Medieval Norwegian life

Writing my post the other day about medieval Norwegian stave churches has prompted me to put together into one post a number of links to recent discoveries from the medieval era in Norway.

First of all there was was the publication of evidence gleaned from a skeleton discovered in 1938 beneath stones and boulders in a well at Sverresborg castle near Trondheim. This has been shown to date from the later twelfth century and to confirm an account of the siege of the castle in  1197. One army threw a dead body into the well to poison the water supply by a form of germ warfare.

The analysis was reported upon by the Daily Telegraph in Norse legend could be proved true by 900-year-old body found in castle well and by the Independent in Remains of mysterious Norse ‘well man’ reveals secrets of medieval biological warfare

Sverresborg is close to Trondheim and the Nidaros cathedral, the historic ecclesiastical centre and coronation church of Norway. Recent research on the octagon built over and around the shrine of the national patron St Olav is outlined in an article from Medievalists.net which can be seen at The Strange Medieval Sculptures of Nidaros Cathedral

There is a report from last year about significant discovery of leather goods from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in the harbour at Oslo during redevelopment work. These include shoes, bags and scabbards, which have been preserved in the mud. The article from Live Science can be viewed at Thousands of leather shoes, bags and sword scabbards discovered during dig in medieval harbor in Norway

Another discovery of great and wider significance is what is thought to be the oldest surviving book in Norway. It is a small hymn book dated to about 1200 which had survived at a farm near Bergen. It is now held by the National Library and designated the Haganes Codex.

It is discussed on the History Blog at Rare furry sealskin manuscript may be Norway’s oldest book

There are also two videos about the book, which can be seen at Extraordinary sealskin manuscript may be Norway's oldest book and at Norway's Oldest Book

The book would clearly have been in the hands of medieval Norwegians, which links neatly to a ring from the era which has been discovered in recent excavations in Tønsberg, the oldest city in the country.

The ring, which, from its size, appears to have been made for a woman, was discovered at Tønsberg. The layer below which it was found is dated to 1167-1269. The ring may actually date from the tenth or eleventh centuries. This argument is based on stylistic similarities to examples from an England and Denmark. The ring is illustrated and discussed by Heritage Daily at Pristine medieval gold ring discovered in Tønsberg.

The ring is also discussed in a report from Popular Mechanics but illustrated by a bought-in generic image. The article can be read at Archaeologists Uncovered a Rare Medieval Ring—With Mystical Implications