TheViking revival was a movement reflecting new interest in, and appreciation forViking medieval history and culture. Interest was reawakened in the late 18th and 19th centuries, often with added heroic overtones typical of thatRomantic era.
The revival began earlier with historical discoveries and early modern publications dealing withOld Norse culture. The first printed edition of the 13th-centuryGesta Danorum or theLegend of the Danes bySaxo Grammaticus, came out in 1514 just as book printing began become more practical and printing trade was quickly spreading.Olaus Magnus'sHistoria de gentibus septentrionalibus, or "History of the northern peoples", was printed in 1555. The pace of publication increased during the 17th century withLatin translations of the famousEdda, notably Peder Resen'sEdda Islandorum of 1665. The Edda consisted of two 13th-centuryMedieval Icelandic literary works onNorse mythology, written down in the 13th century, but certainly from older oral sources: they are theProse Edda, and an older collection of poems without an original title now known as thePoetic Edda. The books are the main sources of medievalskaldic tradition of poetry and storytelling in Iceland and Norse mythology.
The wordViking is not a medieval term and was introduced into Modern English only during the 18th century. At that point in the Romantic Era, Viking exploits were aggregated and tended to be falsely subsumed under a single category and subsequently romanticized as heroic adventure. Etymologists frequently trace the word "Viking" to writers who are referring to those who set about to raid and pillage. The wordViking in the sense in which it is commonly used is derived from the Old Norsevíkingr signifying a sea-rover or pirate.[1][2] Thus, a modern understanding of "Viking" history is shaped by the views of the people of the Romantic era, who studied and wrote about "the Vikings" as seen from their point of view.
The rediscovery of the Viking past began in Norway during the 19th century when Norway saw a rise in nationalism. Having been in a personalunion with Denmark under the Danish king for 400 years and subsequently in theunion between Sweden and Norway under the Swedish king, Norwegians started looking back to theirViking Age kings and sagas. In 1867, the first Viking ship to be unearthed, theTune ship, was excavated inØstfold,Norway. The ship provided new knowledge about the Vikings and their culture. The excavation of other ships and artifacts led to a higher consciousness about the Viking past in Norway. For example, the only completeViking helmet, theGjermundbu helmet, ever to be found was also excavated in Buskerud, Norway. In 1880, Norway uncovered The Gokstad Ship and is a great example of ship that represents Viking Age craftsman ship. "Central to the construction of the Gokstad ship is the clinker-built method, a hallmark of Scandinavian boat-building tradition."[3]
Danish antiquarianCarl Christian Rafn was noted for his early advocacy of the theory that the Vikings had explored North America centuries beforeChristopher Columbus's andJohn Cabot's voyages. Rafn published much of his work in 1837 in theAntiquitates Americanæ, considered the first scholarly exposition of the Old Norse exploration period.[4] The Danish Viking Revival in Denmark was also largely initiated by poet and playwright Adam Oehlenschläger, whose 1802 poem "Guldhornene" (The Golden Horns) broke with earlier Classicist traditions by celebrating the nation's ancient, mythological past.[5]
The term Viking was popularized with positive connotations byErik Gustaf Geijer at the beginning of the 19th century. His poemThe Viking (Vikingen) appeared in the first issue of the Swedish periodical,Iduna. The word Viking was taken to refer to romanticized, heroic, idealized Norse seafarers and warriors. This renewed interest of theRomanticism of a historic past had political implications. TheGeatish Society, of which Geijer was a member, popularized this ideal to a great extent. Another author who had great influence on the perception of the Vikings wasEsaias Tegnér, another member of the Geatish Society who wrote a modern version ofFrithiof's Saga, which became widely popular in the Nordic countries,England, theUnited States, andGermany. One more man that contributed to Viking Revival was Per Henrik Ling (1776–1839). He was instrumental in the Swedish Revival, not only as a founding member of the Götiska förbundet but also through his unique emphasis on the physical and heroic ideal of the Viking.[6]
The German composerRichard Wagner is said to have strong influences of the Nordic mythology in his musical pieces. His Nordic influences further enhanced the Romanticism of the Viking era during that time. Wagner'sDer Ring des Nibelungen, commonly referred to as theRing cycle, is a set of four operas based loosely on figures and elements of Germanic mythology—particularly from the later Norse mythology—notably the Old NorsePoetic Edda andVolsunga Saga, and the epic poemNibelungenlied.[7] Jacob Grimm was a foundational philologist who dedicated to studying the Germanic Norse past. His academic work directly inspired the 19th-century Romantic interest in the North. His monumental work, Deutsche Mythologie (Teutonic Mythology), systematically collected and analyzed Norse and Germanic myths, giving the German intellectual world a unified, academic framework for their ancient pagan roots.[8]
English authors from the 16th century had been aware of the Viking impact on the countryside, though the numerous placenames ofDanes Camp[9] is better explained as a modification ofdene, or hollow.[10] Following the 17th-century first flowering ofAnglo-Saxon studies, there was a similar wave of enthusiasm for Northern culture in Britain, identifying as Viking remainsIron Agehill forts and evenStonehenge and exemplified by the antiquarian interests ofGeorge Hickes, who published aLinguarum veterum septentrionalium thesaurus grammatico-criticus et archæologicus[11] in 1703–05. In the 1780s, Denmark offered to cedeIceland to Britain in exchange for Crab Island (nowVieques, Puerto Rico), and in the 1860s Iceland was considered for compensation for the British support of Denmark in theSchleswig-Holstein conflicts.[12] During this time, British interest and enthusiasm for Iceland and Nordic culture grew dramatically, expressed in original English poems extolling Viking virtues, such asThomas Warton's "Runic Odes" of 1748:
Rasmus B. Anderson, the founding head of the Department of Scandinavian Studies at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, also founded a publication company, TheNorrœna Society, which focused on republishing translations of texts devoted to the history and romance of Northern Europe. Anderson was the author of a number of books with Scandinavian themes. He brought to the American popular attention the idea that Viking explorers discovered the New World and was the originator ofLeif Erikson Day.[14]
