X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Adam of Bremen


Hälsingland

The first affirmative mention of the people is made by Adam of Bremen around 1070, in reference to the leidang shipping fleet.

Kongsvinger Fortress

This important pilgrimage & trade route is mentioned by Adam of Bremen in 1070.

Norse rituals

Adam of Bremen's description of the sacrifices and the cultic centre in Uppsala is the best known account of pre-Christian rituals in Sweden.

Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt

Infernus cited the ecclesiastical writer Adam of Bremen as the inspiration for the album's title, parodying his maxim Quantos Possunt ad Christianitatem Trahunt.

Våler, Hedmark

One pilgrim’s route for Swedish pilgrims lay through Eidskog, Solør and Elverum; Adam of Bremen mentions this route as early as 1070.


Birka

No texts survive from this area, though the written text Vita Ansgari ("The life of Ansgar") by Rimbert (c. 865) describes the missionary work of Ansgar around 830 at Birka, and Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church) by Adam of Bremen in 1075 describes the archbishop Unni, who died at Birka in 936.

Early Finnish wars

Terra Feminarum, described in Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church) by Adam of Bremen in 1075, is presumed to refer to the Finnic Kvenland, which at the time covered a part of the modern-day Finland.

Emund the Old

Adam of Bremen relates in his work Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church) that his son Anund Emundsson died when leading a Swedish attack against Terra Feminarum and the attack ended in Swedish defeat.

Etymology of Denmark

The issue is further complicated by a number of references to various Dani people in Scandinavia or other places in Europe in Greek and Roman accounts (like Ptolemy, Jordanes, and Gregory of Tours), as well as some mediaeval literature (like Adam of Bremen, Beowulf, Widsith and Poetic Edda).

Simon Grunau

Scholars agree that this addition was most probably borrowed from Adam of Bremen and his description of the Temple at Uppsala.


see also

Birka

This might mean that he sailed off from Hamburg or Bremen instead of some port in Baltic Sea, since the later account by Adam of Bremen gives the distance of Scania and Birka to be only 5 days at sea.

Temple at Uppsala

Rudolf Simek says that, regarding Adam of Bremen's account of the temple, "Adam's sources for this information are of extremely varying reliability, but the existence of a temple at Uppsala is undisputed."