Black Pool : Hiberno-Norse identity in Viking Age and Early Medieval Ireland.

Abstract: This paper is aimed at mapping important traits in a Hiberno-Norse identity. This is the main focus of the essay, but another important part is to problematize this using several theoretical approaches of which the main are identity, creolization and hybridization. The Hiberno-Norse culture being primarily an urban phenomenon, the thesis is delimited to the Hiberno-Norse towns with occasional comparisons to Scandinavia to see how the native Irish population influenced the invaders and how they gradually evolved into the Hiberno-Norse. Early on the Norse show signs of creolization that would ultimately lead to the creation of the Hiberno-Norse hybrid culture known from history and archaeology – an urban culture that show blended Norse and Irish features.