2014, RMN Newsletter
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6 pages
This article investigates recent discussions in the media concerning purported predictions of a "Viking apocalypse". The media attention is contextualized in relation to current trends in modern culture linked to the Viking Age and early Germanic religion.
AI
The term ”Viking” appears in Anglo-Saxon or Norse sources in the so-called Viking Age. Here it simply denotes pirates, no more, no less. It had no geographic or ethnic connotations that linked it to Scandinavia or Scandinavians. By contrast, in these sources we find it used anywhere about anyone who to an Anglo-Saxon or a Scandiniavian appeared as a pirate. Therefore we find it used about Israelites crossing the Red Sea; Muslims in Galleys* encountering Norwegian crusaders in the Mediterranean; Caucasian pirates encountering the famous Swedish Ingvar-Expedition, and Estonian and Baltic pirates attacking Scandinavians in the Baltic Sea. Thus the term was never used to denote Scandinavians as such. Therefore, if we wish to maintain Viking-Age studies on a scholarly level, we must stop acting as an appendix to the tourist industry by using the term Viking as if it was synonymous with Scandinavian and Scandinavians. *in fact the only type of ship that based on a contemporary source may be labeled a “Viking ship”. I have uploaded a new OCR-version of the text because I noticed that the pagination did fit the printed version.
Humanities
For a long time now, Old Norse literature has often been colonized and misappropriated by modern right-wing political groups for their own ideology, symbolism, and public appearance. A critical reading of Icelandic sagas, however, easily demonstrates that those public strategies are very short-sighted, misleading, and outright dangerous for our democratic society. To stem the flood of misinformation regarding the Viking world and its literature, this article joins a small but forceful chorus of recent scholars who are hard at work deconstructing this politicization of saga literature by way of offering new readings of those texts in which the very Viking ideology is actually exposed by the poets, rejected, and supplanted by new forms of social interactions predicated on a legal system and an operation with rationality in the public sphere.
A gold disc bearing the earliest-known reference to the god Odin. National Museum of Denmark. This class is concerned with the cultural, social, intellectual, and literary history of the Viking era from the early to the high Middle Ages. We will consider both how medieval Scandinavians thought about themselves and their world(s) and how neighbouring peoples perceived the Vikings and their culture(s). We will follow the travels of the Vikings from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden to the British Isles, the Frankish kingdoms, Eastern Europe, Iceland, and (what is today) Canada. Among the major themes we will examine are the religion/cosmology of the Vikings, their gradual conversions to Christianity, gender and family roles in Viking societies, and the construction of a distinctive Norse literature. In the later weeks of the course, we will also consider multiple, mixed modern legacies of the Vikings, from Shakespeare to the Third Reich to twenty-first-century Hollywood.
Between the 8th and 11th centuries, the Vikings surged from their Scandinavian homelands to trade, raid and invade along the coasts of Europe. Their reach stretched from Newfoundland (Canada) to Baghdad (Syria); their battles were as far-flung as Africa and the Arctic. Were they great seafarers or desperate farmers, noble heathens or oafish pirates: the last pagans or the first of the modern Europeans, being the ancestors of their admirable modern descendants? This book puts medieval chronicles, Norse sagas and Muslim accounts alongside more recent research into ritual magic, genetic profiling and climatology. It includes biographical sketches of some of the most famous Vikings, from Erik Bloodaxe to Saint Olaf, King Canute to Leif the Lucky. It explains why so many Icelandic settlers had Irish names; how the Norsemen took over Normandy (and then conquered England); and how the last Viking colony was destroyed by English raiders.
Dísablót. Сборник статей коллег и учеников к юбилею Елены Александровны Мельниковой, Москва 2021, 29-40, 2021
Based on this examination of how the term ‘viking’ was actually used and understood by those, who used the word in their native language from its first known occurence c. 700 AD onwards, some conclusions may be drawn. 1) Until at least the end of the 18th century the term ‘viking’ or ‘wicing’ was never associated with any form of specific ethnicity. Hence, we find the word used about persons of all colours, ethnicities and religious persuations known at the time by those who used the word in their native languages. While Old English ‘wicing’ had gone out of use already in the 11th century, we can also observe that Norse ‘viking’ gradually went out of use in all other Scandinavian languages before the end of the Middle Ages apart from Icelandic. Here it was still used as it had been for centuries at least until the mid-17th century if not later. Thus, we find ‘viking’ used to denote those Barbary Pirates from North Africa, who in 1627 landed in Iceland to take slaves. 2) The early dissappearance of the word ‘viking’, especially in the South Scandinavian languages, no doubt facilitated its sudden reappearance in precisely these languages now infused with explicit Scandinavian ethnicity. This was the result of the belated arrival of Romanticism in Scandinavia in 1800, when a new generation of naïve, self-taught would-be scholars went off on a search for the phantasmal ‘national spirit’ (Volksgeist) thought to define the history and destinity of every single ‘nation’. This ‘national spirit’ Scandinavian romantics found in Nordic mythology as it appeared in Norse literature. There they soon stumbled on the word ‘viking’ as suitable marker of the Scandinavian ‘national spirit’. Hence ‘viking’ began to be used profusely in the writings of these romantics to denote Scandinavians to the extent that from the 1820s the Scandinavian ‘national spirit’ turned into a ‘viking spirit’. Thus the ‘Scandinavian viking’ was born as an example of an early ‘alternative fact’ soon followed by the invention of a ‘viking age’. Since then, we have lived in an echo chamber where nobody doubts the historical reality of the ‘Scandinavian viking’ even though he never existed in the so-called ‘Viking Age’.
International Medievalisms: From Nationalism to Activism, 2023
Medievalism aims to provide a forum for monographs and collections devoted to the burgeoning and highly dynamic multidisciplinary field of medievalism studies: that is, work investigating the influence and appearance of `the medieval' in the society and culture of later ages. Titles within the series investigate the post-medieval construction and manifestations of the Middle Ages-attitudes towards, and uses and meanings of, 'the medieval'-in all fields of culture, from politics and international relations, literature, history, architecture, and ceremonial ritual to film and the visual arts. It welcomes a wide range of topics, from historiographical subjects to revivalism, with the emphasis always firmly on what the idea of 'the medieval' has variously meant and continues to mean; it is founded on the belief that scholars interested in the Middle Ages can and should communicate their research both beyond and within the academic community of medievalists, and on the continuing relevance and presence of 'the medieval' in the contemporary world. New proposals are welcomed. They may be sent directly to the editors or the publishers at the addresses given below.
Current Swedish Archaeology
Sindbaek's (2022) critique of the new exhibitions on the Viking Age at the Swedish History Museum and National Museum of Denmark starts and ends on a cautionary note, signalling a risk that museums face a 'perilous path' to a future as potential 'captives' of the Vikings. At first glance his warning might seem counterintuitive, coming as it does at a moment of triumph for Vikings in the public arena. Never before has there been such a range of accessible, popular entertainments on a Viking theme. Vikings have loomed large in new releases for the home entertainment scene during the pandemic years, whose lockdowns put Viking exhibitions beyond the reach of many. Most conspicuous, perhaps, are the lavish television serials (The Last Kingdom, Norsemen, Vikings) available for streaming in households worldwide. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, which launched in autumn 2020, brought Vikings into one of the most successful videogame franchises of recent times. This year has seen the theatrical release of The Northman, whose promotional campaign posted outsize images of its bare-chested hero wherever it was screened. At the time of writing, the fourth in a series of Thor movies, spanning more than a decade, is in cinemas. This profusion of Viking-flavoured output from major studios and software houses proves just how marketable and commercially successful the Viking brand has been. What is more, a distinctive Viking style or aesthetic has entered the mainstream, moving beyond the sub-cultures (Viking metal, biker gangs, fantasy fiction) that have traditionally deployed its iconography. Themed pubs, axe-throwing cen
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2023
This exploration of a pilgrimage site associated with St. Olaf helps to link the legends and sagas associated with early Christianity in the Viking world. Ancient people would only undertake arduous journeys on pilgrimage if there was a good reason to make that trip. It seems quite possible that it was the nature of the people buried here that made S:t Olofsholm a site worthy of pilgrims traveling to it. We find evidence for migration and for weapon injuries in those buried at this pilgrimage site. In view of the historical texts about Olaf’s conversion of Gotland, Geber’s team argue that these individuals may have been involved in the Christian conversion of the island, so making the site worthy of pilgrimage.
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An essay written as part of the application process to UCL in 2013, examining the accuracy of the popular perception of the Vikings.
Analele Universității „Ovidius” Constanța. Seria Filologie, 2024
This paper explores the image of the Viking in contemporary fiction and cinema, a critical element of the Scandinavian cultural imaginary. While the Viking image has its roots in historical events and saga literature, its representations have significantly evolved and been shaped by various social, cultural, and artistic influences. As a symbol of strength, adventure, and resilience, the Viking has been reinterpreted and commodified within multiple genres of literature and film, often to reflect and address contemporary socio-cultural realities. The study begins with a review of the Viking image in Scandinavian literature, tracing its transformation from the Edic poems and sagas to modern-day narratives. It then expands its focus to analyse the portrayal of Vikings in international cinema. By investigating how these portrayals diverge from or align with historical facts, this paper seeks to understand the dynamics between artistic liberty and creativity, historical authenticity, and the shaping of cultural identity. Special attention is given to the implications of these representations of Scandinavian identity and the broader global imaginary of the region. It proposes that diverse depictions of Vikings reveal much about the tensions and negotiations between the historical-cultural reality of Scandinavia and the perceptions, myths, and expectations of the audience and readership, who play a significant role in shaping these representations. The contrast between the Viking's historical reality and its fictional portrayal illuminates the complexities of interpreting and exporting cultural symbols. The present paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the Scandinavian imaginary. It demonstrates how the region's history, as symbolised by the Viking's figures, continues to resonate within and shape its contemporary cultural and artistic landscapes.
2021
Rather than seeking similarities and trends, this conference will focus on what seems unfamiliar, exotic and even strange in what we perceive as the Viking Age. With this in mind, we will look into the way people interacted with the landscapes in which they lived, how they related to changing environmental preconditions, the way they related to human made objects, and the way narratives of their world were made, used and understood. An additional reception history approach to narratives about the Viking World will enable us better to see how, or if, these narratives influence our perception of the period today. Time/place: November 24-26th 2021, University of Oslo . We will open for registration in the first week of May when a final program and link for registration/payment will become available on our website https://www.khm.uio.no/forskning/forskergrupper/centre-for-viking-age-studies/arrangementer/vis-conference-2021-the-viking-age-as-a-foreign-pl.html
Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, 2013
This article critically examines the words currently in use by scholars to describe Viking-Age Norse religion: ‘pagan’, ‘heathen’, and ‘pre-Christian’. It explores their etymologies -particularly focusing on when they were used to describe Norse religion - from the Latin, Old English, Old French, Middle English, and Old Norse sources, in tandem with the problematic historical contexts in which they were first employed. It then addresses the problems with their use in contemporary scholarship, particularly in implying an outdated, overly simplistic narrative of conversion to Christianity. A new term will then be proposed for use and discussion.
Current Swedish Archaeology, 2022
In discussing two new major exhibitions on the Vikings-'Join the Raid' in the Danish National Museum Copenhagen and 'The Viking World' in the Swedish State Historical Museum Stockholm-Søren M. Sindbaek addresses what is currently the most important question for museums concerning the presentation of the Vikings: how should we as an academic community impart knowledge of the Viking Age to the interested public? And, do we want to act formatively, bringing our research into the public discourse, or do we agree to be passively driven by current socio-political discourses, popular myths and new focuses and habits in media behaviour? At the end of his short introduction, Sindbaek poses a provocative question: 'Will Vikings free museums-or turn them into captives?' (Sindbaek 2022:11). Upon reflection, a slightly rephrased version of this thorny question seems more to the point: 'Will museums free Vikings-or will popular perceptions of the Vikings turn museums into captives'? Sindbaek rightly notes that 'the Viking Age is one of the world's most well-known and popular historical brands' (Sindbaek 2022:11), and the Vikings are omnipresent in many aspects of daily life, from media to commercials. Globally-known glossy media formats such as the TV series 'Vikings' enshrine a glorified and romanticized version of the Viking Age in
Modern Language Association, 2021
In this paper, I will examine what are arguably the three most popular representations of Ragnar Loðbrók in the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries: Ragnar Le Viking, the comic that ran in Vaillant from 1955-1969, the United Artists film The Vikings from 1958, and History Television’s The Vikings, which began airing in 2013. All three of these representations depict Ragnar as a violent masculine prototype. In the first example, though more research is needed, I believe that Ragnar is depicted as a somewhat mischievous, but ultimately stable force. His actions are violent, but they result in more good than harm. In the second example, Ernest Borgnine’s character is a snarling brute, the leader of snarling brutes, pointing to this violent prototype as a destructive one, though it is not without its charms. In the third example, Travis Fimmel’s version of the character of Ragnar Loðbrók tries to complicate the ideas of good and evil, while still providing a counterpart to more violent compatriots that surround him, allowing viewers to sympathize with Ragnar’s world view. These different versions of this character are all adhering to basic elements retained from medieval stories of Ragnar Loðbrók, and to evolving stereotypes about Vikings, but end up with very different depictions, showing that our idea of a Viking “hero” is by no means static.
Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, 2005
European journal of Scandinavian studies, 2022
This collection of fifteen essays (and an afterword) arose from a conference held in 2016 at University College, Cork, Ireland, and is edited by Tom Birkett (UCC) and Roderick Dale (University of Stavanger). The conference was part of a larger project, based on public participation in scholarly research, the World-Tree Project, an online digital platform for the teaching and study of the Vikings (). Anthologies like the present tome have a tendency to be either (too) broad in their thematic, material or theoretical scope, orat the other end of the spectrum -too focused and specific, to be of use to a more general, non-academic readership. None of these extremes pertain to The Vikings Reimagined, as the book offers a number of innovative and thought-provoking Open Access.
Joseph S . Hopkins