The Vikings

INTRODUCTION

Scandinavian warrior, 6th–7th centuries. The middle-status warrior pictured here died over a hundred years before the attack on Lindisfarne, and in that respect is an ‘ancestor’ of the Vikings. (Artwork by Gerry Embleton, © Osprey Publishing)

WHO WERE THE VIKINGS?

789: In this year King Beorhtric took to wife Eadburh, daughter of King Offa. And in his days there came for the first time three ships of Northmen, from Hörthaland: and the reeve rode thither and tried to compel them to go to the royal manor – for he did not know what they were – and they slew him. These were the first ships of the Danes to come to England.

Thus the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports the first raid, and the first victim, of the Vikings. Four years later, in AD 793, there followed the much more famous raid on the island monastery at Lindisfarne. ‘Never before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race’, wrote the contemporary scholar Alcuin, ‘nor was it thought possible that such an inroad from the sea could be made. Behold the church of St Cuthbert, spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments; a place more venerable than any other in Britain has fallen prey to pagans.’

This depiction of the Vikings as blood-thirsty pagans had its roots in an earlier conception of the ‘barbaric north’. To classical authors of the Mediterranean, the world was balanced perfection. The hot, dry, bright and civilized south found its opposite in the cold, wet, dark and barbaric north. The first inkling the Romans had that the two were not in perfect harmony was when the Cimbri and Teutones moved into southern Gaul in around 100 BC. The Romans understood these tribes to have originated in the Danish peninsula, but the nerve centre of threat to the empire was located further north. The destructive Ostrogoths and Visigoths are described by Jordanes as economic refugees from the overcrowded Baltic island of Gotland.

This Scandinavian dimension to the barbarian menace survived the collapse of the Roman Empire. The Frankish successor state, the main inheritor of Roman traditions, found the far northerners increasingly threatening as time passed. The expedition of Hygelac the Geat to the Rhineland, recorded by Gregory of Tours and in the anonymous Beowulf, appears to be an isolated incident. As the Carolingians gained control over central and northern Germany, and thus came into contact with the southern borders of Danish settlement, the Vikings enter into the historical record with what appears to be a sudden and catastrophic impact.

To the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings were ‘pagans’, ‘Danes’ or ‘Northmen’, the term ‘Viking’ itself rarely used in sources outside of Scandinavia (even though it has been suggested that the word derives from Saxon wic, a military encampment). Frankish sources too refer to them as Nordmanni (‘Northmen’ or ‘Normans’); while German chroniclers describe them as Ascomanni (‘Ashmen’, an unexplained description which, it has been suggested, may have derived from some of their ships being constructed of ash trees, even though most were of oak). Spanish Muslim sources refer to them as al-Madjus (‘heathen wizards’); Slavic sources as Rus (possibly from the Finnish name for Sweden, Rotsi); and Byzantine sources as Rhos (from the Greek adjective for red, because of their ruddy complexions) or Varangoi (probably from Old Norse var, ‘pledge’, describing a band of men who had sworn loyalty to one another). Only the Irish, who referred to them as Lochlannach (‘Northerners’) or Gaill (‘strangers’ or ‘foreigners’), actually attempted to distinguish between Norwegians (Finn-gaill, ‘white foreigners’) and Danes (Dubh-gaill, ‘black foreigners’), chroniclers of other nations tending to use the terms ‘Danes’, ‘Norwegians’, and even ‘Swedes’, interchangeably. Therefore, when the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle repeatedly refers to Dene or Dani, it should not be assumed that the Vikings in question necessarily originated in Denmark.

ORIGIN OF THE WORD ‘VIKING’

The actual origin of the word ‘Viking’ is not certain, though a growing number of scholars favour a derivation from vik (an inlet, fjord or bay), which would make a Viking ‘a pirate hidden in a fjord or an inlet’. Other suggestions derive it from the geographical region of Vik in Norway; or else from vig (a battle, which is unlikely on phonological grounds); or from vikja (meaning to move or turn aside), making a Viking ‘one who makes a detour’. In written Scandinavian sources viking actually means piracy or a pirate raid, while a man participating in such a foray was called a vikingr.

Suggested reasons for the sudden appearance of the Vikings at the end of the 8th century are many and varied. Overpopulation at home is usually cited as one of the prime factors, a population explosion having occurred in Norway and, more particularly, Denmark in the course of the 7th–8th centuries. In addition, the gradual establishment of firm government throughout much of western Europe, especially on the Continent with the foundation of the Carolingian Empire under Charlemagne, had resulted in a considerable increase in European mercantile trade, which led in turn to increased opportunities for piracy. Undoubtedly connected with this was the stage of evolution that had been reached in the Scandinavian art of shipbuilding in the course of the 8th century. This had resulted not only in the justly famous longships which we invariably associate with the Vikings, but also in the less well-known knarrs, or merchant vessels; in these respectively the Vikings were able to raid far afield and, subsequently, to colonize the lands they found. They were the very tools of Viking expansion.

THE VIKINGS AT HOME

The seaborne warriors in this illustration from the Life of St Aubin probably give a good impression of the appearance of the more ‘professional’ warriors of the later Viking Age. (The Granger Collection/Topfoto)

VIKING SOCIETY

In spite of their enduring image as ruthless raiders and dauntless explorers, most Vikings were primarily farmers, fishermen, merchants, shipbuilders, craftsmen, blacksmiths or carpenters. Many of them, however, were able to lead a life that combined elements of both existences. Traditional oral histories, or ‘sagas’, which were consigned to manuscripts in Iceland at the beginning of the 11th century, relate details of the Viking way of life. In the Orkneyinga Saga we are told that a 12th-century Norse chieftain, Svein Asleifsson, who lived on the Isle of Orkney, would spend the winter at home and set out in the spring:

… and in the spring he had more than enough to occupy him, with a great deal of seed to sow which he saw to carefully himself. Then when that job was done, he would go off plundering in the Hebrides and in Ireland on what he called his ‘spring-trip’; then back home just after midsummer, where he stayed till the cornfields had been reaped and the grain was safely in. After that he would go off raiding again, and never came back till the first month of winter was ended. This he called his ‘autumn-trip’.

While voyaging abroad on raiding or trading expeditions in the company of like-minded Norsemen, a land-owning freeman such as Svein Asleifsson would doubtless have agreed that he and his fellows had no master, but were ‘all equal’, a proud assertion that has become a defining aspect of Viking culture. At home, however, men such as Asleifsson were actually part of a highly stratified, pyramidal society.

At the apex of this pyramid stood the king. Below him were the aristocracy, the jarls, military leaders and powerful landowners with extensive holdings. Beneath them were the freemen, or bóndis. This diverse group, which consisted of farmers, merchants, shipwrights, skilled craftsmen and professional warriors, comprised the largest and perhaps most influential class in Viking Age society, their social status determined by the extent of their wealth. At the base of the pyramid were the slaves, or thralls, who were often regarded by their owners as little more than animals, and as a rule, were treated in much the same manner.

THE KING

In the Viking Age, royal wealth was accumulated both by conquest and from the king’s extensive estates, which were administered by his representatives. Revenue was also obtained by way of taxes, in the form of customs duty and market tolls, which were collected by the king’s officials in towns and harbours that came within royal jurisdiction. The king, in his turn, had certain obligations to his subjects, and it was in his own best interest to ensure that as far as was possible in such times, merchants could carry out their business without fear of disruption or attack.

A 14th-century painted wooden panel depicting Olaf Haraldsson, who reigned as king of Norway from 1015 to 1030. In the centre of the panel, the king holds an orb and a battleaxe, both strong images of sovereignty. (akg-images/Interfoto)

That Scandinavian royalty and their aristocracy lived well is evident from the quality of their grave goods, such as those excavated at Oseberg and Gokstad. Kings in particular would have surrounded themselves with objects and equipment of great beauty, and royal patronage would have extended to skilled craftsmen of all kinds. Carpenters, shipwrights, wood carvers, artist-craftsmen, armourers and silversmiths would all have shared the benefit of royal wealth.

A significant part of the king’s income must have been necessary to finance the hird, his standing army of professional warriors. Often housed in purpose-built barracks, such as those at Trelleborg and Fyrkat, their presence, although costly, was essential for any number of reasons, not least of which was to hold in check his own powerful and ambitious jarls. Command of the hird would only have been entrusted to a member of the king’s immediate family, or a jarl whose allegiance to the crown was beyond question. Within the king’s inner circle of retainers, other prominent figures would have included a master of stables, who was responsible for the royal horses, and a master mariner, who would have maintained the king’s fleet.

By the end of the 10th century, thriving trade and the consolidation of royal power in Norway, Denmark and Sweden led kings such as Svein Forkbeard and Olaf Tryggvasson to establish the first royal mints, where coins struck in their names served to reinforce their authority. For much of the Viking Age, however, that authority was, to a surprising degree, tempered by the jarls and bóndis.

THE JARL

Forming a small but powerful ruling aristocracy, the jarls owned vast tracts of land, much of which was leased to tenant farmers from whom they derived the major part of their wealth by way of revenue and produce. Men living within the principalities of these great chieftains elected them as both spiritual and military leaders, and it was the jarl’s duty to protect these lesser landowners from their enemies; in return, he was entitled to their support in his own disputes and enterprises. It was this ruling caste that held the wealth necessary to retain a personal bodyguard and to commission the building of great halls, earthworks and fine longships, such as those found at Gokstad and Skuldelev.

In times of peace these jarls, accompanied by their retainers, would have spent their days overseeing their estates, collecting revenue and supervising the maintenance of their property and ships. Throughout the year, they would also officiate at important religious ceremonies as godi, or priests, and would attend the regional public assembly known as the Thing in their capacity as district representative. In times of national conflict, the jarl was also responsible for raising the ledungen, or levy, which he was expected to lead into battle. Those warriors who sailed, or marched with him, were the bóndis.

THE BÓNDI

Forming the backbone of Viking society, these land-owning freemen, or bóndis, had the right to bear arms, and whether they were humble smallholders or wealthy men owning substantial farmsteads, they were all entitled to attend the Thing. Here, they could voice their opinions on matters of local concern and even national importance, such as the approval of a king’s actions or the suitability of his successor.

In an early scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, an eminent jarl – in this case, Harold Godwinsson – rides out, hawk on hand. He wears a fine cloak and tunic and