"Tredelt er Nordens stamme – men Roden er dog én"
Ragnar Lodbrók died in a snake pit, laughing. At least, that is what the sagas tell us. The Danish antiquarian Thomas Bartholin the Younger (1659-90) presented Ragnar's remarkable demise as a prime example of the contempt for death that he deemed typical of the people he called the 'ancient Danes', but whom we would now... Continue Reading →
Is this a blog about failure? The question popped up in my head when I was browsing through my last few posts. I mean, I wrote about the poor Høyer, who owing to his pigheadedness lost his membership of the Royal Art Academy, his workshop, his clientele, and his good name. And I wrote about... Continue Reading →
The Danish-Norwegian naval hero Tordenskjold and the Swedish "Father of Modern Taxonomy" Carl von Linné - perhaps better known as Linnaeus - are connected through the taxidermied remains of a seven-headed hydra. The mysterious beast indirectly caused the young Tordenskjold's death and forced Linnaeus to leave Hamburg in a hurry. Hannover, 9 November 1720 After... Continue Reading →
The Norwegian landowner and politician Jens Johan Vangensten (1766-1837) is not in this database. The poor man would have loved to have been included, of that I am sure, but his poetry never got him anywhere. What is worse, the poetry of others even made him end up in jail - but I will return... Continue Reading →
In the Summer of, say, 1864, a young Norwegian student hiked through the mountains of Hallingdal, all alone. The weather had been wonderful, unbearably warm even. But all of a sudden our student saw dark clouds appearing behind the snowy peaks of the mountains. A mighty storm was approaching, and with some pace. Just in... Continue Reading →
According to the Heimskringla and several other Norse sagas, the small West-Norwegian town of Hjørungavåg witnessed a fierce battle between the forces of jarl Hakon Sigurdsson and an invading Danish fleet captained by Svein Forkbeard. Scholars have estimated that this half-historical, half-legendary battle took place in the year 986. The confrontation ended in a victory for Hakon, who,... Continue Reading →
Blog van Jona Lendering
words by r. brantley
February 22- 23, 2019, Berkeley, California
and I had to go
Scandinavism 