have consisted of Danes and Vikings from the Norse colonies in the
West too. After leaving Norway, Rollo then apparently proceeded to
raid in the Hebrides, England, the Low Countries, and France, before
establishing himself in an area along the Seine River. According to
Norman annals, based on the accounts of Dudo of St-Quentin and
William of Jumièges, he arrived in this region in 876, but modern
historians prefer a date nearer to the year 900.
Charles III the Simple granted Rouen and the surrounding area to
Rollo sometime after 911 and, in return, Rollo agreed to end his at-
tacks on Charles’s kingdom. Rollo was also baptized and he married
Gisla, the daughter of Charles the Simple. After Gisla’s death, he is
said to have married Popa, daughter of Berengar of Bayeux. How-
ever, despite the treaty, conversion, and marriage, Rollo continued to
raid in the region, and both he and his son, William I Longsword,
considerably extended their territory in northern France: by 924,
Rollo had expanded his control to the River Vire, incorporating
Bayeux. He is then said by Dudo to have abdicated in favor of
William c. 925. See also GÖNGU-HRÓLFR’S SAGA; ST. CLAIR-
SUR-EPTE, TREATY OF.
ROSKILDE FJORD. See SKULDELEV.
ROYAL FRANKISH ANNALS (Annales regni Francorum). Annals
composed at the royal court of Charlemagne, king of the Franks.
They cover the period 741 to 829, at which point the Annals of
St-Bertin begin. Conventionally, the Royal Frankish Annals are di-
vided into three parts, covering the periods 741–795, 795–807, and
808–829, on the basis of differences in language and style. Although
the Annals were clearly written by more than one person, the authors
are unknown. Einhard, author of the Life of Charlemagne, has been
suggested as one possibility, but although there is some resemblance,
this appears to be mainly due to the fact that Einhard used these an-
nals himself. The oldest manuscript of the Annals was found in the

monastery of Lorsch, near Worms, but their content clearly demon-
strates they were written at the royal court.
The Annals were begun at some point between 787 and 793, by the
first author, on the basis of some now-lost annals. The first section is
therefore not a contemporary record, unlike the second and third sec-
228 • ROSKILDE FJORD
tions. The reason for writing the Annals is unknown. Charlemagne
promoted the writing of history at his court, but it is unclear whether
or not he ordered the writing of the Royal Frankish Annals. It cer-
tainly seems quite likely that he was involved, as the Annals essen-
tially present a record of his achievements and those of his son and
successor, Louis the Pious. Moreover, the chronicler keeps quiet
about disasters in the field and about internal troubles during the first
section; and he also seems to have intimate knowledge of the affairs
he was writing about—the campaigns, the composition of armies,
and the purpose of the military action.
These Annals include many details about the relationship between
the Danes and the Franks in the late eighth and early ninth century, at
a time when Charlemagne was expanding his empire. Denmark is
first mentioned in 777 when the Saxon chieftain, Widukind, sought
refuge with King Sigifrid in Denmark; in 782 King Sigifrid sent am-
bassadors to the Frankish court; and Viking activity is recorded in
800 and again in 810 and 820. The Royal Frankish Annals also con-
stitute a key source for the study of early Danish history, being the
only source to record the names of Danish kings of the late eighth and
early ninth centuries, although the form of these differs from the
Scandinavian versions: for example, Heriold is Harald Klak, God-
ofrid is Godfred, and Sigifrid is Sigfred. The Annals are particularly
useful for tracing the dynastic conflicts in early-ninth-century Den-
mark: Louis the Pious supported Harald against the sons of Godfred;

but one of these sons, Horik, won the Danish throne in 827 and held
it until his death in 854. The Annals also record the conversion of the
Danish king, Harald Klak, and the subsequent launch of Ansgar’s
mission to convert the Danes and Swedes to Christianity. However,
these missionary efforts by the Franks failed, and in 845 Horik at-
tacked and burned Ansgar’s cathedral in Hamburg.
RUNE. Character in the alphabet used by Scandinavians during the pe-
riod c. 200–c. 1400, before the Roman alphabet became the dominant
script. This runic alphabet, known as the fu
þ
ark or futhark after its
first six letters, originally consisted of 24 characters, but at the be-
ginning of the ninth century, it was reduced to just 16 characters in
Scandinavia. There were two main versions of this 16-rune, or
younger, futhark: short-twig runes and long-twig runes. The forms of
RUNE • 229
the short-twig runes were simpler than those of the long-twig futhark.
Both of these younger futharks were, however, insufficient for repre-
senting all the sounds of the Old Scandinavian language, and in the
period after the 10th century, new “dotted” versions of some of these
runes appeared, which helped to distinguish between different
sounds, for example, k and g, d and t, e, and i. The futhark used in the
medieval period was a mix of short-twig and long-twig forms, aug-
mented with several of these “dotted” runes.
During the Viking Age, the runic alphabet was used primarily on
memorial stones. Some 3,000 rune-stones have survived from this
period, the vast majority in Sweden. In the eastern Swedish province
of Uppland, about 1,800 rune-stones commemorate people who had
died, both at home and abroad, although occasionally, rune-stones
record the deeds of people who were still alive. Most of these Viking-

Age rune-stones are inscribed with the same formulaic commemora-
tive text: “X (person) raised this stone in memory of Y (another
person), his or her Z (relationship between X and Y).” A Christian
prayer, the signature of the rune-carver, or a brief description of the
status or achievements of Y, and sometimes X, may follow this com-
memorative formula.
Scholars are still uncertain as to why so many rune-stones were
raised in Scandinavia during this brief period. Older theories linked
them to Viking raids and to burial customs in the transitional period
between pagan and Christian beliefs. However, these theories do not
account for either the small number of stones that commemorate peo-
ple who died away from home (c. 10 percent of the total) or the fact
that rune-stones generally do not seem to be associated with burials.
Current scholarship regards the rune-stones as a product of a complex
mix of social and economic factors, which varied according to time
and place.
Runes are often assumed to be a magical script used by non-
Christians, and it is therefore frequently believed that their use was
opposed by the Christian church. However, the futhark was a prac-
tical alphabet, used in the Germanic world in the period before the
Roman alphabet became dominant. The spread of Christianity was
certainly important in establishing the dominance of the Roman
script. However, extant inscriptions from Scandinavia show that
runes were used much more commonly for Christian texts and mes-
230 • RUNE
sages than for other non-Christian religious and magical purposes in
the Viking Age.
RUS. The name Russia is derived from the word Rus, found in the
Slavonic languages, and paralleled by Rhos in Latin, ’Rös in Greek,
and Rüs in Arabic. Rus was, along with Varangian, one of the words

used to describe the Scandinavians active in Russia and the East. The
etymology of this word is usually explained as Finnish ruotsi
“Swede,” which is derived in turn from the Swedish word for
“rower” and which is found in the name Roslagen, the legal area
around Stockholm. However, an alternative derivation may be from
Greek rusioi “blondes.”
Although some Soviet historians argued that the Rus were Slavs
rather than Scandinavians (see Normanist Controversy), there is
contemporary evidence to support the Scandinavian origin of the
Rus. The Annals of St-Bertin record that some envoys of the prince
of Rhos (sent by Emperor Theophilus of Byzantium) visited the
Frankish court of Louis the Pious in 839, and it identifies them as be-
ing of Swedish origin (gentis Sueonum). Bishop Liutprand of Cre-
mona identified the Rhos with Northmen in 968: “There is a people
dwelling in the north whom for some bodily quality the Greeks call
Rus, we, however, by reason of their homeland call them Nordman-
nos.” The Rus names for the rapids on the River Dnieper, given in
the 10th-century Administration of the Empire, also appear to be of
Scandinavian origin and are certainly distinguished from the
Slavonic names by Constantine II Porphyrogenitos. However, by
the 11th century, the Rus had largely been assimilated among the
Slavonic population.
RUSSIA, VIKINGS IN. Scandinavians called Russia either Sví
þ
jó
ð
hinn mikla (“Sweden the Great” or “Greater Sweden”) or Gar
ð
aríki
(“Kingdom of Towns”). Viking activity in European Russia (be-

tween the Arctic and Black Seas in the north and south respectively,
and between Poland in the west and the Urals in the east) is tradi-
tionally said to have begun in the mid-ninth century, with the arrival
of the Rus leader, Rurik (d. c. 879), as recorded in the Russian Pri-
mary Chronicle. However, archaeological evidence suggests that
Scandinavian, and particularly Swedish, merchants were active in
RUSSIA, VIKINGS IN • 231
the region considerably earlier than this, in the mid-eighth century.
They reached Russia by a number of routes, and the Rivers Dnieper
and Volga opened up Russia to them. From the Dnieper, they could
sail into the Black Sea and then to Byzantium, the capital of the
Byzantine Empire (Grikkland). An 11th-century Scandinavian runic
(see rune) inscription, raised in memory of a man called Karl by his
business partner (see félag), Grani, was found on the island
Berezany in the Dnieper outlet to the Black Sea. From the Volga, the
Vikings could sail down to the Caspian Sea and reach the Middle
East (Serkland). The Arabic writer and diplomat, Ibn Fadlan, gives
a vivid picture of a Rus community on the Volga in the 920s.
The Scandinavians did not only develop trading routes through
Russia, traveling onto destinations in the south and east. There is also
archaeological evidence that they settled in Russia. Scandinavians es-
tablished trading centers in order to take advantage of the region’s
wealth, settling in towns such as Staraja Ladoga, Gorodis˘c˘e, Nov-
gorod, and Kiev. The extent of this wealth can be traced in the huge
number of Arabic dirhams (silver coins) that have been found in Swe-
den, particularly Gotland. These were received in exchange for,
among other things, northern furs, slaves, and amber. This trade with
the Arabic world appears to have increased in the mid-ninth century,
reaching a peak by about 950. It subsequently declined following the
exhaustion of the silver mines in Asia and the collapse of

the Samanid state, and Russian trade was reoriented westward to the
Baltic.
Scandinavians encountered a number of distinct and different peo-
ple during their travels in European Russia: Finns and Balts in the
northwest, Bulghars in the northeast, Khazars in the south, and East
Slavs in western Russia. The Russian Primary Chronicle emphasizes
the political and economic overlordship that the Scandinavians en-
joyed in Novgorod and Kiev, but it seems that the Scandinavian
rulers were rapidly assimilated to the Slavic population of Russia.
This can be traced in the names of the Rus dynasty; Svyatoslav I
(d. 978) was the first to have a Slavonic name, and he gave a Slavonic
name to his son, Vladimir I (d. 1015), who adopted Eastern Orthodox
Christianity as the “state” religion in 988. While Vladimir employed
Scandinavian mercenaries or Varangians to help him in his cam-
paign for control of Kiev, he dismissed most of them from his service
232 • RUSSIA, VIKINGS IN
following his victory as they posed a potential threat to his position
in Russia. Nevertheless, links with Scandinavia appear to have
thrived during the reign of Jaroslav the Wise. He was married to In-
gigerd, the daughter of the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung; his
daughter, Ellisif, was married to the Norwegian king, Harald Hard-
Ruler; and Jaroslav’s court appears to have had prominent Scandi-
navian visitors, such as Olaf Haraldsson and Magnus I the Good of
Norway and Ingvar the Far-Traveled of Sweden.
RUSSIAN PRIMARY CHRONICLE. Also known as Nestor’s Chroni-
cle, from the name of the monk Nestor, who was once believed to
have written the Chronicle in Kiev around 1100. In Slavonic, the
Chronicle is usually called Povest’ from the first words of its title,
meaning “The Narrative (of Past Times).” The work survives in two
major versions: the so-called Laurentian version, named after the

14th-century copyist, Laurence; and the 15th-century Hypatian ver-
sion, named after the monastery where it was found. These versions
are both based upon a 12th-century compilation, probably made in
Kiev, and this 12th-century compilation in turn seems to have used
largely 11th-century material. The monk Nestor is believed to have
been one of the compilers involved in this work.
The Chronicle takes the form of an annalistic account, a year-by-
year record of events between 852 and 1110, centered on the Kiev dy-
nasty. However, it is essentially an attempt by a converted people to
interpret their past: there are long biblical sections and the Chronicle
is rich in legend and myth. One of the most important of these myths
for historians of the Vikings is the episode known as “The Calling of
the Varangians,” which describes how warring Slavic peoples de-
cided to ask the Varangians to come and rule over them in 862, as
they could not decide who among them should be king. This episode
forms the center of the so-called Normanist Controversy over who
founded the Russian state: Scandinavians or Slavs, and many of the
details are suspect. The whole episode is rather reminiscent of other
legends of origin, and while Rurik is known from other sources, his
brothers—Sineus and Truvor—may be literary creations to explain
later Scandinavian presence in a number of urban centers in Russia.
The chronology is also problematic, as we know from archaeology
that there were Scandinavians in Russia in the early ninth century,
RUSSIAN PRIMARY CHRONICLE
• 233
and that by 860 they were organized enough to attack Byzantium
from their bases in Russia.
Nevertheless, the Chronicle does contain some useful details about
the activities of the Rus in the 9th and 10th centuries in the areas that
are now Russia, Byelorussia, and the Ukraine, including a number of

journeys from their base in Kiev to Byzantium. The Russian Primary
Chronicle also contains details about a number of treaties signed by
the Rus and the Byzantine Greeks in 907, 912, 945 and lists the
names of the Rus negotiators; most of these names appear to be Scan-
dinavian names that have been slavonicized to some degree.
– S –
SÆMUND THE LEARNED (ON Sæmundr inn fró
ðð
i Sigfússon)
(1056–1133). Icelandic priest and scholar, Sæmund was the son of a
priest and his family lived at Oddi, Iceland’s principal cultural and
religious center in the south of the island. He studied for a number of
years in France and returned to Iceland around 1076. He built a new
church at Oddi and was instrumental in establishing tithe laws on the
island in 1096. Sæmund married and had three sons and a daughter;
his grandson, Jón Lóptsson, was Snorri Sturluson’s foster father,
and the so-called Oddaverjar became one of the most influential and
important families in the late Icelandic republic. Sæmund is most fa-
mous, however, for his historical writing. Although none of his work
has survived, it is referred to by several later writers, including Ari
Thorgilsson and the author of Nóregs konunga tal. It appears that
Sæmund wrote a short chronological history of Norwegian kings,
probably in Latin (Snorri names Ari Thorgilsson as the first writer of
history in Icelandic). The Poetic Edda was once believed to have
been the work of Sæmund and was known for a time as Sæmundar
Edda.
SAGAS OF ANCIENT TIMES (ON Fornaldarsögur). The so-called
Sagas of Ancient Times are not, as their name suggests, historical ac-
counts, but rather heroic legends and adventure tales that were, for
the most part, written in 14th-century Iceland. Although they often

took historical figures as their subject, the story that was built around
234 • SÆMUND THE LEARNED (1056–1133)
these characters lacked historical foundation. For example, one of
the most famous of these sagas, Göngu-Hrolfs Saga, is about the
founder of the Norse colony in Normandy, more usually known as
Rollo. However, the fantastical story recounted in this saga is clearly
just that, a story or fairy tale. There are about 30 surviving examples
of Sagas of Ancient Times, and the most well known of these are Völ-
sunga Saga and the Saga of Hrólfr Kraki.
SAGAS OF THE ICELANDERS (ON Íslendingasögur). The so-
called Sagas of the Icelanders or Family Sagas are perhaps the best
known of the sagas and include such classics as Egil’s Saga and
Njal’s Saga. Most of them, as their names suggests, are set in Ice-
land, and they concern the lives of Icelandic farmers and chieftains
in the period 870–1050. There is a preoccupation with representing
Iceland as a bastion of freedom, centered on the heroic farmer who
had no need of king or state. About 40 of this type of saga are pre-
served, and the majority date to the 13th century. Although the sagas
are usually set in the past, these sagas are more literary creations
than historical works, and they are romance-like in their structure.
Unlike Kings’ Sagas, the vast majority of these sagas are also
anonymous.
SAGAS OF ST. OLAF. As well as the saga of Olaf Haraldsson found
in Snorri’s Heimskringla, a number of other sagas about the Norwe-
gian martyr king are known. The oldest of these is the Oldest Saga of
St. Olaf that was written at the end of the 12th century, and which sur-
vives in just six fragments. Although the language of these fragments
is Icelandic, the author is unknown. A Norwegian revision of this
saga, known as the Legendary Saga of St. Olaf, was composed in the
Trøndelag region of Norway in the mid-13th century; this survives in

just one manuscript and includes considerable detail about his mira-
cles in order to demonstrate his spiritual significance. Snorri Sturlu-
son’s Separate Saga of St. Olaf, which was revised for inclusion in
his Heimskringla, appears to have been partially based upon a biog-
raphy of the king and saint that was written by Styrmir Kárason
around 1220. Parts of this biography are found in Flateyjarbók. This
Separate Saga was, in turn, adapted and augmented by new material
in the 14th century.
SAGAS OF ST. OLAF
• 235
ST. ANSGAR. See ANSGAR, ST.
ST. BRICE’S DAY MASSACRE. Massacre of “all the Danish men
who were among the English race” that was ordered to take place on
St. Brice’s day (13 November) 1002 by Æthelred II. According to
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the massacre was ordered because of
the king’s suspicions of a Danish plot to kill him and claim his king-
dom. The victims may have included Gunnhild, the sister of Svein
Forkbeard of Denmark, and her husband, Pallig. A charter of
Æthelred, made some two years later, also refers to this massacre
with reference to St. Frideswide’s Minster in Oxford. This charter
compensated St. Frideswide’s, which had been burned down by local
residents because some Danes were inside, seeking sanctuary.
ST. CLAIR-SUR-EPTE, TREATY OF. This is said to be the name of
an agreement signed by Rollo and Charles the Simple in 911, in
which Rollo was granted the territory of Neustria, which formed the
core of the later duchy of Normandy. However, while it seems that
Rollo and Charles did come to some kind of deal, this treaty and the
date 911 may be a later invention or tradition. From contemporary
sources, we know that Rollo and his Danish army besieged Chartres in
911, but that they were defeated. The next time Rollo is mentioned

in written sources is sometime between 913–918, when he appears as
a Christian leader, with full authority over Rouen. In a royal charter of
918, Charles the Simple refers to some kind of deal with Rollo, by
which Rollo was given land in return for defending Charles’s kingdom.
This charter suggests that the agreement with Rollo was made some-
time between 911 and 918, and probably 911–913, but at what point is
unknown, and whether there ever was a Treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte
is also unclear. Certainly the royal charter of 918 does not specify the
area that Rollo was given, although it appears to have been upper Nor-
mandy (the eastern part of the later Duchy).
ST. OLAF. See OLAF HARALDSSON, ST.
SAXO GRAMMATICUS (c. 1150–c. 1220). Twelfth-century Danish
writer, whose nickname Grammaticus comes from the elaborate
Latin prose of his great historical work, History of the Danes. Little
236 • ST. ANSGAR
is known about Saxo’s life except that he was probably from the is-
land of Sjælland and that he came from a family of warriors. He was
probably a clerk in the service of Absalon, who was bishop of
Roskilde from 1158–1192 and archbishop of Lund from 1178 to
1201. Saxo is first mentioned in Sven Aggesen’s Historia Regum
Danicae compendiosa, where he is described as writing the history of
the Danish kings of the 11th century.
SCAR BOAT BURIAL. The boat (see ships) burial at Scar on the
beach of the Orkney island of Sanday was discovered in September
1991 and subsequently excavated during storms in November and
December 1991. The boat was clinker-built with oak planks and mea-
sured about 7 meters in length, with space for perhaps six oars. A
simple burial chamber had been created by filling the east end of the
boat with stones, which was then separated from the rest of the boat
with a large upright slab. In the remaining space, three bodies had

been laid out: in the central part of the boat, a woman in her 70s and
a child of about 10 or 11 were placed lying on their backs; and in the
more cramped west end of the boat, a man in his early 30s, who was
about 1.8 meters tall, had been placed on his back, with his legs bent
up to fit into the space. This west end of the burial had been partly
destroyed by high tides and sea erosion, and there had also been some
damage to the skeleton of the woman, caused by an otter’s nest that
had been built there. The remaining grave goods consisted of, for the
man, a broken sword in its scabbard, a quiver of eight arrows, 22
whalebone gaming pieces, a comb, two lead weights, and possibly a
shield; and for the woman, a spectacular and highly unusual whale-
bone plaque, believed to be used for smoothing linen, a gilt-bronze
equal-armed brooch, an antler comb, two spindle-whorls, an iron
weaving-batten, shears, a needle-case containing two needles and
thread, a sickle, and a maplewood box. Both the plaque and brooch
have close parallels in northern Norway, and it has been suggested
that this woman may have been among the early Norwegian settlers
of Orkney. The burial is dated to the end of the ninth century.
SCOTLAND, VIKINGS IN. Before the first Viking raids on the is-
lands and coast of Scotland, the modern country of Scotland was a
collection of regional kingdoms rather than a single political unit.
SCOTLAND, VIKINGS IN • 237