A. Mawer

“ Yet more interesting perhaps is the old lay preserved to us, the Song of the Valkyries, who that same day were seen in Caithness riding twelve together to a bower where they set up a loom of which men's heads were the weights, men's entrails the warp and woof, while a sword was the shuttle and the reels were arrows. They wove the web of war and foretold the fate of king Sigtryggr and Earl Sigurd as well as the sharp sorrow which would befall the Irish [9] . ”

“ Every man must die the death that is appointed for him, and the man whose final day has not yet come may face unmoved the greatest danger. This sense of an inevitable fate must lead to no weakening of character or weariness of life. Death must be faced with cheerful stoicism and our judgment of the worth of any man must depend on the way in which he awaits the decree of fate. Place no great trust in others whether friend or foe, least of all place trust in women. 'Wommennes conseils been ful ofte colde,' says Chaucer in the Nun's Priest's Tale, using an old Scandinavian proverb. ”

“ While Norse power in Dublin was on the decline as a political force it is curious to note that the vigorous town-life and the active commerce instituted by the Norse settlers made that city of ever-increasing importance as a centre of Irish life and Irish interests generally, and there can be no question that it was the Norsemen who really made Dublin the capital city of Ireland. ”

“ We have only to turn to the Icelandic sagas to see before us a whole gallery of portraits, dark and fair alike, of women cast in heroic mould, while the stone at Dyrna in Hadeland, bearing the runic inscription, 'Gunvor, daughter of Thirek, built a bridge to commemorate her daughter Astrid, she was the most gracious maiden in Hadeland,' gives us one of the most attractive pictures of womanhood left to us from the Viking age. ”

“ Doubtless the Danish invasions struck a heavy blow at learning and literature, a blow from the effects of which not even the heroic activities of an Alfred could save them, but there can be no question that in the development of town life, in the promotion of trade, in the improvement of organisation and administration, in the modification of legal procedure the invaders conferred great benefits on the country as a whole. ”

“ At the beginning of the Viking age the Scandinavian peoples were in a transitional stage of development; on the one hand there was still much, both in their theory and in their practice of life, that savoured of primitive barbarism, while on the other, in the development of certain phases of human activity, more especially in those of war, trade, and social organisation, they were considerably ahead of many of their European neighbours. ”

“ In the words of Professor Ker 'the settlers made a commonwealth of their own, which was in contradiction to all the prejudices of the middle ages and of all ancient and modern political philosophy; a commonwealth which was not a state, which had no government, no sovereignty.' 'It was anarchy without a police-constable.' The result was that the rich men grew richer, the poor became poorer, the smaller gentry died out and the large estates fell into fewer and fewer hands. ”

“ Iceland was more purely Scandinavian than any other settlement made during the Viking age. Here we have not the case of one civilisation grafted on another and earlier one as in England, Ireland or the Frankish empire, but the transference of the best and finest elements in a nation to new and virgin soil where, for good or ill, they were free to develop their civilisation on almost [143] entirely independent lines. ”

“ England had no further trouble with Norse or Danish invaders until the days of Ethelred the Unready, but no sooner did that weak and ill-advised king come to the throne than, with that ready and intimate knowledge of local conditions which they always displayed, we find Danes making an attack on Southampton and Norsemen one on Chester. The renewed attacks were not however due solely to the weakness of England, they were also the result of changed conditions in Scandinavia itself. ”

“ The Swedes were for the most part interested only in Eastern Europe and there by way of trade rather than of battle: we learn from runic inscriptions and other sources that some Swedes did visit England and the West, but these visits were due to individual rather than national activity. The question as between Dane and Norwegian has been to some extent made more difficult of settlement through the national prejudices of Scandinavian scholars; e.g. Danes for the most part decide in favour of the Danish origin of Rollo of Normandy, while Norwegians decide in favour of his Norwegian birth. ”

“ Next to warfare and trade, the chief occupation of the Viking was farming, while his chief amusement was the chase. At home the Viking leader lived the life of an active country gentleman. His favourite sport was hawking, and one of the legendary lives of St Edmund tells how Ragnarr Loðbrók himself was driven by stress of storm to land on the East Anglian coast, receiving a hospitable welcome from the king, but ultimately meeting death at the hands of the king's huntsman who was jealous of his prowess as a fowler. ”

“ No one was allowed to continue a member who uttered words of fear, or who fled before one who was his equal in arms and strength. Every member was bound to avenge a fallen companion as if he were his brother. ”

“ The Vikings like the Franks before them threw off their old speech and submitted to the all-embracing power of Latin civilisation, and the result was a race endowed with vigorous personality, untiring activity, and the instinct for ruling men. The Normans may have become largely French but they lost none of their old enterprise and spirit of adventure. In the 11th century they conquered England and founded great kingdoms for themselves in Sicily and South Italy. ”

“ Settlers from the Western Islands and from Ireland may have brought Celtic elements, and Christianity was not without influence, when it was introduced from Norway at the close of the 10th century, but on the whole we see in Iceland just what Viking civilisation was capable of when left to itself. ”

“ Dr Jakobsen has shown that the forms of place-names in the Shetlands point very definitely to a settlement from Scandinavia in pre-Viking days—before 700—while the sculptured stones of Gothland show already at the end of the 7th century clear evidence of Celtic art influence. Possibly also merchants of Scandinavian origin were already settled in the Frankish empire and it is certain that there was considerable trade between Scandinavia and the West. ”

“ The story of the founding of Jómsborg is told in the late and untrustworthy Jómsvikingasaga, but, while we must reject many of the details there set forth, it is probable that the rules of the settlement as given there are based on a genuine tradition, and they give us a vivid picture of life in a Viking warrior-community. No one under eighteen or over fifty years of age was admitted to their fellowship, and neither birth nor [72] friendship, only personal bravery, could qualify a man for admission. ”

“ In Denmark the reign of Harold Bluetooth was drawing to a close, and the younger generation, conscious of a strong and well-organised nation behind them, were ambitious of new and larger conquests, while at the same time many of them were in revolt against the definitely Christian policy of Harold in his old age. ”

“ Speaking roughly we may however assert that Ireland, Scotland and the Western Islands were almost entirely in the hands of Norwegian settlers (Danish attacks on Ireland failed for the most part) . Northumbria was Norwegian, but East Anglia and the Five Boroughs were Danish. The attacks on France and the Netherlands were due both to Norwegians and Danes, probably with a preponderance of the latter, while Danes and Swedes alone settled in Baltic lands. ”

“ In Norway we find that the concentration of kingly authority in the hands of Harold Fairhair after the middle of the 9th century led many of the more independent spirits to leave Norway and adopt a Viking life in the West or to settle in new homes in Iceland. So strong was the spirit of independence that when Harold Fairhair received the submission of the Vikings of the West after the battle of Hafrsfjord, many of them rather than endure even a shadowy overlordship abandoned their Viking life and settled down to peaceful independence in Iceland. ”

“ Norman tradition, as found in Dudo, made him out the son of a great noble in Denmark, who was expelled by the king and later went to England, Frisia and Northern France. Dudo's account of the founding of Normandy is so full of errors clearly proven that little reliance can be placed on his story of the origin of Rollo. The Heimskringla tradition was recorded much later, but is probably more trustworthy, and it would be no strange thing to find a man of Norse birth leading a Danish host. Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons were Norsemen by family but they appear for the most part as leaders of Danes. ”

“ Learning and religion in Ireland suffered grievously from Norse attack but not so sorely as in England. There was never a time when so dark a picture could have been drawn of Irish learning as Alfred gives of the state of English learning when he translated the Pastoral Care, and when once the Vikings began to form settlements they were themselves strongly affected by the wealth of literary and artistic skill with which they found themselves brought into contact. The question of Irish influence on Norse mythology and literature is a much vexed one. ”

“ SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE IN THE ORKNEYS,
SHETLANDS, THE WESTERN ISLANDS
AND MAN
Of all the countries visited by the Vikings it is undoubtedly the British Isles which bear most definitely the marks of their presence. The history and civilisation of Ireland, the Orkneys and Shetlands, the Western Islands and Man, Scotland and England, were profoundly affected by the Viking movement, and its influence is none the less interesting because it varies greatly from place to place, in both character and intensity. ”

“ After the year 865 the tide of invasion set from France towards England. These were the years of Alfred's great struggle, and Danish efforts were concentrated on the attempt to reduce that monarch to submission. The Franks themselves had begun to realise the necessity of more carefully organised resistance. They began building fortified bridges across the rivers at certain points in order to stop the passage of Viking ships, and they also fortified several of their towns and cities, thus giving perhaps [46] a hint for the policy later adopted in England by Edward the Elder. ”

“ Cnut was now the mightiest of all Scandinavian kings, but on his death in 1035 his empire fell apart; Norway went to his son Svein, Denmark to Harthacnut and England to Harold Harefoot. Harold was succeeded by Harthacnut in 1040, but neither king was of the same stamp as Cnut and they were both overshadowed by the great Godwine, earl of Wessex. When Harthacnut died in 1042 the male line in descent from Cnut was extinct, and though some of the Danes were in favour of choosing Cnut's sister's son Svein, Godwine secured the election of Edward the Confessor. ”

“ The annals are not very good authority for the relationship of the Norse leaders to one another, and it is quite possible that Ívarr is really Ívarr the Boneless, son to Ragnarr Loðbrók. Under the strong rule of Olaf and Ívarr Dublin became the chief centre of Scandinavian rule in Ireland, and the Danes and Norsemen were to some extent reconciled to one another. The Irish suffered great losses but some brave leaders were found to face the Norsemen. ”

“ Irish art had begun to influence that of Scandinavia even before the Viking period began, and the development of intercourse between North and West greatly strengthened that influence. To Frankish influence were due not only certain developments of tier-ornamentik but also the use of figures from the plant-world for decorative purposes. One of the finest brooches preserved to us from this period is of Frankish workmanship—a magnificent trilobed brooch of gold with acanthus-leaf ornamentation. ”

“ The Gaill-Gaedhil were undoubtedly a race of mixed Norse and Gaelic stock and we must not imagine that they sprung suddenly into existence at this time. Long before this the Norsemen and the Gaels must have had considerable peaceful intercourse with one another in their various settlements, and in accordance with well-established Scandinavian custom it would seem that many of the Irish were brought up as foster-children in Norse households and must soon have learned to accept their religion and customs. ”

“ It is probable that the first real knowledge of 'the white Christ' came, as is so often the case, with the extension of trade—Frisians trading with Scandinavia, and Danes and Swedes settling in Frisia and elsewhere for the same purpose. St Willibrord at the beginning of the 8th century and Archbishop Ebbo of Rheims in 823, as papal legate among the northern peoples, undertook missions to Denmark, but it was in 826, when king Harold was baptised at Mainz, that the first real opportunity came for the preaching of Christianity in Denmark. ”

“ Whether as a result of the plague or from some other cause Hárekr now showed himself ready to come to terms with Lewis, and for the next eighty years there was complete peace along the Eider boundary. The whole of the coast was still open to attack however; Frisia was hardly ever free from invaders; Brittany was obliged to buy off Danish attacks in 847, while Noirmoutier continued to form a basis of attack against Southern France in the Gironde district. The Viking invasions in France had attained much the same stage as that to which we have already traced them in England and Ireland. ”

“ The activities of the Vikings were all-embracing, and before any attempt can be made to estimate their influence in the various countries which came permanently under their rule, or were brought more or less closely into touch with them, some account, however slight, must be given of Scandinavian civilisation at this time, both on its spiritual and on its material sides. For the former aspect we must turn chiefly to the poems and sagas of old Norse literature, for the latter to the results of modern archaeological research. ”

“ The Vikings when they settled in England and elsewhere showed that their previous roving life did not hinder them in the least from settling down as peaceful traders, farmers, or peasant-labourers, while the figure of Ohthere or Óttarr, to give him his Norse name, who entered the service of king Alfred, may serve to remind us that many a landed gentleman was not above carrying on a good trade with the Finns or undertaking voyages of exploration in the White Sea. ”

“ Attempts have been made to distinguish Scandinavian elements in the old Russian law and language but with no very definite results, and we must content ourselves with the knowledge that the Vikings were all powerful in Western and Southern Russia during the greater part of two centuries, carrying on an extensive trade with the East, establishing Novgorod, 'the new town,' on the Volga under the name Holmgarðr and founding a dynasty [81] which ruled in Kiev and became a considerable power in eastern Europe negotiating on terms of equality with the Byzantine emperors. ”

“ Of sin in the Christian sense the Vikings had no conception. An Irish chronicler tells us indeed that the Danes have a certain piety in that they can refrain from flesh and from women for a time, but a truer description is probably that given by Adam of Bremen when he says that the Danes can weep neither for their sins nor for their dead. ”

“ This is true to the extent that no large fleets of fresh invaders seem to have come to Ireland during this time—the Vikings were too busy elsewhere, both in England and the Frankish empire—but there were occasional raids from Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and other towns into various districts of Ireland, and the Norsemen were often at variance amongst themselves. Dissensions in Dublin were particularly violent and so much did they weaken Norse rule there that in 902 Dublin fell into the hands of the Irish. ”

“ Of the social organisation of the Vikings it is impossible to form a very definite or precise picture. We have in the laws of the Jómsborg settlement (v. supra, p. 71) the rule of life of a warrior-community, but it would be a mistake to imagine that these laws prevailed in all settlements alike. The general structure of their society was aristocratic rather than democratic, but within the aristocracy, which was primarily a military one, the principle of equality prevailed. ”

“ Throughout their history the Vikings showed themselves well informed of the changing political conditions of the countries which they visited and ready to make the utmost use of the opportunities which these might give for successful invasion. ”