The Northern Tapestry

Exploring the sagas and stories that link medieval Iceland, Scandinavia and the northern British Isles

Ortelius Map reproduced with permission from Vintage Maps

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  • Forteviot, Palace of Kings

    Although there is little evidence of it today, the tiny village of Forteviot with its population of around 200 was once the centre of the Pictish and newly-emerging Scottish kingdoms in the 9th century. Around 15 miles south-west of Perth, and situated in the Strathearn valley, close to the River Earn, we first heard of Read more

  • Vikings in Black and White

    At the end of my last post I noted that in the mid-800s, as well as fighting the Irish, we now had Vikings attacking Vikings and that the narrative was in danger of becoming even more confusing. Fortunately the annalists seem to have come up with a way of distinguishing the established vikings from the Read more

  • Tomrair, a Viking Jarl in Ireland

    In Turges – a Norse leader in Ireland, we saw how the Irish prince – and then king – of Mide, Mael Sechnaill, had ritually drowned the Norse leader Turges in 845 – a result of the ongoing conflict in Ireland between the various groups and tribes.  Mael had become king (and later would be Read more

  • Turges – a Norse leader in Ireland

    A name which appears in the Irish Annals between 839 and 845 is Turges (or Turgeis, Tuirgheis or Turgesius), a Norse chieftain fighting in Ireland. This post will look at this character – and what he represented – but first it might be helpful to remind ourselves of what was happening in Ireland at that Read more

  • Arrival of the Norwegians: Early Kings and The Family of Ketil Flatnose

    In this post I want to turn once again towards Scandinavia. In the early 9th century the land now called Norway was not united. Instead there existed a number of kingdoms such as Vestfold, Rogaland, Romsdal and Sogn. Just as we have seen Kenneth MacAlpin being linked with the uniting of different realms into a Read more

  • Kenneth MacAlpin Part III – a modern interpretation

    In the last two blog posts (The Last Pictish Kings: Part 2 – Kenneth, Brude, Drust… and Kenneth and Kenneth MacAlpin Part II )  I looked at the story of Kenneth MacAlpin, the man who is often described as the first king of the Scots. The earlier sources call him king of the Picts, but Read more