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skaldic

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

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Note to Hróksv Hrkv 18VIII (Hálf 68)

[5-8]: The information that Hálfr was twelve years old when he began his viking career is in the prose text (Hálf 1981, ch. 5, 177, ll. 1-3). From a statement in the same chapter (Hálf 1981, ch. 5, 178, l. 33) that he carried on harrying for eighteen years (cf. Hálf 36/1-4), it can be deduced that he was thirty years old when he died. The age of twelve seems to have been regarded as traditionally the age of majority for Viking-Age rulers, like Óláfr Haraldsson (cf. Foote and Wilson 1980, 116).

References

  1. Bibliography
  2. Foote, Peter G. and D. M. Wilson. 1980. The Viking Achievement. 2nd edn. Great Civilizations Series. London: Sidgwick & Jackson.
  3. Hálf 1981 = Seelow, Hubert, ed. 1981. Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka. RSÁM 20. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar.
  4. Internal references
  5. Hubert Seelow (ed.) 2017, ‘Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka 36 (Innsteinn Gunnlaðarson, Innsteinskviða 16)’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 333.

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