THE HIES OPEN LIBRARY
HISTORICAL SOURCES, SOCIETY & MATERIAL CONTEXT
The History & Archaeology collection brings together historical sources and scholarship for the study of the societies, institutions, communities, and cultural development of the Old Norse world.
Current holdings emphasize textual and historical resources concerning kingship, settlement, law, social organization, daily life, religion, and cultural change. As the Open Library develops, suitable archaeological and material-culture resources may be added to provide additional context for the study of medieval Scandinavian life.
Individual resource pages provide information about each work, its edition, its use at HIES, and access to the available online text.
Heimskringla
Snorri Sturluson • Samuel Laing, trans.
PRIMARY SOURCE
A collection of Old Norse kings' sagas preserving important narratives concerning Norwegian rulers, political authority, warfare, law, religion, conversion, and the historical development of medieval Scandinavia.
Social Scandinavia in the Viking Age
Mary Wilhelmine Williams • 1920
HISTORICAL SCHOLARSHIP
A historical study of Scandinavian social life, household organization, family, law, government, trade, religious practice, material culture, and society during the Viking Age.
Origines Islandicae
Guðbrandur Vigfússon & F. York Powell • 1905
SOURCE COLLECTION
A two-volume collection of sagas and native writings concerning the settlement and early history of Iceland, including material related to law, constitution, conversion, genealogy, exploration, and social development.
The History & Archaeology collection will continue to develop as suitable public-domain historical sources, scholarship, archaeological studies, material-culture resources, and responsibly licensed educational materials are identified and reviewed for inclusion.
The present collection is primarily textual and historical. Future archaeological resources should be selected for their value in providing material context for the societies, institutions, religious practices, settlements, and everyday life of the Old Norse world.
Historical scholarship is approached critically and in conversation with primary sources, archaeological evidence, and later research. Inclusion in the Open Library does not mean that every resource is required reading within the Bachelor of Eddic Studies program.