Did the Vikings really wear shining helmets, adorned with horns and of oxen, rams, and deer? Did they really rush into battle in the guise of animals, either to honor the gods or to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies?
Did the Vikings really wear shining helmets, adorned with horns and of oxen, rams, and deer? Did they really rush into battle in the guise of animals, either to honor the gods or to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies?
In truth, some artifacts have been found that might suggest that this happened, but that it happened often…? No, certainly not. The Viking horned helmet is most definitely a feature of the romanticizing of the Viking as a “noble savage,” which gained popularity in the Victorian era.
This may come as a shock, but the Viking raiders who spend a few hundred years plaguing the coasts of France, really didn’t garner the best of relations with the French or the English during that time. During that time, however, and mostly due to the “removable wealth” (gold and religious relics) which the Norse had found copiously available within the churches on the English shores, mass panic and hysteria spread much further than the actual incursions of the Vikings themselves.
This fact, of course, lead to the rapid propagation of rumors which as we know, only seem to grow with every retelling of the event. And, it really didn’t help that many of the first introductions to the English coast, were in the ransacking of sacred sites…
The image that was painted of the Vikings themselves was one of “the unwashed.” They were seen as vile creatures who had no recognition of sanctity, of god(s), of virtue. But, in looking back on history, through the objective perspective that only time can offer, we know that these accusations could not be further from the truth.
The Vikings knew sanctification, and in many cases, their warriors were sanctified, if not through ritual practice, through conscious decision and reverence for their gods. They also possessed a devout sense of morality and of religious principle. Unfortunately for the English, the French, and nearly every other unsuspecting people during the 10-century long reign of the Vikings, it was a very different sense of morality that they had aligned to a very different moral compass. They may have been pagans, and practiced occult rituals, but they certainly had spirituality.
Aside from possibly the Berserker class of Viking warrior, who would rage through battles in a “magic mushroom” induced furry, Vikings did not see them selves as animals. They did not dress as animals to reverence their “beastly” gods, and they certainly needed nothing more than their size and courage to inspire fear in their enemies!
In truth, and according to archaeological records, the Vikings went into battle mostly bare-headed. Many wore leather skull-caps, similar to those of our early American football players and some wore simple steel helmets. And as we have found, even the popular image of the Viking helmet with a distinctly Norse face-shield were fairly few and far between.
So, the next time you see an image of a “Viking,” proudly striding around with their horned helmet, you can thank pre- and post-Elizabethan propaganda and romanticizing of the “Noble Savages” for creating such a masculine image of the beloved warriors we now endearingly call Vikings.
The Elizabethan transition from a horned helmet wearing savage, to a horned helmet wearing noble, may paint a much better rendition of the Scandinavian raiders than did the propaganda spread by their victims, but it still didn’t do justice to the Norse people themselves.
Even in Hollywood renditions of the life and times of the Vikings, they are still seen as living in squalor. The popular show “Vikings,” regularly shows its cast smeared in mud, blood, and dirt, due to the imposition of an altogether low living standard. However, the evidence left for us in archaeological records dictate anything but an unkempt lifestyle for the average Viking.
Far from the popularly portrayed state of filth that is seen as the basic daily standard for our beloved peoples of the North,grooming and cleanliness were a high priority!
In burials, we have found no shortage of combs for hair and beards, as well as tableware and cutlery such as knives and spoons. Though their living conditions were unreasonably harsh, having in many cases, 9 months of winter with only about 2 moths of summer, the Vikings were not given to slogging it out in the mire and living in filthy conditions.
In the case of the Icelandic Vikings, and as we can assume was common in many other Viking settlements, they did bring their livestock indoors and lived side by side with their sheep throughout the harshest winter months. However, records and especially the great Icelandic epics written around that time depict the real lives of families and the social intrigue at play within village politics. Many of these stories describe the interests and habits of Scandinavian life, and spare no detail regarding grooming of hair and beards, noting that bothwere a proud sign of masculinity!
Being a proud and noble people who gave special reverence to the condition of their hair, we can’t really believe that they would be content to live in baths of mud and blood, as is commonly depicted in the media today. Even if the image is one of power and virility, it certainly does not demonstrate their humanity. The Vikings were people, and a people who were proud of more than raiding. They were proud of themselves and as many Norse were simple farmers, they were proud of their humble lives and the time and energy they afforded to their appearance.
The Vikings are certainly known for their iconic raiding vessels; the “langskip”. But, were these ‘longships’ really what they all sailed in?
The short answer is, No!
(but, the langskip is likely the only vessel that foreigners regularly saw)
Just like any other nation established at the edge of an ocean, the Scandinavian peoples actually had a plethora of boats and ships that they used quite regularly in daily life. There were smaller fishing boats that were used in many Norse settlements, as well as HUGE round-bellied trade ships, and much in between. But according to the outside world, who were exposed to little more than the open sea-fairing raiding skiffs -those long and sleek dragon-headed longships- were the end-all and be-all of the Viking inventory.
But, even if the world were exposed to the full spectrum of Scandinavian ships of the era, it is doubtful that any would stand out as profoundly as the longship, which is likely why it became synonymous with Vikings in general.
Before the Vikings discovered the “Keel” (center part that extends below the hull), reliable open ocean sailing was likely near to impossible. Ships and boats of the time typically had a deep draft (part that sits below the water) to keep balance, and smaller shallow draft boats were doomed to rock about on rounded or flattened bottoms. This as you can guess made them a bit unstable in rough waters, and certainly didn’t help with steering.
Those beautiful longships though held more than one secret within their flexible frames. Unlike other boats (for the most part), these raiding vessels were built from the outside in, using the long single-piece keep as the only blueprint. Each board was fashioned individually and split and shaped to fit perfectly with the previous plank, fitting together like lapped siding, or the folds of a paper fan. It was only after the ship had been built, that a frame would be built inside the empty hull, in order to suit the natural twists and turns of the hand-hewn planks.
Before all was tacked together with iron nails,lap-boards weresealed and coated with a mixture of wool and animal hair, soaked in natural tar. This not only waterproofed the ships, but ensured that they would remain both flexible and dry. If you didn’t know, tar certainly sticky, but it is also “hydrophobic”. This is the opposite of “hydrophilic,” which means ‘loves water’. These tar-coated ships hated water, or more to the point, water hated them.
Coating these long sleek ships in tar did more than seal them from the water, it made water no want to stick to the hull and cause additional drag. This meant that anyone witnessing a Viking galleon’s progress through open ocean would merely have to look on in terror as an unknown, black as pitch (literally), dragon-headed ship sailed with speeds that were unimaginable for any ‘modern’ ship of the era.
The addition of the central keel not only made the ship more stable in open water, but it also allowed the Vikings to build their boats with a more shallow draft (part that rests below the water). This meant that the raiding ships could not only survive in long ocean voyages, but that they could also sail with ease through rivers and creeks.
Previously unreachable, isolated kingdoms, cities, and villages were well within the reach of the Vikings and their longships, which unlike any other vessel, was able to use nearly any waterway as a highway directly to their target!
So, no, the longships were not the only boat that the Vikings sailed, but they certainly were the most memorable. They were a true engineering marvel to ship builders and a truly unfathomable terror to everyone else.
The end of the Viking age… It sounds so poetic and forlorn, like the death of a poet.. or “The Death of a Salesman,” for any literary fans out there (couldn’t resist the reference). But, what caused the end of the Viking age? What brought about its end, and why in Jeebus' name are there no more Vikings!?
The truth is a sad one... Truth is, the Viking age never actually ended… But, before you put on your horned helmet and pick up your battle axe to go out on a raid of your own, you may want to keep reading.
The real truth is that just like any other past culture, the Norse fell prey to assimilation. They were a people like any other; a people who for the most part just wanted to live quiet lives, protect their kin, and procure a stable future, and for the most part, they found that on the shores of England.
There was a century of raiding that took place in England, France, and a few surrounding nations, but upon the benevolent payoffs of King Charles the Bald (also known as Charles the Simple), the Scandinavian people were granted land in addition to thousands of pounds of silver coinage. This let the Norse move into the sparsely inhabited countryside and begin to farm and graze their livestock, and provided opportunities for intermarriage with the local villagers. Which they did happily, and peacefully.
There are countless stories and even a few poems and tapestries devoted to the hatred the French and the English had for the Vikings. And though the St. Brice’s Day massacre did end the lives of many young Norse warriors, we have to remember that this was merely a political display of power. By the year 1002, according to the Christian calendar, when the massacre took place (Nov. 11), the Scandinavian / Danish population in England was Massive!
At that time, England only had a population of around 1,000,000, and around 32,000 of those were 1st and 2nd generation Norse, who also had families and children born from the local population, making them an integral part of the nation itself. There was no way to do away with the Vikings, other than to breed them out… And, as it happens, that is what happen.
There was no great end to the “Viking age”. There was no great battle, and Odin did not call all of his warriors home in some epic blaze of glory. The world simply changed, and being the ingenious people they were, the Vikings took full advantage of the opportunity, and secured their future for themselves, their children, and their children’s children, for the rest of time.
It is not a happy realization that such a great culture de-fanged, but is it is the truth, and regardless of the inglorious paths taken by the peoples of the past… we still have their memory, the memory of their ways, and the respect for their honor and glory which will never fade, as long as we choose to remember it.
Live long and live strong, my modern Vikings!
Cody Dees
“Resident Viking”
Norse Tradesman
The guess of the wise is truth. -Grettir Saga, c.31
In truth, some artifacts have been found that might suggest that this happened, but that it happened often…? No, certainly not. The Viking horned helmet is most definitely a feature of the romanticizing of the Viking as a “noble savage,” which gained popularity in the Victorian era.
This may come as a shock, but the Viking raiders who spend a few hundred years plaguing the coasts of France, really didn’t garner the best of relations with the French or the English during that time. During that time, however, and mostly due to the “removable wealth” (gold and religious relics) which the Norse had found copiously available within the churches on the English shores, mass panic and hysteria spread much further than the actual incursions of the Vikings themselves.
This fact, of course, lead to the rapid propagation of rumors which as we know, only seem to grow with every retelling of the event. And, it really didn’t help that many of the first introductions to the English coast, were in the ransacking of sacred sites…
The image that was painted of the Vikings themselves was one of “the unwashed.” They were seen as vile creatures who had no recognition of sanctity, of god(s), of virtue. But, in looking back on history, through the objective perspective that only time can offer, we know that these accusations could not be further from the truth.
The Vikings knew sanctification, and in many cases, their warriors were sanctified, if not through ritual practice, through conscious decision and reverence for their gods. They also possessed a devout sense of morality and of religious principle. Unfortunately for the English, the French, and nearly every other unsuspecting people during the 10-century long reign of the Vikings, it was a very different sense of morality that they had aligned to a very different moral compass. They may have been pagans, and practiced occult rituals, but they certainly had spirituality.
Aside from possibly the Berserker class of Viking warrior, who would rage through battles in a “magic mushroom” induced furry, Vikings did not see them selves as animals. They did not dress as animals to reverence their “beastly” gods, and they certainly needed nothing more than their size and courage to inspire fear in their enemies!
In truth, and according to archaeological records, the Vikings went into battle mostly bare-headed. Many wore leather skull-caps, similar to those of our early American football players and some wore simple steel helmets. And as we have found, even the popular image of the Viking helmet with a distinctly Norse face-shield were fairly few and far between.
So, the next time you see an image of a “Viking,” proudly striding around with their horned helmet, you can thank pre- and post-Elizabethan propaganda and romanticizing of the “Noble Savages” for creating such a masculine image of the beloved warriors we now endearingly call Vikings.
The Elizabethan transition from a horned helmet wearing savage, to a horned helmet wearing noble, may paint a much better rendition of the Scandinavian raiders than did the propaganda spread by their victims, but it still didn’t do justice to the Norse people themselves.
Even in Hollywood renditions of the life and times of the Vikings, they are still seen as living in squalor. The popular show “Vikings,” regularly shows its cast smeared in mud, blood, and dirt, due to the imposition of an altogether low living standard. However, the evidence left for us in archaeological records dictate anything but an unkempt lifestyle for the average Viking.
Far from the popularly portrayed state of filth that is seen as the basic daily standard for our beloved peoples of the North, grooming and cleanliness were a high priority!
In burials, we have found no shortage of combs for hair and beards, as well as tableware and cutlery such as knives and spoons. Though their living conditions were unreasonably harsh, having in many cases, 9 months of winter with only about 2 moths of summer, the Vikings were not given to slogging it out in the mire and living in filthy conditions.
In the case of the Icelandic Vikings, and as we can assume was common in many other Viking settlements, they did bring their livestock indoors and lived side by side with their sheep throughout the harshest winter months. However, records and especially the great Icelandic epics written around that time depict the real lives of families and the social intrigue at play within village politics. Many of these stories describe the interests and habits of Scandinavian life, and spare no detail regarding grooming of hair and beards, noting that both were a proud sign of masculinity!
Being a proud and noble people who gave special reverence to the condition of their hair, we can’t really believe that they would be content to live in baths of mud and blood, as is commonly depicted in the media today. Even if the image is one of power and virility, it certainly does not demonstrate their humanity. The Vikings were people, and a people who were proud of more than raiding. They were proud of themselves and as many Norse were simple farmers, they were proud of their humble lives and the time and energy they afforded to their appearance.
The Vikings are certainly known for their iconic raiding vessels; the “langskip”. But, were these ‘longships’ really what they all sailed in?
The short answer is, No!
(but, the langskip is likely the only vessel that foreigners regularly saw)
Just like any other nation established at the edge of an ocean, the Scandinavian peoples actually had a plethora of boats and ships that they used quite regularly in daily life. There were smaller fishing boats that were used in many Norse settlements, as well as HUGE round-bellied trade ships, and much in between. But according to the outside world, who were exposed to little more than the open sea-fairing raiding skiffs -those long and sleek dragon-headed longships- were the end-all and be-all of the Viking inventory.
But, even if the world were exposed to the full spectrum of Scandinavian ships of the era, it is doubtful that any would stand out as profoundly as the longship, which is likely why it became synonymous with Vikings in general.
Before the Vikings discovered the “Keel” (center part that extends below the hull), reliable open ocean sailing was likely near to impossible. Ships and boats of the time typically had a deep draft (part that sits below the water) to keep balance, and smaller shallow draft boats were doomed to rock about on rounded or flattened bottoms. This as you can guess made them a bit unstable in rough waters, and certainly didn’t help with steering.
Those beautiful longships though held more than one secret within their flexible frames. Unlike other boats (for the most part), these raiding vessels were built from the outside in, using the long single-piece keep as the only blueprint. Each board was fashioned individually and split and shaped to fit perfectly with the previous plank, fitting together like lapped siding, or the folds of a paper fan. It was only after the ship had been built, that a frame would be built inside the empty hull, in order to suit the natural twists and turns of the hand-hewn planks.
Before all was tacked together with iron nails, lap-boards weresealed and coated with a mixture of wool and animal hair, soaked in natural tar. This not only waterproofed the ships, but ensured that they would remain both flexible and dry. If you didn’t know, tar certainly sticky, but it is also “hydrophobic”. This is the opposite of “hydrophilic,” which means ‘loves water’. These tar-coated ships hated water, or more to the point, water hated them.
Coating these long sleek ships in tar did more than seal them from the water, it made water no want to stick to the hull and cause additional drag. This meant that anyone witnessing a Viking galleon’s progress through open ocean would merely have to look on in terror as an unknown, black as pitch (literally), dragon-headed ship sailed with speeds that were unimaginable for any ‘modern’ ship of the era.
The addition of the central keel not only made the ship more stable in open water, but it also allowed the Vikings to build their boats with a more shallow draft (part that rests below the water). This meant that the raiding ships could not only survive in long ocean voyages, but that they could also sail with ease through rivers and creeks.
Previously unreachable, isolated kingdoms, cities, and villages were well within the reach of the Vikings and their longships, which unlike any other vessel, was able to use nearly any waterway as a highway directly to their target!
So, no, the longships were not the only boat that the Vikings sailed, but they certainly were the most memorable. They were a true engineering marvel to ship builders and a truly unfathomable terror to everyone else.
The end of the Viking age… It sounds so poetic and forlorn, like the death of a poet.. or “The Death of a Salesman,” for any literary fans out there (couldn’t resist the reference). But, what caused the end of the Viking age? What brought about its end, and why in Jeebus' name are there no more Vikings!?
The truth is a sad one... Truth is, the Viking age never actually ended… But, before you put on your horned helmet and pick up your battle axe to go out on a raid of your own, you may want to keep reading.
The real truth is that just like any other past culture, the Norse fell prey to assimilation. They were a people like any other; a people who for the most part just wanted to live quiet lives, protect their kin, and procure a stable future, and for the most part, they found that on the shores of England.
There was a century of raiding that took place in England, France, and a few surrounding nations, but upon the benevolent payoffs of King Charles the Bald (also known as Charles the Simple), the Scandinavian people were granted land in addition to thousands of pounds of silver coinage. This let the Norse move into the sparsely inhabited countryside and begin to farm and graze their livestock, and provided opportunities for intermarriage with the local villagers. Which they did happily, and peacefully.
There are countless stories and even a few poems and tapestries devoted to the hatred the French and the English had for the Vikings. And though the St. Brice’s Day massacre did end the lives of many young Norse warriors, we have to remember that this was merely a political display of power. By the year 1002, according to the Christian calendar, when the massacre took place (Nov. 11), the Scandinavian / Danish population in England was Massive!
At that time, England only had a population of around 1,000,000, and around 32,000 of those were 1st and 2nd generation Norse, who also had families and children born from the local population, making them an integral part of the nation itself. There was no way to do away with the Vikings, other than to breed them out… And, as it happens, that is what happen.
There was no great end to the“Viking age”. There was no great battle, and Odin did not call all of his warriors home in some epic blaze of glory. The world simply changed, and being the ingenious people they were, the Vikings took full advantage of the opportunity, and secured their future for themselves, their children, and their children’s children, for the rest of time.
It is not a happy realization that such a great culture de-fanged, but is it is the truth, and regardless of the inglorious paths taken by the peoples of the past… we still have their memory, the memory of their ways, and the respect for their honor and glory which will never fade, as long as we choose to remember it.
Live long and live strong, my modern Vikings!
Cody Dees
“Resident Viking”
Norse Tradesman
The guess of the wise is truth. -Grettir Saga, c.31
