Gjallar
Norsemen in the Low Countries
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Welcome to the site of Gjallar, the sounding horn.
Gjallar is the horn of Heimðallr (Heimdallr) who guards the portal of the world of the Germanic gods.
A flourish of Gjallar brings the appearance of the Norsemen in the Low Countries to the attention of the visitor of this site.
Nederlands

Now available:
my book
Norsemen in the Low Countries



Dorestad:
The Danish role in the decay of Dorestad

Danish rulers and the Frisian cog

Profiles
of Danish rulers

Viking raids
arranged by year

Danish raiders on
Walcheren

Texts
of written sources

My publications

Relevant literature

Places of interest
in the Low Countries

Printed editions of
sources

General

Broche

BOOK:
Norsemen in the Low Countries
Merchants, Mercenaries and Masters.

Also available:

Noormannen in het rivierenland (Norsemen in the Dutch river area)

 Lage Landen

Norsemen in the Low Countries
Merchants, Mercenaries and Masters
As medieval monks did, we still often consider the Norsemen as demonic raiders from the North. But it is somewhat simple to depict the colourful procession of merchants, exiles and adventurers of all kind in this way. In this book the limited view on these looting pagans is rather distinguished. A vigorous picture of this very turbulent period is described in detail. The past society of the inhabitants of the Low Countries and Scandinavia, the political influence of the neighbouring countries, the drive of expansion of the Norsemen, these issues are all treated exhaustively.


On this website specific knowledge is gathered about the Norsemen in the Low Countries.

The Low Countries - nowadays Belgium and The Netherlands - had a prominent place as far as contacts of the Norsemen with the European continent are concerned. The wet coastal lands, known as Flanders and Frisia (Frisland), were looted on a regular base. The inhabitants had extensive (commercial) contacts with - mostly Danish - Norsemen. The Carolingian kings granted large parts of the Low Countries to Danish rulers. However very little has been published on this theme, which is so important for our past. To fill in this gap I publish on different aspects on this issue.

Mostly pagan Danes came with their ships to our coasts. They were freebooters and merchants. Sometimes robbery was an extension of trade.
Some individuals even established themselves and managed to build an excistence among the local population.
But we also encounter Danish élite, time-servers who came to play a beautiful political game. Notice that the game was beautiful and not their politics!
All these Norsemen were interweaved with our local history.

I invite the visitor of this website to get acquainted with my work and possibly react. The mentioned written sources can for the greater part be found on the page Texts of written sources, the original (Latin) text as well as a translation. omslag


Aquarel Arne Zuidhoek 1
About what? About different aspects of the Norsemen. They are merchants, pirates (vikings) or rulers from Scandinavia.

Where? In the Low Countries, that is modern Belgium, The Netherlands and also a small part of Germany (Eastern Frisland).

When? From the beginning of the ninth century until the beginning of the eleventh century. The main period is between 834 and 892.

Why? To fill a gap, because an extensive survey of all aspects of the Norsemen in the Low Countries is still not available. Besides the historiography on this theme is strongly coloured by the authors of the original sources, who had a very negative attitude towards pagan Norsemen.

By whom? The author of the texts and the builder of this website is Luit van der Tuuk.

Apart from the texts all photographs and maps were made by me. This site is meant to emphasize Nordic appearance in the Low Countries, but is also a window on my activities.
The water-colours were painted by the Dutch maritime designer and writer Arne Zuidhoek.

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© Copyright Luit van der Tuuk
2005-2011
 Completely or partially copying, multiplication in any way, posting on other sites and/or commercial use of this site only with permission of the author.		 thor wiki thisi runar
Last change
February 2, 2011