Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae

“ It is, indeed, highly remarkable that the last remains of the old Scandinavian Thing, which, for the protection of public liberty, was held in the open air, in the presence of the assembled people, and conducted by the people’s chiefs and representatives, are to be met with not in the North itself, but in a little island far towards the west, and in the midst of the British kingdom. The history of the Manx Thing court remarkably illustrates that spirit of freedom and that political ability which animated the men who in ancient times emigrated from Norway and the rest of the Scandinavian North. ”

“ Everywhere outside lie rocky islands, which, like outposts, stop the advancing waves, and only allow them, if with increased speed, yet with diminished power, to approach the land through narrow channels, or sounds. During violent storms some of the islands are flooded by the sea, which, as it rolls forwards, strives to overtop the cliffs; whence it glides back, again to repeat the same vain attempt. The firm, rocky, isle-bound coasts of Norway, Scotland, and Ireland, are evidently for Europe what the sand-banks and shoals of Jutland are for Denmark. ”

“ In our days it is certainly a remarkable sight to observe the numberless ships that assemble there from all parts of the world, and to mark the activity that everywhere prevails on the beautiful shores of the river. But it becomes doubly remarkable when we recollect that this spectacle is neither a new one, nor has arisen under a single people; but that it has been repeated, in a somewhat altered form, for about two thousand years, under the most different circumstances: namely, under the dominion of the Britons, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Danes, and the Normans. ”

“ The sand-banks and shoals which form a sufficient defence for Jutland against the North Sea, would there scarcely be able to resist the open and agitated ocean. On the extreme north-western coasts of Europe, the Atlantic has completely washed away the earth and sand; the bare cliffs, which often rise to a considerable height, alone remain, and still defy the fury of the waves. These rocky coasts, with their numerous towering and ragged crags, with their many and deeply-indented fiords, convey an idea of the power and greatness of the sea as striking as it is true. ”

“ To dismember general history into a number of unconnected events, and then to pass judgment upon these separately according to our moral feelings, would be an infamous act, and more difficult to defend before the tribunal of morality than perhaps all the expeditions of the heathen Danish Vikings put together. Such a method of proceeding would lead to the most confined views of history that can possibly be imagined. No correct conception can be formed of any part of the history of the world if it be not examined in its due connection, whereby both causes and effects become perceptible. ”

“ It cannot reasonably be reproached to the Danes exclusively that, in order to obtain settlements in England, they made their way with fire and sword, for this was no more than all other conquerors, and particularly the Romans and Anglo-Saxons, had done before them. With regard to bloodshed, and acts of violence and destruction, the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England exceeded rather than fell short of the Danish. It annihilated the civilization which had been so widely disseminated there by the Romans, and subjugated or expelled the older inhabitants in the most frightful manner. ”

“ In the long series of brilliant victories, won not only by the Danish sword, but by the Danish national character in England, and which, by the conquest of that country, essentially contributed to found there a greatness and a power before unknown, the Danish people possess memorials so proud and brilliant, that they may be reckoned among the most beautiful ornaments in that glorious wreath which from time immemorial encircles the Danish name. ”

“ We may truly assert that the Scandinavian spirit is still clearly to be discerned, not merely in separate districts, but throughout England. The love of the English for bold adventures, especially at sea, their unshaken calmness in the greatest dangers, their apparent coolness during the most violent emotions, and their proud feeling of freedom, are surely not to be ascribed exclusively to the Normans. These qualities must, in a great degree, be attributed to the English, as the descendants of those Danish and Norwegian warriors who sought dangers on unknown seas ”

“ In order to inspire the combatants, it was necessary that the banner which they followed should be an expression of the spirit which stirred among the people, of that living hope which animated them respecting the manner of their existence in another world. The raven, the symbol of heathenism, paled by degrees, as antiquated and meaningless, and at last quite gave place to the symbol of Christianity, the holy cross. ”

“ England, as is well known, is the only country that, in spite of all commotions, has preserved trial by jury down to modern times. But it is a matter of much dispute to what people may be more particularly ascribed the honour of introducing an institution which has not only for many centuries been of much service to freedom in England, but which has also been transplanted in later times into many other countries, and is now on the point of being disseminated over all that part of Europe which may be called free. ”

“ Down towards the coast the land is filled with gently-sloping hills, and intersected by rivers, whose rapid currents remind one of the neighbourhood of the mountains. At a distance from the coast the land rises, the tops of the mountains become barer and sharper, the valleys have a greater depth, and the roaring of the streams over fragments of rock is heard more distinctly. The mountains, as they rise from the Lowlands to the Highlands, afford in a still higher degree than the more southern border mountains, the most enchanting prospects over the coasts and sea. ”

“ But no sooner do we arrive at Ness, than we meet with people of an entirely different appearance. Both the men and women have in general lighter hair, taller figures, and far handsomer features. I visited several of their cabins, and found myself surrounded by physiognomies so Norwegian, that I could have fancied myself in Scandinavia itself, if the Gaelic language now spoken by the people, and their wretched dwellings, had not reminded me that I was in one of those poor districts in the north-west of Europe where the Gaels or Celts are still allowed a scanty existence. ”

“ It would be impossible to deny that the Danes and Norwegians settled in England before the arrival of the Normans not only essentially contributed to the preservation of popular liberty—which, through the weakness and effeminacy of the Anglo-Saxons, was threatened with destruction—but that they also laid the foundation of its further development, and powerfully contributed to its complete establishment. We need, therefore, be no longer surprised that memorials of the Danes are mixed up with England’s freest and most liberal institutions ”

“ A Dane travelling in England will everywhere find an unusually cordial reception. He will in general be regarded more as a countryman than as a foreigner, merely because he is a Dane. He will discover that the English, instead of having forgotten their kinsmen beyond the sea, with whom they were formerly united, feel themselves attracted to them by the ties of blood and friendship. He will continually hear complaints of the deplorable attitude which the policy of England assumed with regard to Denmark at the commencement of the present century ”

“ Nevertheless the natural features of Scotland are in their way no less beautiful than those of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The sea, which indents the coasts on all sides; the well-cultivated, and partly also well-wooded plains, which, particularly towards the mountain districts, undulate in hill and dale; and lastly the Highland itself, with its many streams, waterfalls, firths, and lakes, afford the richest and most magnificent variety. To these features may be added a milder climate, and in the Lowlands a far richer fertility, than in Norway and Sweden ”

“ The ancient Britons were by no means a seafaring people. They appear to have confined themselves to short coasting voyages between the islands, and over the Irish and English channels. They had, therefore, no fleet to protect their coasts from the attacks of the Romans. Their vessels consisted either of the trunks of trees hollowed out, or of small frail boats formed of interwoven branches, or wicker-work, covered with hides. The Celtic nations have, on the whole, never been remarkable for their love of the sea, or of a seafaring life. ”

“ Who can observe without a feeling of sadness how the last feeble remnants of Scotland’s ancient masters, after having been expelled from the glorious Lowlands, cannot even now find rest among the barren rocks, and in the few arable valleys of the Highlands, but are obliged, year after year, in increasing numbers, to seek another home farther west, in the new world beyond the Atlantic? ”

“ The English language and customs are continually making greater progress towards the west; and the Irish, who can no longer withstand England’s power, seek in great numbers, like their kinsmen in Scotland, a new asylum in America. The struggle is the more severe in proportion as the Irish are more numerous than the Celtic population in Scotland and England. The last violent throes of the once powerful and mighty Irish nationality now fearfully agitate Ireland, which has been so long and so severely tried by oppression, pestilence, and famine. ”

“ Sweden, which towards the west is separated from Denmark only by the Sound and Cattegat, is in like manner towards the east separated from the vast plains of northern Europe by a confined and narrow sea. When, therefore, the thirst of glory and conquest urged the Swedish warriors from their homes, it was only necessary for them to cross over to the opposite shores, or at most to sail along the coasts of the Baltic. In Sweden, forests, valleys, and rivers, are the most prominent natural features, whilst the sea is but a subordinate one. ”

“ But such morbid complaints will necessarily vanish when the Scandinavian considers how vividly the ancient power of his race has again displayed itself to the world, and how mighty have been the results of the Norman expeditions; but especially when he ponders on the notorious fact, that the North sent out the flower of its youth and strength, not merely to destroy and plunder, but rather to lay the foundations of a fresher life in the western lands, and thus to impart a new and powerful impulse to human civilization. ”

“ It is manifest, therefore, that Ireland, which would otherwise have been divided from the rest of Europe, and devastated by terrible intestine contentions, has been much benefited by being united to so great and powerful a country as England, which has both the ability and the will to promote the true welfare of the Irish people. England will, by degrees, employ the great advantages afforded by the excellent soil and situation of Ireland, and thus conduct that country, torn as it is by all possible distresses and misfortunes, to a happier existence. ”

“ When Siward himself afterwards lay on his death-bed, and felt the approach of dissolution, an old chronicler (Henry of Huntingdon) represents him as breaking out into sorrowful complaints, and exclaiming, “How shameful it is for me, that I have never been able to meet death in my numerous battles, but have been reserved to die with disgrace like an old cow. Clothe me at least in my impenetrable armour, gird me with my sword, cover my head with my helmet, place my shield in my left, and my gilded axe in my right hand, that I, the bold warrior, may also die like one.” ”

“ But what really injured the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy more than anything else, was the wise and conciliatory policy of Canute the Great, which, by extinguishing the hatred between the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, amalgamated the aristocracy of the two nations to such a degree that the Anglo-Saxon nobility at length existed only in name, having become by imperceptible degrees more than half Danish. ”

“ Under the name of “Normans” are included all those swarms of Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes, which, from the close of the eighth until far into the eleventh century, either laid waste or settled on the eastern and southern coasts of the Baltic, as well as the coasts of the west and south of Europe. “Norman” signifies neither more nor less than a man from the north. The Danish conquest of England was therefore just as fully Normanic as the conquest, by the Norwegians and Danes, of a part of France, called, after them, Normandy. ”

“ In England, on the contrary, where the Scandinavian colonies were far more numerous and powerful than in Scotland and Ireland, the Danish colonists certainly sought, after the Scandinavian fashion, to maintain in the midst of a foreign country their pure Danish laws, manners, and customs. Yet here the Danes, owing to the superior civilization which prevailed among the earlier Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of England, were soon influenced by their language and culture, and became more and more amalgamated with them. ”

“ But in general we shall seek in vain among the names of places in Ireland for traces of such an extensive Scandinavian colonization as existed in the North of England. All circumstances clearly show that the Northmen in Ireland were proportionately less settled in the rural districts than in the towns. In consequence of the remote situation of Ireland, its extent, and the magnitude of its population, they were exposed in the rural districts, when at some distance from the coast, to much more danger than in the towns, where they could better assemble their forces behind ramparts and ditches. ”

“ But just as the Thames brought, in the olden times, numerous merchant vessels, and, along with them, wealth and prosperity to the south of England, so must it also have frequently drawn down ruin on the surrounding districts, since it attracted thither almost all the Vikings who sought for booty and conquest. Nature herself has cut a deep bay into the eastern coast of England, at the mouth of the Thames, and thus pointed out to the Vikings the way they should pursue. The ships of the Danish Vikings constantly swarmed at the mouth of the Thames. ”

“ If we compare the unsuccessful expeditions of the Northmen into the Scottish Lowlands with the great conquests made by the Danes in England, we shall not wonder that the inhabitants of the former country relate with a sort of pride the many victories of their forefathers over “the Danes;” nor shall we be surprised that the popular traditions, which point out the ancient battle fields, scarcely admit even the possibility of the Danes having been victorious. ”

“ Ireland, moreover, distinguished itself by adopting Christianity, together with its accompanying civilization, at a very early period, which, however, was not able to put an end to the cruel and sanguinary disputes that raged between the different tribes composing its population. Thus the proportionately few and scattered Norwegians, who could reach Ireland only by sea, and who could derive assistance only from their countrymen settled upon the coasts of England and Scotland, had to contend with a numerous, and by no means unwarlike people, inhabiting an extensive and mountainous country. ”

“ One feels in its full extent that the nature of the country presents all the requisites for greatness to a powerful and undegenerate people; and one no longer requires an explanation why it was not till after a desperate struggle that the ancient Britons relinquished it, or why, in after times, various nations strove with their utmost efforts for the possession of such a land.
The farther one travels towards the north or west of England, the mountains become higher, the valleys narrower, and the streams more rapid. In the north, however, the mountains rather resemble high hills. ”