Блестящая феодальная карьера викинга связана с разрушением родовых отношений во всех аспектах: в частности, нарушенный порядок наследования».)

Chapter 19:: “the important thing in the “Thorolf saga” is the clear political motive of “going Viking” as a form of a struggle against the strengthening royal authority; here the Vikings as a social power hold with the bonds who were grumbling at “the seizure of odel”.” (Russian text: «в «саге о Торольве» важна развернутая политическая мотивировка этой направленности «викинга», как формы борьбы с укрепляющейся королевской властью; викинги как социальная сила здесь солидаризируются с бондами, ропщущими на “отнятие одаля”».)

Links

• Written by: Anna Solovyeva
• Icelandic translation: Jón Karl Helgason