Alfred the Great : $b containing chapters on his life and times
History
Alfred the Great : $b containing chapters on his life and times
Alfred, King of England, 849-899; Great Britain -- History -- Alfred, 871-899
Having given this most valuable summary of the inhabitants of Central and
Northern Europe during the ninth century, King Alfred proceeds to relate
the particulars of two important voyages made by distinguished seamen who
had come to his court and recited their adventures to him. The first was
an influential Northman or Norwegian named Oht-here, or in old Norwegian,
Ottar. The name is derived from the two words _oht_ (dread or fear) and
_hær_ or _here_ (an army), _hærmand_, a warrior. The right meaning of
Oht-here is, therefore, “terror-causing warrior.” This able navigator
“told his Lord King Alfred that he dwelt northmost of all Northmen, on
the land by the west sea.” The district in which he dwelt was called
Halgoland, the land of fire, or more probably “the land of the northern
lights.” Oht-here’s home has been placed on the shores of Lerivik Sound,
between the Island of Senjen and the mainland. “He said no man abode
north of him. He was a wealthy man in those possessions in which their
wealth consists,” possessing 600 tame reindeer of his own breeding, 20
horned cattle, as many sheep and swine, and horses with which he ploughed
a small extent of tilled land. But his revenues were chiefly derived from
tribute paid to him by the Laplanders, called Finns by the Norwegians, in
furs and skins, birds’ feathers, whalebone, and ropes made from walrus
hide. Oht-here called his country Northweg (Norway), and described it as
being very long and narrow, with all the pasture and culturable land near
the sea, which, however, is very rocky in some places. Inland, he said
that there were high mountains, and farther to the eastward were Sweden
in the south and Cwenland in the north. He added that to the north of
Halgoland the country was waste and desert, except in a few places, where
the Laplanders were encamped for hunting, or on the sea-coast for fishing
in the summer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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