The “Talharpa” or “Talgharpa” is a lyre but played with a bow.
The instrument goes back to at least the 1300s in Scandinavia.
There is a player of the instrument depicted in Nidarosdomen,Trondheim, Norway proving that.
Today the instrument is more common in Estonia (especially within the Swedish community there).
Lyres where around during the viking age but it is unknown whether they where played with a bow or not.
This link is to the Facebook page.
They have a homepage too but it is in Swedish (most Swedes speak English though, in case you decide to contact them).
http://www.nidingbane.se/om-nidingbane_presentation.html
They sell (and use) weapons and armor both for use and for LARPs.
They also deliver to museums, markets, movies and tv.
The guy actually lives in the same house as the armoury.
Detailed description of arms and armour.
In Byzantium the members of the Varangian Guard were famous as men with red hair and beards, “as tall as date palms”; they were also said to drink too much. But the main symbol of the Varangians was the longhafted Danish axe with its crescent-shaped edge. This guardsman wears ringmail, a mail coif and splint limb armour, and apart from his axe is armed with a sword and a knife.
Archaeologists say 100-yard jetties found at the site of an ancient Viking village in Sweden suggest a coastal marketplace not previously imagined.
The jetties, five times longer than previously believed, show evidence of the Vikings’ extensive trade system, Olsson said.
“The remains of the port structures show that it was actually a port, not just small jetties jutting out onto the beach as previously thought,” he said.
Weddings were held on Friday or “Friggas-day” to honor the goddess of marriage.
The bride wore the bridal crown.
When medieval writers from Europe and other lands wrote about the frightning Norse raiders, they frequently mentioned that the invading Vikings were very tall.
In 921, an Arab, Ibn Fadlan was sent by the Caliph of Bagdad to accompany an embassy to the King of the Bulgars of the Middle Volga. Ibn Fadlan wrote an account of his journeys with the embassy, called a Risala. During the course of his journey, Ibn Fadlan met a people called the Rus, a group of Swedish origin, acting as traders in the Bulgar capital. Ibn Fadlan tells us:
“I have seen the Rus as they came on their merchant journeys and encamped by the Volga. I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blonde and ruddy…”
European observers made similar observations. The Annals of Fulda record that, in 884, the Franks defeated a party of attacking Vikings in a battle in Saxony, mentioning their great size:
Quales numquam antea in gente Francorum visi fuissent, in pulchritudine videlicet ac proceritate corporum.
[In that battle such men are said to have been killed among the Northmen as had never been seen before among the Frankish people, namely in their beauty and the size of their bodies]. (Coupland, pp. 188-189)
The question is, do these anecdotal reports reflect reality? To answer this question, archaeologists turn to studies of bones from Viking graves. A study by Richard H. Steckel,Health and Nutrition in the Preindustrial Era: Insights from a Millennium of Average Heights in Northern Europe, presents a convenient summary of height data from Northern Europe.
Trondheim was named Kaupangen (English: market place or trading place) by Viking King Olav Tryggvason in 997. Fairly soon, it came to be called Nidaros. In the beginning it was frequently used as a military retainer (Old Norse: “hird”-man) of King Olav. It was frequently used as the seat of the king, and was capital of Norway until 1217.
People have been living in the region for thousands of years as evidenced by the rock carvings in central Norway, the Nøstvet and Lihult cultures and the Corded Ware culture. In ancient times, the Kings of Norway were hailed at Øretinget in Trondheim, the place for the assembly of all free men by the mouth of the river Nidelva. Harald Fairhair (865–933) was hailed as the king here, as was his son, Haakon I – called ‘the Good’. The battle of Kalvskinnet took place in Trondheim in 1179: King Sverre Sigurdsson and his Birkebeiner warriors were victorious against Erling Skakke (a rival to the throne).
Some scholars believe that the famous Lewis chessmen, 12th century chess pieces carved from walrus ivory found in the Hebrides and now at theBritish Museum, may have been made in Trondheim.
Trondheim was the seat of the (Catholic) Archdiocese of Nidaros for Norway from 1152. Due to the introduction of LutheranProtestantism in 1537, the last Archbishop, Olav Engelbrektsson, had to flee from the city to the Netherlands, where he died in present-day Lier, Belgium.
The Germanic calendars were the regional calendars used amongst the early Germanic peoples, prior to the adoption of the Julian calendar in the Early Middle Ages.
Runestaves. Museum Of History, Lund, Sweden
The Germanic peoples had their own names for the months which varied by region and dialect, which were later replaced with local adaptations of the Roman month names. Our records of Old English and Old High German month names date to the 8th and 9th centuries, respectively. Old Norse month names are attested from the 13th century. Like most pre-modern calendars, the reckoning used in early Germanic culture was likely lunisolar. The Runic calendar developed in Medieval Sweden is lunisolar, fixing the beginning of the year at the first full moon after winter solstice.
The month names do not coincide, thus it is not possible to postulate names of a Common Germanic stage, except possibly the name of a spring and a winter month, *austr- and *jehul-. The names of the seasons are also Common Germanic, *sumaraz, *harbistoz, *wentrus, and perhaps *wēr- ”spring”. The Common Germanic terms for “day”, “month” and “year” were*dagaz, *mēnō-þ- ”Moon” and *jǣrom. The latter two continue Proto-Indo-European *me(n)ses-, *iero- while *dagaz is a Germanic innovation from a root meaning “to be hot, to burn”.
Tacitus in his Germania (ch. 11) gives some indication of how the Germanic peoples of the 1st century reckoned the days. In contrast to Roman usage, they considered the day to begin at sunset, a system that in the Middle Ages came to be known as the “Florentine reckoning”. The same system is also recorded for the Gauls in Caesar’s Gallic Wars.
“They assemble, except in the case of a sudden emergency, on certain fixed days, either at new or at full moon; for this they consider the most auspicious season for the transaction of business. Instead of reckoning by days as we do, they reckon by nights, and in this manner fix both their ordinary and their legal appointments. Night they regard as bringing on day.”The concept of the week, on the other hand, was adopted from the Romans, from about the 1st century, the various Germanic languages having adopted the Greco-Roman system of naming of the days of the week after the classical planets, inserting loan translations for the names of the planets, substituting the names Germanic gods in a process known asinterpretatio germanica.
The months were probably lunar; the Old English ”mónaþ”, Old Norse ”mánaðr, and Old High German ”mánód”, as well as the modern English ”month”, modern Icelandic ”mánuður”, modern Norwegian ”måned”, modern Swedish ”månad”, modern Dutch ”maand”, and the German ”Monat”, are all derivatives of the word “moon”, with the -th suffix found in words such as “depth”, “width”, “breadth”, etc. This connection is also found in several other Indo-European languages.
![Another fortress from the vicinity of my hometown (we, the Danes and the Norweigians loved kicking eachothers asses for hundreds of years).
Once, as i was walking one of the castles walls dressed in a kilt, the wind made me do a “Marilyn”.
They host a medieval market there annually and locals often call it “Kungälvs Fästning” rather than “Bohus Fästning”.
Bohus Fortress (also Baahus or Båhus, originally: Bagahus) lies along the old Norwegian - Swedish border in Kungälv,Bohuslän, Sweden, north east from Hisingen where the Göta river splits into two branches (20 kilometres north of Gothenburg). It commands its surroundings from a cliff 40 metres high, with the river forming a natural moat around it.
Bohus Fortress
Bohus Fortress (Norwegian: Båhus festning, Swedish: Bohus fästning) construction began in 1308 under King Haakon V Magnuson, king of Norway from 1299 until 1319. Håkon V also initiated construction of Norwegian fortresses at Akershus andVardøhus as part of a broader defensive policy. At the time Bohuslän (Båhuslen) was Norwegian territory and it served as a main Norwegian defence against Sweden along the coast as well as the strong point for the Bohuslän region from 1308 until 1658.
Medieval castle
According to architect Guthorm Kavli, “by 1310 records show it was constructed, as normal for that period, out of granite and brick, perhaps under the guidance of Count Jacob of Halland. By 1450 it included a continuous surrounding wall, 3 metres thick at the base, with a height which varied from 8.5 to 13.5 metres, varying with the terrain. It was approximately rectangular, with four rectangular corner towers. At the eastern end there was a brick tower, and in the centre of the west side a gate house and drawbridge. Along the inside of the surrounding wall buildings were located which among other things included the “Kings hall,” the castle commander’s residence, the chapel, the guardroom, the barracks and the kitchen. The fortress had secure vaulted positions, partly cut into the mountain, and beyond that strong outer-works. At the time Båhus was Norway’s strongest fortress. The approaches were very difficult and the area to be defended was small, only 250 x 150 metres, so it did not require a large defensive force.
Picture of model of Bohus Fortress, as it was before it was ceded to the Swedes
The fortress was invested numerous times, but was never captured. During theNorthern Seven Years’ War (1563-1570) it was seriously damaged. This occurred in 1566, when 250 Swedish soldiers successfully stormed the northeastern-most tower. The Norwegian commander sent a volunteer to blow up the ammunition stores underneath the tower, killing the Swedes and repelling the attack. As a reward the family of the volunteer got a piece of land which is still in property of the descendants of this volunteer.
Loss to Sweden
Under the terms of the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, Denmark–Norway ceded the Danish provinces of Scania, Blekinge and Halland (the latter was agreed to be Swedish for a period of 30 years after the Peace of Brömsebro, but was in the treaty of Roskilde given to Sweden permanently) and the Norwegian provinces Trondhjem and Bohuslän (including Bohus Fortress).
After Denmark–Norway ceded the territory which included Bohus Fortress, Fredriksten Fortress was constructed in Fredrikshald on the newly established Norwegian-Swedish border.
Since Bohus Fortress no longer lay on the border, it was of minimal future use to Sweden, which relied on the existing Älvsborg Fortress at Gothenburg and a new Carlsten Fortresserected at Marstrand.
]As prison
Instead the fortress was used as a prison. The most famous prisoner was the radical pietist Thomas Leopold, who during his life spent 42 years behind bars, 32 years at Bohus, for his alleged heresies. His stone cell can be visited at the castle today.
]Modern times
At the end of the 18th century it was decided that the now unused fortress should be demolished. Demolition crews worked at the fortress for two months, at which time the money allocated for the task had run out. Residents of the surrounding town of Kungälv used the dressed stone of the fortress for building houses. Still, much of the fortress is still intact, including the large northern tower, “Fars hatt”. The fortress is now a museum and open to tours in the summer.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvmsa114sZ1qer9b0o1_500.jpg)
Another fortress from the vicinity of my hometown (we, the Danes and the Norweigians loved kicking eachothers asses for hundreds of years).
Once, as i was walking one of the castles walls dressed in a kilt, the wind made me do a “Marilyn”.
They host a medieval market there annually and locals often call it “Kungälvs Fästning” rather than “Bohus Fästning”.
Bohus Fortress (also Baahus or Båhus, originally: Bagahus) lies along the old Norwegian - Swedish border in Kungälv,Bohuslän, Sweden, north east from Hisingen where the Göta river splits into two branches (20 kilometres north of Gothenburg). It commands its surroundings from a cliff 40 metres high, with the river forming a natural moat around it.
Bohus Fortress
Bohus Fortress (Norwegian: Båhus festning, Swedish: Bohus fästning) construction began in 1308 under King Haakon V Magnuson, king of Norway from 1299 until 1319. Håkon V also initiated construction of Norwegian fortresses at Akershus andVardøhus as part of a broader defensive policy. At the time Bohuslän (Båhuslen) was Norwegian territory and it served as a main Norwegian defence against Sweden along the coast as well as the strong point for the Bohuslän region from 1308 until 1658.
According to architect Guthorm Kavli, “by 1310 records show it was constructed, as normal for that period, out of granite and brick, perhaps under the guidance of Count Jacob of Halland. By 1450 it included a continuous surrounding wall, 3 metres thick at the base, with a height which varied from 8.5 to 13.5 metres, varying with the terrain. It was approximately rectangular, with four rectangular corner towers. At the eastern end there was a brick tower, and in the centre of the west side a gate house and drawbridge. Along the inside of the surrounding wall buildings were located which among other things included the “Kings hall,” the castle commander’s residence, the chapel, the guardroom, the barracks and the kitchen. The fortress had secure vaulted positions, partly cut into the mountain, and beyond that strong outer-works. At the time Båhus was Norway’s strongest fortress. The approaches were very difficult and the area to be defended was small, only 250 x 150 metres, so it did not require a large defensive force.
Under the terms of the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, Denmark–Norway ceded the Danish provinces of Scania, Blekinge and Halland (the latter was agreed to be Swedish for a period of 30 years after the Peace of Brömsebro, but was in the treaty of Roskilde given to Sweden permanently) and the Norwegian provinces Trondhjem and Bohuslän (including Bohus Fortress).
After Denmark–Norway ceded the territory which included Bohus Fortress, Fredriksten Fortress was constructed in Fredrikshald on the newly established Norwegian-Swedish border.
Since Bohus Fortress no longer lay on the border, it was of minimal future use to Sweden, which relied on the existing Älvsborg Fortress at Gothenburg and a new Carlsten Fortresserected at Marstrand.
Instead the fortress was used as a prison. The most famous prisoner was the radical pietist Thomas Leopold, who during his life spent 42 years behind bars, 32 years at Bohus, for his alleged heresies. His stone cell can be visited at the castle today.
At the end of the 18th century it was decided that the now unused fortress should be demolished. Demolition crews worked at the fortress for two months, at which time the money allocated for the task had run out. Residents of the surrounding town of Kungälv used the dressed stone of the fortress for building houses. Still, much of the fortress is still intact, including the large northern tower, “Fars hatt”. The fortress is now a museum and open to tours in the summer.
