Through the Past Darkly

"The Age of the Vikings," by Anders Winroth, 2014 / "The Vikings," the History Channel

The problem with standard historians is that they have little interest in tracking regressive or progressive issues in history, except by accident.  Dialectics is foreign to them. The obvious choices in any discussion of the Vikings is the status of women, the role of Christianity and paganism, the issues of taxation and economics which underlie religion and the social breadth of the Vikings.  The other issue is the 'cult' of the Vikings practiced by some ultra-right wing groups in the U.S. When you see their wood shields and Aryan chants, they may fancy themselves the return of Thor, but they are just playing dress-up.

Lagertha - Shield-Maiden and Earl - landing at Lindisfarne with Ragnar Lothbrok

Winroth tracks the 'age of the Vikings' from the storming of the Lindsfarne monastery in Northumberland, England in 793 to the defeat of King Harald Sigurdsson Hardruler of Norway at the battle of Stamford Bridge, England in 1066.  This defeat marks the end of the effectiveness of opportunistic surprise attacks against poorly organized opponents.  This battle was only 3 weeks before the successful invasion of England by William the Conqueror.  Winroth mostly uses written poems and narratives of the time and afterwards, runestones in old Norse, as well as archeological evidence to describe this period in European history.  His focus is mostly on kings and prominent people.  He does not include the earlier period when the Vikings went east towards what is now known as Russia ("Rus" is based on the Finnish word Ruotsi for Sweden.  "Slavic" is not from the word 'slave.') 

The History Channel had an excellent series called "The Vikings" focused on the Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok, who they depict as leading the raid on Lindisfarne, taking control of parts of Northumbria and Wessex, attacking and sacking Paris and dreaming of sailing through the Mediterranean.  His story is used as a partly fictional one that ties the narrative together  The Vikings series indicates that the East was the first area the Vikings raided or traded before they headed west and southwest, to Lindisfarne.  I read this history to see if this TV 'fiction' stacked up, and in a some senses, it does. 

WOMEN

Winroth describes Viking women's roles as circumscribed to the home only.  He makes much of a farm wife named Estrid who lived to be 60+ years old and managed a large farm in what is now Sweden, through several husbands and some sons.

However, recently archeologists in Scandinavia have identified the body of a Viking warrior that they thought was a man - as a woman.  Winroth mentions that Viking women could get a divorce at their own calling - something rare in the rest of the world.  Viking women could also own property.  He also says that the Vikings did not use rape when they raided.  The Scandinavian poets called 'skalds' constantly talk of Valkyries in Valhalla, who are not merely farm wives.  This hints that the role of women was stronger in the North than in standard Catholic medieval societies, such as in Alfred's Wessex or Charlemagne's Frankish kingdom.  The Vikings series shows a somewhat free sexuality and a good number of female warriors, as well as one female chieftain.  Which might be a concession to modern ideas or perhaps a more accurate version of pagan life.  Winroth, as a standard historian, does not dig into this issue.   Fascist nostalgists might look at their own 'all male' groups and realize they are more backward than the Vikings themselves. 

RELIGION

The Vikings practiced a 'pagan' religion that united them around various chieftains.  As an example of the impact, we still see it in the 'English' language - which is really a language combining many languages.  Sun's Day, Moon's Day, Tyr's Day, Wooten's Day, Thor's Day, Freyr's Day, Saturn's Day - all names of Norse gods or based on nature worship.  The key role of religion at this point was to meld the followers of an earl or chieftain together, for battle and community, and this was the role of Norse paganism.  (It seems to be the permanent role of religion, as method of uniting some communities against others.)  The limitation of paganism was that this relationship was based on a gift economy between the chieftain and his followers, as well as personal connections.  So it could not control large areas. Christianity was actually brought in from the top by Viking rulers who wanted to consolidate far larger areas than one town or small area (like Kattegat in "The Vikings" series), under a more totalitarian ideology - Catholic Christianity.  Christianity had cachet among these rulers because it was exotic and connected to the powerful kings of Europe.  But aspects of paganism were actually more progressive than Christianity - it was more materialist in outlook, did not oppress women as much (Freya was a female god, one of several, dwelling in Asgard) and was less controlling.  Even on minor cultural issues like cremation, the Christians opposed it while the pagans practiced it.  Actual Scandinavians, of course, blended the two religious traditions for many a year.

Winroth debunks the idea that the Vikings practiced human sacrifice, but does delineate a story (which the Vikings series also shows) of a slave being killed with her master and earl, and both set aflame.  He also debunks the idea of the 'blood eagle' - a gruesome torture that involved pulling a person's lungs out through their back, though the Vikings series showed this one.  Some of the narratives by Christians about Viking practices are suspect due to their hostile origins, and some skalds relied more on imagination than reality, which accounts for discrepancies in knowledge.  One Christian claimed the Vikings killed their babies if they were too poor, as if this was exclusive to Scandinavia.  Some Christians put biblical meanings into Norse religious tales.  But both shared the apocalypse, which in the Norse religion was called "Ragnarok.'  

Ragnar ultimately stops believing in Valhalla or Heaven and so becomes a modern man.  He knows that humans decide their own fate, not gods.  In that sense, he emerges an existentialist.

DISCOVERY

The Vikings developed low-draft boats that could go up rivers, hug coasts but also cross large bodies of water, based on square sails and oars.  To put another nail in Christopher Columbus's coffin, the Vikings under Eric the Red's son Leif Erickson landed on Newfoundland, Canada and built structures there in two places, but left because of the fierceness of the indigenous people.  This 500 years before Columbus.   Not so Catholic Columbus, who participated in the destruction of the Carib & Taino peoples when he finally arrived on Hispaniola. 

Viking warriors formed a 'Varangian' praetorian guard in Constantinople as 'sell-swords' for the ruler there.  They had a trading center on the Volga in mid-Russia called Bulghar, which brought in good from Asia, India and the near east.  The went upstream on every river in Europe that bordered on the Baltic or North Sea on raids.  Greenland, Iceland, the Orkneys, Shetlands and even Dublin were founded by the North men.  They portaged their boats over land using fallen timber and ropes - shown in both the series and in the book.  While Winroth says they had no special navigating tools, the Viking's series indicates Ragnar using a floating sundial to determine direction.  They, along with the Phoenicians and the Polynesians, were probably the best sea-faring folk in history.

Vikings Doing Business

ECONOMY & TAXES

Why did the Vikings raid?  Blood lust?  No.  Winroth debunks the idea that there was a Viking warrior cult called the 'Berserkers' high on mushrooms (our word beserk..., meaning 'bear shirt', a Sami religious symbol) who killed for the joy of it.  The Vikings raided for silver and gold, manufactured items, cloth, slaves - anything they could carry away.  They were thieves and traders.  But if a king or lord would pay ransom, they would go away without attacking.  And this was frequent, sort of like Mafia protection money.  Sometimes English or French rulers tried to hire Vikings to fight other kings or lords and even other Vikings.  For instance in the Vikings series Rollo, Ragnar's brother, becomes the protector of Paris.  He later became lord of Normandy.  Most of the raiders were young men without wives, children or farms and so had to raid to get any money at all.  Again, something showing our fascist's are even more backward than the Vikings, as our fascists only believe in Viking violence. 

Sometimes the Vikings settled where they landed, as they were not just a seafaring people, but also a tough farming people.  Coins were 'weighed' as their value was based on the amount of gold or silver in them, so scales were common even in farmsteads.  Only later, as medieval society developed and the Viking age ended, did the coin itself come to symbolize value.  The medieval kings introduced broad taxation instead of raiding as their source of funding.  A "Danegeld" tax was first introduced by an English king, but he got the idea from the Danes.  Winroth makes the good point that the Vikings trading activities actually revived the European economy, as it brought in, among other things, Arab silver dirhams from the Middle East and thus increased the circulation of monetary values.  Their looting of Catholic churches, where so much silver & gold wealth was held, also helped wealth circulation in the broader economy. 

Neither book nor History Channel series shows much about the economy, which is typical.  But from our prior knowledge, the more complex feudal landlord-serf relationships in France and England which made Paris possible were not the model in Scandinavia.  There was certainly tribute in Scandinavian communities, but farmers were mostly free-holders who might have to supply fighting men or goods to the earl or king, but not out of serfdom.  Trading and plunder were other sources of income, and were not confined to the upper classes.  In a sense, the economy was actually closer to mercantilism / merchant economy. In other words, religion followed economics.  Ordinary histories, as these both are, do not track this, but instead concentrate on the religious divide, which is actually a stand-in for economics.

Our Aryan fascists can perhaps collect protection money, and become the official criminals they really are.  Or else collect taxes, which they will hate. 

SLAVERY & CULTURAL BREADTH

The Vikings held slaves for work or ransom, but the economy was not based on slaves.  They also spent a lot of time attacking each other, as raiding overseas left them open to attacks from their own neighbors.  Our modern Aryan fascists might enjoy these comparisons.  Yet the slaves were usually Europeans captured in raids, and had nothing to do with skin color.  Even early Frisians (German & Dutch) could be slaves.  You might even say that Catholicism's embrace of serfdom made whole populations slaves, so the Vikings were lesser offenders.  The Vikings actually intermarried into the communities they settled in, and did not restrict themselves to other Northmen or women.  As a seafaring and trading people, they were not afraid of travel or meeting new people, but were clever enough to borrow what they could from those who had better ideas, such as harder steel swords, probably made in Germany.  Our modern Aryan fascists will also not like that comparison, as they are isolated "American" nationalists first. 

DEMOCRACY

Viking societies were based on the consent of various communities, which is shown in the Vikings series. Winroth pays no attention to this issue, but between the lines he does explain the new Christian rules of handing power or wealth to only blood relations, starting with the eldest son.  This might allow corrupt families to continue in power for years, which became obvious as medieval history continued.  Viking communities were based on some sharing of wealth, drinking and eating in the longhouse 'mead halls,' and personal bonds.  A chieftain who disappointed his community could be replaced by an upstart.  In the Viking series Ragnar, an ordinary farmer and fisherman, replaces his Earl by leading profitable raids on England.  In essence, Viking society was at a midpoint between primitive communism and the medieval class system based on the exploitation of peasant farmers.  At one point outside Paris, Ragnar tells one of his many sons, "always use your head first, not your heart," as the secret to his success. This is closer to a meritocracy than to inherited and rigid class power.

Does any of this influence the modern Scandinavian social-democracies in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark & Iceland?  We will see...

Lastly, some great names of Norse kings that Tolkien must have also enjoyed.  We have met "Hardruler."  There is also "Fairhair,"  "Hairy Breeches", "Cnut," "Bloodaxe," "Silkenbeard" and "Forkbeard." Ragnar's son was Bjorn "Ironside," a real Viking who also raided in the Mediterranean.  Another son was "Ivar the Boneless" whose grave was actually found in central England.  There was a skald poet named "Old Bragi."  And King Magnus' axe was named "Hel." 

P.S. - Sorry fellow Minnesotans, according to Winroth the Kennsington Runestone is a clever modern fake.  And Viking warriors never wore horns.

Reviews of "Game of Thrones;" commentaries on fascism, the book "Collapse" which discusses the end of Viking settlement in Greenland; "In Praise of Barbarians;" Scandinavian fiction: "Redbreast," and the Icelandic tale "Independent People," all below.  Use blog search box, upper left.

Red Frog

October 22, 2017