10. Viking Congress 1985 – Larkollen, Norway.

Date:

August.

Themes:

Studies of human activities in the Viking Period Norway from the northern mountains to the Göta river on the eastern side of the Oslo Fjord and down to Rygjarbit on the western side - ancient Viken.

Patron:

His Majesty King Olav V.

Organising Committee:

Charlotte Blindheim, Martin Blindheim, Erling Johansen, Eyvind Fjeld Halvorsen, Finn Hødnebø.

Secretaries: Birthe Weber, Karin Knoph.

National Representatives:

Denmark:

Iceland:

Ireland:

Norway:

Sweden: Björn Ambrosiani, Helmer Gustavson

UnitedKingdom:

Delegates of the Congress:

Britain

Colleen E. Batey, Helen Clarke, Christine E. Fell, Ian Fisher, Peter G. Foote, James A. Graham-Campbell, Richard A. Hall, James Lang, Sue Margeson, Christopher D. Morris, Raymond I. Page, Diana C. Whaley, Sir David Wilson.

Denmark

Hans Bekker-Nielsen, Kirsten Bendixen, Gillian Fellows-Jensen, Ole Fenger, Jørgen Højgaard Jørgensen, Niels Lund, Hans Frede Nielsen, Olaf Olsen, Else Roesdahl, Preben Meulengracht Sørensen.

The Faroes

Arne Thorsteinsson.

Iceland

Aðalbjörg V. Karlsdóttir, Bjarni Einarsson, Guðmundur Ólafsson, Ólafur Halldórsson.

Ireland

Thomas Fanning, Donnchadh Ó Corráin, Patrick Wallace.

Norway

Per Sveaas Andersen, Charlotte Blindheim, Martin Blindheim, Olav Bø, Signe Horn Fuglesang, Eyvind Fjeld Halvorsen, Finn Hødnebø, Erling Johansen, Sigrid H.H. Kaland, James E. Knirk, Ingegerd Larsen, Irmelin Martens, Gerd Stamsø Munch, Else Mundal, Heid Gjøstein Resi, Magnus Rindal, Gro Steinsland, Birthe Weber.

Sweden

Björn Ambrosiani, Birgit Arrhenius, Gösta Berg, Anne-Sofie Gräslund, Helmer Gustavson, Else Nordahl, Karl Inge Sandred, Lena Thunmark-Nylén.

USA

Einar Haugen, Eva Haugen.

Excursions:

Vestfold, Borro; Fredrikstad and Isegran; Boat trip to Bohuslän.

Sponsors:

Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse, Mr. Richard Fuglesang, Fredrikstad Brewery, Hafslund Inc., Town Council of Fredrikstad, Town Council of Tønsberg, Norsk Arkeologisk Selskap, Uddevalla Museum, SAS, Universitetets Oldsaksamling.

Notes:

The Proceedings were published as a festschrift to Charlotte Blindheim for her 70th birthday, July 6th 1987.

Congress Diary:

The Organising committee of the Tenth Viking Congress chose as the main topic for discussion studies of human activities in the Viking period in Eastern Norway from the northern mountains down to the Göta River on the eastern side of the Oslo Fjord and down to Rygjarbit on the western side - ancient Viken.

The Støtvig Hotel at Larkollen in Østfold County, on the eastern side of the Oslo Fjord, was chosen as the centre for the conference. From this sea-side location the congress took interesting day-long excursions. One crossed the fjord to Vestfold County with the highlights of the trip being the king's barrows at Borre, the mighty stone barrows at Mølen at the southern tip of the county, and between these the town of Tønsberg, the home of a Viking thing at Møllebakken and a medieval mountain fortress at Tunsberghus. A short excursion was made to Fredrikstad with its Old Town and the historic island Isegran in the river Glomma. A long excursion took the members of the congress south, to the coastal landscape of Bohuslän with all its prehistoric monuments.

Not all members of the congress from Ireland, Great Britain, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway could contribute to Viking Age problems in the Viken area of Eastern Norway. Studies of similar kind from other parts of Norway or the Norse areas in the Atlantic were welcomed, as were Viking topics from other parts of the Viking world.

At the end of the conference the Organising committee was happy to announce that all papers would be printed in a volume of proceedings, if delivered in due time and according to editorial instructions. All papers but two are published in this volume. The announcement of publication was followed by a most welcome invitation to a congress in Caithness and the Orkney Islands in four years.

The Organising committee and the members of the congress wish to express their deep gratitude first of all to His Majesty King Olav V for his patronage of the congress. Sincere thanks are also due to the institutions and persons who in different ways helped make the congress a success. The Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse and Mr. Richard Fuglesang generously made the «conquering» of Bohuslän by boat possible. The rough sea was made tolerable through a contribution by the Fredrikstad Brewery.

The congress was hospitably received by Hafslund Inc. at Hafslund Manor, by the Lord Mayor and the Town Council of Fredrikstad at Isegran, by the Lord Mayor and Town Council of Tønsberg at Teie Manor, by the Norsk Arkeologisk Selskap at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, by the Uddevalla Museum at Uddevalla, Bohuslän, and, above all, by the Scandinavian Airlines System, who gave a most splendid farewell dinner at the Støtvig Hotel.

A heavy burden was lifted from the shoulders of the Organising committee when the executive council and the committee for publications of Universitetets Oldsaksamling in Oslo decided, after the congress, to contribute to Viking studies by printing the papers delivered at Støtvig in one of the museum's series.

Special thanks must be expressed to the secretary of the congress, Birthe Weber, and the assistant secretary, Karin Knoph, both from the Medieval Department of Universitetets Oldsaksamling.

For the Organising committee

Martin Blindheim

Congress Proceedings:

Proceedings of the Tenth Viking Congress. Larkollen, Norway, 1985. In. (ed. James Knirk) Universitetets Oldsaksamlings Skrifter. Ny rekke. Nr. 9. Oslo 1987.