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

Blog

  • The Roaring ’20s (the 820s)

    This post will look at the 3rd decade of the 9th century – the 820s – and will attempt to summarise what was happening in Northern Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia during those years while introducing some of the characters who will play a leading role in events to come. In my post  Constantin, son of Read more

  • The Islands of Sheep: Settlement of The Faroes

    This blog now takes another short detour away from the British Isles to travel a little further north. However as is always the case – and as indeed per the underlying theme of this Northern Tapestry – we will continue to see the links between the various lands and peoples. The Faroe Islands lie in Read more

  • Iona and the Vikings

    The island of Iona lies on the edge of Scotland. Its eastern side is less than a mile from the south-western tip of the isle of Mull, and if you were to sail due west from the other side, the next piece of land would not be encountered for some 2,000 miles (one of the Read more

  • Constantin, son of Uurguist/son of Fergus

    My recent article, Kings in the North,  noted that at the time of the first “Viking” onslaught (see also Arrival of the Northmen), Constantin son of Uurguist was the king of Picts while there was less certainty around what was happening in Dal Riada. A little further south in Northumbria, Aethelred, son of Aethelwald Moll, Read more

  • Arrival of the Northmen

    The portentous weather and astronomical events we looked at in Bad Weather, Bad Omens continued into the last decade of the 8th century with what is perhaps the most infamous of all happening in the year 793.  Recounted in a number of sources[1] the gist is that there were flashes of fire in the skies Read more

  • Kings in the North

    The Northern Monarchies in the late 8th Century. In the last article I looked at some of the descriptions of bad weather and bad omens from the second half of the 8th century in northern Britain. This post will look at the political landscape during that time, not an easy task with the Irish Annals Read more