THE VIKINGS: Else Rosendahl
Nov. 7th, 2010 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
x_losFor a series of audio plays I'm script-editing, I've been doing some general academic reading on Vikings so that I can spot-check details. Factoids like, 'Viking men are on average 5'7.75'' tall, and Viking women 5' 2.5'', should that become important to know. I've also been making annotated notes, however, so that writers can have a browse and get a /feel/ for Sigurd's culture and context, so they can write him *from* there, rather than me simply weeding out anachronisms in the editing.
If you like/need to know about Vikings, if you like notes on 'decoy' reindeer seducing wild ones, or are simply curious about walls made of dead babies, perhaps these annotations are for you!
THE VIKINGS
Else Rosendahl
Annotations for Shalka Stories’ Use
Page 4
“Many people owned a few objects imported from the great world outside, perhaps a quern for grinding flour, or some beads.”
Quern: “Quern-stones are stone tools for hand grinding a wide variety of materials. They were used in pairs. The lower, stationary, stone is called a quern, whilst the upper, mobile, stone is called a handstone. They were first used in the Neolithic to grind cereals into flour.[1]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quern-stone
I’d seen this word bandied about, but not known how it was different from a mortar and pestle. This passage is about most Scandanavians living relatively unaffected by ‘Viking’ activity (the piratical/military raiding voyages that gave the era’s people their modern name): essentially their contact with lands as far off as Paris and Baghdad was, by and large, via stories and some consumer goods.
I think it’s pertinent to think about Our Viking as a historical figure, and not to rely on a stock Victorian ‘horns on helmet, giant barbarian warriors’ conception of his society. The source of such perception is obviously that, to historians and writers in a Western tradition, the primary characteristic and function of Scandinavians was raiding, because that’s what *they* came in contact with and were deeply affected by. From a Scandinavian perspective, however, Viking-as-a-verb becomes a class-located, somewhat nonessential affair.
Page 6
Tullstorp—potentially useful Sweedish place-name
Page 39
Seeder—what did I mean here?
Page 40
“The items most characteristic of Scandinavian taste and the most conservative were the oval broaches which fashioned women’s over-dresses. Some brooches, however, were Scandinavian versions of foreign designs. The trefoil brooches used to fasten women’s shawls and cloaks, for example, were inspired by the trefoil sword-belt mounts used in the Frankish Empire, while the penannular brooches worn by Viking men, especially in Norway and in the British Isles, on their right shoulders to fasten their cloaks were inspired by Irish or Scottish fastenings. The fashion originated in the colonies in the British Isles and then spread outward. Many of these brooches are made of silver and some are enormous, so they were clearly status symbols and sources of wealth, like arm- and neck-rings.”
Trefoil
“Trefoil (from Latin trifolium, "three-leaved plant", French trèfle, German Dreiblatt and Dreiblattbogen) is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings used in architecture and Christian symbolism. The term is also applied to other symbols of three-fold shape.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trefoil
“At the beginning of the thirteenth century, Snorri Sturluson recorded that some 250 years earlier the Icelandic people gave a scald who had composed a splendid national poem a shoulder broach weighing about 25 pounds. This handsome gift was no doubt a penannular brooch, which would have been quite impossible to wear on a garment. The poet, according to the story, cut it up and bought himself a farm.”
Penannular
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/p/penannular_brooch.aspx
Page 41
Byre: a barn for cows
“By the late Viking Age, in Southern Scandanavia the main house on large farms was often built separately from the byre but the interior arrangements and furnishings did not change greatly during the period.”
Given that our time period is decidedly earlier, and Sigurd doesn’t have a large farm, he will never have slept in a room without cows before (except perhaps a ship’s hold). He may never have slept in a room alone.
Page 58
Felag
“Other ties were also important in both the civilian and the military worlds. Members of a felag, or a fellowship, owed each other mutual obligations. The felag might consist of the joint owners of a ship, it could be a trade association, or a band of warriors (a warrior was often called a dreng) under a lord to whom they owed allegiance. A rune stone from Arhus in Jutland tells of one Asser Saxe, who appears to have been a member of a military fellowship as a dreng, and a civilian fellowship as part-owner of a ship. Like many other rune stones, this one was raised by his comrades rather than his family:
‘Toste [?] and Hove jointly with Frobjorn erected this stone in memory of Asser Saxe, their partner, a very noble ‘dreng’. He died as the greatest ‘un-dastard’ among men; he owned a ship together with Arne.’
Naturally there were other important fellowships which transcended family ties. In villages and towns, where many people lived cheek by jowl, certain common rules were necessary. And there were fellowships connected with defense obligations, religion, the legal system, and the Things, or assemblies, where all major social decisions had to be accepted by free men to gain formal validity.”
I’d like to shy away from the narrative temptation to make Sigurd a romantic cliché of warrior brotherhood, with more naïveté than personality or cleverness, because it’s too Klingon!easy—but despite that, Sigurd probably conceives of the others on the ship as his felag. He may also be annoyed when not allowed a democratic voice in the decision-making.
Page 68
Numismatic: the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numismatics
“It is true that the function of the king was primarily that of a military and perhaps a religious leader, but he also exercised a monopoly of power: he gave protection within the kingdom. In addition, he was the official head of state in relations with other countries. In principle, important decisions—apart from levying armies in response to foreign aggression—were made by free men at the Thing, but their real influence varied from place to place at different periods, depending on the understanding between the king and the aristocracy.”
Page 83
“…in slippery conditions horses were shod with crampons.”
Crampons: “Crampons are attachments to outdoor footwear that feature metal parts to provide traction on snow and ice.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crampons
“Skates, known as ‘ice-legs,’ have been found in great numbers. They were cheap and easy to make: usually a horse’s foot bone (metapodial) was smoothed flat on the underside and sometimes bored with a hole so that it could be tied on with a strap. A spiked staff made it easy to push oneself along at a great speed on smooth ice. Experiments in modern times have fully confirmed the effectiveness of these Viking designes—and have caused much amusement.”
Page 102
“The soil would have been worked… with an ard or plough and a harrow.”
Ard: primitive plow
Harrow: heavy wooden rake
Though ‘ard’ does not give us ‘arduous’ (false cognate), ‘harrow’ DOES give us ‘harrowing’!
When were horses introduced to Scandanavia and England?
Some further research indicates their appearance in decorative motifs is not inconsistent with their relatively late introduction as agricultural animals. Horses in Sigurd’s time are small, and used almost exclusively by upper-class people for military purposes. Agricultural work is hand-executed, in Sigurd’s time, largely with wood tools—it is very possible he has never seen a plough.
Page 102
“As no ard nor plough from the Viking age has survived in Scandanavia…”
Unusual use of ‘nor’—what are useage rules?
Page 103
“Bee-keeping was no doubt important in many places in Scandanavia. Honey was the only known sweetener, was used as a preservative and was an important ingredient in alcoholic drinks, while beeswax was necessary for certain metal-casting processes and it was also the best material for candles. We have no evidence of bee-keeping in the Viking Age but it is mentioned in slightly later written sources.”
Potentially Viking bee keeping?
Page 104
‘bog iron’
“Bog iron refers to impure iron deposits that develop in bogs or swamps by the chemical or biochemical oxidation of iron carried in the solutions. In general, bog ores consist primarily of iron oxyhydroxides, commonly goethite (FeO(OH)). It was discovered during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and most Viking era iron was smelted from bog iron.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron
‘soapstone’
Vikings hewed soapstone directly from the stone face, shaped it into cooking-pots, and sold these at home and abroad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapstone#cite_note-2
Page 2 of Photos
Plate #14
Full-scale reconstruction of a Trelleborg house, built 1942.
Who the fuck *by*, during the war?
Page 105
“The Norwegian chieftain Ohthere’s account…”
Norway does have chiefs! Circa 890, at least.
“…Othere had 600 tame reindeer, among them six decoy-reindeer, which were highly valued by the Lapps, as they were used to catch wild reindeer.”
ahaha Reindeer <3
Page 112
“…hoards may in fact be the result of plunder and extortion rather than trade. Active traders tend not to bury their silver at home but to let it circulate…”
Tendency to ‘horde’, literally.
Page 114
“After an extensive reform of coinage around 1070 foreign coins largely disappeared, and, as had long been the case in England and in many parts of Western Europe, only native coins became legal tender.”
The advent of only *native* currency being valuable is relatively recent!
Page 114
“Written sources give some indication of the goods which were traded in Scandinavia, notably slaves and furs.”
What about these slaves? Was there intermarriage? What was their value versus other goods?* Was preferential treatment given to slaves of various races?
*Page 115: “Slaves were seized whenever there was an opportunity and their economic significance must have been considerable, both as commodities and as a labor force.”
Page 115
“There are a lot of exotic single finds, which must have been souvenirs, loot or gifts received from foreigners…”
Is the absence of evidence sufficient evidence of absence?
Page 115
“…and other handsome drinking vessels, beads of semiprecious stones, such as cornelion and rock crystal, came from the Orient, Russia and Eastern Europe.”
Cornelion:
Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a reddish-brown mineral which is commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelian
Rock crystal
There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones. Especially in Europe and the Middle East, varieties of quartz have been since antiquity the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_crystal
***
When did grave burial with STUFF become popular?
Men’s burials: helmet, ship, swords, riding equipment, drinking vessels, etc.
Men and Women: distinct gendered afterlives and burial customs
***
POSSIBLE HOMETOWN FOR SIGURD:
Page 125-126
Kaupang in Vestfold, Southerrn Norway
“Some of the most important Viking Age monuments are to be found in the region: the cemetery for Chieftains and Kings in Borre, the Gokstad grave, the Oseberg grave.”
Important from 8th century→ year 900, many imported goods found on the site
Site graves populated by farmers who lived nearby and full-time merchants
Called ‘Scringesheal’
***
OTHER SETTLEMENTS
• Rural fortified refuges—v. Helms Deep
• civic ramparts
• spiked harbors
• The sailing channel towards settlements could be blocked by stakes, stones or scuttled ships, so only people with local knowledge ccould find their way through a narrow opening
• The Danevirke—built 737 CE, used most recently by Germans as a tank trap in WWII
• Page 133-134—Danish King Ongendus refuses Christian conversion—builds the Danekirke (because of this, possibly?)
• Page 138 “…excavations at Trelleborg revealed infilled wells containing the bodies of children.” WHAT? And no more info on this? WHAT? (Trelleborg is a royal fortress)
***
Page 140
lio
private fighting units of kings, chieftans
participation was *voluntary* (as were campaigns abroad)
“The Viking armies that fought the campaigns abroad must have been organized on a voluntary basis, as a group of lio. Other voluntary groups engaged in piracy at home and abroad from time to time.”
Page 140
All men capable of bearing arms obligated to defend locality
Page 140—
“In many places during the pagan Viking Age it was customary to bury warriors with their weapons, and some have also been found in lakes and bogs, perhaps deposited there as votive gifts.”
Page 140-141
The most extensive descriptions of battles and Viking military techniques are foreign—French, Anglo-Saxon
Page 142
Free men have a right and a DUTY to own weapons.
If you like/need to know about Vikings, if you like notes on 'decoy' reindeer seducing wild ones, or are simply curious about walls made of dead babies, perhaps these annotations are for you!
THE VIKINGS
Else Rosendahl
Annotations for Shalka Stories’ Use
Page 4
“Many people owned a few objects imported from the great world outside, perhaps a quern for grinding flour, or some beads.”
Quern: “Quern-stones are stone tools for hand grinding a wide variety of materials. They were used in pairs. The lower, stationary, stone is called a quern, whilst the upper, mobile, stone is called a handstone. They were first used in the Neolithic to grind cereals into flour.[1]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quern-stone
I’d seen this word bandied about, but not known how it was different from a mortar and pestle. This passage is about most Scandanavians living relatively unaffected by ‘Viking’ activity (the piratical/military raiding voyages that gave the era’s people their modern name): essentially their contact with lands as far off as Paris and Baghdad was, by and large, via stories and some consumer goods.
I think it’s pertinent to think about Our Viking as a historical figure, and not to rely on a stock Victorian ‘horns on helmet, giant barbarian warriors’ conception of his society. The source of such perception is obviously that, to historians and writers in a Western tradition, the primary characteristic and function of Scandinavians was raiding, because that’s what *they* came in contact with and were deeply affected by. From a Scandinavian perspective, however, Viking-as-a-verb becomes a class-located, somewhat nonessential affair.
Page 6
Tullstorp—potentially useful Sweedish place-name
Page 39
Seeder—what did I mean here?
Page 40
“The items most characteristic of Scandinavian taste and the most conservative were the oval broaches which fashioned women’s over-dresses. Some brooches, however, were Scandinavian versions of foreign designs. The trefoil brooches used to fasten women’s shawls and cloaks, for example, were inspired by the trefoil sword-belt mounts used in the Frankish Empire, while the penannular brooches worn by Viking men, especially in Norway and in the British Isles, on their right shoulders to fasten their cloaks were inspired by Irish or Scottish fastenings. The fashion originated in the colonies in the British Isles and then spread outward. Many of these brooches are made of silver and some are enormous, so they were clearly status symbols and sources of wealth, like arm- and neck-rings.”
Trefoil
“Trefoil (from Latin trifolium, "three-leaved plant", French trèfle, German Dreiblatt and Dreiblattbogen) is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings used in architecture and Christian symbolism. The term is also applied to other symbols of three-fold shape.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trefoil
“At the beginning of the thirteenth century, Snorri Sturluson recorded that some 250 years earlier the Icelandic people gave a scald who had composed a splendid national poem a shoulder broach weighing about 25 pounds. This handsome gift was no doubt a penannular brooch, which would have been quite impossible to wear on a garment. The poet, according to the story, cut it up and bought himself a farm.”
Penannular
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/p/penannular_brooch.aspx
Page 41
Byre: a barn for cows
“By the late Viking Age, in Southern Scandanavia the main house on large farms was often built separately from the byre but the interior arrangements and furnishings did not change greatly during the period.”
Given that our time period is decidedly earlier, and Sigurd doesn’t have a large farm, he will never have slept in a room without cows before (except perhaps a ship’s hold). He may never have slept in a room alone.
Page 58
Felag
“Other ties were also important in both the civilian and the military worlds. Members of a felag, or a fellowship, owed each other mutual obligations. The felag might consist of the joint owners of a ship, it could be a trade association, or a band of warriors (a warrior was often called a dreng) under a lord to whom they owed allegiance. A rune stone from Arhus in Jutland tells of one Asser Saxe, who appears to have been a member of a military fellowship as a dreng, and a civilian fellowship as part-owner of a ship. Like many other rune stones, this one was raised by his comrades rather than his family:
‘Toste [?] and Hove jointly with Frobjorn erected this stone in memory of Asser Saxe, their partner, a very noble ‘dreng’. He died as the greatest ‘un-dastard’ among men; he owned a ship together with Arne.’
Naturally there were other important fellowships which transcended family ties. In villages and towns, where many people lived cheek by jowl, certain common rules were necessary. And there were fellowships connected with defense obligations, religion, the legal system, and the Things, or assemblies, where all major social decisions had to be accepted by free men to gain formal validity.”
I’d like to shy away from the narrative temptation to make Sigurd a romantic cliché of warrior brotherhood, with more naïveté than personality or cleverness, because it’s too Klingon!easy—but despite that, Sigurd probably conceives of the others on the ship as his felag. He may also be annoyed when not allowed a democratic voice in the decision-making.
Page 68
Numismatic: the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numismatics
“It is true that the function of the king was primarily that of a military and perhaps a religious leader, but he also exercised a monopoly of power: he gave protection within the kingdom. In addition, he was the official head of state in relations with other countries. In principle, important decisions—apart from levying armies in response to foreign aggression—were made by free men at the Thing, but their real influence varied from place to place at different periods, depending on the understanding between the king and the aristocracy.”
Page 83
“…in slippery conditions horses were shod with crampons.”
Crampons: “Crampons are attachments to outdoor footwear that feature metal parts to provide traction on snow and ice.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crampons
“Skates, known as ‘ice-legs,’ have been found in great numbers. They were cheap and easy to make: usually a horse’s foot bone (metapodial) was smoothed flat on the underside and sometimes bored with a hole so that it could be tied on with a strap. A spiked staff made it easy to push oneself along at a great speed on smooth ice. Experiments in modern times have fully confirmed the effectiveness of these Viking designes—and have caused much amusement.”
Page 102
“The soil would have been worked… with an ard or plough and a harrow.”
Ard: primitive plow
Harrow: heavy wooden rake
Though ‘ard’ does not give us ‘arduous’ (false cognate), ‘harrow’ DOES give us ‘harrowing’!
When were horses introduced to Scandanavia and England?
Some further research indicates their appearance in decorative motifs is not inconsistent with their relatively late introduction as agricultural animals. Horses in Sigurd’s time are small, and used almost exclusively by upper-class people for military purposes. Agricultural work is hand-executed, in Sigurd’s time, largely with wood tools—it is very possible he has never seen a plough.
Page 102
“As no ard nor plough from the Viking age has survived in Scandanavia…”
Unusual use of ‘nor’—what are useage rules?
Page 103
“Bee-keeping was no doubt important in many places in Scandanavia. Honey was the only known sweetener, was used as a preservative and was an important ingredient in alcoholic drinks, while beeswax was necessary for certain metal-casting processes and it was also the best material for candles. We have no evidence of bee-keeping in the Viking Age but it is mentioned in slightly later written sources.”
Potentially Viking bee keeping?
Page 104
‘bog iron’
“Bog iron refers to impure iron deposits that develop in bogs or swamps by the chemical or biochemical oxidation of iron carried in the solutions. In general, bog ores consist primarily of iron oxyhydroxides, commonly goethite (FeO(OH)). It was discovered during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and most Viking era iron was smelted from bog iron.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron
‘soapstone’
Vikings hewed soapstone directly from the stone face, shaped it into cooking-pots, and sold these at home and abroad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapstone#cite_note-2
Page 2 of Photos
Plate #14
Full-scale reconstruction of a Trelleborg house, built 1942.
Who the fuck *by*, during the war?
Page 105
“The Norwegian chieftain Ohthere’s account…”
Norway does have chiefs! Circa 890, at least.
“…Othere had 600 tame reindeer, among them six decoy-reindeer, which were highly valued by the Lapps, as they were used to catch wild reindeer.”
ahaha Reindeer <3
Page 112
“…hoards may in fact be the result of plunder and extortion rather than trade. Active traders tend not to bury their silver at home but to let it circulate…”
Tendency to ‘horde’, literally.
Page 114
“After an extensive reform of coinage around 1070 foreign coins largely disappeared, and, as had long been the case in England and in many parts of Western Europe, only native coins became legal tender.”
The advent of only *native* currency being valuable is relatively recent!
Page 114
“Written sources give some indication of the goods which were traded in Scandinavia, notably slaves and furs.”
What about these slaves? Was there intermarriage? What was their value versus other goods?* Was preferential treatment given to slaves of various races?
*Page 115: “Slaves were seized whenever there was an opportunity and their economic significance must have been considerable, both as commodities and as a labor force.”
Page 115
“There are a lot of exotic single finds, which must have been souvenirs, loot or gifts received from foreigners…”
Is the absence of evidence sufficient evidence of absence?
Page 115
“…and other handsome drinking vessels, beads of semiprecious stones, such as cornelion and rock crystal, came from the Orient, Russia and Eastern Europe.”
Cornelion:
Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a reddish-brown mineral which is commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelian
Rock crystal
There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones. Especially in Europe and the Middle East, varieties of quartz have been since antiquity the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_crystal
***
When did grave burial with STUFF become popular?
Men’s burials: helmet, ship, swords, riding equipment, drinking vessels, etc.
Men and Women: distinct gendered afterlives and burial customs
***
POSSIBLE HOMETOWN FOR SIGURD:
Page 125-126
Kaupang in Vestfold, Southerrn Norway
“Some of the most important Viking Age monuments are to be found in the region: the cemetery for Chieftains and Kings in Borre, the Gokstad grave, the Oseberg grave.”
Important from 8th century→ year 900, many imported goods found on the site
Site graves populated by farmers who lived nearby and full-time merchants
Called ‘Scringesheal’
***
OTHER SETTLEMENTS
• Rural fortified refuges—v. Helms Deep
• civic ramparts
• spiked harbors
• The sailing channel towards settlements could be blocked by stakes, stones or scuttled ships, so only people with local knowledge ccould find their way through a narrow opening
• The Danevirke—built 737 CE, used most recently by Germans as a tank trap in WWII
• Page 133-134—Danish King Ongendus refuses Christian conversion—builds the Danekirke (because of this, possibly?)
• Page 138 “…excavations at Trelleborg revealed infilled wells containing the bodies of children.” WHAT? And no more info on this? WHAT? (Trelleborg is a royal fortress)
***
Page 140
lio
private fighting units of kings, chieftans
participation was *voluntary* (as were campaigns abroad)
“The Viking armies that fought the campaigns abroad must have been organized on a voluntary basis, as a group of lio. Other voluntary groups engaged in piracy at home and abroad from time to time.”
Page 140
All men capable of bearing arms obligated to defend locality
Page 140—
“In many places during the pagan Viking Age it was customary to bury warriors with their weapons, and some have also been found in lakes and bogs, perhaps deposited there as votive gifts.”
Page 140-141
The most extensive descriptions of battles and Viking military techniques are foreign—French, Anglo-Saxon
Page 142
Free men have a right and a DUTY to own weapons.
