BEFORE THE NORSEMEN CAME.

One of Haldorr's enemies happens to be in the Greenland settlement where he plots his revenge. This is a gruesome business. The bulk of the book is set in Vinland which was located in current day Canada. Haldorr becomes of a convert to Christianity and tries to live the faith even though the Viking way of life is hard to change.

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They Leif and company build a settlement a sole long house in this new land. It is interesting to read the description of a land being largely vacant of human inhabitants. I can see the excitement these explorers must of felt in finding such an unspoiled wilderness. Leif and company decide to head back to Greenland because of a vision Leif has of Erik's impending death. They decide to leave Haldorr behind in spite of his numerous protests.

The author's writing style is entertaining and there are no real slow points in the book. And yet there is still something missing from his writing style that I cannot pinpoint. Overall, this book is a solid 4-star read and would recommend the book to any Historical Fiction fans of Viking sub-genre. Aug 04, Anna rated it really liked it.

Took another break from my usual fare to follow up with Halldorr. Love that I have learned so much history from reading fiction. I probably would have done better in the subject if it had been taught this way in high school. Thank you for the sweet justice that got handed out along way. Will anxiously await the next installment.

Oct 14, Kim Arnold rated it it was amazing. I have already worked out who his savior is, and it is just perfect if this becomes his woman. Jun 21, Vicky rated it it was amazing.


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Vikings and Skraelings and exploration and battles!! This sequel to The Norseman did not disappoint! Looking forward to the further adventures of Haldorr! Jun 17, Jonathan rated it it was amazing. The second did not disappoint I am once again left waiting for the next saga Jul 11, Yvonne Lammon rated it it was amazing. Enjoyed it sooo much.

Very interesting with lots of history woven into it! Can't wait to see what is next. Excellent book with and excellent author! Jun 21, April rated it it was amazing Shelves: I liked this one more than the first. While I don't want to give too much away for those continuing Halldorr's adventures with him I was worried at first.

Too much happened, where was this story going to go. I was not disappointed! As with The Norseman, I was swept away with Halldorr I loved the characters. I found myself laughing out loud at the humor throughout the book. And, of course, I learned a thing or two along the way. It's always a great combination when you can read a book, I liked this one more than the first. It's always a great combination when you can read a book, enjoy it, fall in love with the characters.. I am still astonished after reading the historical notes which, I might add are a must!: There were parts that I assumed Yes, I'm speaking of Freydis..

What will Halldorr's sentence be? I say this is a must read!

pp/ vol 4 #2 IoMNHASoc - J.J. Kneen - Before the Norsemen came

Especially if you read the first. And if you haven't I strongly suggest you pick up The Norseman today.. A great story, well told! First book in this series was good, the second book is better. While the story seemed to drag in places with super descriptive section after section He turns into a bit of a loner, but a tough guy loner. Just a good ole fashioned story of high adventure. Yes - the Vikings w First book in this series was good, the second book is better.

Yes - the Vikings were first to North America.


  • Paths of the Norseman (The Norseman Chronicles, #2) by Jason Born.
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This premise is a neat break from some of the more traditional Viking era historical fiction novels I have recently read. I will be continuing with Born's Norseman Chronicles. Jul 31, Jordan Erika rated it did not like it Shelves: They can make a story so much more interesting, let you really visualize it, let you fall into the world. But there is a line. Too much detail can kill a story as easily as too little. I never finished it and I never will. There is simply too much attention paid to detail for anything to ever really happen. The pace is simply glacial. I've had to stop and go back to it time and time again, and it's just not worth it.

Nov 29, Michael Elliott rated it really liked it.

The Norseman Chronicles Series

At Scarlett, near Castletown, we see the marks of animals which roamed the land when the world was young; we can see their forms distinctly defined in the imperishable rock. Although they have ceased to exist for such a vast period that our feeble minds cannot bridge the interval between them and now. The early Celtic history of Mann, although not separated from us by such aeons of time, is at first sight non-existent. At present I do not intend to deal with the early history of Ireland. Earlier workers in the same field have already done useful work in this direction, although they have not exhausted the subject by any means.

I intend to deal with evidence we find in our native language, a language which was vigorous enough to withstand the influence of the Norse and English tongues for over a thousand years, and has still a kick left in it. In this now neglected and almost forgotten speech we find certain words which help us, in some degree, to peer into the Celtic darkness and visualise the lives of the Manx Gaels, how they parcelled out the land and how they governed themselves.

The Manx Gael must have been always a complex problem to his Norse and English lords; since Scandinavian rule he has never governed himself, he allowed the Norsemen to obliterate his Celtic place-names and used the names which the former imposd upon him, but he stuck tenaciously to his own language, he borrowed few words from the language of his masters, and even retained the names of the Celtic land divisions and officials connected therewith bequeathed to him by his Celtic sires.

And thus, at the beginning of our written Manx history, we only find one word of Norse origin appertaining to Manx governmen, the word " Tynwald ," and even this was a place-name, and referred to the spot where the Court was held rather than the Court itself. In the Chronicle we find that "a convention of the people was held at a place called Tynwald," and it is almost certain that English influence has been responsible for the preservation of a word of which we are all justly proud. That the Manx Gaels eventually absorbed the Norse element is proved by such hybrid names as Corkill, Corlett, etc.

The Norsemen were great sailors, and it is no doubt due to that leavening that the Manx sailors became famous as sea-farers. The bowe, the stack, the sker, the giau, and such like. But the names of our land divisions and the officials connected therewith were all Gaelic, until the Englishman came, when he translated some of them into the English of the day. Whatever legislative terms the Norsemen may have used had disappeared for ever. There is only one doubtful example, the Lockman, which may postulate the Norse Lagman or Logman, in other words, our present Deemster.

We find that in Iceland a similar metamorphisis took place, the once powerful Lagman descended the social scale until he became a mere court functionary. On the other hand, however, as we also have a Gaelic form for the Lockman, the Guilley Glish, of similar meaning, it is possible that the "lock" referred to the "fetters" with which the coroner's henchman trussed up an unruly client. It is somewhat remarkable that the Manxman clung to his own legislative terms through five centuries of English rule, and used them as long as the Manx language was spoken.

But new officials introduced by the English, such as the Captain of the Parish, he had no Manx for, and made no attempt to translate them, but was content to use the English form. The largest and most primitive divisons of Mann were the two districts, North and South, the mountain range from North Barrule to Cronk yn Iree Laa, making a natural and efficient boundary. The two Deemsters are still living witnesses of this primitive division. The Southern Division is still the more important, at it must have been in early times.

Here dwelt the Ard-Ree, the chief king, or ruler, of the Island, as the Norse kings did later. The stronghold or dun of the Ard-Ree was probably on the site now occupied by Castle Rushen. Or it is possible that the Southern ruler was called the Ree, and the Northern Kiannoort. The latter word means "The head man of a fortress or fortification," and it is probable that one of his duties was to look after the fortifications of the Island. In early Stanlevan times we find the Kiannoort anglicised Captain. We probably still find an echo of the old regime in the term Lieut.

In pre-Norse days the residence of the Kiannoort may have been on the site of Bishop's Court. It has been recorded that fortifications have been demolished there in the past. Of these three words the latter alone survives, but it must be borne in mind that "Deemster" was never used when Manx was spoken, the Gaelic form Brie, lasted as long as the language itself.

The next division was the Sheading , a word I approach almost with fear and trembling. The Gael, Norseman and Saxon have each in turn claimed it, and I must confess my own guilt in claiming it as a Gaelic word. But during one of my lucid intervals, I arrived at the definite conclusion that it was neither Gaelic nor Norse, but purely English. I do not pretend to be the originator of this theory; I know I am not. But I am now fully convinced that "Sheading" is a Middle English word introduced by the Stanleys, or at some date between the end of Norse rule and the beginning of English rule.

Then what word did it displace-was there a Gaelic or Norse word? As far as I can trace there was no Norse word, or if there was it disappeared with Norse rule. We find the Gaelic word happily preserved in the name Toshiagh-Joarey, now by translation, Coroner. In Teora then, we have the old Gaelic name of the Sheading. Each Sheading or Teora had its Chieftain, and the latter must have been a person of some importance in pre-Norse days.

Another officer attached to the Sheading was the Meoir. The English did not translate this word, but borrowed it in the form Moar, and we may judge the importance of this individual from the fact that in Scotland, after English rule, the moars became barons, and the mor-moars, or great moars or stewards became earls. The office of Meoir is now extinct in the Isle of Man; from our earliest written records they simply collected the Lord's rents. The remainder of the divisions we have to consider are the balla or townland, the treen or third, and the kerroo or quarterland.

The word "treen" is somewhat on a par with "sheading," although a simple Gaelic word meaning "a third," no one would believe it, for the simple reason that all attempts to prove the unit of which it was a fraction produced negative results. I stumbled across the solution in a rather remarkable manner. When reading the old ballad of Manannan Mac Lir, I noticed the lines, "Ayns dagh treen balley ren eh unnane, da'n sleih sher ayn dy been y ghnee," i. Although I had read the ballad many a time, the significance of the phrase "treen balley" had hitherto escaped my notice, for here was the very clue I had been seeking for years.

But a simple phrase in a ballad it not enough to base a theory on, it must be further substantiated, and this I was able to do by studying the positions of the treens. I then noticed that many of the parish churches were in the centre of a group of three treens. Here then was the solution, the three treens, or thirds, formed a balla, and these ballas, with a centre keeill, were chosen as the nuclei of the parishes somewhere in the early 13th century.

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Then what was the significance of the balla in pagan times? It the early Irish MSS ""balle" is glossed by the Latin "locus," a place; and this seems to have been its meaning at the dawn of history. Later, however, we find it not only prefixed to a treen, but also to a quarterland, and even much smaller pieces of land, such as intacks, etc.

The pagan origin of the balla and treen is proved by the fact that the central church and cemetery is usually on a knoll or even on a fairly high hill, like Kirk Marown and Kirk Santon churches, and often there are other indications of a pagan nature, such as the tumulus in Jurby Churchyard.

The centre of the balla, then, or the point where three treens met, was occupied by a pagan temple in pre-Christian times. There were usually four quarterlands or kerroos in a treen, but they varied a great deal. I have already mentioned the name "Tynwald," let us consider it in all its aspects. For some reason the Manx Gaels did not use the name "Tynwald," and to the Manx language it was a stranger. Even in our own time the fair was better known to us as Midsummer Fair than Tynwald Fair.

This all goes to show that the very uniqueness of the name "Tynwald" has been the cause of its preservation. Like a beacon it shines along the way until it reaches the Celtic curtain, where its rays are dimmed into insignificance. But it is certain that the Norsemen did not originate the ceremonies which are still held at Tynwald.

If one examines the surrounding land, signs of paganism are still traceable. Not far away are the remains of a megalithic monument which probably had a close connection with the Hill of Promulgations, the fair-ground is an extensive cemetery, and it is probable that the chapel occupies the site of an open-air temple. Tynwald Hill itself very likely marks the spot where one of our Island's early rulers was laid to rest.

The Norsemen, then, simply perpetuated a custom which had its roots deep in the past when they arrived. The same ceremonies existed in pagan Ireland before the dawn of history. The dedication of the chapel and hill to S. John the Baptist, however, can only date from Christian times.