BOSTON

PUBLIC
LIBRARY
The Vikings
James Graham-Campbell and Dafydd Kidd

The British Museum, London

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Distributed by
William Morrow and Company, Inc.
New York
1980
 .

( 1980 by The Trustees of the British Museum

First published in Great Britain in 1980 by British

Museum Publications Ltd.

All rights reserved. No

book may be
part of this
reproduced or utilized any form or by any means,
in
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the
Publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to William
Morrow and Company, Inc., 105 Madison Ave., New
York, N.Y. 10016.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Graham-Campbell, James.
The Vikings.

Catalog of an exhibition held at the British Museum,

London, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Bibliography: p. 200
Includes index.
1. Northmen - Exhibitions. I. Kidd, Dafydd, joint
author. II. British Museum. III. New York (City).
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
IV. Title.
DL65.G64 948'. 02^7402142 79-25486
ISBN 0-688-03603-1 (William Morrow and Company, Inc. I

isbx 0-87099-219-8 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

isbx 0-87099-220-1 pbk. (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Designed by Patrick Yapp

Printed in Great Britain by

Jarrold and Sons Ltd, Norwich

FRONT COVER: Terminal of a horse-collar from

Mammen, Jutland 1 28, S9;, adapted.

back cover: Pendant from Gotland with gold

filigree ornament ( 54;
 1 1

Contents

Photographic Acknowledgments 6

Preface 7

List of Lenders 9

1 Introduction and the Scandinavian Background 1

2 Ships and the Sea 2>

3 Traders and Looters 33

4 Viking Settlement 61

5 House and Home 75

6 Death and Pagan Gods 87

7 Viking Dress 101

8 Kings and Coinage 119

9 Viking Crafts 131

10 The Jeweller's Craft 143

1 Art and Ornament 153

12 The Coming of Christianity 179

Select Bibliography 189

Index 190

List of Exhibits 193

Photographic Acknowledgments

The majority of the colour photographs have been taken specially for the
book by Lennart Larsen of the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen,
with a generous grant from the Charles Ulrich and Josephine Bay
Foundation given through The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
These photographs are the copyright of British Museum Publications
Limited; they are listed in italic type under the institution involved, whom
we thank photographs to be taken.
for their co-operation in allowing the
All other photographs are reproduced by kind permission of the following
institutions and individuals:

Alborg Historical Museum: 50, 103; B. Ambrosiani, Stockholm: 17;

Arhus University Prehistoric Museum, Moesgard: 46; T. Balslev,
Hjorring: 69; Bergen University Historical Museum: 70, 16, 36, 41;
Copenhagen, The National Museum of Denmark; First Department: 14,
28, 44 right, 57, 58> 59- 60, 82, 89, 95b; Second Department: 12, 96;
P. Dehlholm, Moesgard: 32; Douglas, The Manx Museum and National
Trust: 49; Dublin, National Museum of Ireland: 39, 86; Edinburgh,
National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland: 7a, 13, 94; Werner Forman
Archive, London: 115; Gronlund Forlag, Copenhagen: 70; Lincoln
Archaeological Trust: 106 above; London, The British Museum: 1, 2,
63a-b, 67, 68b— 1, 81, 106 below, 107; London, The Museum of London:
101; Lund, Kulturen: 22, 27, 34, 57, 72, 75, 79; Lund, University
Historical Museum: jb\ Oslo University Museum of National Antiquities:
6,9,11, 26, 52, 62, 63c, 71 73, 90, 92, 9$a, 99; Oslo University Collection
,

of Coins and Medals: 68m; Axel Poignant, London: 30; Reykjavik, The
National Museum of Iceland: 38, 45, 113, 114; Rudkobing, Langeland
Museum: 66; Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein Landesmuseum: 74, 79, 83,
84; Scandinavian Airlines SAS: 3 (Boberg), 29 (Brorson), 4-5 (Peterson);
Stockholm, The National Antiquities Museum: 8, i^a-b, 18, 19, 20,
21, 23, 24, 35, 42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 54, 55, 56, 61, 64, 79, 80, S5, 87, 88, 91.
93, 100, 102, 108, 109, no, 777; 40. 98: courtesy of the Antiquities and
Topographical Archive, Stockholm; Stockholm, Royal Coin Cabinet,
National Museum of Monetary History: 68a; Trondheim Museum: 25,
York Archaeological Trust (M.
S3, 76, 78, 97, 104, 112; S. Duffy): 31,
65, 77; Mats Wibe Lund, Reykjavik: 33; D. M. Wilson & O. Klindt-
Jensen: 105; Uppsala Museum for Nordic Antiquities: 37.

The maps for the book were drawn by Hugene Fleury, and the diagrams
and illustrations by Jeremy Ford. Figure 4 was redrawn after K. Schict/cl,
fig. 5 after M. Stcnberger, fig. 8 after F. Rocsdahl.
Preface

The Vikings have had a bad press. Their

equated with rape
activities are
and pillage and second only to that of the
their reputation for brutality is

Huns and the Goths. Curiously, they have also been invested with a
strange glamour which contradicts in many ways their fearsome image.
The wanton, healthy, cheerful, blond Viking has been a firmly established
literary figure since the early nineteenth century. The British Museum by
means of this book and the exhibition which it illustrates is trying in some
ways to redress the balance. In a brutal age the Vikings were brutal, but
their brutality was no worse than that of their contemporaries. It is not
without significance that the English word lazv has a Scandinavian root,
nor that some of the administrative divisions of England in use until the
middle of this century were established by Scandinavian settlers. The
Vikings were administrators as well as pirates, merchants as well as
robbers.
The Scandinavians of the Viking Age had a strong and vital culture of
their own, although they were always ready to take up outside influences
and ideas. The culture of these people is indicated in this book, as is their
daring and adventurous spirit. The discovery of America, the acceptance
of Christianity, the creation of nation-states and the government of
colonies are all part of this story, as are a distinctive art and considerable
technical skill. It is to show all these facets of the Viking character that we
have mounted this exhibition and written this book.
It is unlikely that such an exhibition will ever be mounted again and the
British Museum's thanks are primarily due to the many museums in
different countries, both within Scandinavia and elsewhere, for lending so
many numerous lending institutions are listed
national treasures (the
below). The sponsorship Times Newspapers Ltd in association with
of
Scandinavian Airlines System must be acknowledged with gratitude; in
particular the names of Asbjorn Engen, Vice President at SAS Head
Office, Steen Larsen, General Manager SAS Great Britain and Ireland,
and Derek Jewell, Publishing Director Times Newspapers Ltd,
deserve a special mention. The generosity of SAS has been demonstrated
in most practical terms by the transport of material and people between
Norway, Sweden and Denmark and London. Priceless Viking objects -
national treasures of their countries- have been brought to the British
Museum with infinite care. A
major grant from the Cultural Fund of the
Nordic Council has immeasurably helped the exhibition organisers. It
would be invidious to name too many individuals but without the help and
active support of Sir Denis Hamilton, Kenneth Pearson, Ralph Cohen and
James Graham-Campbell this exhibition would not have been possible.
Further the co-operation of the Arhus Prehistoric Museum at Moesgard
and particularly the help of Professor Ole Klindt-Jensen and Holger
Schmidt in the reconstruction of a house from the Viking town of Hedeby
must be acknowledged with grateful thanks. In private duty bound I must
also thank two members of the British Museum staff, Dafydd Kidd and
Jean Rankine, for the energy which they have devoted to the preparation of
this exhibition.
This is the first Museum has arranged an exhibition
time that the British
together with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York where it will
be shown in the autumn), and we trust that the happy co-operation
experienced in this project will extend far into the future.

David M. Wilson
DIRECTOR
THE BRITISH MUSEUM

The authors wish to thank Mr H. Johannsen of the SAS London office and
Mrs E. Thorvildsen of the Danish National Museum First Department
for their good offices; Miss M. Archibald, F.S.A., of the British Museum
Department of Coins and Medals for her selection of coins for illustration,
and checking of the related text; Mrs G. Boyce and Mrs L. Leth-Larsen
for their help in preparation of this catalogue and Mrs V. Bottomley and
Miss V. Springett for their typing; Miss S. Beeby for her help.
List of Lenders

Alborg Historical Museum

Andreas Church, of Man
Isle
The Antiquities Museum. Ribe
Arhus University Prehistoric Museum, Moesgard
Bangsbo Museum, Fredrikshavn
Bergen University Historical Museum
Boher Church and the Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoisc
British Museum, Departments of Coins and Medals,
and Medieval and Later Antiquities
Canterbury City Museum
The Dean and Chapter Library, Durham
The Department of the Environment, London
Gavle Museum
Goldsborough Rectory, Yorkshire
Ipswich Museum
Kulturen (Culture History Museum), Lund
Langeland Museum, Rudkobing
Lincoln Archaeological Trust
Lincolnshire Museums
Lund University Historical Museum
Manx Museum and National Trust, Douglas
Middleton Church, Pickering, Yorkshire
Museum for Nordic Antiquities, Uppsala
Museum of London
National Board of Antiquities and Historical Monuments, Helsinki
National Antiquities Museum, Stockholm
National Maritime History Museum, Stockholm
National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh
National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen
National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavik
National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
Oslo University Collection of Coins and Medals
Oslo University Museum of National Antiquities
Royal Coin Cabinet, National Museum of Monetary History, Stockholm
Royal Norwegian Scientific Society Museum, Trondheim
Saffron Walden Museum
Schleswig-Holstein Landesmuseum. Schleswig
Sigtuna Kommun Museums
Sydhimmerlands Museum, Hobro
Tromso Museum
Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde
Winchester Research L nit and the Dean and Chapter. Winchester
T

Wisbech and Fenland Museum

York District Council through the York Archaeological Trust
York Minster Museum
The Yorkshire Museum. York
 1 Introduction and the Scandinavian Background

In the year ad ^89 the Wessex king's representative. Beaduheard. hurried

with a band of men from the town o\ Dorchester to Portland on the
southern English eoast. He was to investigate three ships thought to be
traders. Their erews murdered him and his companions. 'And th>
records the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dryly, and with over a century of grim
hindsight, 'were the first ships of the Danish men which came to the land
of the English." In 793 'ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God's
church on Lindisfarne with plunder and slaughter". The Christian
monastic sites of Jarrow and Iona lying on Britain's exposed northern
coasts were looted in the years immediately after. In 795 raiders were
recorded near Dublin, and in 799 on the coast of south-west France. As far
as we know this was all the work of Norwegians. The first raids by Danes in
the west were on Frisia and in 834 the thriving and populous trading centre
of Dorestad on the Rhine Estuary was attacked.
This was the beginning of a period of history known to us as the Viking
Age. when Scandinavian peoples from the modern countries of Norway.
Sweden and Denmark dominated much of northern Europe and beyond.
They travelled further than Europeans had ever done before and
established regular communications over great distances. They exploited
the riches of the eastern world and explored the uncharted waters of the
North Atlantic Ocean. They settled as farmers in the barren western lands
of Greenland and discovered America; they served as mercenaries at the
court of Byzantium. They ravaged and destroyed Christian Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms, and the Carolingian Empire was penetrated to its heart. They
extorted massive blackmail of silver and gold. Yet they also went on to
colonise rich commercial centres from York to Kiev, and formed powerful
states.
Itwas an age when wealth rapidly changed hands: Scandinavians
without silver sought to acquire it by whatever means, and gain power and
prestige by redistributing it. The great Viking silver hoard of coins, ingots
and cut-up jewellery from Cuerdale in Lancashire, hidden in the early
tenth century, illustrates the ambitions and uncertainties of the period (1).
From the eighth to eleventh centuries Scandinavian groups developed
from being unorganised raiders and powerful predatory armies into
aggressive national states professing the Christian faith. Their adver-
saries, and victims, developed their own political and military organisation
for defence. When peace and stability again returned, the explosion of
i Silver hoard from
population from Scandinavia had permanently altered the map of
Cuerdale, Lancashire, hidden
at the beginning of the tenth northern Europe and its power structure. National kingdoms had formed
century. in Scandinavia from about ad iooo. while Viking communities outside

1
 I 111- WES I S( ANHINAVIA AND Till-: CONTINENT I 111- I AS I

late Sih century Norwegians settling Orknej and late 8th century Ribe and Paviken flourish
Shetland Curie coins from Muslim world
Viking ships off S Hngland reaching E. Scandinavia
793-5 Lindisfarne, Janow and lona
sacked
Vikings raid near Dublin
799 S. W. France attacked by Vikings
808 Godfred destroys Slav town of
Reric and settles Hedeby
810 Godfred ravages Frisian coast
815 Denmark invaded by Empire
829 Ansgar's first Scandinavian
830s Raids on Ireland intensify mission
834 Danes plunder town of Dorestad
835 Beginning of 30 years' attacks on
England by Viking armies 839 Reference to Swedes in
840s Dublin established as Viking base Byzantium
845 Vikings burn Hamburg, ravage
Paris and Spanish towns
849 Ansgar's second mission
850 First church built at Hedeby
851 Danish army first winters in
England
c. 860 Scandinavian discovery of Iceland 860s Vikings raid N. Africa and Italy 860s Traditional dates for first Viking
865 First 'Danegeld' from England activity in Russia
867 York taken by Vikings Rus attack Bvzantium
870 Monk Rimbert writes life of
871-99 Alfred 'the Great' king of Wessex Ansgar
874 Commercial treaty between
876 Vikings divide up Northumbria Byzantines and Rus who accept
878 King Alfred defeats Guthrum bishop
882 Viking Oleg traditionally takes
885 Paris besieged by Vikings over Kiev
886 Treaty partitions England
Scandinavians settle Danelaw-
early 10th century' Decline of Kaupang 907 Rus attack on Byzantium
910-18 Beginning reconquest of Danelaw 911 Vikings granted Normandy 912 Vikings attack Baku on Caspian
by Anglo-Saxons 921/2 Ibn Fadlan describes Rus on
930 Icelandic republic established Volga
934 Germans capture Hedeby
935 New- mission to the Danes
950 Emperor Constantine writes
954 Eirik 'Bloodaxe' of York killed about Rus
England unified c. 965 Conversion of Harald 'Bluetooth' c.965 Sviatoslav of Kiev attacks
king of Denmark Bolgars
970s Decline of Birka and rise of Volga eastern trade disrupted
Sigtuna 972 Vladimir siezes power in
974 German Otto 11 seizes Hedeby Novgorod
980 Battle of Tara reduces power of
Viking kings of Dublin
980s Renewal of systematic Danish
raids on England
986 Eirik 'the Red' settles Greenland
985 6 First Scandinavians sight America
c 994 Olaf Tryggvason king of Norway
converted
999 Iceland adopts Christianity 990s Bergen and Trondheim founded
1002 Danes massacred on St Brice's Varangian Guard at Byzantium
Day in S. England 1008 Olaf Skortkonung king of Sweden
1017—35 Knut the Great' rules Anglo- converted 1015-54 Jaroslav 'the Wise' king in Kiev
Scandinavian Kingdom c.1020 Lund founded
1030 Olaf Haraldsson (St Olaf) king of
Scandinavian mercenaries paid off Norway killed
by English 1064 Treaty separates Denmark and
Norway
1066 English defeat Norwegians at 1066 Hedeby sacked by Slavs
Stamford Bridge Superseded by Schleswig
English defeated at Hastings
1069 70 Sven Estridsson of Denmark
invades England but makes peace 1075-80 Adam of Bremen writes his
1085 Knut 'the Holy' fails to reconquer historv
England
 ,

INTRODUCTION AND THE SCANDINAVIAN BACKGROUND

Scandinavia were gradually subjected to local control. This slow process

ended times in different areas, lastly in the west. England was
at different
firmly removed from the Scandinavian political orbit by Norman kings
after 1066. Iceland had become officially Christian from ad iooo, but
resisted the imposition of direct Norwegian control until 1262. In Ireland
the Battle of Tara in 980 left the Vikings of Dublin with a semi-
independent existence which ended with the English conquest from 169. 1

To their western adversaries theseScandinavians were known simply as

'Northmen', or more specifically from their country or district of origin.
The Arabs referred to them as 'fire-worshippers', or 'heathens'. To the
Byzantines they were sometimes simply 'barbarians'. But now the term
'Viking' has gained universal currency, synonymous with piracy, rapine

^H
-*;•>

2 above The Vikings as they and cruelty. The derivation of the name is uncertain: it has been linked to
may have appeared to their trading journeys, seafaring or dwelling in creeks and bays - all activities
victims: an Anglo-Saxon
based on the sea. And
go 'a-Viking' meant joining an expedition across
to
stone from Lindisfarne
Northumberland.
the sea to gain riches and honour. Much of our contemporary written
information about the Vikings comes from their victims. In western
Fig. 1 opposite An outline Europe the activities of Norwegians and Danes were recorded by
of some principal events in cloistered, monkish chroniclers bewailing attacks on religious houses or on
Viking history.
Christian armies. Their dry, laconic lists of disaster after disaster contrast
with rhetorical outbursts. A twelfth-century Irish saga describes these
'ruthless, wrathful, foreign, purely pagan people'.
The unexpected and sudden nature of the early raids gave them an air of
mystery and the supernatural. A stone sculpture from Lindisfarne,
perhaps recalling the disaster of its sack in 793, shows one view of the

Vikings (2). The success of the Viking hit-and-run tactics gave rise to
reports of exaggerated numbers of men and ships. The extent of the

13
 isorm y.ape

NORTH SEA
 INTRODUCTION AND THE SCANDINAVIAN BACKGROUND

destruction they perpetrated was calculated to terrorise, but the stories

told may not all be true history.
Sophisticated Arabs encountered the Scandinavians trading down the
great Russian rivers through eastern Slav territory, and eastern merchants
visited the principal trade-centres of Scandinavia. To them the Vikings
appeared rude and coarse and dangerous, interesting as ethnographical
curiosities. 'They are the dirtiest of God's creatures . and they do not
. .

wash themselves after sex ..." wrote the fastidious Ibn Fadlan in the early
tenth century of a group of northern merchants.
Viking raids south across the Caspian Sea in the tenth century were
repulsed; western attacks on the Mediterranean Arab emirates of North
Africa and Spain were only moderately successful. It was largely in
exchange for fur and slaves that the Vikings obtained masses of silver from
the Arabs. In the east the Vikings appear as vagabonds of dubious
reputation. In conjunction with Slav forces from Kiev they sometimes
mounted sporadic sea-borne attacks in the tenth century to extort
commercial concessions from Byzantium, but were no serious danger
except when their attacks coincided with those from other quarters. The
Arabs and Byzantines were technically superior to the Vikings, whose
power was weak at such distances, and since they were politically more
centralised and united than western states they could defend themselves
successfully. It was the weakness of political control and the fragmentation
of western Europe which allowed the Vikings such easy success in their
early raids. But whenever there was a way out of a stern fight the Vikings
found it. They were more concerned with profit than empty glory.
From the Icelandic sagas recorded three centuries later than the events
described, we gain a view of the Vikings as men of a heroic age. The sagas
are a Nordic tradition, a reflection of the medieval literature of romance,
composed to entertain rather than as history. Against a background of
anonymous common people, striking characters appear, larger than life,
with comic foibles and exaggerated virtues and vices.
It has been the fate of the Vikings to be seen in an idealised or unrealistic

light. A single facet of their character or activities has too often been
isolated to make the moral or political point that they were savage,
destructive barbarians or - much later - a blue-eyed, fair-haired Aryan
master race. In reality there was never one Viking people. During this
period a northern version of the Germanic language was commonly
understood across Scandinavia, which enabled groups from different areas
to co-operate on joint enterprises. But within Scandinavia itself landscape
and environment imposed differences on the inhabitants, and their
political allegiances varied.
The home of the Vikings, Scandinavia, consisted of the three present-
day kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and part of Finland.
Their^ombined land mass is huge, extending over twelve hundred miles
from north to south: northern Norway extends well inside the Arctic
Circle, and the original border of the Danish Viking kingdom was at the

Fis. 2 I 'iking- Age base of the Jutland Peninsula in what is today northern Germany. Massive
Scandinavia, erosion of some areas by Ice- Age glaciers, and deposition in others of

i>
 INTRODUCTION AND THE SCANDINAVIAN BACKGROUND

varied materials during glacial retreats, has produced lands of great

contrasts.
In the south is a geographical unit consisting of the Jutland Peninsula,
the fivehundred or so Danish islands, and the rich provinces of southern
Sweden: Skane, Halland and Blekinge. Here the land is comparatively flat,
and the soils relatively light and fertile. The area is an extension of the
North European Plain and is linked to it only by a narrow land bridge at
•«v the base of the Jutland Peninsula. The importance of Danish towns such as

»•<*
.
Hedeby derives from the exploitation of the overland and river route
across this neck between the North Sea and the Baltic. A narrow sea-
opening between Jutland and west Sweden controls the strategic but
dangerous entrance into the Baltic around the top of the Jutland Peninsula
from the North Sea. Apart from areas of bog, forest and desolate sandy
heathland the area is agriculturally rich. Transport is relatively easy, and
expanses of sea or deep penetrating rivers are links in communication
rather than barriers. The sea dominates the land, being never far distant.

1 Much of this south-west Baltic area formed an early political unit, the
kingdom of Denmark, because of
accessibility.
its relative uniformity and over-all

To the north-east of the Danish kingdom, separated by dense forests

and Sweden. Much of this area is covered by
lakes, lie the provinces of
waterways, with lakes and bogs and forests. Areas of rich and poor
agricultural land are mixed up. Inland waters and ridges providing land
routes made Uppland in east-central Sweden a natural centre for early
settlement. Its deep and protected inland waterway system gave Uppland
^ access to the extensive Swedish coast and the rich Baltic islands of Oland
and Gotland, and accounts for the importance of the sites Helgo, Birka and
j^ Sigtuna. To the north were sparsely settled areas of agricultural land amid
forests and lakes, and along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia there were
settlements around river mouths. The strategic position of Gotland in the
centre of the Baltic, with its rich limestone-based soils, made it a naturally
independent centre.
A long inhospitable mountain spine separates Sweden from Norway.
Routes across were few, giving prominence to areas either side
this barrier

M of the passes. One of these linked Tr^ndelag, the west-coast area around
Trondheim, eastwards to the head of the Gulf of Bothnia and so to the
Baltic. Rich lowlands form an irregular fringe around the Norwegian
coast, penetrating deep inland along the fjord valleys, a stark contrast to
the barren uplands which form the mass of the landscape. The very long,
indented coastline is protected by lines of offshore islands. Natural land
barriers and the scattering of population over long distances make sea
transport essential. The warm Gulf Stream prevents the northern seas
!>** »
from freezing and affects local temperature well above the Arctic Circle,
making Norway habitable at very high latitudes. Sea access around the
'*} North Cape to the White Sea is also possible. Main natural centres are
<•*-

'J 3 left A northern Swedish landscape: forests and lakes in Anger nianland.
4 OVERLEAF A Norwegian landscape: the Geiranger Fjord, penetrating deep inland.

17

**
-<xr
I Hi: \ 'IKINGS

situated in the lowland plains of the south and south-west. Around the
Oslo Fjordin the south arc a scries ol~ rich ship-burials and the town oi'

Kaupang. Much of the political history of Norway lies in its resistance to

interference from Denmark, and the imposing of control from the south on
the northern communities scattered along the coast and inland. In the
north the Earldom of Lade was a minor centre.
Scandinavian geography is dominated by the sea and inland waterways
and the possibilities they offer for communication. Because of the contrast
between rich and poor agricultural land, affected by relief and drainage,
there are formed natural areas for settlement. Barriers to communication -
forests, bogs and mountains - dictate the relationships between those
communities.
Scandinavia was inhabited by farmers where the land was productive.
Farms were often single units worked by family groups, clustering more
densely where the land was best. Farming was supplemented by hunting
and fishing where possible. Larger concentrations of people, who gained
their living by trade and commerce, sometimes protected by small hill-
forts, had only rarely appeared in Scandinavia by the beginning of the
Viking Age. In the next centuries their number and size increased.
Villages began to be organised in some areas only at the end of the period.
Control of land, that is family wealth, was of paramount importance.
Many sons in a landowning family made it powerful, since the dowries
brought by their wives enabled the family to extend and consolidate its
territory. The family could, in a legal sense and for recognising
obligations, be defined up to the degree of third or fourth cousins,
recognising a common great-, great-, great-grandfather. The bond
between a territorial chief, his followers and their families was also a strong
and pervasive one, often ending only in death. We know very little about
the details of pre-Viking social systems which bound everyone. The
history of the Viking period is one of rapid change in social relationships
and the introduction of new economic forces.
Some Scandinavians attempted to improve their position by leaving
their homeland to gain wealth in the territories around Scandinavia, and
returned with their status increased. Although many went a-Viking, the
majority stayed at home, trying to profit from the changing situation. But
the idea that the Vikings suddenly emerged as a phenomenon peculiar to
the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries is a misconception based on their
sudden explosion into the consciousness of western Europe. Their
unheralded appearance in the written records of Christian chroniclers
belies centuries of steady internal development and foreign contact that
preceded the Viking Age.
During the last centuries before the birth of Christ weapons, tools and
agricultural implements began to be made from iron, a local raw material,
making Scandinavia independent of imported bronze except for making
jewellery. Climatic changes resulting in warmer, drier conditions made
agriculture more productive. Population gradually increased, becoming
richer and more stratified. From the first to early fifth centuries ad the
Roman Empire established frontiers in the west, incorporating the rivers

20
 INTRODUCTION AND THE SCANDINAVIAN BACKGROUND

Rhine and Danube. Scandinavia never became part of the Empire. In

consequence it never had imposed on it the towns, bureaucracy and
latterly Christianity, which were features common to all the Roman
provinces and which strongly influenced their later development.
Groups of Scandinavians migrated across to the south Baltic coast and
deeper inland: the Goths, for instance, moved from the Baltic in the
second century ad and by the fourth century had established a kingdom in
the Ukraine and south Russia. Some tribes in the Elbe Valley claimed
Scandinavian origins. One sixth-century author had no doubt as to
Scandinavia's role, referring to the area as 'the birthplace of tribes'. A
large-scale, long-distance trade between the provinces of the Empire and
areas outside grew up. The wealth and social prestige of rich farmers and
chieftains in Scandinavia were expressed by possession of luxury Roman
exports: glass vessels, bronze drinking equipment (especially associated
with imported wine), bronze and silver tableware, jewellery, specially
made weapons (particularly swords) and rich cloths. Imported gold and
silver were melted down and made into prestige jewellery.
In return we may suppose a range of foodstuffs, leather for army
supplies, and luxuries such as furs, amber and slaves were traded
southwards. Some goods travelled direct by water transport: the Rhine
and north German coast route and rivers flowing into the Baltic were
heavily used. Other goods changed hands many times. Sites such as Dan-
kirke at the base of the Jutland Peninsula and Helgo in Uppland became
prominent trading centres. Areas such as Fyn, Sjadland and Gotland in
the Baltic were important in controlling traffic. In the third and fourth
centuries particularly, long-distance trade appears to have stimulated local
trade and craft specialisation.
In the later fourth century began a series of westward moves by
Germanic tribes resulting in the collapse of the Western Empire in the
fifth century and the establishment of small kingdoms by the invaders.
Large areas of north-west Germany, and the territory of the Angles in
south-east Jutland and the Jutes in south-west Jutland, were abandoned
from the mid fifth century. These peoples migrated along the Frisian coast
to Britain.
During the fifth and sixth centuries in central and eastern Europe a wave
of migrations by peasant Slavs occurred. Soon they occupied the south
Baltic coast from Holstein in north Germany to the River Vistula in east
Poland, extending southward as far as the Adriatic Sea. During the fifth
and early sixth centuries a mass of gold coin flooded into east Scandinavia
from the eastern Mediterranean Byzantine Empire, perhaps by way of the
south-east Baltic coast and the Polish and west Russian river systems. Slav
movements and the westward advance of the nomadic Avars from the
steppe appear to have interrupted this contact in the early sixth century.
During this period of migrations there appears to have been widespread
piracy and warfare in the west Baltic. From the later fourth century there
had been large-scale deposits of sacrificed weapons in southern
Scandinavian bogs; farms were burnt out and deserted; settlements
retreatedfrom some exposed coasts and were defended, while others lay

21
 INTRODUCTION AND THE SCANDINAVIAN BACKGROUND

5 The Aland archipelago near local fortified refuges. In the fifth and sixth centuries particularly,
between Sweden and Finland, hoards of precious metals were deposited but never recovered. Imported
gold coin and silver looted from Roman provinces circulating in hoards of
cut-up fragments were reused in jewellery and other ornaments.
From the fifth century, there emerged over the Germanic world groups
of powerful men who were distinguished by burial with rich weapons, gold
or silver jewellery, and imported luxuries. The richest is the burial in a
ship of an early seventh-century East Anglian king, at Sutton Hoo in
Suffolk. Its best parallels are found in Uppland in east-central Sweden; the
East Anglian royal dynasty claimed Swedish antecedents.
In the seventh and eighth centuries there was a period of political
consolidation and relative peace in northern Europe. In England lay a
group of Germanic kingdoms; to the west, north and in Ireland, were
Celtic kingdoms, and in north and east Scotland the Picts. The Frankish
kings had united modern France and western Germany by conquests, and
their successors, the Carolingian dynasty, pursued an aggressive eastern
policy against Slavs and Avars. Their conquests along the North Sea coast
brought them into contact with the Danes, and they shared a frontier at the
base of the Jutland Peninsula. Along the south Baltic coast Slav tribes were
consolidating into leagues and more centralised political units. The Baits
on the south-east coast were organised into tribal units, while the Finns
formed an even looser political group along the north-east coast and along
the Gulf of Finland.
Stability encouraged an increasing volume of trade in Europe. In the
west there developed a series of undefended market and trade centres, and
regular traffic routes, especially on the coasts of the English Channel and
around the North Sea.
Some Scandinavian centres such as Ribe and Helgo (the predecessor of
Birka) were active before the Viking period. More important centres in the
west which the Vikings raided - London, York, Quentovic and Dorestad -
and others on the south Baltic coast were also of importance before the
Viking Age. Trade contacts with Scandinavia during this period are
reflected in scattered groups of rich material in burials and trading sites. In
the east, Swedes from Uppland and Gotland had already begun to settle on
the east Baltic coast during the seventh century and to explore further
afield. The literature is silent about these early-developed relationships,
and only archaeology can reveal the truth.
Thus during the eighth century Scandinavia was at the centre of an arc
of politically developing, economically active peoples to the west and
south, while immediately to the east lay poorer, rather less organised
groups. It was the sea which was the common link.

23
 2 Ships and the Sea

"Never before has such a terror appeared in Britain as we have now

suffered from a pagan race, nor was it thought that such an inroad from the
sea could be made.' So commented Alcuin in 793 when he heard of the
Viking raid on Lindisfarne. What at first amazed the English was the speed
of the Vikings' operations. Their ships appeared out of nowhere and ran in
through the surf on to the beach, so that warriors could leap straight into
action - and then they departed again as quickly as they had come. Though
such feats were not thought possible in western Europe in the late eighth
century, it was soon widely discovered to be otherwise.
For Viking shipbuilders had perfected reliable sailing-ships that had no
need of deep water, safe anchorages or quaysides. Their construction and
shallow draught allowed them to use any sloping beach as their harbour
and to manoeuvre in waters unsuitable for most European vessels of that
time. No wonder that surprise was felt, along with terror and rage, at such
raids, for it was not just islands, like Lindisfarne, or coastal settlements
that suffered at the hands of the Vikings. They rowed their ships up rivers
that led them to rich inland cities and monasteries - up the Thames and the
Shannon, the Elbe and the Seine, the Loire and the Rhone, and many,
many more. That the Viking Age in western Europe began when it did
must be attributed largely to the development of such ships in Scandinavia
during the eighth century.
The Scandinavian tradition of shipbuilding during the Viking Age was
characterised by slender and flexible boats, with symmetrical ends and a
true keel; they were clinker-built - that is of overlapping planks riveted
together.There is as yet no archaeological evidence to show how and when
Scandinavian ships evolved for use with a sail, for the earliest known
Viking ships - such as that found in the great Norwegian ship-burial at
Oseberg - are already fully adapted for sailing. But there are pictures of
sailing-ships on stones, on the Baltic island of Gotland, that have been
dated to the seventh century.
In the summer of 1880 a large mound was opened at Gokstad, on the
west side of the Oslo Fjord, and was found to contain the well-preserved (if
somewhat flattened) remains of a ship. A burial-chamber had been erected
aft to house the body of a six-foot Viking, aged about fifty. His grave had
been so richly furnished that it had proved all too tempting to grave-
robbers; the chamber had been emptied of his weapons and most other
personal goods. But also in the burial were at least twelve horses and six
dogs, not forgetting his peacock - a most exotic import. There was a range
6 The Goksiad ship: fine
lines and massive keel attest of household goods and kitchen equipment, including a large cauldron
its speed and strength. that would have sufficed for cooking the crew's dinner when they camped

25
I III VIKIM.S

ashore tor the night. His own tent-posts were included, along with six
beds, and also alternative forms of transport, consisting of a sledge and
three small rowing-hoats. These graceful craft are still unique survivals a
hundred years after their discovery and serve to fill out the lines of similar
small boats used in lesser ship-burials. All three were made of oak; two had
two pairs of oars and the other had three. They were steered with a side-
rudder fitted to the starboard side, like the big ship
itself. Experiments

with a modern replica of one of them have demonstrated their

fully
functional qualities, and replicas of the large ship fand others found since)
have been equally successful. The first of these was built in 1893 and sailed
across the Atlantic in the year ofColumbus's quatercentenary.
The Gokstad ship was removed from
its bed of blue clay, which had

been its protection in the ground, and can now be seen, reconstructed, in
the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo 6 Apart from the mast and the decking
).

made of pine,, most of the ship was built of oak with the keel consisting of
a singletimber, nearly 58 feet long. The over-all length is 76i feet, with a
width of 1 ~]\ feet amidships, but even when fully laden it would have drawn
only 3 feet of water. The clinker-built hull was lashed to the ribs with roots
of spruce to ensure the vessel's flexibility. The mast was seated in a massive
block of timber, attached to the keel, and could be raised or lowered as 7a below The simple outlines
required. When raised such masts were generally supported by a forestay of a ship scratched on stone by
and a pair of shrouds, as sketched by a Viking artist on a stone from a Viking on Shetland.
Jarlshof in Shetland r 7a;. The single rectangular sail was hoisted on a yard;
7b bki.ow right The sail is
the one on the Gokstad ship was nearly 40 feet long. Such a sail can be
lowered, but still the
seen lowered and furled in the sketch on the whetstone found at
helmsman stands to his rudder
Loddekoppinge 7b;, or raised and in use on the Smiss stone from in this sketch from southern
Gotland Hj. These pictures also illustrate the use of a side-rudder, as
f
Sweden.
 SHIPS AND THE SEA

found on all Viking ships. This was a device of great efficiency, much
praised by Magnus Andersen who captained the Atlantic crossing of the
1893 replica.
When sailing was impossible, the Gokstad ship would have been rowed;
there were sixteen oars a side and the oar-holes had hinged discs on the
inside to closethem when not in use. Since there were no fixed benches,
the oarsmen would have had to seat themselves on their own sea-chests.
With thirty-two oarsmen, the helmsman and the captain, the crew will
have numbered at least thirty-four. The ship was buried with a row of
shields along either side, overlapping each other and painted alternately
yellow and black. It could not have been rowed with the shields in this
position because they blocked the oar-holes, but they could have been so
displayed at anchor. The Oseberg ship, discovered in 1904, had a different
kind of arrangement. It had a special rack which enabled it to be rowed
with the shields on display so affording some extra protection to the
rowers . In the light of recent finds of more specialised vessels, the
Gokstad ship must be interpreted as a general-purpose sea-going ship. On
the other hand, the ornate Oseberg ship was much less seaworthy and
cannot have been used safely in other than sheltered coastal waters.
Its discovery, also in a large mound on the west side of the Oslo Fjord,

was one of the most dramatic events in the history of archaeology, for the
airtight mound had preserved for a thousand years a wealth of objects that
transformed all knowledge of life in the early Viking Age. The unusual
choice of a ship for a woman's burial suggests that its main occupant was
high-born. The young lady who was buried in a chamber built in the after-
part of the ship was accompanied to the grave by her maidservant, for the
body of an old and rheumaticky woman was also present. She was
 SHIPS AND THE SEA

provided with a complete cross-section of items, both large and small, that
she had used in life and might have use for again. Grave-robbers had
stripped the young woman of her finery, and one of the three chests buried
with her had been badly broken and emptied of its contents. What was left,
however, is amazing for its variety and, in many cases, for the quality of its
carved ornament.
The Oseberg lady must have been a keen traveller, for buried with her
was an ornate cart, three lavishly carved sledges (with a fourth workaday
example), and her saddle. The skeletons of at least ten horses and two oxen
were discovered. Then there were the posts for two tents and three beds,
together with their bedding and various textiles, including both clothes
and ornamental wall-hangings. Five animal-headed posts are master-
pieces of the wood-carver's art, but of unknown use. The variety of
household goods, kitchen equipment and textile implements can only be
appreciated by a visit to the Viking Ship Museum.
Like the Gokstad ship and all other major Viking vessels, the one found
at Oseberg is a large, open boat designed for both sailing and rowing. The
Oseberg ship is slightly smaller than the Gokstad and was provided with
thirty oars; it is altogether of lighter and less robust construction. But most
striking is the carved ornament of the bow and stern, with the strongly
curving prow ending in a serpent's head, recalling a poet's description of
such a ship as a 'snake of the sea'. The most usual poetic epithets, however,
concern horses, such as 'sail-horses' or 'sea-steeds'.
Both the Oseberg and Gokstad ships contained numerous movable
accessories, from remains of the sails and their rigging, to the ships' iron
anchors and their wooden gangplanks. Other important equipment for an
open boat were wooden bailers. The T-shaped crutches in the Gokstad
ship, which would have held the lowered yard with its furled sail, would
also have enabled awnings to be erected in harbour to provide some little
shelter. Medieval sagas refer to large skin bags which were used for storage
of gear and weapons during the day and which served as two-man
sleeping-bags at night. But whenever possible Viking sailors preferred to
follow coastal routes, where they could put ashore to cook and sleep each
night. On longer Atlantic voyages supplies of dried or salted meat and fish,
and of water, sour milk and beer would have to be carried; both ship-
burials were provided w ith casks for this purpose, although water might
r

also have been carried in skins.

All such equipment is missing from the remarkable group of late
Viking-Age ships raised from the bed of the Roskilde Fjord at Skuldelev
in 1962 (where they had been deliberately stripped and sunk in the early
eleventh century to block an approach to the town of Roskilde). The
investigation and recovery of these five vessels of widely differing types
revolutionised our knowledge of Viking ships and allowed Gokstad and
Oseberg to be seen in perspective for the first time.
Firstly, there were the remains of a true Viking 'longship', some ninety-
five feet long and built of oak. It appears to have been able to carry a force
8 A ship full of Viking
warriors on a Gotlandic stone. of fifty to sixty men, but is so far without parallel. Yet larger ships are
( The paint is modern.) known from the literary sources, the most famous being the Long Serpent,

29
THE VIKINGS

built by Qlaf Tryggvason, near Trondheim, probably in the winter of 998.

The story of its building was first recorded about 1200, and we are told that
ithad thirty-two or thirty-tour pairs of oars. Its length would have been
perhaps a hundred and twenty feet. Such a ship would have been
exceptional and there is unlikely to have been more than one like it in any
fleet.

The most important of these ship-finds from Skuldelev are un-

doubtedly the two cargo-vessels. For the first time it was possible to see the
types of ships that the Vikings used for coastal trade and their ventures into
deep-sea waters, such as during the colonisation of Iceland. These are both
broader and deeper than the ships so far discussed; they also have an open
space amidships for stowing the cargo, which means that they only have
oar-holes at the prow and stern.
The smallest of the Skuldelev ships is a thirty-nine-foot fishing-boat, or
perhaps a ferry. Finally, there is an example of what was the standard type
of warship of medium size, capable of carrying twenty-six to thirty men
directly on to a beach, in the manner so vividly portrayed in the Bayeux
tapestry, which records the Norman invasion of England in 1066. It is a
type known also from tenth-century ship-burials at Ladby in Denmark
and at Hedeby, but only as shadows in the ground.
Such wrecks and ship-burials tell us little, however, of the external
appearance of Viking ships as they gathered in a fjord before setting out on
an expedition. From the poets of the eleventh and twelfth centuries we can
imagine that it was a colourful scene; one describes the ships, for example,
as 'gold-mouthed splendid beasts of the mast, bright painted'. The sails of
the ships were coloured and the mast-heads fitted with pennants or vanes,
of which some survive from ships of the late Viking Age because they were
reused on churches.
The example from Heggen in Norway (9) shows the typical form. Made
from heavily gilt bronze, the vane itself is incised with animal and plant
patterns (described in Chapter 11), with a proud beast mounted on top to
keep watch over the horizon. A series of small holes along the lower edge
was for the attachment of streamers, or metal pendants that would have
rattled and jangled in the breeze. Such metal vanes were still in use in
Scandinavia after the Viking period, as can be seen in a thirteenth-century
sketch of a massed fleet on a piece of wood excavated in Bergen, Norway.
Those same ships that struck fear into the hearts of the Vikings' victims
must have been a source of excitement and pride to their Scandinavian
builders and sailors. But, sophisticated and technically perfect though
their ships were, the sea-borne successes of the Vikings depended as much
on their seamanship and a great deal of bravery. Their preference
skilled
for coastal navigation can be quite understood given the lack of amenities
on board, but their Atlantic voyages of exploration and settlement would
have meant days in open sea without sight of land. There is considerable
dispute about the types of navigational equipment possessed by the
Vikings; whatever they may have been, they would certainly not have been
accurate enough to determine a ship's position while at sea. The sun and
the stars would have been observed when natural landmarks were out of

30
 SHIPS AND THE SEA

9 Gilded vane for an sight, as would have the movements of birds and sea mammals. Taken
eleventh-century Viking ship. together with a knowledge of wind and current, preserved in memory,
such voyages could be made and repeated, even though the hazards
remained great. To us the achievements of these Scandinavian boat-
builders and navigators are a matter of great wonder and admiration, but
to them it was matter of fact. One version of the Icelandic Landndmabok,
originally compiled in the twelfth century, gives these simple instructions
for sailing directly from Norway to Greenland:

From Hernar in Norway one is to keep sailing west for Hvarf in Greenland and
then you will sail north of Shetland so that you can just see it in very clear
weather; but south of the Faeroes so that the sea appears half-way up the
mountain slopes; but on, south of Iceland so that you may have birds and whales
from it.

It is simple in the telling, but one should not forget that the first Vikings to
undertake such voyages were sailing into the unknown.

3i
 3 Traders and Looters

In 841 Rouen was attacked by Danish raiders who are said to have carried
everywhere 'a fury of rapine, fire and sword, they gave up the city, the
monks and the rest of the people to carnage and captivity. Some of the
monasteries and other places near the Seine they devastated, the rest they
filled with terror, having received much money". Such entries in Frankish
and other west European chronicles contain their exaggerations, but a
number of points emerge so clearly that there can be no reason to doubt
them. The Viking fury was unleashed not only against monasteries, but
also cities and villages. As a result, monks and others were carried off into
captivity, but Viking devastations were sometimes prevented by the
payment of 'much money", to make them depart with their captives and
their plunder.
Captives might be ransomed, if they were of sufficient importance to the
monastery or community from which they had been seized, and so
converted into cash. The others were destined for a life of hard labour in
the Scandinavians* homelands or their settlements overseas, if not
consigned for sale in the slave-market for silver or other goods.
Tribute was extorted in vast sums during the ninth century from the
Franks (as it was to be at a later date from the Anglo-Saxons). For instance,
in 845 Charles 'the Bald' is recorded as having paid £7,000 in silver to rid
the Seine Valley of Viking raiders. The total references in the Frankish
sources to such payments amount to 685 lb of gold and 43,042 lb of silver,
and if some sums are exaggerated, there are no doubt others that have gone
unrecorded. At the same time similar raids for loot, and occasionally for
tribute, were taking place in England. The numbers of the Vikings
involved in these attacks may not have been large, but there is no doubt of
the damage that they inflicted and the wealth that they secured for
themselves.
Remarkably little of this treasure has been found in Scandinavia in the
form of the coins in which the tribute must have been paid. The ninth-
century Hon hoard from Norway (92^ contains Carolingian coins mounted
for use on a necklace, and among the other objects that go to make up its
weight of 5^ lb of gold is a large trefoil-shaped mount of Carolingian work
and an Anglo-Saxon finger-ring. Much of the gold and silver will have
been melted down to make ornaments, which would still have served as a
man's capital, but many Vikings may have used their new wealth to
purchase land, or to equip themselves with ships and other necessities to
x^ , , c
10 Anglo- .Saxon
, >
,„„, ,„
book-mown become merchants, or to set out as settlers to the new lands in the west.
looted bv aXorzve°ian Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon coins are thus found in the areas of
Viking. Scandinavian settlement in Celtic Britain and Ireland. The massive

33
 1

! Ill VIKINOS

Cuerdale treasure-chest, hidden in about 903, contained some thousand

Frankish coins among its total of over seven thousand. This XX lb hoard
over four times larger than any other Viking hoard from Britain or
Scandinavia may well have been brought together by Vikings who had
recently tied Ireland for north-west England, where they concealed it in a
bank of the River Kibble in fear of some threat. One can only speculate as
to what it could have been, and what its outcome, for them to have left such
a fantastic treasure unreclaimed - it was discovered only in 1X40 by
workmen engaged on repairs to the river-bank (1).
The largest known hoard of Viking gold weighed over 10 lb when it was
buried in Ireland, on a small island up the River Shannon, sometime in the
late ninth or early tenth century, to judge by the surviving descriptions of
the objects, all arm-rings, which sadly were melted down in the early
nineteenth century.
The Viking raiders who settled in Scotland and Ireland would have
brought this wealth of gold and silver with them. For these were lands
without coinage of their own, and without regular supplies of precious
metal.The gold and silver that they did have was used in small quantities
and the latter was often of poor quality, having been debased by the
addition of other metals.
The finest British and Irish objects did, of course, fall into Viking hands
by one means or another. But most of such eighth- and ninth-century
objects found in Viking-Age graves in Scandinavia, and on sites such as
Kaupang and Helgo (ioXj, are of bronze. Some of them are highly
ornamented, many of them would have been gilt: they should probably be
seen as curiosities - souvenirs even - of the Viking expeditions west-over-
sea, removed from caskets, shrines and holy book-covers (10). Some
mounts had pins attached to them to convert them into brooches for the
wives and sweethearts left behind to run the farm, during the summer's
raiding and trading. One such example, found at Romft^ in Norway, of
gilt-bronze with amber and blue glass settings, is splendidly decorated
with bosses, monsters and animal ornament (11).
Other objects were carried carefully home to Scandinavia so that they
might be used for the purpose for which they had been made. Such were
the fine wooden bucket with enamel mounts in the Oseberg ship-burial, or
that clad in ornamented bronze sheets found in a woman's grave at Birka.
A little house-shaped casket from Norway (preserved in Copenhagen;
was made in the eighth or early ninth century in Scotland in order to hold
saints' relics (12). How and why did such a shrine cross the North Sea? It
has never been buried and still contains relics, although these are now of
post-Viking date. Was it brought over by an early convert as a gift to a 1 above right Monsters
Norwegian church ''presumably in the eleventh century)? If so, one is left ornament a Celtic mount
wondering why there should be runes carved on its base stating: ranvaik a adapted for use as a Viking
kistu thasa fRanvaig owns this casket;. Was it, after all, looted by a pagan brooch.

Viking as a jewel-box for his lady? It would then be a curious coincidence

12 BELOW RIGHT A house-
for it to have reverted to its original use.
shaped casket for Christian
The ninth century saw the Vikings in the west raiding even further relics carried off to Norway
afield than the shores of Britain and France. Two expeditions are known to from the British Isles.

34
1111 VIKINGS

have plundered in the Iberian Peninsula. The second lasted from 859 to
862 and much ol that time was spent in the western Mediterranean, with
ships raiding North Africa, the South of France, and Italy.
The main flow of silver into Scandinavia between the late ninth and the
late tenth century came not from the west, but from the east, in the form of
Arabic coins. The trading-links between Scandinavia and the Islamic
territory to the south and east oi' the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea arc
described below. Well over sixty-thousand such coins have been found in
Scandinavia, and others were passed on to reach the British Isles; some
have even been found in Iceland. But many more must have been melted
down to make neck-rings, brooches and all manner of other ornaments.
The circulation of so much treasure in and around the Baltic at that time
meant that home-based Vikings who wished to engage in piracy might
make fat pickings without having to stir very far afield in the process.
This supply o\~ Arabic silver dwindled to a trickle during the latter part
of the tenth century, when the trade-routes may have been interrupted.
But their silver-mines were anyway nearly exhausted and the supply to
Scandinavia dried up altogether at the beginning of the eleventh century.
The Vikings were forced to look elsewhere for sources of silver to supply
the quantities to which they had become accustomed. Fortunately for
Europe there were German silver-mines in the Harz Mountains that were
increasingly exploited from the mid tenth century. Some seventy
thousand coins from German mints have been found in Scandinavia,
dating to the late tenth and eleventh centuries, together with well over
forty thousand from England. Viking raids on England began again in
earnest at the end of the tenth century, leading ultimately to conquest.
Massive tribute was extorted over a thirty-year period amounting to tens
of millions of coins of which these finds are but the remainder.
With over a thousand hoards known from Scandinavia, we should ask
just what did silver mean to the Vikings, who went to such lengths to
acquire it in these quantities. Its one obvious function was for display, as
an outward sign of the success of its wearer. It was considered as family
wealth, like land, and no more than a small object or two would be buried
with the dead. It was used to reward retainers and to provide lavish
hospitality, for generosity in such matters was a quality greatly admired by
the Vikings and assured a man's esteem among his fellows. If spent on
land, it might enable a man to rise above his station as a freeman; for a
slave, it could mean his liberty.
National coinages did not become firmly established in Scandinavia
until the eleventh century. During the ninth and tenth centuries coins
were for the most part regarded merely as lumps of silver - occasionally
pretty enough to be worth mounting on necklaces (55) - that had to be
tested for purity by scratching or nicking their surfaces, and weighed in a
balance before use in commercial transactions.
Portable balances were carried by all serious merchants. These were
ingeniously designed to fold up, so as to occupy the minimum amount of
space when not in use. Their arms fold inwards and fit within one of the
pans, which in turn nests in the other; the whole is then protected by a

36
 TRADERS AND LOOTERS

hemispherical bronze box that would have been carried in a pouch. A

regulated set of weights was required; these might be simple lumps of lead,
likethose found together with the scales from Jatten in Norway, complete
with their own linen bag. On the other hand weights might be ornamented
in variousways, as is the case with an unusually fine set from a man's grave
at Kiloran Bay, on the island of Colonsay off the west coast of Scotland
(13). These will have been made somewhere in the British Isles, for several
of the lead pieces are capped with scraps of Celtic or Anglo-Saxon
metal work, cut from other objects. This is even the case with the two
remarkable enamel mounts that are decorated with motifs thought to
imitate letters of the Cufic script, as found on the imported Arabic coins.

13 Ornamented weights for In such an economy, which required silver to be weighed before use in
Viking balance-scales. commerce, it was not necessary to keep all one's silver resources in the
form of coin. If. in mid-transaction, one suddenly found oneself short of a
small amount of silver to complete a deal, all that was necessary was to cut
the end off one's arm-ring or brooch to make up the desired weight. Here
then is the explanation for the fact that so many Viking silver hoards, from
Cuerdale (1) to Birka (18) and beyond, consist of a mixture of complete
ornaments and coins together with so-called 'hack-silver' - their cut-up
fragments. Hack-silver would have been in continuous demand all the
time that silver was valued by the Vikings for commercial purposes and
coins were not used as counted money. But silver, in whatever form, had to
be buried for safe-keeping in an age when there were no strong-rooms. So
today when hoards are found by chance, it is only because their original
owners died without having passed on their secret.
Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon merchants would have been reluctant to
accept handfuls of hack-silver in return for their commodities because

37
I HI VIKINGS

both dealt m controlled currencies. Scandinavian merchants based in

Ireland in the tenth century, primarily on Dublin, were clearly hoarding

Anglo-Saxon coins mostly minted in Chester for use when they went
trading in England. In the same way, one might expect that some oi the
ninth-century l ; rankish tribute found its way back to the country of its
origin in payment for the many imported goods from the Carolingian
Empire that are found in Scandinavia.
Trading connections between the Frankish world and Scandinavia
stretch back long before this period and would not necessarily have been
much Of early Viking-Age date
interrupted by the activities of the raiders.
is the Fejocup (14) found in Denmark, but such a piece of Carolingian
metalwork might as well have been looted as traded. Wine was imported
from the Rhineland into Scandinavia in some quantity for those who could
afford it, no doubt by way of Hcdcby where actual casks have been found
reused as the linings for wells. Other luxuries that may have been
associated with this wine-trade are pottery jugs and drinking-glasses, like
several found in graves at Birka (15a). Superior sword-blades made by

14 left A Carolingian cup

found in Denmark.

15a RIGHT A zvinejug and

glass beaker from the
Rhineland, exported to Birka.

38
NbfcUi?
>
: '*•

..-*
 .

TRADERS AND LOOTERS

Rhenish smiths were also in demand throughout Scandinavia (although

there were attempts made by the Carolingian authorities to control this
trade because of the unfortunate repercussions it could have on the Franks
themselves!). Frankish ornaments (15b) were among other imports and
had some influence on the products of Scandinavian jewellers. Desirable
goods of a more mundane nature, which are known to have passed through
Hedeby. included quernstones made of lava from the Eifel region of
Germany.
Some Vikings may have devoted themselves to commerce, but the role
of merchant was one among several for many of those who owned a ship
and who could thus venture abroad. Such a man was Ottar the Norwegian,
more often known as Ohthere from the Anglo-Saxon version of his name.
He visited England and the court of King Alfred sometime in the 870s,
when an account of his activities was recorded. He lived in the far north of
Norway where he farmed a little, tamed reindeer, hunted whales and
walrus, and exacted tribute from the Lapps, who lived still further north.
With the proceeds of these various occupations he went trading (most
especially with the Lappish tribute, which took the form of furs, skins,
down, walrus ivory, and ropes made of hide). Ottar sailed southwards
down the Norwegian coast, taking a month to reach a trading-place now
identified with Kaupang, on the west side of the Oslo Fjord.
Kaupang flourished in the ninth century as a local market-place, but one
that had international connections. Imports of Rhenish pottery and glass
have been found there, as have bronzes and enamelled mounts from the
British Isles. Its exports probably included Norwegian soapstone bowls
and schist for whetstones, the remains of which have been found in
quantity on the settlement. Iron-smelting, bronze-working and bead-
making were among the other activities carried out at Kaupang, although
not necessarily all the year round. Its many wealthy graves, and those of its
hinterland, appear to be of merchant-farmers. Kaupang (the name meant
'market-place') is thus likely to have been a seasonal trading-centre, one
that for some reason never grew and prospered to the extent of Hedeby and
Birka. Indeed, Norway lacked such towns in the tenth century; Oslo,
Bergen and Trondheim are all late Viking- Age foundations.
Continuing his journey southwards, Ottar eventually arrived, five days
after setting out from Kaupang, at Hedeby. This southern Danish port lay
on an inlet of the River Schlei and thus had direct access to the Baltic. It
was this commanding position, at the base of the narrow Jutland
Peninsula, that accounted for its development as the focus for the transit
trade between the countries of western Europe and the Baltic during the
ninth and tenth centuries. It was established at the beginning of the ninth
century, protected by a small fort, which overlooks the site, and by
15b left Frankish belt- ramparts which were built during the tenth century. Hedeby grew to
mounts ornamented with become the largest of the Scandinavian Viking- Age towns. It was far more
foliage pan ems, found in
than just an import export centre; throughout the sixty-acre site enclosed
Sweden
by the rampart evidence has been found for many industries and crafts,
Fig. 3 overleaf A map of from weaving and potting to iron-smelting and fine metalworking, from
the V'iking zi'orld. the working of leather to the manufacture of glass beads.

4i
 FAROES

SHETLAND Jarlshof
ORKNEY* Q

North
Sea

Lindisfarne
^Jarrow
Isle of Man
#York
IRELAND f^fara
/Dublin incoin DANELAW II

LimenHc ngHam^J-«^L
£• Derbv-V* /£
l "}

L %s-^_) Leicester*^ Stamfcrc r

L'Anse Aux Meadows t^Cm* ENGLAND* ""pi i

*• -^)*
Portland

pRouen©
ATLANTIC NORMANDY^
Paris

Ritjer L^T

OCEAN

SPAIN
ARCTIC OCEAN

Arctic Circle

^•Novgorod «£\

• Bolgar

Tashkent t

Samarkand •

• Gurgan

Damascus <%.
# Baghdad
• Jerusalem
i
 TRADERS AND LOOTERS

The Norwegians were also prominent in the North Sea and Atlantic,
and theirmost important trading settlement in this area must have been
Dublin, a Scandinavian foundation that was exceptionally active and
successful in the tenth and eleventh centuries, as recent excavations have
shown. Dublin was the focal point on the western trade-routes that linked
the Atlantic islands with Scandinavia and western Europe. Its wealth
supported craftsmen and artists of many kinds (86). From about 997 it had
its own mint, the first in Ireland. Other important towns founded by the

Scandinavians in Ireland were Cork and Limerick, but no traces of these

have yet been found below the modern cities.
The Vikings met with no towns in Scotland, neither did they establish
any. In England, on the other hand, they were able to take over existing
Anglo-Saxon towns, like Lincoln and York. The latter was the seat of a
series of Norwegian and Danish kings for nearly eighty years during the
ninth and tenth centuries. New excavations have produced extensive
evidence for craftsmen and their workshops (31); wood, metal, leather,
stone, jet and amber were all materials being worked in this thriving
Anglo-Scandinavian community. Old and new finds of Scandinavian
objects (77) serve to demonstrate its cosmopolitan character and its
contacts across the North Sea; one possible export, among many, was jet
derived from the near-by source at V/hitby (16).
The earliest trading- and manufacturing-centres in Sweden, Denmark
and the Baltic were at small settlements such as Paviken on Gotland, and
Ribe on the west coast of Jutland. Recent excavations have taken place at
both these sites. Ship-repairing and bead-making were among the
activities carried out at Paviken beginning of the Viking period,
at the
while workshops of similar date have been found at Ribe, both for bead-
making and for casting bronze brooches. But the earliest such centre
known was at Helgo, a settlement founded on an island in Lake Malar in
the third century ad which continued in existence up to and well within the
Viking Age. Excavations at Helgo have produced a remarkable quantity of
metalworkers' debris and evidence of widespread foreign contacts (e.g.
108). It seems that Helgo was one of the predecessors of Birka, whose
development involved a shift to a larger site a few miles away, in order to
exploit the opening-up of the trade-routes to the riches of the east.
Like Hedeby, Birka commenced its life as an important trading-centre
at the beginning of the ninth century, situated on an island in the great
Malar Lake of east-central Sweden. Although the smaller of the two (its
population has been guessed at seven hundred to a thousand inhabitants),
Birka also was protected by a small fort and was eventually enclosed by a
semicircular rampart. There was a choice of three harbours for merchants'
ships, but Birka was probably also important for winter traders
16 Animals carved from (particularly of furs), as it could easily have been approached over the ice,
imported jet, found in on skates or sledges. Only a small part of the settlement-area at Birka has
Norway. been excavated, but it has produced evidence for the usual urban crafts,
particularly bone- and metalworking (79).
17 overleaf Birka: fort and
rampart of Sweden's foremost Birka was the major destination of goods brought from the east, but
I 'iking town. it also had trading relations with the west. The regular appearance in

45
frv
mi: vikings

eastern Sweden of Cufic silver coins from the Islamic east, commenced in
the "90s and defines the beginning of the Viking Age in the Baltic. Many of
the several thousand graves at Birka have been excavated to reveal a
collection of rich and remarkable objects, including many from the east:
^lass, silk, trinkets, coins, and from the settlement deposits, fragmentary
remains of much more. In the late tenth century Birka's fortunes declined
(,as did those of Hedeby but an important silver hoard (18), buried about
,

975, is among the latest finds from the site.

From the last quarter of the tenth century trade-routes with the east
were interrupted and they never recovered. Birka slowly collapsed during
the 970s, and its place as commercial centre of Uppland was taken over by

Sigtuna to the north. Gotland came to dominate the Baltic trade. The
Swedes had over many centuries developed contacts with the east. The
runestones in the province of Uppland, in which Birka is situated,
commemorate expeditions to the east. A group of early eleventh-century
memorials record those who never returned from an expedition to
Serkland (the Caliphate of Baghdad), led by Ingvar 'the far-travelled'.
One of the band had interestingly 'been long in the west'.
The island of Gotland, lying centrally in the Baltic, was prominent in
trade with the east, and with the west Baltic, and supported a rich and
independent farming community. Shelving beaches made many natural
harbours suitable for traffic with shallow-draught vessels, allowing
naturally good communications to develop in all directions. Gotland was
an entrepot deriving its wealth from the handling and transit trade. All
over the island rich graves and buried treasures suggest independent
participation by Gotlandic farmers in this rich trade. Large amounts
of imported silver have been found as hoards of coins, hacked-up
silver objects or jewellery buried by men who never claimed them
again. Whether they died on the island or abroad is unknown, but
the 40,000 Arabic, 38,000 German and 21,000 Anglo-Saxon silver
coins which have been found there, are evidence of the activity of the
inhabitants.
On Gotland and beyond have been found objects from other east Baltic
groups. Pieces of their jewellery are sometimes easily recognisable from
their characteristic form or decoration. A late Viking-Age silver chain with
large geometric pendants from Eidet in northern Norway is Finnish,
demonstrating trade contacts across the far north. The bronze horseheads
on a fire-steel from Ase in Norway are very typical of a Finnish
zoomorphic style of decoration. Scattered in the west Baltic area are a few
pieces of jewellery from among the Baits living between the Finns and the
western Slavs, on the south-east Baltic coast.
In the territory of the western Slavs (including present-day Poland
and the German Democratic Republic) the Vikings traded in native urban
communities along the southern Baltic coast, where craft activities were
similar to those in Scandinavian towns. Economic development had
1 8 Silver ornaments , coins
already taken place in these western Slav areas, and this provided a very
and hack-silver buried
useful basis for the Viking traders to exploit. Settlements and burials along together, about 975, in the
the coast and further inland suggest that Scandinavian mercenaries and Swedish town of Birka.

48
1
I 111 VIKINGS

traders formed small groups in the larger communities, and that their role
was eomplex and changed over time.
Pottery among the Scandinavians was not highly developed, either
technically or aesthetically and high-quality material was occasionally
brought from Slav areas, such as a stamped pot found at the Danish ring
fort of Trelleborg which probably came from present-day Mecklenburg.
The south Baltic may have been a rich source of grain, as suggested by late
Viking-Age finds from Denmark, for it has been supposed that barriers
imposed by the emerging political units created unequal values even on
basic food commodities. It has also been suggested that peasant taxes
might have been tendered in high-quality grain which could then be
traded.
Dynastic marriages took place between western Slavs and Danes in the
late Viking period, and Slavs mounted piratical raids on Danish
settlements. Imports into Scandinavia from these areas included silver
jewellery of a totally different style from the native material. Earrings with
light openwork and delicate filigree decoration or with embossed globular
shapes are characteristic. Lunate silver pendants and hollow beads with
the most delicate of filigree and granulation work are outstanding (19).
The Slav earrings may have been looted or brought back as souvenirs, then
worn by a Viking's sweetheart; but the use of silver toe-rings by women is a
likely eastern custom, and the pair from the Danish site of Fyrkat
represents a fashion unlikely to have been adopted by Scandinavians.
At Birka an eastern warrior was buried, sitting in his chamber grave,
along with a hammer-axe, armour-piercing arrows and a fur hat with silver
tassels. His other possessions included a glass vessel, and scales. We may
imagine that other exotic foreigners lived and travelled in Scandinavia.
Anglo-Saxon moneyers are identified from their names on coins struck at
Lund. Arab and Jewish merchants and traders visited the emporia of
northern Europe and several of their written accounts survive. Ibrahim al-
Tartushi visited a town that was probably Hedeby about ad 950: 'the town
is poorly provided with property or treasure. The inhabitants' principal
food is fish which is very plentiful. The people often throw a newborn
child into the sea rather than maintain it.Furthermore women have the
right to claim a divorce; they do this themselves whenever they wish.
There is also an artificial makeup for the eyes: when they use it beauty
never fades; on the contrary it increases in men and women as well'.
From the later seventh century and continuing into the eighth, groups
from Gotland and Uppland began to settle on the east Baltic coast.
Transport over the massive distances involved in reaching eastern
trading-centres was along the river systems. Scandinavian settlements
were strategically placed to control the lower courses of these rivers
flowing through Estonia and Latvia into the Baltic. Later routes
southwards across Poland and western Russia, deep penetrating rivers
1 9 The delicacy of silver
such as the Dvina or Weichsel could lead to the Upper Dniepr, Kiev and
jewellery: ear-rings and a
the Black Sea. Later, land routes began to be used so intensively that pendant from western Slav
these routes and the settlements built on them started to decline. The main lands, and a crystal necklace,
route led from the Gulf of Finland via the River Neva to Lake Ladoga found in Sweden.

50
I 111 \ [KINGS

where there developed a major trading settlement, Staraja Ladoga, known

to the Scandinavians as Aldcigjuborg.
From Lake Ladoga there opened up two major water-routes. One led
eastwards through Jaroslavl on the upper waters of the River Volga, and so
south-east to Bolgar. From here the river led on to the Sea of Azov or to the
trading-eentre of Itil on the Caspian Sea. A second, directly southern,
route lay via the rivers Volkhov and Lovat to the Upper Dniepr and so via
Kiev to the Black Sea coast. Further down this route at Smolensk or
Chernigov it was possible to head east to the Upper Oka River and so pick
up the Volga route to Bolgar. A Scandinavian oval brooch from the
Moscow area is evidence for contact by this route. Kiev was an important
centre which developed a powerful culture based on commercial contacts
with Byzantium. Communication overland from central Furope linked
Kiev to Cracow and Mainz so that contact was maintained independently
of the Baltic route, while an eastern route led to the Caspian Sea.
At one point on the River Dniepr between Kiev and the Black Sea, a
land portage over the steppe was necessary. The Byzantine Emperor
Constantine Porphyrogenitos in the mid tenth century records the
difficulties of this fifth cataract: 'All the ships stop with the stems pointing
towards the shore, and those with a crew who had been chosen to watch go
ashore and they keep a sharp lookout because of the Pechenegs; but the
. . .

others put the goods ashore, and also the slaves who are chained, and walk
six miles until they have passed the cataract. Then they take their boats
past the falls partly by towing them, partly by carrying them on their
shoulders. There they embark and continue their voyage.' At the end of
the river journey, at Berezanji, the Black Sea was within easy reach, and
proof that Scandinavians did penetrate this far is provided by a runic
inscription from the area.
Recent research shows that much economic and social development had
taken place among the eastern Slavs before the Scandinavians arrived. It
seems likely that the Vikings stimulated and expanded trade here, as they
did in western Slav areas, extending the trade-routes to the Gulf of
Finland, and hence to Scandinavia. They supplied an existing demand by
ruthlessly exploiting the slave-trade, and systematically intensifying the
hunting of furs to satisfy an eastern luxury market. A group of spiral silver
armlets with polyhedral terminals, so-called 'Permian rings', after a forest
area in north Russia which produced many furs, may be remains of activity
in this sphere (20). Scandinavians were not alone in their activities, for the
Finns, an Ugrian-speaking people who occupied parts of the north
Russian forest zone, seemed to have actively engaged in trading
themselves. Their remains are found in the lowest level in the town of
Staraja Ladoga. In many sources the name 'Rus' is applied by Arabs and
Byzantines to foreigners trading from the north, and more particularly to
groups based at Kiev. While they are distinguished from Slavs, their exact
antecedents remain a problem. As in so many areas, the Scandinavians
probably adopted many native customs and became part of a vigorous
20 Silver neck-rings, and
mixed group involved in aggressive trading. spiral rings from Russia,
Places like Bolgar on the Middle Volga developed as bazaars, terminals buried together on O/and.

52
 "

m
99
 TRADERS AND LOOTERS

for caravan-routes leading to central Asia and China. Here the

Scandinavians brought furs, slaves, wax and Frankish swords. We do not
know if the Scandinavians travelled further to more exotic lands, but they
must have learned of them from merchants. Further south the Vikings
made direct contact with the Muslim Arab, Jewish Khazar and Christian
Byzantine cultures. These advanced and sophisticated societies provided,
directly or indirectly, luxuries superior to those that the west could offer:
embroidered silks, glass vessels, delicately glazed pottery, silver and
bronze vessels decorated with exotic inscriptions or art motifs (21). A
hoard of silver coins from Fittja in Uppland contains silver minted at
Cordoba in the west, in Egypt, Damascus, Isfahan, Baghdad and
Tashkent in the east; the contacts established by the Vikings via the
Muslim world were very wide-ranging indeed.
The danger of the journeys and the desirability of the goods made the
profits on long-distance trade enormous. So important was this trade that
on several occasions Kievan forces attacked Byzantium to gain trade
concessions. Of some prized items little now survives. Fragments of gold-
21 left Exotic eastern vessels
embroidered silk from Lund (22) and Mammen may have come originally
found in Sweden: a bronze
flask, silver bowl, and glazed from Byzantium, as also the silver edgings from Valsgarde. At Birka over
cup. forty male graves held silk clothing, some of it embroidered. An oriental
jacket with embroidered facings and tassels was found at Birka in a man's
22 below Gold-embroidered grave, and at Varby gilt-silver eastern mounts originally for a belt, along
silk, perhaps from
with eastern as well as Scandinavian style pendants (23). The necklace
Byzantium, found in Lund.
from Hameenlinna with its oriental silver pendants and reused Cufic coins
23 OVERLEAF The Vdrby has the feel of accumulated souvenirs.
belt-mounts and pendants. Perhaps the Middle Eastern bronze incense-burner from Abyn was

55
k^v*

<^

S.VP
r

SK

H ~V«ll'

9£>£1

arMKffj
 ^r» J,
»
^H
iMBMafiaa
I

i-{-

.4,v
v<

• ^J
^.•y
s\ &FC

TR" • •

^J* W
-•'-•"-
[WAVi
»S*
affir^s*-
I 111 VIKIM.S

used for us original purpose in some Swedish longhouse. An interesting 24 Christian objects of
group of Byzantine objects from Hedeby raises several problems. The Kievan origin , found in
Sweden.
Byzantine lead seal is a difficult piece to explain. Was brought as a
it

souvenir, or attached to a bale? And did it come from across the Baltic and
along Russian river-routes, or via Italy? With the silver reliquary capsule-
on its chain from Allmiinninge and the Norsborg pendant cross, both of
Kievan workmanship, it is an open question whether the Scandinavian
wearers had been converted to the Christian faith this jewellery
proclaimed, or were insensible to it. The brightly glazed pottery egg from
Sigtuna is another piece of Kievan origin, related to the Orthodox
celebration of Easter. Several others are known from Lund, but whether
they served their primary purpose isunknown. Above all it was silver coins
that the merchants took back to Scandinavia from the Muslim Arab world.
During the later part of the period Viking trade with the east declined
and the shift of European trade-routes deprived the Baltic route of much
of its earlier significance. The Scandinavians maintained an active
still

interest in the east however; at the court of Byzantium Vikings had for a
long time served as mercenaries in the military. In about ad iooo they were
formally organised into an imperial guard. Membership of the Varangian
Guard, as it was called, would still earn a Viking much prestige at home.
With their conversion to Christianity, the Vikings forged new links and
when we read of Scandinavians making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, it is
clear that the Vikings had accepted a new life and had found ways of co-
existing peacefully with their fellow Christians from all over western
Europe.

58
 4 Viking Settlement

In the Viking Age, as before and long after, the vast majority of people in
northern Europe lived by tilling the land and grazing livestock. Urban
settlement depended on the production of a food surplus in the
countryside. Hunting and fishing were valuable resources and formed a
very important supplement to the diet; honey, eggs or wild plants were
gathered where possible. The relative importance of each activity
depended on the of each locality.
total resources
A range of artefacts connected with fishing survives. Stone sinkers and
bark floats were used with nets, and some fragments of them do survive.
Fish-traps are known, while hooks and small sinkers show that line-fishing
was practised; a whalebone line-winder from north Norway
finely incised
implies some long Spears and forks, often complex pieces of
lines (25).
iron-smithing, represent another method of fishing. At sea, seals and
walrus were hunted, and whales driven ashore. A variety of iron hunting
gear reflects the different quarry which was speared or shot with arrows.
Since furs and skins were widely sought, it was essential to do as little
damage as possible. But little organic material, such as traps and
containers, survives as evidence of these activities.
The tools of the farmer are the main evidence remaining for farming
methods but carbonised grain and animal bones have also been
(26),
preserved. After about ad 600 we can identify few typological changes
until the medieval period, and the precise date of many artefacts is
sometimes not known. However, while points of detail are uncertain the
outlines are clear.
A written source, possibly from the Viking Age, the Rigsthula, refers to
the farmer'slife: 'He tamed the oxen, tempered ploughshares, timbered

houses and barns for the hay, fashioned carts, and followed the plough'.
The forest had to be cleared by the axe, and brushwood burnt off; roots
were then dug out and stones cleared. Next, the field had to be ploughed.
The simplest plough was the ard, which had two handles to guide its
central beam and a symmetricaliron blade to cut the furrow. On light soils
this primitive instrument was adequate, but for heavy soils a stronger
plough was required with a coulter to cut, heavy share to lift, and mould-
board to turn the sod. A plough like this may have been used from the late
Viking period, as at Lindholm Hoje, where a field was blown over by sand
and partly preserved. Horses or oxen could be used for plough traction on
larger fields, but where land was scarce and small plots were cultivated, the
s P ade and hoe were important tools.
25 A whalebone line-winder
incised zvit lithe figure of a Crops such as rye, oats, wheat and barley were grown, their relative
bird, importance depending on local conditions. Grain was harvested by cutting

61
the ear from the stalk with a curved sickle, while a similar tool with a 26 Iron tools of the Viking-

straighter, serrated edge suggests that a sawing motion was sometimes Age farmer in Norway.
employed. After separating the grain from the chaff and drying it for
storage, it would be ground to flour by hand on rotary quernstones. Grit
from the heavy stones often tended to crumble into the flour, and ground-
down teeth were a result, as shown by examination of skeletal remains.
Grasses and hay would have been cut with a long scythe for use as winter
fodder and bedding for animals. Another source of animal foodstuff and
bedding was foliage and shoots from trees and shrubs, cut down with a
hook-ended leaf-knife. Keeping farm animals alive over the winter was of
crucial importance. Weak animals, and others for whom there would be no
winter fodder, were slaughtered to ensure adequate supplies for the rest.
Meat not eaten at the subsequent feasting would be preserved for the
winter by salting, drying or smoking.

62
 VIKING SETTLEMENT

As pressure on resources grew, the practice of transhumance driving

herds to summer-pastures in uplands, and wintering them in lowland
areas) developed in Norway. The use of shielings for sheep also developed.
The generally small size of animals in the Viking Age reflects a low level of
nourishment and the lack of widespread selective breeding. Pigs, geese
and fowl were also kept. One of the triumphs of colonisation of the new
lands to the west was the successful transport aboard ship of the horses,
cattle, sheep and smaller domesticated animals that made up the farmyard
community. Grazing grain-stubble was one supplementary source of
cattle feed while the cattle in turn provided dung to fertilise the fields.
Forks and shovels suggest that dung was systematically spread to increase
crop yields, and crops might also be rotated to prevent impoverishment of
the soil.

Large numbers of freemen lived each on his own farm, working it with
his family, which often extended to several generations. Slaves or unfree
men might undertake the heavier labour, and free labourers might work
for their keep and a small reward, herding or minding the flocks and in less
specialised work. A rich man who owned a large estate would probably
employ numerous men and women in subsistence activities, such as cloth-
weaving. This would leave him leisure for part of the year to join raiding
parties or trade on his own account. The amount of land owned, and a
man's status, could change in a series of bad years when the smaller, less
prosperous farmer might have to borrow from his more fortunate
neighbour. Obligation in many forms would often bind a lesser man to the
protection of a greater, whom he in turn would have to support. And in
litigation over land inheritance or to exact redress, when force or the threat
of it was needed to execute a judgement, such mutual bonds were
important.
The character of rural settlements and their distribution varied greatly,
depending on conditions. Temporary settlements were sometimes
established to work seasonally in high mountain pastures, for fishing in
rivers, or digging bog-iron. Caves might have been used for shelter, or
small clusters of rude huts. Main settlement areas were on the richer
agricultural land; the more productive it was the denser the settlement.
Usually each farming unit lay isolated, a cluster of dwellings, huts and
outhouses. Specialised activities such as iron-smithing or storage would
often take place in outbuildings. Although varying with the limitation of
building material, this general arrangement was widespread. Some farms
had only one building, but the more wealthy a community the more
complex was its organisation. In the late Viking Age groups of farms occur
in village-like communities, especially in Denmark.
In the eleventh-century settlement at Lindholm Hoje there was some
metalworking, and at Eketorp on the Swedish island of Oland
manufacturing and trading took place in the circular, defended settlement.
Trading and craft-working centres, which had rarely appeared in
Scandinavia before the Viking Age, increased in number during the period
(pp. 131-50). Their influence on the rural areas grew as their numbers
increased and their trading activity became more complex.

63
THE VIKINGS

The farming community generally tried to be self-sufficienl in basic

necessities, but specialised services, raw materials, trinkets and luxuries
might be brought This was increasingly so in the later
in. Viking Age.
Natural barriers such as forests, bogs or mountains might intervene to
isolate settlements from each other. A least, wedding or the arrival of
pedlars would break the isolation, which in winter could be extreme. Hut
m the Viking period there is evidence for advances in transport by land as
well as sea. Towards the end of the period communications were improved
by marking and paving fords, marking the lines o\~ trackways, and building
bridges. The needs of a more developed political organisation accounted
for this, as well as the growing volume of trade and necessity tor regular
attendance at church in all seasons.

In the winter, waterways turned to ice and for traversing them a range of 27 Transport over the winter
bone skates and iron shoe-spikes are known (27). Spikes for the feet of ice: bone skates and iron
spikes, front Lund.
horses show that they, too, went over the ice. Skis were used to travel
across the snow, while a range of sledges could be used to transport loads
across snow, ice and grass. Wagons with sturdy wheels and a body that
could be unfastened from a frame transported bulk loads, and perhaps
important people. The most elaborately carved sledges and a wagon were
contained in the female burial at Oseberg. Some vehicles might be pulled
by oxen or horses, and a series of elaborate horse-collars (28) and jangling
iron fastenings are associated with this form of transport. Riding-gear
such as elaborate iron bridles, richly inlaid spurs and stirrups (66j, and
bridle mounts of exceptional artistry were a medium for the
(Sj)
expression of social prestige. Iron horseshoes begin to appear in the late
Viking Age.
It was with this background that in the late eighth, the ninth and the
tenth centuries Scandinavian peoples flooded eastward and westward
from their homelands. Part of their motive was to find new lands to settle,
where they could earn their living. They founded new settlements or

64
 VIKING SETTLEMENT

became established in existing communities from the coast of Newfound-

land in the west to Yaroslavl in northern Russia, and from Arctic Norway
to the coasts of northern France.
These scattered colonies varied greatly in size and character. In some
areas such as England there was already a relatively dense population, and
a variety of Scandinavian groups imposed themselves as lords, craftsmen,
or peasant farmers. Iceland, by contrast, was effectively empty when the
Vikings began to arrive, and their settlement was purely agricultural.
Varying motives drove different social groups from their Scandinavian
homeland, and they had different expectations of the territories they
settled. Sometimes individuals filled specialised occupations - trading or
serving as mercenary soldiers. Their rate of absorption into local
communities was influenced by whether they travelled in families or
sought out local women to marry.
One aspect of Viking settlement, the far-flung voyages westward across
uncharted oceans to inhospitable new lands, has great romantic appeal,
but we sometimes hear of those who never reached their intended
destination: in the first colonisation of Greenland only fourteen out of
twenty-five ships arrived from Iceland. The motives which drove families
to settle permanently away from their native land, however, were not
romantic. Population pressure resulted in a scarcity of cultivable land in
some areas, and increasing use of marginal land led to the ever-present
spectre of famine in a bad year. The forcible imposition of more control by
Scandinavian chiefs alienated some families, who could only resist and, if
defeated, leave. Individual fugitives from feuds or from justice had often
to sneak away.
Geography and the search for a suitable, familiar environment played a
part in determining the direction of early Viking expansion overseas. At
the end of the eighth century Norwegian farming groups colonised the
islands of Shetland and Orkney lying along a direct sea-route from western
Norway to Scotland. The Faeroes far to the north-west began to be
settled at this time. Similar in landscape to western Norway, the islands
could support a high level of sheep-farming. Fishing, fowling and hunting
whales supplemented this, while products such as sealskin could be
traded. The south Shetland settlement at Jarlshof, consisting of its turf
and stone longhouses, was sited by a beach on a sheltered bay. The
majority of the communities appear to have been subsistence farmers who
had few luxuries. The logical progression was southwards to the north-
west coast of Scotland and the Hebrides, which, seen from a Norwegian
perspective, are 'the Southern Islands'. It was from these settlements that
some Norwegians raided the coastal churches and monasteries of northern
Britain. Entry into the Irish Sea area - the eastern coasts of Ireland, north-
west England and Wales - was the next step.
Norwegian attacks on Ireland began in the late eighth century, and soon
fortified baseswere established on the coasts and river estuaries, enabling
raids tobe widely mounted. In the mid ninth century a base at Dublin was
established which grew into an important settlement, as is shown by rich
finds from the near-by cemetery at Islandbridge - Kilmainham. From the

65
 *'-
//

'.:*><

V-*V

r
 VIKING SETTLEMENT

850s the Scandinavian bands included both Norwegians and Danes.

Sometimes they co-operated; sometimes they fought each other for spoils,
or became involved in Irish internecine feuding.
The Vikings also established other coastal bases, such as Cork and
Limerick, while Dublin became the centre of a kingdom based on a rich
and extensive trade. As in other Viking towns there were varied craft and
manufacturing activities. There were no native towns and, despite
growing Irish political domination, they remained largely Scandinavian in
character. There was little Scandinavian rural settlement, in contrast to
England, and widespread finds of Viking silver are due to considerable
inland trade. The largest known Viking gold hoard (about 10 lb in weight)
comes from an island in the River Shannon. There were several episodes
of political reverses when, with their Irish slaves and concubines,
Scandinavians left for other areas, notably Iceland. In 980 defeat at the
Battle of Tara reduced the power of the Kings of Dublin, while the
murderous Battle of Clontarf in 1014 left the Irish firm masters of
the island. The Scandinavians who remained developed peaceful trade,
based on the towns, particularly Dublin.
Scandinavian settlement within and around the Irish Sea expanded and
contracted according to the political situation within the whole area. From
the early tenth century settlement areas in north-west England, northern
and south-eastern Wales, were established, but reverses in one area often
led people to migrate to another. In the Isle of Man, settlement began
perhaps in the ninth century. Even to this day it retains its early political
institutions such as the deliberative assembly, 'Tynwald', and its Speaker.
The Scandinavian remains from the island are rich in carved slate cross-
slabs and runic inscriptions, which suggest a very mixed population of
Scandinavians and Celtic groups. The island had strong connections with
Dublin and north-west England, as well as to the north.
From Norway, especially the west and south-west, there was a
population movement to Iceland, far to the west by way of the Faeroes.
Traditionally Iceland was discovered by accident about the year 860. It is
recorded that there were Christians, probably Irish monks, living there,
who left after the first Scandinavian settlers arrived. From the 870s large-
scale movements began, perhaps to escape domination and oppression by
Harald 'Finehair', and by the mid tenth century one estimate puts the
population at fifty to sixty thousand. Vikings from Ireland, some with
their native slaves and womenfolk, and groups from the Orkneys and
Hebrides joined the migrations to Iceland. The colonisation and division
of this empty land by the chief families is recorded in the early thirteenth-
century Islendingabok. While tailored to accommodate political realities of
the period in which it was written, it reflects a historical tradition
concerning the formation of the Icelandic Republic in 930. The island was
divided into four quarters, governed by local assemblies of freemen while
the supreme legislative assembly, the Althing, met every year (29).
28 Horse-collar found at
It was to Iceland first that Eirik 'the Red' went after leaving Norway
Mammen in Jutland,
ornamented in the tenth- 'because of some killing^. Further trouble led to his outlawry even from
century J ellinge style. this country for three years, during which he prospected the coasts of

67
 -

&

•"

:* •'*»

iv*

*?
 VIKING SETTLEiMENT

Greenland, a land discovered by Gunnbjorn about the year 900. On his

return to Iceland Eirik could not resolve his troubles so, gathering a band
of followers, who were lured perhaps by the flattering name of the new
territory, in 986. Two main focuses of
he led a colonising venture there
settlement, known Western and Eastern Settlement, were
as the
established. Few remains survive from the early Viking period in
Greenland, other than a few poor artefacts and foundations from turf and
stone structures. From saga traditions we can name the occupiers of
certain settlements: Eirik 'the Red' chose Brattahlid, and it has been
suggested that the small turf structure which has been excavated is the
church erected by his wife Thjodhild. Subsistence was always difficult and
supplies during a bad year had to be obtained from Iceland. The
settlements survived into the later Middle Ages when they finally died out,
isolated and forgotten.
Tradition has by being blown off course on
it that a journey to
Greenland Bjarni Herjulfsson, discovered North America in about 985.
Whether Celtic monks did first set foot there or not, it is in the
Scandinavian sagas that the first incontrovertible accounts occur. Leif 'the
Lucky' Eiriksson prospected the newly found territory from Greenland.
He named three separate areas: Markland (forestland), now identified with
Labrador; Vinland (meadowland), now North Newfoundland; and
Helluland (flat stone. land). Thorfinn Karlsefni settled a colony in Vinland,
a land with wild corn, grapes, rich fishing and mild winters. But after
trouble with the native 'skradings' he abandoned his attempt and returned
to Greenland.
A map which claims to incorporate pre-Columbus information in the
1 1^3* delineation of the coast of north-east America, the so-called 'Vinland
*& xVlap', is regarded by many scholars as a forgery. Recent analytical tests on
the ink have identified a pigment not isolated and used until the twentieth
-. •

century. Knowledge displayed by the map is far more closely related to

exploration during the later medieval phase of the Greenland settlement
than Viking journeys. Certain chance archaeological finds such as genuine
Viking weapons or a recently found Scandinavian coin are of little value
since the circumstances in which they were discovered and their date of
arrival in America remain unsubstantiated. It is known that 'antiquities'
such as the Kensington Stone with its runes are fraudulent, but
archaeology, scientifically practised and scrupulously documented, does
support the saga record. Incontrovertible excavated evidence comes from
the settlement at L'Anse-aux-Meadows in Newfoundland, where a series
of radio-carbon analyses date the site to about the year ad iooo. A bronze
ring-headed pin of a type well known in Scandinavian Atlantic
settlements, a soapstone spindle-whorl of normal Viking-Age type, and
other artefacts make its cultural affinity certain. The structure and internal
arrangements of some of the buildings can be approximately paralleled in
Iceland and Greenland, and the techniques used in working local bog-iron

29 Thingvellir , the meeting-place of the Althing, the Icelandic annual general

assembly.

69
1111 VIKINGS

arc Scandinavian. No aspect of the site can be linked with native Indian
tradition.
Doubtless there were other Viking voyages to the North American coast
which are not recorded in the literature, and these perhaps resulted in
ephemeral settlement, but the salient point is that the discoveries were not
exploited. Although agriculturally rich and accessible by sea and inland
waterways, America was at the end of a very long chain of communication.
Conflict with the hostile natives proved too demoralising for the isolated
immigrants, and the period of dynamic Scandinavian expansion had
effectively ended by the time this New World was discovered.
In contrast to the western seaways followed by the Norwegians,- the
Danes were active in England, the Low Countries and France. From 835
there were almost annual raids, and after 851 armies began to winter in
England. In 867 York was seized and in 876 'Halfdan shared out the land
of the Northumbrians, and they proceeded to plough and support
themselves'. Territory in other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms was appropriated.
In 880 an army went from Cirencester into Fast Anglia and 'settled there
and shared out the land'. After a spirited resistance, led by King Alfred the
Great and based on the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, the country was
partitioned formally in 886. The Scandinavian part of Fngland later
became known as the 'Danelaw', that is, where Scandinavian customs and
law were current. The area lay very broadly north and east of a line from
Chester to London, and included Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Not-
tinghamshire and Yorkshire which had the densest settlement. The Danes
had been driven out of urban centres they had seized, such as London, but
the 'Five Boroughs' of Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and
Stamford remained in their hands, while the Kingdom of York became the
main Anglo-Scandinavian trading-centre of the North Sea basin. The
Anglo-Saxons began to reconquer the area in the early tenth century, but
the influx of Scandinavian population added considerably to agricultural
wealth and prosperity.
The written sources are silent about the number of new settlers and their
relationships with the original population, which remained largely where
it was. The Viking kingdom of York, Jorvik, as it was known to the

Scandinavians, although finally incorporated into the English kingdom in

954, continued to be a centre of great trade and craft activities. The
defences of the Roman city were re-fortified but the main commercial
centre lay outside them. The Scandinavians appear to have adopted
Christianity and soon became integrated with the English population. The
political power of the town was based on support from the Scandinavians
of the region round about. Some became landowners, taking over estates
and lands as functioning taxable units. In places such as Middleton, a
Yorkshire village retaining its Anglo-Saxon place-name, the parish church
has a series of monuments decorated in provincial Anglo-Scandinavian
style, presumably to cater for the taste of a powerful patron (30). 30 A stone cross, showing a
tenth-centary Viking
The Scandinavians gave names in their own language to places on the
landozvner zvith his warrior's
basis of topographically prominent features, or the name of the founding equipment, from Middleton,
settler. A village or farm was often named with the element '-by', or Yorkshire.

70
IHI VIKINGS

-thorp': Aismunderby in Yorkshire is 'Asmund's farm'. A stream.

'bekkr'j may Caldbeck, Cumberland. A settlement of Anglo-
appear, as in

Saxons got called Ingleby. Such names were different from those of the
Anglo-Saxons, and it is possible to distinguish linguistically between
plaeesnamed by Norwegians and Danes. The density of plaee-names of
Scandinavian origin may be an indieator o\' the density of Scandinavian
settlement - in the Mast and North Ridings of Yorkshire up to 40 per cent
of early recorded names are Scandinavian. By comparing the agricultural
Anglo-Saxon place-names with that of areas
potential of land in areas with
with predominantly Scandinavian place-names, it can be shown that the
newcomers sometimes settled poorer land. This implies that the Anglo-
Saxon farmers kept under cultivation the best land, or that the newcomers
did not change the place-names when they settled. In counties like
Lincolnshire the field-names are heavily Scandinavian, suggesting an
influx of \ 'iking peasant cultivators who actually worked the fields.
These scraps of evidence suggest that in England the Scandinavian
takeover of land was complex, and not simply brutal appropriation. It has
been suggested that silver acquired by looting in England, France and
elsewhere was used by men who wished to settle down in peace and
purchase a plot of land in the adopted country. But when there was a
general share-out of English land among an army some men who were
unwilling to settle left to carry on raiding in England and across the
Channel, where they resorted in force after reverses in England.
Around the coasts of northern France and Frisia in the ninth century,
there were a few scattered, short-lived settlements intended especially as
bases for raids inland. In Brittany the Vikings seized brief control in the
tenth century. In 911 Rollo gained formal recognition from Charles 'the
Simple' of his control of land which became the Duchy of Normandy.
Rapidly adapting to local language and religion, the Scandinavians settled
there, building a powerful state, the ruler of which in 1066 took over
control of the English kingdom by invasion and conquest.
By contrast, the Swedes were mainly active eastwards, where
settlements were planted from the late seventh century along the Baltic
coast and beyond. The earliest, such as Grobin, included settlers from
Gotland and Uppland and lay on the east Baltic coast in the territory of
Baltic tribal groups. In the western Slav territory Scandinavians settled as
traders in existing urban centres, where the range of activities was similar
to that developing in Scandinavia (p. 48). Their characteristic burial
practices can be found in small isolated cemeteries or in larger native ones.
Further inland there may have been small groups of mercenaries.
For several centuries there has been heated discussion concerning the
extent and effects of Scandinavian influence on the eastern Slavs in Russia.
Political and economic development, particularly in regard to the
formation of towns, has been ascribed by some to a Scandinavian
domination and by others to internal development. Numbers of
Scandinavians with their women formed groups in certain urban centres.
The men acted as traders and tax-gatherers to accumulate wealth, or as
mercenaries, and took political power as opportunity offered.

72
 VIKING SETTLEMENT

Burials along the great rivers and in natural centres of trade and
communication sometimes contain Scandinavian objects. Where contact
took place through trade the possession of Scandinavian jewellery and
weapons says little about the identity of the wearer. Some burials are
specialised in rite, such as near Yaroslavl, where clay representations of
animal paws were found in cremation burials; these have parallels only in
the Aland Islands. But it was characteristic of many Viking settlements
where there was an existing population that the Scandinavians integrated
with the local community and adopted the local burial rite.
From the ninth century onwards the town of Staraja Ladoga, known to
the Scandinavians as Aldeigjuborg, contained material of Swedish affinity
including a runic inscription. Situated on the south of Lake Ladoga, it was
a focus for trade-routes along the rivers, leading to the south and east (p.
52). In the neighbouring south Ladoga region there are numerous burials
containing Scandinavian objects. The situation of fortified towns
containing merchant settlements and craft workshops, with a scattered
Viking population outside the town, is similar to that in parts of western
Europe. Novgorod, known to the Scandinavians as Holmgardr, came
traditionally under Scandinavian political control during the ninth
century. At Gnezdovo near Smolensk there is evidence of a large urban
complex with a great cemetery near by, where there are relatively large
numbers of Scandinavian objects for male and female use.
Further south in the Middle Dniepr region lay Kiev, a great centre
owing its riches to trade with Byzantium and controlling a majorsource of
furs by taxing many of the Slavs in territories round about. There were
Scandinavian traders here, and Oleg, a Scandinavian, is traditionally said
to have taken over the city in 882 and begun to levy taxes systematically
from the neighbouring Slav tribes. In the tenth century Scandinavians
served here as mercenaries, and some scattered archaeological material
may provide evidence of this. Exiles such as Harald 'the Ruthless' from
Norway sometimes served there as mercenaries on the way to Byzantium
and in the later Viking Age marriage connections between the Scandinavian
and Kievan ruling families strengthened these links, for example, the
marriage between Yaroslav the Wise and Ingigerd, the daughter of Olaf
Skottkonung.
Russia was known in Scandinavia as Gardariki (the land of towns), and
clearly the Vikings were able to dominate commercial activities here to
their great advantage. But of many early Russian towns we know relatively
little, because they have been continuously occupied. Although the

country is so vast that information about rural settlement is sparse, it is

possible that, as in Ireland, Scandinavian population was largely restricted
to urban settlements.
It has been due to a series. of excavations during the post-war years in

many parts of the Viking world that the character and importance of
Viking towns has been strikingly demonstrated. The most successful
excavations have shed new light on the period by uncovering objects and
structures which greatly extend our understanding of such settlements,
and their relationships with the surrounding rural populace.

73
 ^
HWlTjM

^**£*

%
fr
mr:

"Skt
am iA*^

4 v ,

f
gpS^-V

v
 3 House and Home

Methods of building and types of houses varied throughout the Viking

world. This was partly because settlers tended to adopt local traditions of
building and partly because of the different materials available. In areas
which were extensively wooded, such as Denmark, timber was the natural
building material but in the treeless, exposed Atlantic islands builders
were forced to use stone and turf.
Our knowledge of the Vikings" homes and the life they led within them
has been transformed in recent years by modern excavations. The south
Danish town of Hedeby has been more extensively explored than any
other such Viking site and an extraordinary number of objects has
survived. A rising water-level has waterlogged much of the original
occupation deposits, excluding the air which encourages decay and
preserving, not only objects of wood and leather that normally perish in
the ground, but also the remains of quantities of food. Most exciting are
the substantial remains of timber buildings. As the houses and workshops
of Hedeby fell into disrepair, they were demolished and the site levelled

before rebuilding. In one remarkable instance the walls of a house had

been pushed over and left flat in the ground, until uncovered largely intact
in 1968 by German archaeologists.
The permanent inhabitants of Hedeby seem to have lived around a
stream which ran through the middle of the town. The gables of their
houses faced on to wood-paved streets. The closely spaced plots were
fenced with wattle and sometimes also contained outhouses and a well.
Similar arrangements and density of occupation have been found by
excavation at Dublin and York, where waterlogged levels have also
conserved the remains of timber houses.
The commonest building technique at Hedeby was stave-construction,
in which tree-trunks are split lengthwise and placed vertically in the
ground to form a continuous wall. Wattle houses were plastered with mud
or dung. The roofs at Hedeby were thatched with reeds, or covered with
turves, but the use of wooden shingles for roofing has been discovered at
Trelleborg. Some of the smaller Hedeby houses, as elsewhere in Denmark,
had sunken In York similar structures lined with horizontal planks
floors.
have recently been excavated (31).
On the evidence recovered at Hedeby it has been possible to reconstruct
an accurate full-size town house with walls of wattle and daub. There are
no load-bearing posts within the house, so buttresses are used to prevent
L
* ^ ~
the walls splaving out under the weight of the roof. In plan the house
, ,,
tenth-century u 1
zcorkshops or h - ° h

storehouses, under excavation measures about sixteen by forty feet and is divided into rooms ,fig. 4 One .

in Coppergate. of the outer rooms contained a clay bread-oven, the size of which suggests

75
Fig. 4 leu Isometric
reconstruction of a ninth-
century house based on
excavations at Hedeby.

32 BELOW Interior of the

Hedeby house as reconstructed
at Moesgdrd, Denmark.
 HOUSE AND HOME

that the occupants may even have been professional bakers; the room at the
opposite end of the house is of unknown use. The living-room lies between
these two and has a central hearth made of stones topped with clay (32). On
either side of it low earth platforms have
been built up to act as benches for
sittingand sleeping, although in this case a wooden bed has been added,
based on one found in the Oseberg ship-burial. The loom stands ready for
use against the opposite wall, while the cooking-pot hangs over the hearth,
which provides both heat and light in this windowless house. More light
would enter through the hole in the roof provided for the smoke to escape,
but any detailed work would have been done outside, or by lamp-light.
Lamps were small bowls for burning oil and could be made of iron, in
which case they might have a spike for sticking into the floor, or of
soapstone, sometimes with suspension loops; potten lamps were being
made at Hedeby and might have been used in such a house as this.
There were larger houses at Hedeby, with up to about a thousand square
feet of floor space, but even more impressive in the Danish landscape
would have been the late tenth-century houses of the Viking ring-forts
(p. 1 24). The Trelleborg house, named after those in the most famous of the
forts, was built of timber. Its long walls were curved, producing a curved
roof-ridge and giving it a hog-backed' appearance. The Trelleborg
k

houses were stave-built and had buttresses; some were entered through
porches, one on each side, at opposite ends of the long walls. Inside they
were divided into three rooms, the central one being the largest, with a
hearth and benches in the case of dwelling-houses.
A Trelleborg-type house was among those excavated at the Jutland
village of Lindholm Hoje (50), and further examples have been turning up
during recent investigations of even larger Danish villages, also of late
Yiking-Age date. But at Lindholm Hoje there were in addition other types
of houses, including long rectangular houses and huts with sunken floors,
like those discovered at Hedeby. The most unusual was a square house
with a courtyard - a type that only became common at a somewhat later
date.
In the Viking settlements on the Atlantic islands houses were built in
drystone, or in a mixture of turf and stone, or even in turf alone (although
this was placed on stone foundations). Such walls were massive in
construction, up to six feet thick, so that no external buttresses were
required; additional roof-support if needed was provided by two rows of
internal posts. The first Norse settlers at Jarlshof, at the southern tip of
Shetland, built themselves a farmstead in this manner in the ninth
century. The chief building was a seventy-foot-long, two-roomed
dwelling-house, with curved sides. Associated with it were the necessary
outhouses for a farm, including a barn, a byre and a small smithy, and also
what seems to have been a small bath-house, containing a hearth for a
steam-bath or sauna. As the settlement expanded, so extra dwelling-
houses were added to the original group to cope with the increased
population.
Such arrangements seem to have been typical of the first settlements in
the Atlantic islands. For instance, a similar house with a barn has been

77
I 111 VIKINGS

excavated at Faeroes, with walls of turf on stone. The first

Kvivik in the

farms built in Iceland were of this type, but the settlers there soon
modified the basic hall-house and developed more complex buildings with
several smaller rooms. This new type of farmhouse is known particularly
well from a series of excavations carried out in a southern Icelandic valley,
devastated by an erupt ion oi the volcano Hekla in about 104. The sites
1

that were in use then were smothered in volcanic ash and had to be
abandoned. They were of the same general type, so that the one at Stong
all

may be taken as representative oi' late Viking-Age farms in Iceland. Its

excavated plan has recently been used as a basis for a full-size
reconstruction, in Iceland (33), of such an eleventh-century farmhouse..
As can be seen from its plan fig. 5 ), the house at Stong was entered by a
1

single door, leading into a vestibule attached to themain hall, identified by

its and broad benches. The turf walls were lined with
large central hearth
panelling, but with an air-gap left between the two. A smaller living-room
led off one end of the hall, with a small box-like fireplace and narrow-
benches round the walls, only suitable for sitting on and not for sleeping; it
housed the loom. Also opening off the hall (but at right angles to it) was a
dairy, with space for three large vats. Off the vestibule was another, but
smaller, back-room with a drainage channel down either side, suggesting
that it was a lavatory. Outhouses consisted of a byre, a store and a smithy.

&»>
Fig. 5 BELOW Plan of a turf-built Icelandic farmhouse at Stong, as it was when
destroyed by a volcanic eruption in about 1104, and 33 RIGHT a reconstruction based
upon it. .'•VA*
~'-

1 Entrance hall

2 Hall
3 Living room
4 Dairy
5 Lavatory

78
I 111-: VIKINGS

The furnishings of all these houses would have been simple, with the
fixed benches used for both sitting and sleeping. Tables and shelves but
not cupboards have been found, and also portable chairs and simple-
stools. An ornamented plank appears to be from some more elaborate piece
o\' furniture. Decorated bedheads belonging to free-standing beds are

known from the rich ship-burials, but these may have been intended only
for the use of wealthy travellers. Clothes and personal possessions would
have been kept in chests like those of the Oscberg burial), or hung on
hooks. Food was stored in wooden vats and tubs, in large soapstone bowls,
or in pots (34). Little attention was paid to floors, which would have been
of stamped earth, perhaps strewn with reeds or straw. But interior walls, if
panelled, might be carved or painted, or even decorated with woven
hangings.
The central hearth was the focal point of the house, providing not only
heat and light, but also the stove for cooking. A
cauldron was suspended 34 BELOW Clay pots and
wooden utensils excavated in
over it for making porridge and soups, or for stewing meat. The finest and
Lund.
most substantial of these cauldrons were made of iron (35); but soapstone
bowls with iron handles were also used. Meat was roasted on spits (72), or 35 RIGHT An iron cauldron
long forks, and iron grill-pans and griddles were also used. Alternatively, from Szveden.

80
I 111 VIKINGS

meat and fish wore baked in holes in the ground, packed around with
heated stones. Food was eaten with a knife from a wooden treneher, or
with a spoon from a bowl (34). Wooden cups were used for drinking (34),
although horns were also used (with occasionally imported glasses for
wine).
The diet of many Vikings was varied and nourishing. Meat and fish were
dried or preserved in a number of ways, or eaten raw. Wild fruits and
vegetables supplemented the cultivated peas, beans and cabbage. They ate
bread made from barley or rye and porridge made from oats and barley;
grain was also important for brewing beer. Honey was the base for
fermenting mead, but the strongest drink available to the Vikings was
home-made wine from fermented fruit juices. True wine was certainly
imported but would have been consumed only by the wealthiest. Milk
would also have been drunk and all forms of dairy produce were an
important part of the diet. For those with few resources, however, the diet
must have been much less varied and particularly monotonous during
harsh seasons.
Cooking and brewing were, of course, a principal task of the Viking
women but they also had many other jobs, including spinning and
weaving. Much of the cloth they produced would have been for family
clothing but a great deal was also required for sail-making, tents, awnings,
wagon-covers and the like, including wall-hangings. Spindle-whorls of
many different materials are among the commonest of all archaeological
finds and the spinning of wool may well have been a communal task. But
first the shorn or plucked wool would have been cleaned and combed. The

spun yarn was wound into balls, or into skeins if it was to be dyed.
The wool was woven (as was linen) on an upright loom, leant against the
wall. This, with warps weighted at the bottom by stone or baked-clay
weights, was no different from the modern primitive loom. The skein, or
ball, of wool was passed from side to side without the aid of a shuttle, the
weft being straightened with a weaving batten - a sword-like object of
wood, whalebone or even iron. Detailed adjustments were made with the
aid of special weaving-combs and small pointed tools (pin-beaters) of
wood or bone. Other forms of textile work included tablet- weaving, for
producing ornamental borders and braids, and embroidery.
There was also sewing, mending and washing to be done. The large
whalebone plaques, sometimes found in women's graves, may have been
used as a form of ironing-board, with bun-shaped smoothers of glass.
These plaques seem to have been quite prestigious objects since they often
have finely ornamented tops (36). They could have been used for
smoothing linen, or maybe for pleating it. by folding and winding it round
the board while it was still wet, and then leaving it to dry.
Feasting was an important part of the life of the Viking community. Ale-
feasts celebrated religious festivals and with the coming of Christianity the
Vikings were unwilling to relinquish these and carried them over into their
36 Whalebone plaque from
new religion. Such occasions served to strengthen bonds of kinship, as well northern Norway,
as relieving some of the tedium of long northern winters. The hangovers ornamented with animal
would have been most debilitating, given the impurities contained in their heads.

82
^
1 1 It: VIKINGS

drink! But, as always, this never stopped a man boasting of his drinking
prowess. 'I leave no ale in the horn, though the warrior brings me the horn
tillmorning' was the claim of Egill Skalla-grimsson, as distinguished a
poet as he was a Viking.
Poetry, games and entertainments undoubtedly accompanied feasts, but
such relaxations and pastimes were not confined to these occasions. Little-
is known oi~ Viking music, although a tew remains of stringed instruments

and pipes have been found. On the other hand there is much evidence for
board-games, even if it is not always clear what sort of game was being
played. Pieces were made of bone, amber or glass 37 one common type of ;

game used sixteen pieces of one colour against eight pieces and a 'king' of
another. The Baldursheimur bone figure from Iceland (38) is such a 'king',
and was associated with twenty-four gaming-pieces. forming a set of so-
called hneftafl. The best-preserved gaming-board to survive was made in
the tenth century in some Viking settlement, though found on a native
Irish site, at Ballinderry (39). This is for an old form of the modern game of
'Fox and Geese". Chess may have been known in Scandinavia by the end of
the Viking Age.
Outdoor pastimes in the winter would have been restricted, but skating
and ball-games on the ice were enjoyed. In the summer, as well as boating,
swimming, fishing and practising with weapons, there were thrilling
sports like horse-racing and horse-fighting where the spectators might be
as much in danger as the competitors.
Even the Scandinavians who stayed at home lived lives full of incident
and hazard, threatened by pirates, warring neighbours and family feud.
'Let the man who opens a door be on the lookout for an enemy behind if
was the poet's warning in HdvamaL a poem of Viking Age origin. Valour
was certainly not the ultimate Viking virtue, for at bottom it was the family
and home life that mattered the most. Those who wanted to stay alive
combined caution with their bravery. In Havatndl we are told: 'Praise not
the day until evening has come; a woman until she is burnt; a sword until it
is tried; a maiden until she is married; ice until it has been crossed; beer

until it has been drunk'.

&JL^ 37 LEFT Glass gaming-pieces

from the rich cemetery at
Valsgdrde in Sweden.

38 OPPOSITE TOP LEFT

Whalebone 'king' from an
Icelandic board-game.

39 opposite A tenth-century
wooden gaming-board from
Ireland.

84
 6 Death and Pagan Gods

The early Vikings were pagans - they had not yet been converted to a belief
in Christianity. They acknowledged many gods and spirits who might be
invoked in different situations, according to their varying powers. For
some, Christ was one god tolerated among many others. Their looting of
churches and monasteries and seizing of plate, vestments and valuables
was not the result of organised, anti-Christian feelings, but appropriation
from a rich source of wealth protected by a ritual sanction they did not
recognise. Unlike the Christian Church, Viking religion did not support
the secular state in a formal way, although many chiefs had a religious
function as intermediary with the gods.
When Christianity was imposed on the Vikings, the Church pursued a
deliberate policy of destroying material and beliefs associated with pagan
observances. Some information we have about these beliefs comes down
through largely hostile contemporary observers. Sources such as the
Icelandic sagas contain much information on myths and legends current in
thirteenth-century Iceland, but the Vikings' original beliefs may have
become much altered. The accounts of both Arab and Christian sources
may have been distorted by a tendency to explain what they heard in terms
of their own practices. In any case, the corpus of Viking beliefs about death
and deities was the result of many centuries of complex development,
influenced from many sources.
Contemporary representations of gods and mythical scenes exist, and it
is possible to interpret some of them from fragmentary accounts available

to us. These range from legends about the creation of the universe,
through to the predestined destruction of the old order of the gods:
Ragnarok - the end of the world. Within this complex were stories of
dwarves and giants and monsters of evil, against which the gods were
constantly in combat. Myths of the mighty gods emphasised that they
were often human in their appetites and foibles, even if superhuman in
40 left Bronze statuette of their excesses. And they did walk abroad, influencing affairs in the world.
Freyr, the god of fertility,
Among statuettes which survive, some figures are easily identifiable by
from Rallinge, Sweden.
the way that certain features are emphasised. The god of fertility, Freyr,

41 FAR LEFT ABOVE AND

was important for agricultural communities who depended on the growing
CENTRE Sheet-gold plaques of crops and breeding of herds. He can be seen with long virile beard and
with the embracing figures of pointed cap, sitting with his phallus erect (40). The long beard is a clue to
thegod Freyr and the giantess the identification of an ivory statuette from Lund which may also
Gerd,from Hauge, Norway.
represent Freyr, although an identification with Thor is also possible. A
series of rectangular gold plaques may show Freyr and the giantess Gerd
42 FAR LEFT BELOW A silver
pendant, perhaps a protective represented as a couple in various ritual embraces (41). What purpose
amulet, from Aska, Sweden. these delicate sheets served is uncertain. In a society where marriage was

87
I 111' VIKlMiS

arranged for the young by their elders, and where love played no pan in the
initial arrangements, fertility was the test of a successful union; perhaps

good-luck charms were needed to ensure this.

The use of amulets or charms, for whatever reason, was popular among
the Vikings, both men and women. The identities behind the grimly-
moustached human masks set on certain silver pendants are no longer
known 42 but they may have acted as protection. Equally enigmatic is a
,

series of small female figures, often delicately rendered to show details of

their modish garments and coifiured hair. One with a drinking-horn (43)
probably represents a Valkyrie. These maidens, according to one legend,
rode in the sky over fields of battle as attendants of the god of war. In
another tradition the Valkyries served at Valhalla where the souls of brave
warriors who died in battle feasted, drank and fought.
Thor, the strongest and most popular of the gods, may have afforded
protection to those wearing amulets in the form o\~ the hammer. His
famous battle hammer, Mjollnir, was a powerful weapon in the right of the
gods against the powers of evil that constantly threatened to overwhelm
them. On the example from Hredsatra the mask of a fierce animal broods
over the end of the handle, perhaps a guardian spirit (44), while the handle
of the hammer from Foss terminates in a fierce dragon-head (45). It was a

^^iin..», l .%iii«li^*jj%M ^o
1

am
'OJgWS

88
 DEATH AND PAGAN GODS

belief in the protective power of amulets which may explain the shaping of
the broad battle-axe and the cross at the heads of some dress-pins found at
Jarlshof. Amber pendants from Hedeby in the form of an axe may
(74)
have the same significance.,and so may the silver miniatures - sword,
spear, fire-steel and staves - on a small ring from Klinta.
For the Vikings, the creatures and beings of the other world were not so
compartmentalised as they are for us. The world was constantly
threatened by demons and monsters, unseen but still lurking, who were
destined to destroy the world. These, with lesser deities and local spirits
were forces to be reckoned with. It is not difficult to see the animal
ornament on everyday objects as an expression of this world view, and in
studying the more elaborate pieces we may imagine stories being told
around the fire about the creatures who form the designs.
Even on the most functional of objects decoration may have a symbolic
significance. A soapstone furnace-stone from Snaptun is strongly incised
with a face-mask displaying prominent eyebrows and a moustache. The
lips are disfigured with lines across them which may represent stitches

(46). This may be a representation of the god Loki, who caused so much
dissension among the gods by his destructive jealousy and spite. Having
once wagered his head against that of Brokk the dwarf, and being about to

43 left Silver toilet

implement from Birka,
bearing a female figure,
perhaps a valkyrie.

44 FAR LEFT AXD CENTRE

LEFT Silver pendants in the
form of a Thor's hammer
from Bredsdtra, Sweden, and
Romersdal, Denmark.

45 above Silver pendant in

the form of a cross with a
dragon's head terminal, from
Foss, Iceland.

46 right Furnace-stone to
protect a bellows-nozzle,
incised with the face of the
god Loki, from Snaptun,
Denmark.

89
I 111 \ lKlN'CiS

lose ii. he saved himself by pointing out there had been no mention of his
neck in the bet' Enraged, the dwarves sewed Ins lips together. And since
later tradition accords .oki the position of a lire-being of the hearth, it is
I

appropriate thai this object would have been in the heat of the forge.
On Gotland was a long series of painted memorial stones with a variety
of tigural scenes, some of them involving complex
narrative. While they
must have had contemporary
significance for viewers, not all the scenes are
comprehensible to us. The stone from Smiss (8) depicts a ship full of
armed warriors, and a single combat between two swordsmen. This may
record an actual event, which led to the death of the man commemorated
by the monument, or may be a mythical scene.
An early Viking-Age stone from Lillbjars shows a mounted warrior with
conical helmet and pantaloon breeches, bearing an emblazoned shield
(47). He is met by a woman offering a horn of drink. This may be the
representation of the dead man riding from a field of battle to Valhalla
where he is met by a ministering Valkyrie. Those who fell in combat were
reputed to travel direct to this drinking-hall of the heroes, where they
remained in readiness until called upon by Odin to fight alongside the gods
at the end of the world. Below this, two mysterious cloaked figures with
jutting beards sail their lonely ship. One has control of the rudder while
the other appears to be a passenger - perhaps the dead passing over to the
spirit world. But who is it who stands alone, bearded, and with arm
outstretched towards someone or something not visible to us? All round
the border is a continuous running motif which echoes the interwoven
triangles in the main field, commonly found in scenes of mystery.
Panels on the eleventh-century grave cist found at Ardre are decorated
with scenes from myth but it is not certain if they are all related. What
story lies behind the appearance of a figure, who is armed prominently
with a sword and standing hemmed in at the centre of a scene dominated
by monsters (48)? On a fragmentary panel can be seen an eight-legged
horse ridden by an armed man, perhaps Odin riding his wind-swift steed,
Sleipnir. Above is a swordsman carrying a great spear in one hand, and
putting a horn to his mouth to sound a warning, as the watchman Heimdall
was to do at the end of the world. On one side-panel, a god-like figure is
seen between two long-necked, four-legged monsters. He is entwined in
mortal combat with a long serpent, aided perhaps by a lesser figure behind
him, while a free figure at the bottom of the scene is gripping the body of
one serpent. This may be yet another representation of the end of the
world.
From Andreas on Man
fragment of carved slate, part of a
the Isle of a
tenth-century Christian monument, bears a detail from identifiable legend
(49). Originally the surface had carved on it a tall cross, with down its shaft
a typically Viking decorative motif, the ring-chain. Under one arm of the
cross stands Odin, one of the mightiest gods and the most mysterious. His
harbinging, all-seeing raven perches on his shoulder. Odin strikes
47 An early Viking memorial
downwards with his spear at Fenrir, the wolf, who gnaws at his leg, and stone from Lillbjars on
who is predestined to devour him. For when the world inevitably ends Gotland.
with Ragnarok, the destruction of the gods by ill-begotten creatures of ( The paint is modern.)

90
48 far left Panels of a stone cist carved in the
eleventh-century Urnes style, from Ardre,
Gotland.

49 left Odin devoured by the Fenrir wolf on a

fragment of a stone monument from Andreas,
Isle of Alan.
llll VIKINGS

evil, that is to be his immutable fate. On the reverse of the fragment is a

figure grasping a Christian processional cross and a book. He tramples
upon a gigantic serpent while Christian symbol. He is a
at his feel is a fish, a

token o\~ the new which, more than the monsters of dark
spiritual order
places, was to destroy the fastness of the gods. In areas where there was
already a population oi~ Christians, such as the Isle of Man or northern
England, there grew up a fusion of pagan and Christian iconographies,
characteristic of the eclectic nature of Viking taste.
In contrast to the later Christian practice of burial in hallowed ground
often around a church, pagan cemeteries were close to the settlements they
served. Small, rural burial-grounds often lay in sight of the homefield asB
group of low mounds on patch of poor agricultural land. At Birka the
a
cemeteries lay close to the concentration of houses, beyond the rampart
which was constructed later. The size of the cemetery over three thousand
graves indicates the population and wealth of the town.
The simplest graves consisted of a hole in the ground, sometimes with a
coffin or hollowed-out tree-trunk and covered over with a low mound.
There seems to have been some belief that the dead resided in the place
they were buried. It was the pagan practice to bury women costume
in
with their jewellery, or men with weapons or tools. Each might have
treasured possessions and items showing their role and status in the
stratified Viking society. The poor had nothing. The practice suggests
some belief in an after-life, while the deposition of food may be seen as
token sustenance for the journey. The unburnt body buried in the ground
is, therefore, our richest source of information about the Vikings, until

Christianity put an end to the practice of depositing such accessories.

Some of the richest graves may have been looted soon after burial by those
who knew what wealth was contained in them. Large, carefully built
wooden chambers were sometimes constructed for such burials. The
sword from Hedeby (83) was beside a man placed in such a chamber and
buried under the middle part of a ship. The Viking tradition of burying the
powerful in a boat, or under a ship-shaped stone-setting, is of great
antiquity in Scandinavia. It may reflect the status of the dead as captain
and owner, and also the mode of journey to the other world. Women too
were accorded splendid burials, such as the great barge in a mound at
Oseberg, while in Jutland others appear to have been buried in the body of
a wagon. The owner of the rich jewellery from a chamber-grave at Birka
(56) was buried with a range of rich imports like other powerful figures.
Slave-owning was a privilege of the more powerful, and slaves could be
treated as chattels to be disposed of as the master pleased. The Arab
traveller Ibn Fadlan records, in the early tenth century, the ritual sacrifice
of a slave-girl on the banks of the Volga to accompany her dead Viking
master. In the British Isles, this practice is borne out by the discovery of
the body of a woman from a burial-mound at Ballateare in the Isle of Man,
placed in a position secondary to that of a man. The evidence from her
skull shows that her young life was cut short by a sharp blow, perhaps from
a sword.
Some burials lay under great artificial mounds which changed the

94
 DEATH AXD PAGAN GODS

landscape and acted as a memorial. Sometimes those who died abroad or in

battle were commemorated by their family or comrades on memorial
stones: 'and they lie in London' like two men from Yalleberga in southern
Sweden. Of one leader, Toke, we learn that 'He fled not at Uppsala, but
fought while he had weapons'.
Some groups in Scandinavia still adhered to the old rite of cremation
where the body was burnt on a pyre. An Arab source records that this step
released the soul to fly to 'paradise', whatever that might mean. Some
burnt, calcined bones with charcoal and ash might be put in a simple clay
vessel and buried, or a low mound might be raised over a patch of charcoal
from the pyre. Stone settings in different shapes sometimes marked the
grave, as at Lindholm Hoje (50). Fragments of costume jewellery or
possessions burnt with the dead might be included, giving the only clue to
the period of burial. Prized possessions might first have been smashed or
mutilated so as to be useless, like the 'killed' sword from W'allstena. The
Christian Church forbade the cremating of the dead as an irreconcilably
pagan practice.
The Church also forbade the pagan rites and celebrations
Christian
which accompanied the burial of the dead. These have left little or no
physical traces, and our knowledge of them rests on contemporary
sources. People who officiated at the burial ceremonies did so by virtue of
their age and experience, as much as from religious authority. While we
know that Viking chieftains had a religious role, there is only one late
reference to an organised priesthood, in Sweden. In the accounts of
foreign writers there are rare references to pagan temples in Scandinavia,
while in a few Viking place-names there is the suggestion of a religious site:

in Iceland, for example, the element 'hof implies a building for pagan
worship. No been made from
positive identifications of a temple have yet
the archaeological finds, but since these consist only of ground-plans, a
normal timber building devoted to pagan practices might not be
identifiable. Lejre on Sjadland in Denmark, and Old Uppsala in Sweden
are mentioned as religious centres, and have been traditionally important.
Instead of there being a formal religious structure, it is possible that
natural features like a grim old tree or boulder were venerated. Weapons,
especially swords, have often been found in rivers, which may have been
places for sacrifice, but other explanations are possible for these
occurrences. Human and animal sacrifice to the gods are occasionally
mentioned in connection with pagan by Christian and Arab
rites
authorities. In Iceland the ritual feasting upon horseflesh was ostensibly
pagan, and after the proclamation of Christianity could only be done in
private until it was outlawed. The burial of a horse beside the dead may
relate to its religious connotations of strength and fertility as well as being a
symbol of power and wealth.
Connected with both religious expression and memorials to the dead are
50 OVERLEAF A vietv over the runic inscriptions, although these also occur on simple objects to record
I cemetery at Lindholm
'iking
Hoje, northern Jutland; ownership (12 and p. 34). The runic alphabet is known as the 'Futhark'
across its stone grave-markers from the values of its first six symbols. Their over-all shapes are
can be seen the Limfjord. unmistakable, being ideal for incising or carving and for painting. One

95
— i
THE Y1KIM.S

such alphabet is inscribed on a rib-bone from Lund (51). There are 51 Rib-bone from Lund
localised versions of the runic alphabet, and variations in the number o\~ incised with the runit
alphabet - the Jut hark.
symbols and their sound-values. In some cases, there is considerable
doubt about the reading and meaning of short inscriptions. Runes were a
form of writing common to the Germanic tribes and used in Scandinavia
from the first centuries after the birth of Christ. In the later Viking period,
we read of specialist 'rune-masters'. Runes were gradually superseded
from the late eleventh century by the Roman alphabet which spread with
Christianity, but they remained in use to the later medieval period.
The association of runes with the mystic is explained in the poetic myth
oi~ their discoveryby Odin, who hanged himself for nine nights on an ash
tree to gain the secret of wisdom. He became the god of magic. And, of
course, secret charms or curses would be scratched in runes. A fragment of
human skull from Ribe is incised with an eighth-century inscription which
today cannot be interpreted, apart from the reading of some names
including that of Odin himself. But many runic inscriptions record purely
everyday or public information, and this more general use begins with the
Viking period. A mid-eleventh-century Danish coin of Sven Estridsson
has its inscription in runic characters (68h). The most famous graffito is
probably that carved on the shoulder of a majestic marble lion, originally
in the Piraeus harbour of Athens, by a visiting Swede, perhaps in
Byzantine service. From Hedeby comes a four-sided stave with runes on
two of them. The meaning cannot be satisfactorily read but appears to be
in the form of a message, a letter one might almost say, dealing with an
everyday matter. The memorial cross fragment from Andreas (49), with its
wealth of carving has the name of its carver Thorvald recorded along the
side for all who could read it. On another carved masterpiece from St
Paul's Churchyard, we read in runes that 'Ginne had the stone laid and
Toke .
.' but the remainder is lost
. (101).
In the later Viking period, particularly in Denmark and in eastern
Sweden, there is a series of stone monuments inscribed with runes. Some
are grave- or memorial-stones, some are boundary-markers, others mark
fords. They often record events, travels and family relationships of the
people who lived there. It was inevitable with the extensive use of stone
memorials and graveyard monuments in Christian contexts, that runes
should be employed extensively in the late Viking period. One of the
earliest Christian Viking monuments from Ardre in Gotland has a runic
inscription with a Christian sentiment despite its pagan iconography: 'The
sons of Liknat have raised a good monument to the memory of Ailikn,
good wife, mother of Aivat, Ottar and Gairvat and Liknvi. May God and
God's mother be merciful to her and to those who raised the monument
the largest to be seen in Garda .
.'
(48). These inscriptions and figural
.

representations give us a tantalising glimpse of people whose names we

know, but unfortunately they provide us with all too little historical
information about them and their way of life.

98
 7 Viking Dress

The dress and personal equipment of the Vikings was used to display their
wealth, for riches were the measure of status and success. Their love of
ostentatious display is revealed in the lavish goods found in pagan burials

and by the many ornaments buried in silver hoards. Ibn Fadlan described
a party of northern merchants whom he met on the River Volga:

Each woman carries on her bosom a container made of iron, silver, copper, or
gold - its size and substance depending on her man's wealth. Attached to the
container is a ring carrying her knife which is also tied to her bosom. Round her
neck she wears gold or silver rings; when a man amasses 10,000 dirhems [Arabic
coins] he makes his wife one gold ring; when he has 20,000 he makes two; and so
the woman gets a new ring for every 10,000 dirhems her husband acquires, and
often a woman has many of these rings.

What Ibn Fadlan does not tell us is that Viking men themselves liked to
wear such rings, and fine cloak-pins and brooches of gold and silver.
Indeed, the giving of rings was a traditional method by which a king
rewarded his retainers. Scandinavian poets of the Viking Age, in their
roundabout way, often praised their lords for hostility to gold - in other
words, for their generosity, for it was considered to be their duty to
distribute gold rather than to hoard it up.
Although the rich and successful could afford to wear rings and
brooches of precious metal, there will have been many freemen who would
have had to be content with ornaments of bronze for themselves and their
wives. But even these were gilt or tinned to imitate the finery of the rich
who drew their fashions from both east and west.
To reconstruct Scandinavian Viking-Age dress there are a variety of
sources to which we can turn, but none is as full or reliable as we might
wish. Medieval sagas provide the most extensive information, but current
fashions may have affected their descriptions of the dress worn by their
Viking-Age characters. Men and women are portrayed on the Gotlandic
'picture-stones' (8, 47), on the Oseberg tapestry, and in several miniatures
(41, 43); little detail is shown, but the general nature of their dress
emerges. Much can also be learnt from the study of grave-goods,
particularly when the body was buried fully clothed. Even though the
actual garments have perished in the ground, impressions of textiles may
be preserved in the corrosion formed on the brooches that once held them
together. Detailed study of such traces and surviving fragments of cloth
have revealed much information, particularly of female dress, to expand
considerably what can be learnt from contemporary pictures. But the
52 Brooches for a Viking gradual abandonment of the pagan practice of burying grave-goods means
woman, we are less able to follow changes in costume during the late Viking Age.

101
ill! VIKINGS

Viking settlers or traders in populated lands often adopted local dress

quite rapidly as part of the process of assimilation - or simply because it
was better for business. Nevertheless, there was a remarkable degree of
standardisation and conservatism in the dress of Scandinavian women. It
is a folk-costume that is readily recognisable to archaeology wherever the

Vikings settled in the ninth and tenth centuries from the distinctive
brooches that formed an essential part of it. The brooches do, however,
change in detail as time passes so as to keep up with the latest style.
Viking women wore a long, sometimes trailing, garment of linen - a shift
or chemise - often finely pleated and with short sleeves, or no sleeves at all.
It was closed at the neck by ribbons or a drawstring (buttons and hooks

were not used). Over this was a woollen tunic held up by a matched pair of
bronze brooches, oval-shaped and four to five inches long (52). These oval
brooches were worn high on the chest to secure the loops or shoulder-
straps of the outer garment, which might be of fine and even ornamented
cloth. There is no evidence that women wore belts, so that it will have hung
straight, reaching nearly to the ground, or even trailing behind, as can be
seen from several representations of female figures (43).
The bronze oval brooches had hollow convex shells, with the pin fitted
inside so that the dress-loops would have been concealed in use. The
brooches are usually well made and can be very ornate (53), but most are
rather crudely ornamented in standard patterns, indicating mass-
production. In fact they get cruder and uglier as the Viking Age passes,
suggesting that they" were of declining importance, until they were
abandoned altogether by the end of the period. This trend might have
been caused by a growing fashion for wearing shawls, which would of
course have covered up such brooches when worn so high on the chest.
Between the oval brooches would be strung festoons of beads - of silver,
amber, crystal or carnelian, but most often of multi-coloured glass (76).
Elaborate necklaces are also known (55), which might be further
embellished by the addition of pendants of many types (55, 54), including
those of both pagan and Christian significance (45, 109). A number of
personal objects could be suspended from one of the oval brooches on a
chain - a knife, key, comb, toilet implements (43), small shears, or needles
in a case - bringing to mind Ibn Fadlan's description quoted above.
The use of a shawl required a third brooch to hold it in place, worn in a
prominent position on the middle of the chest (52). These brooches took
many forms during the Viking Age from round to oblong, or even in the
shape of stylised animals (103). They could be a single disc of cast silver or
bronze (102), or highly elaborate, composite objects of great value and
prestige (85). Common types of brooch have two symmetrical arms, or are
three-lobed (56, 52), both shapes that were originally inspired by Frankish
fashions. Other women proudly displayed an imported ornament as their
shawl-brooch, maybe converted from a piece of loot (11), so advertising
their men's success in ventures overseas.
The great majority of Scandinavian women clearly conformed to the
fashion for oval brooches, except for the ladies of Gotland who preferred pj g 5 Viking dress
smaller ones shaped like animal-heads. Their jewellers had also designed reconstructed.

102
 .

w *ET
m M

"^S.
k

a>
l\-:

m+mt

53 left Exuberant animals

ornament a Norzoegian oval
brooch.

54 RIGHT Pendant from

Gotland zvith gold filigree
ornament
 *^gVgjJ!> rr #n§

rf&>
mk,
i*e
£>

.-at*" 9*--- -- V .
-

<* .--,
 f*
.*i?

^H

' SB Hi I ^^B

I ftl

m
55 v4 selection of glittering
and colourful necklaces for
the rich, from Sweden.
mm 1
I
-IS T

H
t
 H
m 0S
JMki?/
«Sg,

.
••«
["HE VIKINGS

and perfected cylindrical] box-like brooches (recalling Ibn Fadlan once

again) to clasp their shawls or cloaks (85). Occasionally, however, a woman
of distinction took an independent line in these matters, like one lady
buried at Birka with jewellery that included a pair of German enamelled
brooches replacing her oval ones), a magnificent gilt-bronze shawl-
brooch, and a pair of silver-gilt, horse-shaped mounts that would have
been threaded on to her necklace or sewn to her dress (56).
The simple disc-shaped brooch comes in all shapes and sizes; some were
mass-produced in bronze or pewter, but others were hand-crafted,
individual masterpieces in silver or gold (57). The largest of these
brooches will have been used on cloaks and may well have been designed
for use by men. All these brooches worn by Scandinavian men and women
were generally covered with patterns of stylised animals in the changing
styles of Viking art, described and illustrated in Chapter 1 1. 56 BELOW The rich and
Additional ornaments were a matter of individual choice and family varied ornaments buried with
fortune, but finger-rings, arm-rings and neck-rings were worn by men and a lady of Birka.

women alike. They form the principal ornaments that make up many of the
57 RIGHT Danish gold: disc-
hoards of silver and gold (18). The largest neck-ring known from the brooches of exceptional
Viking Age was ploughed up at Tissci in Denmark as recently as 1977 and splendour from the Hornelund
weighs about 4 lb of pure gold (58). It is so large and heavy, with a diameter hoard.

108
SWCTM3

&*'
 '

.-*•

M
§
^p

:>WH

^ -i*.

*/GSm
 VIKING DRESS

of fourteen inches, that it could only have been worn by a man - and a very
stout one at that!
These rings were characteristically made of gold or silver rods that were
twisted or plaited together (59), but arm-rings were also made from broad
bands of silver, frequently embellished with stamped ornament. Once
again those from the independently minded (and extremely wealthy)
island of Gotland have their own and design.
special characteristics
In winter heavy cloaks and furs were worn which would have been tied
by thongs, but some brooches are so large as to suggest that they were
intended expressly for garments of such thickness - not forgetting the
extra opportunities so presented for display. Such a brooch as that from
Mollerlokken in Denmark (60) is very practical for such a purpose. Its
long, sharp pin would have pierced the thickest and toughest cloak, and a
great mass of material could be bunched within its broad ring. But then its
delicate gold ornaments suggest that it was only used on special occasions —
feast-days, for instance.
The Mollerlokken brooch represents a particularly elaborate example of
a brooch fashionable among Scandinavian men in the tenth century, but of
a form which was originally adapted from brooches produced by native
Irish jewellers in the late ninth century. Such western brooches and cloak-
pins, which were both practical and ornate, proved immensely popular
when introduced into Scandinavia, where they were imitated and
elaborated. They were generally worn on the right shoulder, so that the
cloak parted on that side, enabling a man to keep his sword-arm free.
Vikings with wealth to spare were most certainly fashion conscious in
58 left Treasure from Tisso: their dress and ornaments, the men as much as the women. Indeed, male
the most massive gold neck-
costume was more varied and often more luxuriously trimmed than that of
ring from the Viking Age.
their women. At Birka, it was the men's graves that produced most of the

59 below Danish arm-rings imported silks and multi-coloured braids and bands, with which their
of gold and silver. tunics and cloaks were edged.

1 11
w
 VIKING DRESS

Contemporary pictures of Scandinavian men show a choice of trouser

styles,presumably held up by a drawstring or sash. Some were tapered,
others were worn straight, or even enormously baggy like those of the
fighting warriors on the Smiss stone (8). The rider on the Lillbjars stone
(47) has billowing breeches, based on an oriental cut, no doubt worn with
gartered stockings. Linen pants and shirts are mentioned in the medieval
sagas. Over these was worn a tunic reaching anywhere from mid-thigh to
below the knee. A belt completed the basic outfit, and from it hung such
comb or purse. The dress of poorer people such as slaves
objects as a knife,
was, however, much simpler - perhaps no more than a blanket-like
garment, with a hole for the head and tied about with a cord.
Leather shoes and ankle-boots for both men and women are known from
several finds; they were secured by a lace round the top or by a small toggle.
Whether found at Oseberg, Lund, Hedeby or York, there is little variety in
the simple, but functional types. Hats of various forms were also worn, but
less is known about these, although some of the helmets worn by men
shown in the pictures may be little more than leather caps. Some men wore
their hair to neck-length, holding it back with an ornamental head-band.
But others must have preferred a shorter style, with a fringe and a 'bared
neck', for men in eleventh-century England were being criticised for
adopting this 'Danish' cut. Beards and moustaches were carefully tended
(64). Married women were expected to keep their heads covered, but some
pictures suggest that their hair was still worn long, gathered up in a knot at
the back of the head (43).
A man would have given as much thought - or more - to his weapons as
to his clothes. He is unlikely to have often been without them, for as the
poem Hdvamdl says: 'A man should never move an inch from his weapons
when out in the fields, for he never knows when he will need his spear'. It
was the spear, and not the traditional axe, that was the commonest of all
Viking weapons. Spears were used for hunting as well as fighting and come
in all grades, from plain iron points to masterpieces of the weapon-smith's
craft, with lavishly ornamented sockets (63). Light spears were made for
throwing and the heavier ones were for thrusting. Some have wing-like
projections from their sockets, a type derived from the Carolingian Empire.
Perhaps it is these that are referred to in a Greenlandic verse of the
eleventh century, or later:

Full they were of fighters

and flashing bucklers,
western war-lances
and wound-blades Frankish.

The 'wound-blades Frankish' were high-quality sword-blades

60 far left Richly imported from the Rhineland and used for some of the finest Viking
ornamented brooch for a swords. For the sword was the most important of all weapons. Great care
man's cloak.
and expense might be lavished on the decoration of its hilt. The guards
61 left A ringed pin from
could be encrusted with precious metals (62, 83), or carved out of antler or
Birka imitates western ivory (98). But even the plainest iron sword (63) was a supremely
fashions. functional object of devastating efficiency. It was designed as a single-

113
 .

VIKING DRESS

62 LEFT Contrasting metals handed slashing weapon and had a blade about three feet long. To be ready
andstylised animals ornament for use., a sword was carried in a scabbard often finely ornamented with
a Xorzcegian sv:ord-hilt.
metal mounts, slung from a belt or a baldric across the shoulder.

63 below The I 'iking

The next most important offensive weapon was the axe - a weapon much
..jrrior's principal weapons: associated with the \ "ikings and portrayed in the hands of some of the
spear, axe and stvord. raiders on the Lindisfarne stone (2). Various forms were used., some
adapted from the woodman's axe which itself would be a useful weapon in
an emergency but others specially designed. The broad-axe. like that
.

from the River Thames at London 63 was a fearsome weapon of

.

immense force when wielded with strong arms.

Bows and arrows were used for fighting as well as for hunting; a massive
longbow recently excavated at Hedeby would have been a weapon of
considerable power. Some arrowheads were designed for maximum
armour-piercing force and one such may account for a hole in the iron
helmet from Gjermundbu. This Norwegian find is the only complete
\ 'iking helmet known to survive. In shape it is little more than a rounded

cap with a nose- and eye-guard, like monstrous spectacles. No horns, and
no wings., such as are frequently and mistakenly provided by all too
romantic modern imaginations! The truth of this is confirmed by the many
contemporary pictures of helmets, from those on the Gotlandic stone- -
47; to those of the Middleton and Sigtuna warriors 30, 64 .

The chief protection for the body was provided by the shield. These
were circular wooden boards, often painted., with a central iron boss to
protect the hand-grip. Mail-shirts are known there was one in the
Gjermundbu grave but were probably worn only by the rich.
.

115
m
 VIKING DKKSS

The Viking warrior commemorated by a tenth-century cross at

Middleton in Yorkshire (30) displays many of these elements of dress and
equipment, although he is crudely carved. He wears breeches or tight
trousers, with a belt from which hangs a large knife that would have had a
leather sheath similar to one found recently in York (65); on his head is a
conical helmet. To his left are arrayed his shield, sword and axe, with his
§ spear on his other side.
Fighting was a hand-to-hand affair and Viking tactics have been
described as 'consisting largely of bashing hell out of the opposing side'.
There was little unnecessary heroism; it was best to make a quick getaway
on occasion so as to live to fight another day. The use of horsemen in battle
increased during the Viking Age and there are a number of rich burials
which contain one or two horses and the necessar\ equipment, known
from tenth-century Denmark and from Birka. As much care was taken
with the decoration of the riding-equipment of such men as was given to
their weapons. Matched pairs of stirrups and of spurs (66) are found in
graves. Adam of Bremen had heard in the eleventh century that the
Swedes were 'very great warriors both on horses and on ships'. There can
be no doubt that the qualities of their ships and their weapons were an
important factor in the successes of the Vikings on their raids and military
expeditions.

64 left The helmeted head

of a warrior, found at
Sigtuna, Sweden.

65 above Leather sheath

from York with Anglo-
Scandinavian ornament.

66 right Silver-encrusted
riding equipment from
Denmark.

117
 8 Kings and Coinage

The Viking Age resounds with the names of great leaders, and kings
bearing exotic-sounding nicknames. Some receive cryptic mention in
contemporary chronicles. Some appear larger than life in medieval
Icelandic sagas, composed long after the Viking Age was over. As
adventurers, exiles, leaders of raids or rulers of kingdoms they sometimes
move about the Viking world with startling speed. In modern terms many
died very young, and often by violence. Rarely were they safe from their
enemies or followers.
Until the late Viking period we know little definite about territorial
organisation and political control within Scandinavia itself. A few facts
relating to the earlier period are gleaned from accounts written by visiting
monks or merchants. Where the Vikings were active abroad some account
of their organisation survives, but some of the terminology employed may
not always be clear to us. The area about which most is known, Iceland,
67 Silver pennies of the was a republic from its formal establishment in 930 until 1262, and was
Viking kingdom of York.
effectively run by a few powerful families and their supporters, manipu-

a) above left Obverse of a lating the assemblies of freemen.

penny with the name of St We may recognise early leaders from the intrinsic value and symbolic
Peter, showing a sword and what was buried in their graves. At Valsgarde in Uppland is a
prestige of
Thor's hammer (c. 910J. sequence of burials of armed men, often with richly worked ornaments,
harness and a range of equipment, each buried in a boat. Here from the
b)above right Obverse of a
penny of Raienalt, showing a seventh century a powerful family maintained its outstanding position,
bearded effigy (c. 920 ) but we do not know what role its members played, nor how they were
designated. There appears to have been a series of regional chiefs in parts
c) centre left Reverse of a of Scandinavia, whatever their titles and relative position, well into the
penny of Raienalt, showing a
Viking Age. At other Scandinavian sites a rich burial may be isolated,
bow and arrow (c. 920)
implying perhaps that power acquired by one individual was not handed
d) CENTRE right Obverse of on locally and died with him. Some leaders were buried abroad where they
a penny of Anlaf were killed or suddenly died. At the mouth of the Loire, on the He de
Guthfrithsson with royal title Groix, a ship was burned with numerous shields and weapons, the tools of
CUNUNC, showing a raven a smith, silver and gold fragments and gold-embroidered cloth. Perhaps
(c. 940).
the cremation burial was that of the leader of a group of sea-raiders. He

e) below left Reverse of a may have achieved this position by status inherited at home or by prestige
penny of Anlaf Sihtricsson, acquired abroad.
showing a standard with a The chronicles often refer to kings, chiefs, or leaders of an army, but
cross (c. 942 J what the limits were on their power we do not know. Although in general
terms the stratification of society and differences in wealth are reflected in
f) below right Obverse of a
the contents of graves, it is not possible to equate the rich grave accessories
penny of Anlaf Sihtricsson,
showing a triquetra ornament directly with status. When the Scandinavian states were being established
(c. 942). under a central king, traditional territorial magnates, such as the earls who

119
THE VIKINGS

were nominally subordinate, or army leaders, were as rich and almost as

independent as the royal authority. Hence the importance to the royal
power of sole control of towns and taxing trade, or of amassing wealth by
more systematic raiding than their subordinates.
In the Viking period power depended on prestige and the support of
other, less powerful men. In a descending hierarchy of relationships it
extended to the level of the free, weapon-bearing farmer -even kings could
not ignore the feelings of the assemblies of freemen. Followers were
obtained by successfully acquiring wealth which could be redistributed to
the benefit of supporters. Returning home after seasonal hit-and-run raids
or after longer periods in exile, men with silver and prestige were able to
break into the inherited social order based on wealth in land. As the scale Of
warfare became larger and more complex, raiding parties grew to armies
which wintered away from home.
Organisation was needed to ensure supplies and make tactical decisions.
When armies settled territory, or permanently occupied towns, they were
vulnerable to counter-attack and required territorial organisation for
defence. To protect trade-routes and centres which they were then taxing
rather than raiding, \ iking leaders had to organise against still predatory
Scandinavians. Some leaders and petty kings lived in their towns - from
Dublin to Kiev - as 'city states', while others were controlled by royal
representatives such as Heirgar, who erected the first church at Birka. At
Hedeby has been found an outstanding grave of the tenth century, with
weapons (83) and a glass drinking-vessel, placed in a chamber under a
ship. Whether this is of a local ruler, or of the Danish king's representative
in the town, is unknown.
We hear of dominant families, men linked by blood ties or marriage,
who raised large armies and whose ambitions were for territorial
aggrandisement. Attempts by its kings to dominate not only Norway but
also Norse settlements, by delegating earls to rule provinces or by sending
out their sons, are typical of Norway. These politics were complicated
by claims based on inheritance and by alliances contrary to family
obligations. In the late Viking period Scandinavia itself became the scene
of fierce conflicts between rivals for kingdoms and between kings. For it
was the personal power of the man, and the support he might enjoy,
however temporarily, that held a kingdom.
Coins can be used to supplement the sparse written records in the study
of this formative period of political history. From their inscriptions it is
possible to identify coins minted under rulers known from documents, and
thus also record figures whose historical identity is otherwise lost to us.
Many coins are struck with the name of their moneyer and the place of
minting, and the dates of striking many of them can now be established
with relative precision. From analysing the dates of their burial in hoards
we can identify episodes of insecurity when people hid their wealth, and
could not return to claim it.
The earliest Scandinavian coinage was probably minted at Hedeby 68a Coin reused as
(

about the year 825 (68a). Its coins were struck between two iron dies on pendant) struck at Hedeby,
,

thin silver blanks. Their designs copied and modified elements from the c. 825.

120

oi
 KINGS AND COINAGH

coins of the Carolingian Empire with which the town had strong trade-
links. Rarely found outside early trading-sites, they appear to have
been a short-lived issue. The first Viking coins in England were struck in
those Danish areas where there were strong commercial contacts with ihc
Anglo-Saxons who had a highly developed silver coinage. Dating from the
late 880s, after the partition of England, coins were struck in the southern
68b Penny of Guthrum after
Danelaw by King Guthrum (68b). They bear his baptismal name,
he was baptised Athelstan,
struck c. 888-90. Athelstan, which had been bestowed on him by the English King Alfred
afterhe defeated the Vikings in 878. Like many subsequent Viking issues,
they imitated contemporary Anglo-Saxon coins.
At Quentovic, a flourishing trading port on the Channel coast of Erance,
an imitative coinage was established by the Viking occupants copying local
Carolingian issues. The designs of the earliest coins from York, struck just
before 900, were also mainly Carolingian in inspiration, suggesting a
North Sea trading interest. But as relations with Anglo-Saxon England
grew stronger it was the designs of the Anglo-Saxon coins which were
more often imitated. As in the Anglo-Saxon coinage there were two
68c & d Obverses of a penny
denominations: the silver penny and halfpenny (68c, d).
and halfpenny of Cnut, struck
at York, c. 900. From 919 954 York was ruled periodically by Irish-Norse
until
elements from Dublin and by Norwegian and Anglo-Saxon kings. The
forging of an axis from Dublin and the Irish Sea across Lancashire, over
the Pennines to York and so the North Sea, became politically and
militarily significant in Norwegian plans for domination. Coins were
names of all three groups. That management of the coinage
issued in the
was a commercial non-political matter is shown by the
essentially
consecutive employment of some of the same moneyers despite these
changes in political control. In the circumstances of the tenth century
a reliable coinage was essential for the cosmopolitan trade-centre that
York became. In the area of the Five Boroughs the earliest Viking issues,
although they are blundered copies of Anglo-Saxon coins, are struck to a
lighter weight standard. At Lincoln rare coins bear the mint signature of
the town and a representation of the sword of a locally revered saint (68e).
Later, Derby issued coins for both Viking and Anglo-Saxon kings.
Curiously very few of these Viking coins are found in Scandinavia, being
used mainly in Irish Sea and Anglo-Saxon trade. This phase of Viking
68e Penny with the name of coinage was brought to an end when
954 Eirik 'Bloodaxe', the last
in
St Martin, struck at Lincoln, Viking King of York, was finally expelled, and the town incorporated into
c. 915. the English kingdom. There were no further independent Viking coinages
in England.
After 973, regular type-changes were an aspect of Anglo-Saxon coinage
administration. Changes of design were copied, one after the other, by the
Viking coinage of silver pennies that was started in Dublin in about 997
under Sihtric III 'Silkbeard' (68f). After 980 when the Battle of Tara
broke Dublin's political power, trade had increased in importance. The
purpose of the coinage was to facilitate trade around the Irish Sea,
especially with the Anglo-Saxon areas, whose coins had previously been
68f Penny of Sihtric III, used in large numbers. The early Dublin coins copied the current Anglo-
struck at Dublin, c. 997. Saxon type and when it was periodically changed Dublin followed suit to

121
THE VIKINGS

make its own coins more widely acceptable. The waning commercial
fortunes of Dublin are reflected in growing lightness of weight, and the
jf* .

degeneration of legends into illiteracy, as shown by an otherwise splendid

example of about 1065 (68g).
disappointment that the faces - mostly in profile - which dominate
It is a

Viking coins are merely copied from Anglo-Saxon coins. Often the head 68g Penny with blundered
remains the same time after time while the name of the ruler changes. One legends, struck at Dublin,
possible concession to realism may be the head of Raienalt, ruler of York, c. 1065.

on coins struck about the year 915 (67b).

The artistic quality of some coins, as well as their purely technical
excellence, is remarkable. We know from their names that some moneyers
of Viking coins were of Frankish or Anglo-Saxon origin; and the
inscriptions on the coins were usually in Latin - the king would be called
'Rex' and only rarely by his old Norse title 'Cununc'. Inscriptions in runic
characters such as on a mid eleventh-century Danish coin of Sven
Estridsson are rare (68h). Designs on the reverse side were sometimes 68h Penny of Sven
copied, more or less closely, from Carolingian coins, for instance the Estridsson, struck at Lund,
monogram of the name 'Carolus' (68j). Although some Viking coins c. 1065-74.
faithfully copy the current Anglo-Saxon types, others have highly original
designs. Sometimes issues show a standard, triquetra, bow and arrow,
sword or Thor's hammer, as in some of the York coins, while the raven
occurs on others (6yd). But in general, Christian iconography such as the
simple equal-armed cross or more specifically the Lamb of God, would
T~^i
proclaim the adherence to Christianity of the Scandinavian rulers. Some
of the earliest Viking issues in East Anglia struck in the 890s commemorate
the martyred Anglo-Saxon King Edmund, sanctified after his execution in
870 by Vikings (68k). penny with
68j Reverse of a
Carolus monogram, struck at
The and propaganda value of coins should not be under-
prestige
York, c. 900.
estimated. no accident that Scandinavian coins continued to copy
It is

Anglo-Saxon issues after the emergence of the early national kingdoms

about ad 1000, nor that Byzantine influences can be seen in Scandinavian
coins most strongly from about 1050.
We first read of Viking kings in the area of the later kingdom of
Denmark, but it is not clear how great an area they controlled. By the early
ninth century, King Godfred was active along the strategic sea trade-
routes, attacking Frisia and the West Slavs. In 808 he destroyed the town
of Reric in Slav territory, and planted the merchants in his own settlement
at Hedeby. He may have begun, or strengthened, an already existing 68k Penny commemorating
St Edmund, struck in East
timber and earth rampart defending the southern frontier. Known as the
Anglia, c. 890.
'Danevirke', this defensive system became a complex series of earthworks
('fig. 7). In south-east Jutland a great land route, the Ha^rvej, leading
directly northwards through Jutland enters the kingdom of Denmark.
Here the Danevirke defended it, blocking a gap between the Schlei
Estuary and the rivers protecting the south-western part of the Jutland
Peninsula. Relations with the expanding Empire to the south and west
were always tense and Jutland was occasionally invaded by land from this
quarter. Harald Klak, exiled from Denmark, was converted, and on his
return in 826 brought the monk Ansgar with a mission. Political pressure

122

lit
 KINGS AND COINAGE

\orth Sea

Fig. 7 The earthwork on Horik was probably behind his granting royal permission in 850 for a
I

defences of the southern church to be erected at Hedeby.

border of the kingdom of
It was the proud boast of Harald 'Bluetooth' (c. 950-985?) that he 'won
Denmark.
the whole of Denmark and Norway for himself and made the Danes
Christians'. This brief summary of his own achievements he set in runes
on a massive granite boulder in the shape of a three-sided pyramid eight
feet high, at the royal burial-place at Jelling in east-central Jutland. He was
probably responsible for removing the bones of his mother and father,
Gorm and Thyra, from their pagan burial-mound, and placing them
within a newly built wooden church. This was sited within a massive
group of stones, shaped like a ship, that linked two immense flat-topped
mounds on the site (69). From another runestone we know that he was
once married to Tova, daughter of a strategically placed Slav king.
Certainly Harald was successful diplomatically but the land frontier was
vulnerable to attack and the Danevirke was extended.
Hedeby, which formed a tempting prize and had been occupied early in
the tenth century by a Swedish king, was from the later tenth century
protected by a large semicircular earthwork enclosing an area of about
sixty acres and by further earthworks on its southern side. These ditches
and banks, sometimes faced with timber, with timber superstructure and
gateways, are evidence of great power. Not only resources in manpower
and technical skills were involved, but a degree of planning that could only
be controlled by a king. Within Hedeby the regular layout suggests strong
control at a local level. The town was the terminal of sea-routes and
protected by a large wooden palisade encircling the harbour. Around
Danish coasts there are local defences such as massed palisades, some of

123
THE VIKINGS

which may be of Viking date, while the barrier of wrecks deliberately sunk 69 The tenth-century Danish
near Skuldelev to block the fjord approach to Roskilde dates to the royal burial site at Jelling.

eleventh century. A group of four circular earthworks, situated

strategically by important routes and often naturally protected, were
probably part of a further system. These sites protected groups of large,
regularly planned timber buildings which have in the past been
interpreted as barracks while troops were assembled for the invasion, of
England in the early eleventh century. But all four sites had a short
occupation during the last quarter of the tenth century, women have been
found buried in their cemeteries, and there is a scarcity of weapons. This is
not the kind of evidence expected from a military site. Research shows that
at Fyrkat (70) the internal structures were used as stores, iron-smithies
and fine-metal workshops, as well as for housing people. It may have been
an administrative and tax-gathering centre, supplying the king's men, and
this may have been the function of the other similar sites (fig. 8).
From about the same period a great wooden bridge, over half a mile
long, was built across a boggy valley at Ravning Knge in eastern Jutland to

124

I*
 KINGS AND COINAGE

Dwelling house

Smithy

Workshop for the production

of silver, (?) gold and (?) bronze

Store, stable etc.

Guard house

House of indeterminable use

Fig. 8 The function of improve north-south land communications. While the dating of some of
buildings within the late is not precise enough to attribute them to Harald
the sites and earthworks
tenth-century ring-fort at
rather than his son, it is likely that Harald's organisation allowed rapid
Fyrkat, Denmark,
interpreted from excavation.
further growth in Denmark. His son, Svein 'Forkbeard' (c. 985-1014),
mounted massive raidson England from the 980s. The Danegeld was
70 Overleaf A
view of the systematically extorted - masses of silver in blackmail payment - largely in
reconstructed rampart. coin. It flooded into Denmark (including southern Sweden) and seems to
have stimulated the first regal coinage in the kingdom. After the massacre
of Danes on St Brice's Day 1002 by the English, among whose victims was
Svein's sister, he determined to conquer the country and in 1014 he was
accepted as King of England. Only weeks later he died.
With Knut Sveinsson 'the Great' (1 014-1035) there was a personal
union of England, Norway and Denmark. Nominally the area he
controlled stretched from the North Cape of Arctic Norway to south-west
England to south-east Sweden. The extent and nature of control over his
kingdom may be seen from the coinage: a regular network of mints to serve
local needs was established in Denmark on the Anglo-Saxon model, and

125
 'TO I

/"Spr?

fSm

**•»
THE VIKINGS

Anglo-Saxon moneyers are recorded on coins struck at Lund (681). In

England dies were often made at regional centres, types were standardised
from one end of the kingdom to the other, and changes in type took place
uniformly. The organisation this implies is extremely efficient, the Anglo-
Scandinavian kingdom being in no way less developed than any other in
northern Europe. Knut was a European king and was accepted as their
681 Penny of Knut 'the
equal, visiting Rome for the coronation of the German emperor, Conrad,
Great', struck at Lund,
in 1027. He formed dynastic marriages, but the unity disintegrated with
c. 1018-20.
his death in 1035. From 1042 to 1046 King Magnus of Norway ruled Den-
mark and defeated a Slav invasion in 1043, but then there was war between
the Norwegians and the Danes under Sven Estridsson. Hedeby was sacked
in 1050 and Arhus several times, until in 1064 a treaty acknowledged the
separation of both states. In 1066 Hedeby was sacked by the Slavs and
never recovered, its position being taken over by near-by Schleswig.
In England Anglo-Saxon kings ruled from 1042 until 1066.
Scandinavian mercenary troops were paid off by Edward 'the Confessor'
in 1 05 1, ending the flow of English silver payments which went to
Denmark. This event was marked by an immediate increase in the weight
of the English penny being produced at the time. In 1066 a Norwegian
attack was routed by the English, but a Norman army under their Duke
William succeeded in conquering the kingdom. Sven Estridsson attacked
England in 1069-70, but made peace after William had ruthlessly ravaged
areas with Scandinavian population. England was drawn into European
French politics by the Normans, but for two decades there were abortive
raids and threats of invasion from Scandinavia. In 1085 Knut 11, 'the
Holy', of Denmark failed in his attempt to win over the strong
Scandinavian population of northern and eastern England, and the threat
of Scandinavian interference never seriously revived.
In Norway a ninth-century centre of power is represented along the
Oslo Fjord by a small number of outstanding ship-burials under large
mounds. One young woman, buried with an aged woman servant at
Oseberg, may even have been Queen Asa, the grandmother of Harald
'Finehair'. The attempts by Harald 'Finehair' in the later ninth century to
impose central control by force ultimately failed with his death. In Norway
native coinage is first associated with Olaf Tryggvason in the last years of
the tenth century. He led a turbulent life, which gave rise to many stories
about him, including tales of outlawry and fighting among the Slavs, the
English and the Norwegians; in the end, he was drowned in the Baltic. He
was the first Norwegian to be involved in taking the Danegeld from
England and, as is the case in Denmark, this stimulus seems to have started
a native coinage. He had attempted to enforce Christianity upon the
Norwegians, and Olaf Haraldsson (1015-30; known as St Olaf soon after
his death; was killed while trying to impose his political rule and Christian
beliefs over Norway. Magnus 'the Good' made Norway independent of
Denmark from 1035, but it was on the initiative of Harald 'the Ruthless'
(1047-66) that a strong local coinage was introduced (68m). But much of
this coinage was very base silver as analysis has shown, and a saga story 68m Penny of Harald 'the
tells of the reluctance of one Halldor Snorrason to accept it: 'Why should I Ruthless', struck c. 1047-55.

128

MM
 KINGS AND COINAGE

serve him [Harald] any longer when I don't even get my pay unadulter-

ated?/ to which the reply 'You did not behave decently when you threw
is:

the money down on the straw the King regards this as an insult.' Hut
. . .

after a while he was paid in fine weighed silver. Harald died at the Battle of
Stamford Bridge trying to gain the kingdom of England in 1066.
For Sweden there is very little information about the early Viking
period. Accounts of Ansgar's mission to Scandinavia in the second quarter
of the ninth century name King Bjorn who controlled the town of Birka.
Like Hedeby, the town was imposed on an existing site, and was successor
to a previous trading and craft centre near by. In the tenth century it was
fortified with an earthwork surrounding about thirty acres and appears to
have had some harbour defences. Olaf Skottkonung 994-1022), who was
converted in 1008 to Christianity, instituted a native coinage but it
did not endure. Gotland, which was independent and without a ruler or
central urban site, continued to import masses of English and German
coins but did not mint independently.
The dates chosen to mark the close of the Viking Age vary from area to
area, but in Scandinavia it is often set about 1050. The eleventh century is

a period when royal intervention in encouraging growth in towns in

Scandinavia increased. Birka had been replaced by Sigtuna. Hedeby by
Schleswig, and little remained on the old sites. New towns were
established which nearly all survived into the modern period as important
centres: inNorway - Trondheim, Bergen and Oslo; in Sweden - Sigtuna,
Lund and Skara; in Denmark - Alborg, Odense and Roskilde among
others. They sometimes became the seat of a bishop as well as a mint. In
inscriptions of the late Viking Age, we read of craft or merchant guilds -
organised groups of men in towns bound by common interests. The
emergence of national states with centralised political structures required
administrative centres, a standardised coinage and regulated trade. The
transition to such medieval forms of institution had beginnings in the
Viking Age. Christianity was rapidly adopted and promulgated by the
later kings because of the mutual support each hierarchical organisation
offered. External intervention also played a part, and the aggressive policy
of conversion by the Church was mirrored in German territorial
expansion which was always a threat to the Kingdom of Denmark.

129
'

.'
_^

**K
m
;
 9 Viking Crafts

One of the characteristics of the Viking Age is the increasingly intensive

use of local resources, which included raw materials for craft production as
well as agricultural products. Primary raw materials and semi-finished
items were supplied to a growing number of urban workshops. The
products of these craftsmen have long been known and recent excavations
in towns have revealed the workshops where many of these pieces must
have been made. Basic raw materials were worked as well as more exotic
ones, and a variety of service activities developed in the towns. For with
the growth of long-distance trade in luxury items, centred on urban sites,
there came a demand for various semi-specialist craft industries. Trading
in the products of these workshops, and marketing a range of non-
agricultural products, an intense local trade between Scandinavian
settlements grew up.
As the period progressed the network of trading-links grew more
complex and the numbers of communities involved increased. Agricul-
tural settlements, which contained the bulk of Viking population, were
largely self-sufficient in foodstuffs, clothing and building materials but not
all were able to supply their requirements in iron, or salt which was used in

preserving meat and fish. Communities gaining their living by trading and
craft specialisation needed an outside surplus of agricultural produce to
support them. The circulation of luxury and urban manufactured goods
was a stimulus to producing readily exchangeable items. The range of
urban crafts, their quality and volume of production was quite distinct
from those of the countryside.
The availability of slave or unfree labour on farming estates sometimes
released the owner from essential farm work, allowing him to engage in
other activities to supplement his income. In areas where the land was
agriculturally marginal and unproductive, this would ensure extra
security in providing essential supplies. The Norwegian, Ottar, is an
example of a farmer who also engaged in seasonal hunting and trading (p.
41. Hunting for fur to supply the luxury trade explains the expansion of
settlement into the forests and uplands of Scandinavia. Graves here
contain hunting equipment including specialised arrows with blunt ends
to prevent damage to fur, and broad blades to cut tendons.
A further stimulus to settlement in the mountain areas of Norway and
the agriculturally barren areas of central and northern Sweden was the

71
, , .

A group of tools deposited

,
.... ~
., .....
presence there of surface bog-iron, which was not found in agricultural^
, .

rlch limestone soils. Ores were deposited in the peat-bogs by centuries of

-.

grave of a tenth-
in the
century Norwegian weapon- percolating ground-water with iron salts in solution. Because of the
smith, presence of forest timber the ores could be reduced with charcoal on the

131
THE VIKINGS

spot to produce a spongy iron slag, which was then further refined. Heaps
of waste slag and burnt clay from the structures of furnaces mark these
primitive working areas. Iron ore was mined in Sweden during the late
Viking period but both the technology and exact date at which it
commenced is obscure. Copper ores may also have been mined.
Many farm estates provided their own iron from local bog deposits, but
iron had been traded since the fifth and sixth centuries to early centres
such as Helgo from more peripheral settlement areas. To supply the
demand for high-grade iron in large quantities, the sources of production
had to be expanded even before the Viking period. There was a growing
need for agricultural tools so that more food could be produced for an
expanding population, and, for example, for woodsmen's axes used in
clearing the forests. Specialised hunting equipment, riding-gear and
weapons for the prosperous farmers were widely in demand, and a whole
range of elaborate domestic items in iron began to appear, such as, for
example, the lamp from Hennum and the spit from Lund (72). The rich
graves in iron-extracting areas show that local smithing technology had
reached a high level of skill. An iron cauldron on a chain from Bengtsarvet
in the iron-rich Swedish province of Dalarna is an outstanding example

(35). Iron blanks in the rough shape of hoes, chisels or axes were produced,
perhaps representing a value or weight equivalent in various areas of
Norway and Sweden, and widely traded. A group of twelve axe-shaped
blanks on a spruce-wood carrying-stave found in eastern Jutland had been
imported from northern Scandinavia. Sites such as Hedeby have masses of
slag from iron-smithing, concentrated especially on the edges of the
densely packed settlement to avoid the risk of fire during working. The
massive iron anchor from the trading site of Ribe is a tour deforce of the
smith's craft.
The increased production of iron coincided with a greater specialisation
of iron tools used by various craftsmen. A range of basic forms was
successfully established and consequence varied little until the
in
Industrial Revolution. Much of the everyday wood- and iron-working on
the farm appears to have been done locally, but itinerant craftsmen,
competent to undertake a variety of specialist jobs and hawking some
items, travelled around the countryside. A wooden chest from Mastermyr
on Gotland contained the tools of one such man, lost perhaps while
crossing a frozen bog during the winter. The objects found imply a wide
variety of skills: heavy iron-smithing; light work involving nail-making;
the repair of bronze cauldrons (shears to cut the sheet patches were
included). He could also perform various woodworking tasks, including
joinery and carpentry, using the axes, adzes, light saws and plane, and
possibly also made barrels.
Legends and archaeology indicate the importance of the smith in the
community, particularly the specialist in weapon-making. From Bygland
in Norway, a tenth-century grave shows the wealth and status that a skilled
craftsman who specialised in mctalworking could acquire. The grave
contained four swords, four spears, shield-bosses, axes, arrows and knives,
and a range of riding-gear. Presumably these were part of the smith's

132

lUk
 VIKING CRAFTS

stock. The tools (71) suggest both heavy and light iron-smithing, and

T included specialist equipment for making axes. Recent research into the
technology and composition of iron objects has revealed great
sophistication and skill in craftsmanship. The making of weapons,
especially swords, was a highly skilled task. The finest, sometimes marked
with the maker's name, were imported from the Rhineland. where skill
had developed over centuries. The best Scandinavian and imported blades
were pattern-welded, that is formed of numbers of individual iron strips
twisted and welded together to form a composite whole. There was a long
process of building up the blade from welding together in a particular
sequence strips of metal in groups of different qualities. The finished
surface when polished showed a variegated pattern from the succession of
welds - this proved the quality of the workmanship and hence reliability in
battle. The process of complex hammering removed impurities which
would have weakened the metal, causing it to break with impact; and its
structure gave it great flexibility. The addition of carbon to the iron in the
furnace produced hard steel, which was used on the outer edges to form a
sharp cutting-blade.
A versatile soft and easily worked material which increased in
importance during the Viking period was soapstone, or steatite. This soft,
easily carved rock outcrops especially in south-west Norway and might
have been worked seasonally. Even large vessels were blocked-out in the
living rock and trimmed roughly to shape on the spot. Some of them were
transported in this state to Kaupang. where fragments show that they were
finished off there before being exported or redistributed in the
countryside. Vessels from Hedeby and Birka show that they were in use in
these trading-centres. One of the simplest forms was the hemispherical
bowl, often very finely finished with a rifling technique on the interior ^73).

~2 RIGHT Iron spit for

roasting meat, from
Lund.

73 FAR RIGHT SoapStOtlC

bozvl v:ith rifled interior.
incised on the rim with
maker's mark, from
Landvikzannet Norway.
.

133
THE VIKINGS

Makers' or owners' marks on the rim show their value. Other more
complex forms included handled vessels or rectangular forms which
demonstrate the expertise of the carver.
The ability to carve soapstone into complex shapes resulted in a range of
artefacts often decorated on their surfaces, the furnace-stone from
Snaptun, for example (46). The delicate shaping of a tear-shaped line-
weight from Hedeby shows how aesthetically perfect a simple, functional
object could become. A further source of soapstone which was worked
intensively is in the Shetland Islands; on the site of Jarlshof a range of
simple vessels and artefacts such as spindle-whorls and miniature lamps
has been found. Objects of soapstone found at York may have been
imported from either source. A further source was in Greenland, and a
soapstone weight incised with a Thor's hammer from Brattahlid is
amongst evidence of its being worked in this remote area.
Other types of stone were used for making specialised artefacts, such as
delicately fashioned pendants from Birka; they were carefully selected for
their beautiful colouring. Some may have been amulets, while others
served as pin- or needle-sharpeners. The black stones could be used as
touchstones to test the colour and hence purity of gold. Larger whetstones
for sharpening iron tools were an important part of everyday equipment
and were widely traded, especially as varying degrees of quality in
sharpening were required to produce a finely honed edge from a newly
forged blade. Examples from Norway have been identified at York. A
Viking shipwreck near Kaupang had a group of whetstones among its
cargo. Whether there was a bulk trade in such items or whether they
represent sporadic individual initiative is not certain, but at Hedeby there
is a considerable quantity of Norwegian schist.
Raw materials such as carnelian and crystal may have been imported to
places like Hedeby working into beads, as well as being brought in as
for
finished items. Local amber was worked for costume jewellery, ornaments
and special possessions, for example, gaming-pieces. Ranging in colour
from a dark, reddish brown to a translucent straw, the colouring and tactile
properties of amber made it a treasured material long before the Viking
period. Amber is the fossilised resin from ancient pine forests, long
submerged under the sea. The material could be gathered irregularly
along the North Sea coasts of East Anglia, south-west Jutland and the
shores of the south Baltic, having been washed loose from its deposits by
sea currents, especially during violent storms. It was worked in specialist
workshops at Ribe, York, Hedeby and Birka, especially into small delicate
items (74). Workshop debris shows that it was cut, carved and turned with
many of the techniques used in working jet and bone. Shapes such as the
axe pendant from Hedeby (74) and the cat from Birka may be charms. A
small group of amber statuettes and animal representations in the round
show how expertly the craftsmen made the most of its particular 74 above right Amber:
properties.
unfinished and finished items,
worked at Hedeby.
The ivory tusk of the walrus was also a prized material, and well suited
to three-dimensional carving. The seated figure from Lund, which may be
75 BELOW RIGHT Walrus-
of the god Freyr and is possibly a gaming-picce, is a delicate example of the ivory figure from Lund.

134
THE VIKINGS

possibilities presented by its surface texture and quality (75). It was much
in demand in western Europe, and was a valuable export from the northern
Scandinavian settlements, especially Greenland.
In complete contrast is jet. This is another
the black lustrous surface of
fossilised deposit, closely related to shale. It exposed in cliffs near
is

Whitby in eastern Yorkshire, and some was worked at York during the
Viking period. This appears to have been the only source, so that finds
from Scotland and Norway are evidence of internal trading. The lightly
incised gaming-piece from Bawdsey in East Anglia is one of the larger
worked pieces, while armlets from Castletown in Scotland and Hoyland in
Norway show the versatility of the medium. Pendants in the form of a
coiled snake (16) and lathe-turned beads occur. One outstanding piece of
three-dimensional carving in jet comes from Tresfjorden in Norway (16).
The treatment of the two bears gambolling is naturalistic, and may be
considered along with other unusual representations, like the amber cat
and elk-antler bird from Birka.
A completely different technique is the use of glass for small trinkets and
ornaments. Most glass vessels were imported. Broken fragments of such
vessels may have been used as raw material in Scandinavian glass-
working. At Paviken on Gotland and at Birka glass mosaic cubes have been
found which were imported, perhaps from as far away as northern Italy.
Originally used for mosaic floor and wall coverings, they were now melted
down and reused. Glass was worked at Hedeby, but the details of this are
obscure. Excavations at Ribe have uncovered a local workshop which
produced multi-coloured glass beads. The mosaic effect of this kind of
glass was achieved by a series of minutely complex actions. Each different
pattern was the result of fusing composite coloured glass rods in varying
combinations, and these rods themselves were formed by bunching and
folding over others, then drawing out the hot glass into the form of a
narrow rod. A necklace such as that from Eidem (76) can be seen as the
product of great expertise and skill, as well as being an intrinsically
beautiful piece of costume jewellery. Simpler glass beads and glass paste
were also made on Viking urban sites. Other trinkets of glass such as
finger-rings were made by Anglo- Scandinavian craftsmen in Lincoln and
elsewhere.
Clay was used to make a range of everyday items. Baked clay weights for
the weaving-loom, and small spindle-whorls used in making thread are
common on Viking sites. Crucibles for melting metals, and crude discs to
guard the bellow's nozzle from the heat of the furnace were specialised
uses of clay in metalworking. But a developed mass-production industry
for pottery was lacking over much of Scandinavia until the very end of the
Viking period and when it did appear, in Lund was under
for instance, it

strong Slav influence (34). Imported pottery vessels were costly and not in
general use, being largely restricted to towns and other trading-centres.
Soapstone, bronze and iron fulfilled some specialised functions, but
leather and wood must have been the principal everyday materials. Lathe-
76 A necklace of richly
turned vessels such as the mug and platter from York are representatives of coloured glass beads from
one form of specialised manufacture. The stave-built tub from Lund with Eidem, Norway.

136
THE VIKINGS

its elaborate construction-marks and binding is another. Ladles and

scoops, often with handle terminals, and made to fine
decorated
proportions, are found. Delicately worked spoons are at the smaller end of
the size range.
It is quite clear that the wood used for these different vessels - oak,

maple, ash and others - was carefully chosen to suit techniques of

production and use. The range of artefacts preserved in the ship-burial at
Oseberg in Norway, and above all the high quality of the applied art carved
on many of them, shows the variety of manufactured goods available to the
well-off. Urban excavation shows how highly developed woodworking
came to be among the crafts practised. The number of different tools from
Mastermyr (p. 132) suggests great expertise, and the fragment of carved
plank, perhaps part of a piece of furniture, from Trondheim shows how
wood-carving lent itself to artistic expression. Since organic material is so
rarely preserved, the panels from Flatatunga (1 14) and the magnificently
carved doorway from the church at Urnes (115) are representatives of a
whole range of lost material. The use of timber in fortification,
shipbuilding and house construction was on a larger scale, requiring
different skills. The supply of timber in these quantities implies a
developed logistic and transport system to meet requirements (p. 123).
Another aspect of large-scale working is stone-carving. Although
painted memorial-stones appear on Gotland, the use of slabs of stone as a
medium for Viking carved decoration, especially for memorial-stones, is

the result of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic influence. Stone-carving reached a

peak in northern England and the Isle of Man. Not only was it worked in
urban contexts as at York (77), but rural schools developed for local
patrons. At York slabs of stone left from the Roman period were reused,
and it is likely that fresh blocks were hewn and transported from near-by
quarries. On the Isle of Man soft slabs of slate were treated in a manner
akin to carving wooden planks.
The intensive working of bone, antler and horn
into a whole series of
artefacts which were functional shows how the Viking
as well as decorative
utilised all available natural resources. Cattle or horse bones, flattened on
the lower surface and perforated for attachment to the feet, were used as
skates (27). They are particularly common in Lund and are found in graves
at Birka. Skeletal bone was not a popular medium for delicate reworking
and was often used for crude tools such as pointed awls, or sleeve handles
for knives, where little modification was needed. A bone flute made from
an eagle's wing-bone comes from Hedeby. The Trondheim pin is an
outstanding example of such bone-working (78).
Whalebone, some of which was scavenged from mammals which had
died along the coasts, was another material with great potential because of
its size. Two whalebone plaques from northern Norway, used as ironing or

linen-smoothing boards, and carved with striking openwork terminals, arc

outstanding examples (36). Another from a rich female grave at Birka
shows how prized they were. From northern Norway comes a particularly
?? Frag))mit ofan unfinished
fine line-winder used in fishing (25) and other tools such as weaving- tenth-century grave-slab
swords of whalebone. found at Coppergate, York.

138
*n

d*.
 VIKING CRAFTS

78 A bone pin lightly incised Sophisticated and professional working of antler occurred on all urban
iL-itli j)i eleventh-century Mtcs. Where evidence exists it suggests that antlers of the red deer were
Urnes-style animal, from
normally gathered after being shed, rather than being taken from hunted
Trondheim.
animals. They must have been traded to the towns by the country-dwellers
of the hinterlands. Many different kinds of artefacts were made from
antler, skilfully and economically utilising its naturally occurring shapes
and contours, to use as much of their raw material as possible. A whole
series of fine tools would have been necessary to undertake delicate work,
as in making composite combs. The long comb is a
pieces, especially
characteristically Viking artefact and, although varying in detailand form,
was constructed on very similar lines in towns as diverse as Trondheim
and Hedeby. A pair of long plates ran the length either side to form the
back of the comb, between which were riveted a «eries of rectangular
tablets; into these the fine teeth were cut. The teeth were sometimes
protected by a composite comb-case, which could be worn suspended, as
the example from York. Waste material from the processes of manufacture
abounds on urban sites, especially resulting from failure to saw the teeth of
the comb successfully.
Zoomorphic art of the highest order occurs on the finest antler work.
The antler and bronze casket from Cammin, lost in the war, had large
outer decorative panels carved with Mammen-style ornament. The lower
guard from a sword-hilt found at Sigtuna is a classic expression of the style
(98) and also exemplifies a specialised range of fittings manufactured at
Birka. The carved elk-antler fitting from Sigtuna, perhaps from a casket,
which terminates in a man's head, stands at the peak of this art (64).
Antler was also used for making tools, such as a light hammer-head from
Birka, perhaps used in fine gold-work. It can be seen in the jaws of a clamp
from Hedeby to hold delicate antler or fine metal during the finishing of an
object. Antler moulds for casting ornaments, and dies for impressing gold
or bronze foil, form a link to another complex of craft activities - that of
fine metalworking. For not only did the Vikings adapt imported items such
as coins or mounts for costume jewellery, but developed their
craftsmanship to the highest standard in creating a range of jewellery and
ornamented vessels from imported metals - bronze, silver and gold.

141
Ml*.
 10 The Jewellers Craft

The gaudy ornaments so loved by the Scandinavian men and women of the
Viking Age were produced by jewellers expert in many skills. That their
achievements still command our admiration and respect rests on the
excellence of their design and the technical mastery that they display.
Many of the techniques of the Viking-Age jewellers can now only be
imagined, but it is possible to reconstruct some of the processes they used.
These appear not to have been very different from those recorded in the
Middle Ages and are techniques that are much the same as those practised
by traditional craftsmen today.
Jewellers' workshops are known from pre-Viking Scandinavia at Helgo
in Sweden, where there was mass-production of bronze brooches cast in
clay moulds. The Helgo excavations have shown that the activities of early
Viking- Age metalworkers at places like Ribe, Kaupang, Birka and Hedeby
were no new development, although the standardisation of much Viking-
Age jewellery, and its wide distribution, suggests that much greater mass-
production developed during this period.
Coins, ingots or scrap-metal were melted in small crucibles on charcoal
hearths, heated by bellows. The bellows would have been made of skin and
wood so that it is not surprising that they do not survive. However, bellows
had to be protectedfrom the furnace by a guard fitted over the end of the
nozzle. Soapstone was much favoured for this purpose and these bellows-
guards could be ornamented, although rarely as interestingly as the one
found on the beach at Snaptun in Jutland (46).
Crucibles had to be made of fine clay and the best-quality ones were
imported from the Rhineland. The poor clay available for locally made
crucibles was often less well-suited for that purpose, as it reacted badly
with the molten metal, producing a heavily encrusted appearance on use
(79). When the metal had melted, the crucibles were lifted from the fire by
means of long-handled iron tongs (71) so that the contents could be poured
directly into the moulds of clay or stone. These were generally made in two
parts, lashed together in use, with a funnel-like opening at the top, through
which the metal could enter (79).
The majority of moulds were made with the design impressed by means
of a specially prepared model or, more simply, by a finished object. For
more elaborate objects the cire-perdue, or 'lost-wax', technique was used.
In this method a model is made from wax and surrounded with clay to
form the mould; it is then heated, so melting the wax, which is poured
79 Dragon 's head mould from
Birka, with moulds of stone
away to leave the mould empty and ready to receive the molten metal. Such
and antler front Hedeby, and moulds have to be broken to remove the cast object when cold. Stone
crucible from Lund. moulds are also known (79). Soapstone was often chosen for open moulds

M3
 THE. JEWELLER S CRAFT

for casting ingots, or other simple objects such as Thor's hammers and
cross-pendants. Also found at Hedeby are moulds carved from antler
which were used for the mass-production of cheap brooches of pewter, an
alloy of tin and lead (79). Experiment has shown that these seemingly
fragile forms could have been reused repeatedly without suffering damage.
After casting, the objects would have been filed and polished to remove
casting seams and other flaws, and then further decoration might be
applied by means of a graver or punch. On the other hand, many mould-
fragments show that the finely detailed ornament was reproduced during
casting, only needing to be tidied up afterwards (this will have been the
case with many of the silver and bronze objects illustrated). Engraving
was, nevertheless, much practised in the Viking Age, often with great skill,
as may be seen on the gilt-bronze vanes from Heggen and Soderala (9, 99),
or the silver bowl from Lilla Valla on Gotland (105).
Punching and stamping were also favourite Viking-Age methods of
decorating metalwork. Punches are simply blunt-ended metal rods, struck
with a hammer to form depressions in the surface of the metal: they can,
however, be engraved with simple patterns to form decorative stamps.
Many arm-rings have only punched ornament for decoration (80);
silver
particularly favoured motifswere based on triangles, often arranged in
hour-glass form. A punch like that formed part of the equipment of the
Mastermyr craftsman, together with a lead stamping-pad. Punching and
80 above left Elaborately
stamping were also combined with other types of ornament, for instance, arm-ring from
sta))iped silver
on the borders and animal bodies of some of the Broa mounts (88), or as the Sweden.
background to the engraved ornament on the vanes (9, 99), and Lilla Valla
bowl (105). 81 BELOW LEFT A gold arm-
ring from Virginia, Ireland.
This fluted bowl from Lilla Valla was hammered up from sheet-metal,
rather than being cast. Other relatively simple objects, such as band-
82 below Tenth-century
shaped arm-rings, were also hammered out from cast ingots, as were the metalworker 's die, from
large rods that were made for plaiting and twisting into rings of all sizes Mammen for impressing
,

(81). Thus hammers of various dimensions and types were important tools metal foils.
for Viking- Age craftsmen; they ranged from the heavy sledge-hammers of
the blacksmith (72), to very light ones which were intended for jewellers'
use, such as the one made of elk-antler from Birka. Gold and silver foils
which were hammered out and stamped with dies were used in a variety of
ways. Foils like those from Hauge (41), for example, may be complete in
themselves, but during the Viking Age embossed foils were more often
used to support elaborate filigree work of the type described below. The
solid bronze die from Mammen, with its stylised animal ornament, would
have been used for just such a purpose (82).
It is difficult today to imagine fully the effects that Viking-Age jewellers

would have achieved on their newly finished objects. Burial destroys the
surface appearance of bronzes which take on patinas ranging from leather-
brown to olive-green. The jewellers probably knew how to create such
effects, but one imagines that bronze was generally used in an unpatinated
state to show off its golden colour; this has been re-created on a few pieces,
like the Asen brooch (53). Gilding was used on the finest silver and bronze
objects the Broa mounts and Heggen vane, for example; 87, 99), either to

145
THE VIKINGS

create the impression that the object was actually made of gold, or simply
to introduce a contrasting colour into the over-all decorative scheme.
Several gilding techniques were in use, and mercury, used in the fire-
gilding process, has been excavated at Hedeby. Other bronze objects were
coated in white metal (generally tin) to provide cheap imitations for
ordinary men and women of the silver ornaments worn by rich and
fashionable Vikings.
Silver itself was applied to the surface of base metal objects in a number
of different ways: by means of thin plates, by encrustation (when silver is

hammered on to a hatched surface), or by inlay where wires are (

hammered into engraved lines;. The two latter methods were the ones
used to ornament the Viking warrior's finest iron equipment, from sword-
and spurs, the silver
hilts (62, 83) to stirrups being contrasted with copper
and brass form elaborate multi-coloured patterns. Objects of silver, or
to
those encrusted with silver, were often engraved with patterns that were
inlaid with a pure black substance known as 'niello' - usually silver
sulphide; its blackness provided the perfect contrast to the silver surface
(e.g. 100).

Further surface enrichment was provided by the addition of filigree and

granulation, and on rare occasions by the use of semi-precious stones or
glass inlays. Gem-setting had been an extremely popular form of
ornament in pre-Viking Scandinavia, when it had been practised most
skilfully. It was clearly not to Viking taste and was to all intents and
purposes abandoned. There is a slip of garnet used for the eye of a horse-
shaped brooch from Birka (56), and a single setting of glass at the centre of
the Rinkaby brooch (91). One might also point to the five ((empty) settings
on one of the two great Hornelund disc brooches (57). These instances are
only notable for their rarity.
The Hornelund brooches provide superb examples of filigree and
granulation work. Filigree consists of fine gold or silver wires, either plain
or worked to look like a miniature string of beads, soldered to the surface
being ornamented. It is often combined with granulation - small balls or
grains of metal used either in clusters or singly (then often with a collar of
beaded filigree wire;. Both can be seen in simple form on the gold pendant
from Ringome ^54), or the silver Trior's hammer from Bredsatra (44).
Plain filigree wire could be made using draw-plates (iron sheets with series 83 right Sword-hill from
of graded holes), as found at both Bygland and Alastermyr (71). A the Hedeby boat-burial,
hammered-out rod of gold or silver would be drawn by tongs through encrusted with silver and
inlaid zcith niello.
these plates a number of times, until it was reduced to the required
thickness.
84 OVERLEAF LEFT Gold
Objects entirely decorated with gold filigree and granulation, such as the and pendants with
brooches
Hedeby brooches and pendants show how skilled some Scandinavian
(84) filigree and granulation,
jewellers were in these techniques; the Nonnebakken and Traen disc found at Hedeby.
brooches demonstrate the same in silver (95). Another use was on bronze
85 OVERLEAF RIGHT
objects, when filigree and granulation were sometimes used in
Masterpiece of Gotlandic
combination with other forms of decoration, as on the ends of the jewellery: a bronze brooch
Mollerlokken brooch (60). In such cases the filigree had to be soldered on embellished zcith gold, silver
to a base-plate of foil which was then fitted into the object. These foils and niello.

146
/ m
THE VIKINGS

could be embossed to provide raised platforms for more ambitious 86 'Trial-pieces' from the
patterns, in the manner used on the top and sides of the Martens brooch Dublin excavations.

(85).
Such pieces illustrate the skills of the Viking- Age jeweller better than
words, but the jeweller was more than just a highly skilled craftsman; he
would have been his own designer - often a true artist. Nowhere is this
better demonstrated in the Viking world than in Dublin. Recent
excavations of the Viking-Age town have produced a remarkable
assortment of so-called 'trial-pieces' (86). These are animal-bones, and
occasionally stones, on which a wide variety of patterns has been carved -
consisting of stylised animals and interlace motifs inspired by the tenth-
and eleventh-century Scandinavian art-styles described in the next
chapter. The exact purpose of these designs is unknown. Some are clearly
practice pieces on which an artist has tried out new patterns; some may
have been used for training apprentices. Others have fully finished designs
and could have been used for impressing wax models for use in making
moulds, or even in the manner of modern pattern-books to attract
prospective customers.
Dublin was clearly an artistic centre of importance and the widespread
impact of Scandinavian art-styles on the native art of Ireland, in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, must be ascribed to this influence. Skilled
craftsmen anywhere would have chosen to be based in towns, where they
would have been readily accessible to their patrons and where their
materials would have been available. Others concerned with mass-
production would equally have preferred to be urban based, selling their
wares to middlemen for distribution in the countryside. Yet others would
have travelled, seeking commissions where they could find them.
The maker of any object was known as a smith, whether silversmith or
iron-smith. To many Vikings the weapon-smith was most important of all
such craftsmen, but the rich inheritance left by their artists and jewellers is
likely to place them first in our modern estimation.

150
 \

>

i^ v*

I I
r

•c^i f?A a

7r ii-s

m..

<^ll*
W3m
r \ /j
*j

*S*W
>^>

s**^

'Amft

t-"""-i ±±
 11 Art and Ornament

Vigour and vitality imbue the best of the Vikings' art; in this respect their
arteould be seen as a direct reflection of their character. Its intricacy and
complexity were characteristics shared by Scandinavian poetry oi the
Viking Age. But by the end of the period, their art developed a smooth
elegance that is almost decadent in its refinement, at a time when the
outward energy of the Vikings seems to have been spent.
Viking art is based throughout on animal forms, in a tradition that can
be traced back to the art of the Late Roman Empire. At the same time it is
limited in that it was largely a decorative art, applied to a wide variety o\
objects used in daily life. One should not belittle its quality on this
account, for the Vikings loved ornament and valued the artist's skills. But
the result is that Viking art is difficult for the modern student to appreciate,
except by careful study of its conventions. This can, however, be a
rewarding experience, for it remains one direct approach to the spirit of the
age. If in theend its contents escape our understanding, we may yet retain
deep admiration for its quality and technical skill, and for the culture that
produced it.
Animals in many guises form the main motifs of Viking art. A
continuous development in the treatment of their contorted and
convoluted bodies can be traced throughout the Viking Age, so helping to
define its changing art-styles. This obsession with stylised animals as a
basis for ornament had its roots in the last days of the Roman Empire.
Motifs were borrowed by Germanic artists from late Roman provincial
art, but attempts at naturalism were rapidly rejected in Scandinavia.

During the fifth to eighth centuries over much of the Germanic world
(including Anglo-Saxon England), the original animal and human figures
became increasingly disjointed and distorted, with results that are
unintelligible to the inexperienced eye. The same is true for much of
Viking art, but it can be deciphered with patience and practice. The initial
impression is of chaos, often brilliant and dramatic, but underneath the
crowded surfaces are carefully controlled schemes of ornament using
standardised, but changing motifs. Viking art was self-assured and little
affected by that of the rest of Europe until the end of the eleventh century,
except for borrowing occasional motifs or patterns; but finally it
succumbed to the Romanesque art of western Europe.
Throughout these pages are illustrations of weapons, brooches and
tools, all elaborately decorated as, indeed, are all the finest Viking
87 Gill bronze bridle-mounts
artefacts, be they ships or churches, tent-posts or tombstones. The
from Broa: a Gotlandic
masterpiece from the ornament often covers the whole available surface, for there was an
beginning of the Viking Age. ostentatious and flashy aspect to the Viking character that we find realised

153
THE VIKINGS

in much of their jewellery and other personal possessions. Viking art is

thus decorative or applied art on functional objects. There is little

representational art, and that which exists is probably of cult significance,

from Rallinge (40). Such figures demonstrate that
like the little figure
Scandinavian artists were capable of a more naturalistic approach when it
suited them (compare the Sigtuna warrior's head; 64), but it clearly had
little appeal to the spirit of the age. In this respect an artist's sketches or
doodles, such as those on stone from Jarlshof in Shetland (7a), or
Loddekoppinge in Sweden (7b), are all the more revealing and important
for their rarity.
Most of the from the early Viking Age have been
finest surviving pieces
found in graves, but later Viking art is best represented on objects from
silver hoards and on the incised stones erected to commemorate good
deeds or dead men (e.g. 105, 101). But the sad truth is that we are missing
most of the greatest achievements of the Viking-Age artists, for their
natural medium must have been wood which has long since rotted away.
From the beginning of the Viking Age there survives a magnificent series
of carved wooden objects, once sealed in the great
Oseberg ship-burial in
south-east Norway. The Oseberg ship itself, the wagon, sledges, and many
other pieces are all richly carved with amazing skill in the earliest Viking
style by a group of gifted artists working under royal patronage. Preserved
from the late Viking Age is the remarkable portal of a wooden church at
Urnes in western Norway (115), incorporated into its twelfth-century
successor. The artistry and skilled craftsmanship demonstrated on these
examples of wood-carving tantalise us and excite our admiration and
appreciation, for otherwise our knowledge of Scandinavian wood-carving
from the Viking Age would be dependent on the chance survival of
fragments, such as those from Flatatunga in Iceland (114) or that recently
excavated in Trondheim, Norway.
There are, however, a few small-scale carvings in other materials -
amber (74), jet (16), bone and walrus ivory (75) - to remind us both of
(97),
the skills of the Scandinavian sculptor and of how well suited his Viking
Age animal motifs were to this purpose. It seems strange in this case that
stone-carving was neglected in Scandinavia until the later tenth century,
except on Gotland where there alone existed an earlier tradition. Even
then one can hardly say of these Gotlandic 'picture-stones' (e.g. 8, 47) that
they use to the full the possibilities of stone as an artistic medium; the slabs
dating from the beginning of the Viking Age are often finely shaped in
themselves, but only to serve as flat surfaces for lightly incised scenes
which are the nearest that Viking art came to being narrative. The most
popular motif is a ship under sail, often with a fully armed crew (e.g.
Smiss, with its helmeted, shield-bearing warriors; 8;, while others also
portray events (e.g. Lillbjars, 47; in a manner similar to that on a tapestry
found in the Oseberg ship-burial - another medium employed by
Scandinavian artists during the Viking Age of which we now know almost
nothing. Occasionally individual figures of men and women are found in
metalwork, dressed and posed in the same manner as those on the 'picture-
stones' and the tapestry.

154
 ART AND ORNA.MKN'I

The meaning of such scenes and figures is generally lost, for we lack the
contemporary documents that might have explained them to us. It is
speculation to identify them with the pagan gods and heroic deeds
described in later literary sources, although occasionally identifications
can be made with some certainty, as on the Kirk Andreas stone 49 But .

for the most part we have to admit that the significance of such narrative
scenes and semi-naturalistic figures including that, if any. of the animal-
ornament is lost, or at best obscure.
The beginning of the Viking Age is not marked by the sudden
appearance of a new art-style, but saw the continuation of one that was
current in the eighth century, with the addition of one new and highly
significant motif. This earliest Viking art-style, as found at Oseberg, is

*9£f^£' difficult to date, but it was clearly most popular at the end of the eighth
century and during the early part of the ninth. It employs three main
motifs which can be conveniently described from their use on a series of
gilt-bronze bridle-mounts, found in a man's grave at Broa on Gotland.
These twenty-two mounts 8~ have been described as *one of the most
brilliant series of objects of the Scandinavian Viking Age" and of a
technical quality "as fine as that of any collection of metalwork known from
contemporary Europe". Despite the variety in their designs, they are
clearly the product of a single workshop - most probably of one man.
active on Gotland in the early ninth century.
The design of the mounts themselves, with their use of geometric
frameworks, should be considered before the actual motifs are looked at in
detail. In some cases these frameworks divide the surface so that one
animal fills each of the fields; alternatively a framework may be
superimposed over an animal e.g. 88 which then appears to be behind an
openwork screen. In other instances the animals are superimposed on the
framework, which is gripped by them with their paws. Whatever the
approach chosen by the Broa master the framework was carefully designed
by him to be more than just a border; it is intimately related to the variety
and composition of the animal-ornament itself.
The first motif to note is the elongated animal viewed in profile fig. 9a;
see ill. 88; it has a sinuous double-contoured body, with a small head, a

prominent eye and a frond-like pigtail. The body is pierced at the neck and
hip by heart-shaped openings through which tendrils are threaded. The
second motif is an animal more compact than the first, lacking its double
contour fig. 9b; see ill. S~ . In other respects it is very similar to the first

motif, although it often takes the form of a bird; some of those conceived
by the Broa master have splendidly puffed-up breasts. The third motif is
the 'gripping beast" fig. 9c; see ill.
v_

"Gripping beasts" take their name from their most obvious characteristic
- the paws that grip the frames around or under them, that grip
themselves, or even each other several beastsmay be interlocked together
in compositions resembling wild melees These vigorous animals are the
.

88 top and Fig. 9 above

new invention in Scandinavian art. They appealed so greatly to Viking
The main motifs of the Broa taste that they enjoyed wide popularity and even survived as a motif into
mounts. the tenth century. They took many forms during this period, from the low

iss-
,

89 The animal-head terminal

of the Mammen horse-collar
(detail of 2%).
 .

THE VIKINGS

Broa mounts (88) and the Steinsvik sword-hilt (62), to those

relief of the
arising openwork from the Asen brooch (53), from the three-
in
dimensional pair in jet from Tresfjorden (16), to that tucked into the
mouth of the animal-headed terminal on a horse-collar from Mammen in
Denmark (89).
As the ninth century progressed, this earliest Viking-Age style was
succeeded by two new styles, both of which are named after places in
Scandinavia where important ornamented objects were found. The first of
these to emerge was the Borre style, so-called from a rich barrow-burial at
Borre in Vestfold, Norway. The grave-goods included a bridle lavishly
ornamented with gilt-bronze mounts (90), but quite different in style to
those from Broa and, incidentally, of lesser quality. These Borre mounts
are not the most exciting examples of the style which bears their name, but
they are among the most typical.
The new motif of importance in the Borre style was the 'ring-chain' -an
interlace pattern made up of a double ribbon bound by a series of rings
surrounding hollow-sided lozenges (90a). It was also adapted to form a
simple knot. This Borre ring-chain often terminated in an animal-mask.
Such masks formed an important feature of the style, consisting of
triangular faces with protruding, 'Mickey Mouse-type' ears, like those of
the animals on the Asen brooch (53).
Heads like these were often used for the gripping beasts that were the
second main motif of the Borre style. Borre-style gripping beasts occur
singly in a characteristic posture, with a ribbon-like body arranged in an
arc beneath the head, and with paws that grip its own body and the frame
around it. They are clearly seen on a silver-gilt brooch from Rinkaby in
Sweden (91). Once the Rinkaby ornament is understood, then so can the
animals on a silver disc brooch from Nonnebakken in Denmark (95).
The third main motif found on the Borre mounts is a simple backward-
looking animal, stylised as usual, but of naturalistic proportions (90b).
This design is rare in the Borre style, but occurs in a different form on a
series of mountsfrom the Gokstad ship-burial (90c). Among the Gokstad
mounts some unusually naturalistic roundels, depicting spear-
are also
carrying horsemen.

90 ABOVE AND RIGHT Gilt

The Borre style is seen at its best in rare examples of filigree work, but
bronze mounts from the many cast objects in this style illustrate the trick of using nicked lines to
Norwegian ship-burials imitate the appearance of beaded filigree wires; for example, the Borre and
at Bone fa, b) and Gokstad mounts (90). A three-dimensional version of the style flourished
Gokstad ( c) in central Sweden and Russia, with animal figures in the round that are
distantly related to the backward-looking ones on the Borre mounts.
91 OVERLEAF LEFT Gilt silver
brooch from Rinkaby, The Borre had developed by the middle of the ninth century, as is
style

Sweden, ornamented with shown by the fact that some pendants in this style (already old) were
Borre-style 'gripping-beasts
'. apparently mounted with a few coins to form a necklace in about 855-860.
These various pendants form part of the Hon hoard from Norway, the
92 OVERLEAF RIGHT
largest gold hoard known from Viking Age Scandinavia; the necklace as
Reconstructed ninth-century
necklace of beads and
shown here consists of a modern selection of pieces from this rich find (92).
pendants, from Hon in The Borre style was very popular throughout Scandinavia and in the
Norway. areas of Scandinavian settlement in Russia, where the pendants in the

158
f ' • '»
 «*

S5*2

iA&r-
THE VIKINGS

hoard from Varby, Sweden, may have been made (93). Its influence was
felt to a lesser extent in Britain and Ireland; the ring-chain appears on

stone sculpture in the north of England and on the Isle of Man (49), but
also in other materials, such as a bone trial-piece from the Dublin
excavations (86), and a wooden gaming-board (39) from Ireland.
The Borre style did not go out of fashion until the second half of the
tenth century, so that for much of its life it was contemporary with the so-
called 'Jellinge style', which was popular from the late ninth until the late
tenth century. One need not be surprised then that the two styles are
occasionally found on the same object. The metalworker's die from
Mammen in Denmark, for instance, combines Jellinge-style animals with
Borre-style interlace (82).
The Jellinge style, so calledfrom the ornament of a small silver cup
found in the Danish royal burial-mound at Jelling in Jutland (69), has as its
chief motif an animal with a ribbon-shaped body, such as those which
ornament the horse-collars from the same grave as the Mammen die (28).
These animals can be seen more clearly on one of the pendants (93) from
the Varby hoard, which was buried about 940. The S-shaped body is a 93 below Pendants from the
Varby hoard display both
double-contoured ribbon; the head is shown in profile, with a long pigtail
ribbon-shaped animals of the
and a curlicue on the upper lip; the hip is often marked by a spiral. Such and a Borre-
Jellinge style
ribbon-like bodies presumably descend from the Borre-style gripping style 'gripping-beast '.

162
 ART AND ORNAMEN 1

beasts ias on other pendants in the Yarby hoard,, while the layout of the
animal is from the early Viking Age. The Jellinge style is thus very
familiar
mueh 'in the mainstream of Scandinavian art".
The Jellinge style was introduced into England by Scandinavian settlers
who found there an art that was also based on highly stylised animals and
which in fact went back to common Germanic origins. In the north-east
they encountered stone sculpture for the first time. They rapidly adopted
for their own use the Anglo-Saxon tradition of memorial crosses which
were often decorated with animal ornament. An unfinished grave-slab
from York 7- shows the standard that tenth-century Anglo-
Scandinavian sculptors could achieve in a metropolitan centre, by drawing
on the Jellinge style for inspiration.
Yet elsewhere in Britain the Jellinge style was practised with skill and
originality. The terminals of some silver brooches, concealed in about 950
as part of a large hoard at Skaill, on Orkney, are engraved" with very late
Jellinge-style ornament fig. 10; see ill. 94" paralleled in stone sculpture
, on
some Yiking crosses in the Isle of Alan. Here again are to be seen the
vigorous and assertive qualities of all that is best in Yiking art. The late
feature of the Skaill ornament is the tendency for leaf-like tendrils to
sprout from various parts of the design, giving it a florid quality more
characteristic of the following Mammen style.

94 right and Fig. 10 above

Silver brooch-terminal from
the Skaill hoard, on Orkney.
ornamented zvitli a Jellinge-
style beast.

163
THE VIKINGS

Familiarity with the animal-ornament of the Jellinge style should make 95a, b Silver disc brooches
it possible to take up the challenge presented by such objects as a silver disc from Norway and Denmark,
ornamented above in the
brooch from the Traen hoard, buried in Norway during the last decade of
Jellinge style and right
the tenth century. This filigree-ornamented brooch (95a) is in the same Borre style.
tradition as the Borre-style brooch from Nonnebakken, already noted
(95b), with the animals translated into the Jellinge style. The initial

impression is one of a writhing mass of worms, like disturbed ground-bait,

with little or no aesthetic appeal. Yet fun* can be had in disentangling the
animals that make up the composition, which is the same as that on
the Nonnebakken brooch (although Traen uses only three animals to the
latter's four). The animals are in profile with the normal Jellinge-style
features.
To identify a head, start at the centre of the brooch and pick out the large
silver granule that forms its eye, with the upper-lip curlicue before it; the
elongated pigtail which sprouts above may
then be followed as a ribbon,
it

interlacing in and out of the parts of the neighbouring animal. Its neck and
body are formed by similar ribbons, arranged in the manner of the
Nonnebakken Borre-style beasts - forequarters to the right and hind-

164
 ART ANT) ORNAMENT

quarters to the left (with a tail). A single limb emerges from each joint,
terminating in a foot represented by a U-shaped element. In the end, every
strand will be seen to have its place in a balanced composition. If the over-
all impressionis one of restlessness, it could be said that this is another

facet of the Viking character to emerge in their art.

The Mammen style developed directly from the Jellinge style with the
result that it is occasionally difficult to tell them apart, as with the
ornament on the Skaill brooches. They were in any case contemporary for
a while, as the Mammen style was in fashion during the second half of the
tenth century and the very beginning of the eleventh. It is a style that was
particularly suited to carving and is most frequently found in stone, ivory
and bone.
The developed Mammen style is easily recognisable. The
fully
Mammen animal is a more substantial version of the Jellinge beast, with
the addition of fleshy plant tendrils, based on the acanthus-leaf ornament
so popular in western European art of the tenth century. For the first time
in Viking art we see a substantial use of plant motifs, both as surrounds for
animal ornament and, to a lesser extent, in their own right. The animals

165
 ART AND ORNAMENT

themselves are no longer so ribbon-like, but have more naturalistic

proportions. Double-contouring continues and the bodies are filled with
beading or billets; the hip-spiral is more strongly emphasised.
The style takes its name from a silver inlaid axe found at Mammen in
Jutland but not from the same grave as the other Mammen pieces
described before . The most important object in this style comes from
Jutland, the royal memorial at Jelling with its runic inscription telling that
it was erected by King Harald 'Bluetooth'; between 965 and
this dates it to
985. Two faces of this pyramidal stone 96 are ornamented, one with a
stylised representation of the Crucifixion, and the other with a large, four-
legged lion-like beast entwined in the coils of a snake. This may well be the
first Viking-Age stone sculpture to have been erected in southern

Scandinavia.
The two subjects displayed on the Jelling stone are both new to
Scandinavian art and, taken together with the introduction of foliate
patterns, show that the Mammen style represents a phase not only of
continuity but also of innovation. Firstly, the figure of Christ testifies to
the introduction of Christianity and to the copying of European models
seen also in the acanthus motifs . Secondly, the 'great beast' motif
^ combined with its snake or serpent marks a new stage in the development
of Viking animal had not previously been used in this way
art. for a single
to create a full composition. Other finds, however, show Mammen-style
animals used in the traditional way. as elements of a larger composition,
such as on a cylindrical bone mount from Arnes in Norway fig. 1 1 see ill. ;

96 left The Jelling stone:

97 . or on some of the Manx crosses.
the royal memorial erected by-
King Harald 'Bluetooth' of TheJelling stone presents a very formalised version of the Mammen
Denmark to his parents and style,but this royal monument seems to have set the fashion for stone
himself. memorials in southern Scandinavia and eventually further afield, for we
see a similar scene of a "great beast' on a stone from St Paul's. London
97 below and fig. 1 1 right
'101), executed in the succeeding Ringerike style. The most vivacious
Carved bone mount from
examples of Mammen-style motifs can be found on two caskets. One of
Ames in Norway, with
Mammen-style ornament of walrus ivory was formerly in the Bamberg Cathedral treasury now in the
three interlacing animals. Bavarian National Museum at Munich The other was very similar in
.

167
THE VIKINGS

style, hut far larger and with antler panels. It was preserved in the treasury
of Cammin Cathedral in Pomerania, hut was destroyed in the Second
World War. Also in antler is a sword-guard from the early Swedish town
of Sigtuna, finely ornamented with Mammen-style motifs having some
Ringerike-style elements (98). The Mammen style at its best displays an
exuberance not seen in Viking art before. This exuberance is carried over
into the Ringerike style, which grew out of it, although the latter is more
disciplined in its design.
The Ringerike style is so called after the geological name for the
sandstone beds in the Oslo region of Norway which provided the material
for a small number of finely ornamented slabs. Western European
influences are again felt in this style, plant-ornament gaining ground at the
expense of the animals. The latter were liable to be subordinated to
clusters of elongated tendrils, such as the classic examples on the gilt-
bronze vane from Heggen in Norway (99), springing from the head and tail
of the 'great beast'. A row of similar tendrils forms the outer border to the
composition. A vane from Soderala Church in Sweden is a brilliant
example of the late Ringerike style, with its strong and direct appeal.
A most elegant and classic design of Ringerike-style lobes and tendrils is
engraved on the Flatatunga panels from Iceland (114), while another
version of them can be seen in gold filigree on one of the disc brooches from
the Hornelund hoard, Denmark (57).
As illustrated by the Heggen and Soderala vanes, the three main motifs
of the Ringerike style are thus: elongated tendrils (often with the addition
of lobes), the 'great beast' and a snake (with the latter two often engaged in
a conflict). They can all appear separately. Examples of Ringerike tendril
patterns have just been noted, but they were put to many uses, as witness
the treatment of Christ's hands on one of the two crucifixes found in a
silver hoard, hidden in about 1035 in the Norwegian town of Trondheim
(112).
The 'great beast' appears alone on top of the Heggen and Soderala
vanes, cast in the round; in both cases it stands proudly on guard, staring
out over the horizon. A further three-dimensional animal-head in this
style forms one end of an arm-ring from Undrom in Sweden, which is in
the form of a coiled snake, with rows of alternating tendrils and lobes inlaid
in niello down its back (100). However, the principal use of a single snake
in the Ringerike style was on Scandinavian runestones where its body was
used to form the band that carries the runic inscription.
The Ringerike style proved particularly popular in England and Ireland
where, in both cases, it possessed strong appeal for native artists. There are
in fact few more successful expressions of the style than that on the end-
slab of a stone box-tomb found in the churchyard of St Paul's Cathedral,
London (101), described as 'one of the finest examples of Viking stone-
carving known outside Gotland'. The 'great beast' has tendrils encircling
upper 98 Mammen-style patterns
its body, and a lesser beast around its front leg; lobes sprout from the
cover both sides of the lower
corners of the field. The 'great beast' had a blue/black body covered in
guard of a sword-hilt carved
white spots and the stone still bears traces of the original paint. A design so from elk-antler, found at
uniquely Scandinavian, deriving ultimately from that on the Jelling stone. Sigtuna.

168
 '

99 LEFT The 'great beast

strides majestically across tin.

Heggen vane (reverse of 9).

100 right An eleventh-

century snake-shaped arm-
ring of silver inlaid with
niello.
**— >"*

d«fei
^^Bma
 AIM AND ORNAMENT

could only have been executed in Kngland during the period of

Scandinavian domination (1014-42 ,
most probably for one of the
followers of Knut 'the Great'.
In Ireland the Ringerike style was widely adopted. The fashion will
have been set inDublin, where one of the recently excavated bone trial-
pieces bears a design of looped Ringerike-style animals 102 recalling a ,

fine disc brooch from Sweden, concealed about 1055 in a hoard at Gcrctc
on Gotland (102). The design of the Dublin trial-piece (it uses two animals
instead of the three at Gerete) appears in almost identical form on the gilt-
bronze panels at either end of an Irish book-shrine - that of the Cathac -
made in the late eleventh century.
As with all other Viking art-styles it is difficult to provide accurate dates
for the beginning and end of the Ringerike style. It isclear that its period of
high fashion was during the first half of the eleventh century, but in

101 LEFT A 'great beast' and Ireland it remained popular until later. Its origins in the Mammen style lie
serpent fill the end-slab of a presumably in the late tenth century.
Scandinavian tomb from St
An early tendency noted in the Ringerike style was the elongation of
Paul's Churchyard. London.
Mammen tendrils. This process of refinement was one that continued
102 above Silver disc brooch throughout the development of the style, leading eventually to the
with interlaced animals from emergence of a new and ultimate Viking style. This was the Urnes style,
an eleventh-century which may have developed in Sweden where many transitional pieces have
Gotlandic hoard.
been found, both in stone and metalwork. Swedish sculptors and rune-
masters, having finally taken up the idea of stone memorials, set to work in
an experimental vein bringing their art to a high point with the Urnes
style. There can be few finer illustrations of their achievements than the
rectangular tomb from Ardre churchyard on Gotland (48).
The Urnes style, however, takes its name from the decoration of a small
church that was built about 1060, on a remote farm at Urnes in western
Norway. Parts of the original Urnes Church were reused in its twelfth-

173
r
 ART AND ORNAMENT

century successor, which still stands today, and to this we owe the survival
of a true masterpiece 115. Fragments of wood ornamented in the Urnes
style are known from elsewhere, such as Trondheim, but there is nothing
else, even metalwork, to prepare us for the brilliant artistry of
in stone or
the Urnes sculptor with his dramatic compositions and. on the west portal,
almost three-dimensional relief. This is a further reminder of the wealth of
Viking wood-carving that must have been lost to us.
The Urnes master ornamented the west portal with a composition
created from three animal motifs whose gently swelling and tapering
bodies, interlaced with narrow lines, form an undulating design. These
three Urnes-style motifs are refinements of Mammen and Ringerike
beasts: four-legged animals of greyhound-like proportions, a serpent-like
animal with a single foreleg, and snakes that are but thin ribbons with
animal-heads. The animals interlace together, biting each other in a
'combat' motif that is transformed from its Ringerike predecessor.
Everywhere a new delicacy and elegance may be observed, particularly in
the treatment of animal-heads, with their huge pointed eyes, their
curlicued upper-lips and downward curled lower jaws. Plant motifs are
less frequent than in the Ringerike style, but are not abandoned altogether.
A similar motif forms the basis for a series of openwork brooches; on
some one animal with a single foreleg and a tapering body splitting into
two is entwined with a snake (as for example, the brooch from the Danish
settlement of Lindholm Hoje; 103). Such brooches are known throughout
Scandinavia and were certainly being produced in Lund in the early
twelfth century. A related brooch in the form of a bird (104) was concealed
as part of a Norwegian silver hoard at Gresli in about 1085. It is an early
Urnes piece (the motif and certain details are carried over from the
Ringerike style), as is the ornament on the beautiful bowl from the Lilla
Valla hoard, buried on Gotland about 1050. The restrained use of
ornament on this fluted bowl gives it an immediate appeal to all who
otherwise find Viking art over-elaborate. Around its rim runs a frieze of
animals, linked by pear-shaped lobes, and within it on the base is a single
interlaced animal (105).
Such finds as the Lilla Valla bowl, and evidence of manufacturing from
Lund allow the Urnes style in Scandinavia to be dated to the period
between about 1040 and 1 140. In Ireland it may have lingered on longer as
the Ringerike style before it did.
The animals on the Lilla Valla bowl, with their sinuous bodies, single
forelegs and split tails, have already been noted as characteristic of the
Urnes style. The same beast appears in England on an openwork disc
103 ABOVE LEFT OpeniVOrk
brooch found in the churchyard at Pitney, Somerset (106), where it forms
brooch in the form of a part of the familiar 'combat' motif. In fact, the Urnes style is rare in
stylised beast, excavated at southern England (in contrast to the but there appears to
Ringerike style),
Li nd holm Hoje. have been a northern school of which the recently excavated mount from
Lincoln provides a good example (106).
104 BELOW left A bird-
In Ireland the Urnes style caught the native imagination as the
sfiaped brooch of gilt silver
from an eleventh-century Ringerike had done earlier. The best-known piece in the Irish Urnes style
Xoruegian hoard. is undoubtedly the Cross of Cong, dated by inscription to about 1123.

175
 .

THE VIKINGS

Preserved in Boher Church, County Offaly, is a large gabled shrine of St 105 ABO ve Fluted silver bozvl
Manchan (107) richly ornamented with metalwork; it has a central cross from Gotland with a gilded
rim and interior roundel
with boss-shaped ends and is covered with Urnes-style animals, which
incised zvith intertwined
suggest that the two pieces were made in the same workshop. An unusual a>u Dials.
feature of this shrine is the series of half-round human figures on its front.
The shrine is undated, but must be contemporary with the Cross of Cong.
Other Irish objects suggest that the style continued to be used into the
106 TOP RIGHT A mount
third quarter of the eleventh century.
from Lincoln and centre
In Ireland, as in Scandinavia, this last Viking art-style gradually waned RIGHT a brooch from Pitney
although elements of the native tradition could still be found in display the English Urnes
Scandinavian folk-art until recent times. The world of the Vikings had style at its best

undergone a complete transformation. The independence and self-

107 BOTTOM RIGHT The
confidence of the Vikings' art was lost and it finally succumbed to the
gabled shrine of St Manchan
pervasive influence of the Romanesque art of western Europe, as the is lavishly ornamented in
Scandinavian nations were being drawn socially and politically into twelfth-century Irish i'mes
the brotherhood of Christian states. style.

176
ART AND ORNAMENT

177
 -

12 The Coming of Christianity

Helgi 'the Lean', a Viking settler of Iceland, is said to have 'believed in

Christ and yet made vowsThor for sea-voyages or in tight corners, and
to
for everything which struck him as of real importance'. Helgi was certainly
not alone in adding the Christian god to the ranks of his pagan ones. This
was simple enough given the loosely organised nature of Norse belief.
Even the first Christian missionaries did not attempt to deny the existence
of the heathen gods, but reduced them to the role of demons.
The conversion of Scandinavia was a gradual process and so there was a
considerable period of co-existence between pagans and Christians in the
Viking world, with the addition of those of mixed beliefs to further confuse
the picture. Is, for example, that Icelandic silver pendant from Foss (45)
really a stylised hammer worn to invoke the protection of Thor? It is

certainly made such pendants, with its animal-headed

in the tradition of
suspension-loop, as one can see by comparing it with that from Bredsatra
(44), but it has been given a distinct cross-shape. So is it perhaps the sort of
pendant that a man like Helgi might have worn to hedge his bets?
Contemporary sources describe both heathens and Christians living at
Hedeby and Birka. To cater for the requirements of such mixed
communities, metalworkers clearly had to be able to produce a variety of
religious pendants. The jeweller whose mould was found at Trendgaarden
in Denmark was a man of ingenuity and good business sense, as it was
made for casting hammers and crosses at the same time.
The influence of Christianity is also revealed to archaeology by gradual
changes in pagan Scandinavian burial practices. Cremation was
abandoned (as of course was human sacrifice); then the burial of grave
goods died out. But all sorts of problems must have arisen from these
changes. What was a heathen family to do with the body of a newly
converted relation? How would Helgi have wished to be buried?
Situations of these kinds may provide the explanations for a number of
fully equipped Scandinavian burials found in churchyards in England and
the Isle of Man - pagan rites on Christian sites. Or what of the enigma
presented by the scene carved on the shaft of the cross from Aliddleton
Church in Yorkshire (30)? It is often said to be a picture of the dead Viking
in whose memory the cross was raised, like a warrior laid out in his grave
with his weapons. To dispose of this apparent anomaly, it has been
suggested instead that the scene shows a living man, seated in state and
surrounded by his weapons, as symbols of his authority as a Viking leader.
The adoption of stone monuments as suitable memorials for the
108 Enamelled Irish crozier- Christian dead, both in the British Isles and in Scandinavia, has already
head from Helgd in Sweden, been mentioned. The Scandinavian runestones found in the countryside

179
 THE VIKINGS

are not actual gravestones, but many are memorials raised to men and
women buried elsewhere, for with the introduction of churchyards, the
dead were no longer buried in the traditional cemeteries, located among
the living. However, memorials might still be raised there. In some areas
in the eleventh century we find churchyards dignified with stone box-
tombs standing over the graves, in the same way as the house-shaped
tomb-covers set up in the tenth century by Viking settlers and Anglo-
Scandinavians in the north of England. Simple shaped slabs were also
placed over Christian graves (sometimes with decorated stones at either
end) and the Coppergate fragment found in the York excavations was
apparently being carved for such a purpose when abandoned (77).
The finest stone box-tombs known are from Sweden, that from Ardre
on Gotland (48) being high among them in the quality of its design and
workmanship. The Urnes-style ornament dates this monument to the late
eleventh century, while its runic inscription tells how it was erected by the
sons of Liknat, to the memory of Ailikn, a good wife and mother. The St
Paul's Churchyard stone from London (101) is from a similar type of
monument, although its Ringerike-style ornament places it early in the
eleventh century.
From the beginning of the Viking Age Scandinavians had direct contact
with Christianity in several ways. Their raids on western Europe led to

g many
Denmark,
Christians being captured as slaves.
like
We hear of early missionaries to
Archbishop Unni of Hamburg-Bremen (919-36), comfort-
ing Christian captives, while St Rimbert on a visit to Schleswig is said to
have given his horse with its gear to free a fettered nun from a slave-gang.
Of greater influence than the presence of Christian slaves in Scandinavia
were the contacts with Christian merchants. Heathens wishing to do
business with Christians had to receive the cross-mark, prima signatio,
which was the first rite of initiation into the Christian Church. The
tolerance and lack of organisation of Scandinavian paganism certainly
hastened its collapse in the face of Christianity, but one is left wondering to
what extent shrewd business sense lead to rapid conversions, particularly
in those areas like England and Ireland where Scandinavians settled
among Christian peoples. Merchants and mercenaries in the east will
likewise have come into direct contact with Christianity in the form of the
Orthodox religion of the Byzantine Eastern Empire and the Slav-
Byzantine Church of South Russia (24).
The first Christian missionaries to Scandinavia were active in the eighth
century in Denmark, but met with little success. The Helgo crosier-head
(108) has been taken as evidence for an unrecorded mission, but one
cannot be sure that this eighth-century Irish object arrived in the hands of
a missionary. It could equally well have been loot taken on an early Viking
raid.
The first successful apostle of Scandinavia was St Ansgar, a German
monk, sent by the Emperor Louis the Pious on a mission that led him by
way of Hedeby to Birka in 829 or 830, and then again about the middle of
the century. But the work of Ansgar, who became the first Archbishop of
Hamburg, later Hamburg-Bremen, and that of his followers in Sweden

180

_
 THE COMING OF CHRISTIANITY

had no lasting effect, although as a result Christians would have been

tolerated for the most part. Such suggested by a number of small
at least is

crosses from the Birka graves, the finest of which is a small crucifix of silver
(i09)-an excellent example of tenth-century Scandinavian filigree-work.
The first Sweden reigned in the eleventh
Christians to be kings of
century, with the first bishop in the kingdom being established about 1050
in Sigtuna. The nobles and wealthy farmers among Sweden's converts of
the eleventh century have left us many demonstrations of their faith in the
form of cross-bearing runestones. Such stones commemorate their dead
relations, or even themselves, by advertising their own good deeds. Such
deeds took many forms, but the building of bridges is particularly often
mentioned. These were generally causeways across marshland, or
improved fords. Their construction was considered a suitably charitable-
act to benefit the builder's soul, or that of a relation, because it opened up
access to churches and made it easier for priests to visit the sick and dying.
Among surviving inscriptions we can read, for instance, cut into a rock-
face at Nas in Uppland had the bridges made for his soul's
that 'Livsten
health and for that of his sons, Jorund and Niklas and Luden'. Or
elsewhere in Uppland, on a stone set up at Eggeby, that 'Ragnalv had this
bridge made in memory of Anund, her good son. May God help his spirit
and soul better than he deserved'.
«*
Such inscriptions provide good evidence for the spread of Christianity
in Sweden and as such are supported by several finds of silver crucifixes in
eleventh- and early twelfth-century hoards. One from Gotland and one
from Oland are illustrated (no, in), both depicting Christ as bound
rather than nailed) to the cross. The former is cast and is rather coarse
work, but the latter (which is in fact a hinged reliquary is delicately
^'ii incised and inlaid with niello.
The first ^candlpavian country to be officially converted to Christianity
wasTJerinrarJ^^King Harald's proud boast on the Jelling stone that it was
he wRoTiad 'made the Danes Christian' stands as evidence. Harald became
Christian himself between 960 and 965. although as early as 948 sees had
been established at Hedeby. Ribe and Arhus. with German missionary
bishops sent by Hamburg-Bremen, the archdiocese founded with the
purpose of bringing the faith to the north. By the early eleventh century
VST there were also bishops at Odense and at Roskilde, with another in Skane.
Their number grew further in the eleventh century, but it was not until
1 104 that the first Dane was consecrated as an archbishop, with his see

based on Lund. Only then did the Scandinavian Church escape the
domination of Hamburg-Bremen.
Ansgar had been able to build a church at Hedeby although it was
closed in the mid ninth century during a period of anti-Christian feeling,
or perhaps because of indifference), but this and its successors must have
been situated in an area of the town not as yet excavated. In comparison
with Birka, the many graves at Hedeby are poorly furnished. This is partly

109 top left The Birka crucifix. 1 10-1 1 bottom left and top right Eleventh-
century silver crucifixes from Sweden, and 112 centre right and bottom right
from Trondheim, Norway.

181
THE VIKINGS

due to the pagan graves of the Viking Age are generally less well
fact that
equipped in Denmark than in Norway and Sweden. However, the
Christian influences were felt more strongly there. From among the
Christian objects found in the town, one might pick out what is in fact a
perfectly ordinary disc brooch, but heavily gilt and ornamented with a
strikingly simple representation of the Crucifixion.
The first Christian king of Norway was Hakon 'the Good', who died in
960. He had been brought up in England and became a popular and
successful ruler, except in his attempts to convert his people. He met with
such resistance that he himself relapsed into paganism before his death.
The conversion of Norway was finally achieved by the two Olafs, Olaf
Tryggvason (995-1000;, and Olaf Haraldsson (1014-30), and by force
rather than gentle persuasion. Olaf Tryggvason came to the throne a
Christian and during his short reign is credited with the conversions of
Norway, Orkney, the Faeroes, Iceland and Greenland. Such a conversion
as that of Norway, enforced at sword-point, is unlikely to be effective in the v^-
long term, and it fell to Olaf Haraldsson to complete the task. It was
probably during his reign that were made the fine pair of filigree
ornamented crucifixes found in Trondheim (112). He was killed in battle
at Stiklestad in 1030. Such had been his Christian zeal during his life, and
such were the miracles arising from his death, that within a year his relics
were enshrined and he was canonised - the first of the Scandinavian patron
saints. It is probably his figure that we can recognise in quite another
Christian context: the man with the forked beard, holding an axe, in the
row on the front of the Irish reliquary of St Manchan, set among its

elaborate Urnes-style decoration (107).

Serious missionary activity in Iceland got under way in the 980s with the
work of Thorvald 'the Far-Travelled', although there had been Christians
among the early settlers who had been converted in the British Isles. No
lasting results were achieved, however, until the reign of Olaf Tryggvason,
who first sent a priest of his own to the Icelanders and later threatened
reprisals when progress was slow. Iceland came near to civil war on the
issue, but a compromise was found to preserve legal order and peace. The
conversion of the country was legally enacted at the General Assembly
Althing; of Iceland in 999, but certain freedoms for pagans were
guaranteed. All Icelanders who were not already Christians had to be
baptised, but sacrifice in secret was still permitted and no change was made
in the customs of exposing newborn children Heaving them to die in the
open air) and of eating horse-meat. At first headway was probably still
slow, but within a few years the liberties that had been allowed to die-hard
pagans were abolished. ^~
Further progress for Christianity iti Iceland/was achieved by a number
of missionary bishops who arrived to preach and teach, preparing men for
the priesthood and consecrating churches. The first native bishop was
Isleif, son of one of the most important leaders in the Conversion: he was

consecrated in 1056, by Bishop Adalbert of Bremen. Isleif 's see was based
on the family estate at Skalholt, which was later given by his son Gizur,
also his episcopal successor (1 082-1 118), to be the seat of Iceland's bishop

182
 THK COMING OF CHRISTIANITY

in perpetuity. To the period of Isleif or Gizur belongs the elegant bronze

staff-head found by chance at Thingvellir (113). The crooks of this
T-shaped object (or tau-cross) end in typical Urnes-style animal-heads. It
is unique in the north, but will have adorned the staff of an ecclesiastic,

although not necessarily that of a bishop.

The earliest church in Greenland was built on Eirik 'the Red's' farm at
Brattahlid at the beginning of the eleventh century by his wife Thjodhild.
The story is was converted on a visit to Olaf
that Eirik's son, Leif,
Tryggvason Norway, whence he returned with assistants to proclaim
in
the new religion. The saga has it that 'his father Eirik was slow to become a
convert, but his wife Thjodhild was soon persuaded, and she had a church

113 Eleventh-century bronze built at some distance from the houses. There she and the others who had
staff-head (tau-cross) from accepted Christianity said their prayers. From the time Thjodhild adopted
Iceland.
the faith, she refused to have intercourse with Eirik, and this he disliked
very much A discarded soapstone weight on which is
. .
.' incised a crude
Thor's hammer bears witness to the paganism of those first settlers at

Brattahlid.
Thjodhild's church was a tiny chapel with curved walls built of turf, for
building timber was a rare commodity in Greenland. In Iceland and
Scandinavia the earliest churches were of timber. The first stone churches
cannot be seen as direct products of Viking civilisation. Although the stone
cathedral at Lund was started in about 1080, it is an expression of the
European tradition of Romanesque architecture. As such, both it and the
other stone churches of Scandinavia fall outside the scope of this book. On
the other hand, the wooden churches belong to the native architectural
tradition and have a particular character of their own.

183
THE VIKINGS

The first missionaries, like Ansgar at Hedeby and Birka, were concerned
to get churches built even if they had to do it themselves. Then the first
generations of Christians in built small churches for
Scandinavia
household use on their family Despite the fact that these must have
estates.
existed in large numbers - Adam of Bremen mentions that there were
three hundred churches in the province of Skane when King Sven
1047-74; established a bishop in Lund to administer them - only a
handful of excavated examples are known, together with some fragments
surviving because they were incorporated into later buildings.
The Flatatunga panels 1 14) have survived because they were reused as
boarding in a succession of farmhouses in northern Iceland. In 1 897 it was
arranged that they should be removed and transferred to the museum, but
before this could happen the five best panels, which formed part of the roof
of the pantry, were destroyed by fire. Now only four panels remain,
rescued from the roof of the living-room, but all in excellent condition
despite their chequered history.
Their foliate ornament, in classic Ringerike style, has already been
commented on, suggesting a date about the middle of the eleventh
century. Below this ornament is a row of saints and so it seems unlikely that
they were originally made to decorate a Viking hall. If the Flatatunga
panels were carved for a small household church and Flatatunga might be
expected to have had one, being among the biggest farms in Iceland), then
they are the earliest examples of church decoration surviving from the
Scandinavian world.
The ornament of the Urnes Church portal in western Norway (115),
which survived because it was incorporated into its twelfth-century
successor, was described above. The first church at Urnes has been
excavated and found to be a standard example of a group of eleventh-
century 'stave-churches' known in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and even
England at Greensted in Essex;. Stave-construction means that the walls
I

are made of upright planks, as seen in secular contexts earlier in the Viking
Age at, for instance, Hedeby and Fyrkat. These churches have a
rectangular nave and an approximately square chancel. Two have been
excavated in Lund of which one, dating from about 1060, may have been
the original cathedral. The church built by Harald at Jelling was also of
this type: placed between the two great mounds, its traces lie beneath its
stone replacement 69 .

The none of these churches survive is that in each

principal reason that
ground and so in time rotted away
case the planks were set directly in the
perhaps to be trimmed for reuse, as at Urnes and Greensted). All later
stave-churches have their wall-planks set in sills laid on the ground, or on
drystone foundations, as with the twelfth-century church at Urnes.
The appearance of these eleventh-century stave-churches can only be
guessed at. But the first church at Urnes had four large posts set within the
nave which may have served to heighten its roof, in the manner of later
1 14 Incised wooden panels
Norwegian churches. One like that at Borgund, also in the Sogn district of from Iceland, with Ringerike-
western Norway, with its multiple roofs and animal-headed gables, is a style foliage patterns above a
direct descendant of the first stave-churches built bv the newly converted row of saims.

184
 1
1
5 The twelfth-century
stave-church at Urnes in
western Norway incorporates
part of an elegantly
ornamented earlier building.

%t
 4

d\
=v

k \

__, ~
r
1 k \

. - - * «
THE VIKINGS

landowners of the area. It may well demonstrate something of their

superstructures, hut at the same time it must be remembered that Borgund
dates from the later twelfth century and is a far more elaborate building

than the church at Urnes ever was.

first

The theme of the Conversion of the North has taken us well beyond the
end of the Viking Age. But then there is no particular moment at which the
period can be said to have ended. It fades away. Settlers in England and in
Ireland, in Normandy and in Russia, had gradually been absorbed into the
native cultures of those areas. The Norman conquest of England in 1066
cannot remotely be described as a Viking invasion of a Scandinavian state.
The Anglo-Saxons had previously regained control of their own lands,
only to succumb to the Norman French. The invasion of England by
Harald 'the Ruthless' had failed with his death earlier in 1066 at Stamford
Bridge, and the invasion planned by St Knut of Denmark in 1085 proved
abortive. Such events brought England's Viking Age to a close.
Elsewhere outside Scandinavia there were settlers still developing their
Norse heritage. Orkney and Shetland remained Norwegian until 1468-9.
Iceland remained an independent state until 1262-4, when the Norwegian
King Hakon Hakonsson took control. The rise of the Norse settlements in
Greenland was only beginning as the Viking Age was drawing to an end.
At the same time developments within Scandinavia meant that, by the end
of the eleventh century, the homelands from which most of these settlers
had once set out had undergone significant changes.
Scandinavia had been drawn into a new cultural sphere - that of the
European Christian community - with all the changes which that had
entailed for the spiritual and legal basis of society. At the same time the
trend had been towards centralised authority and the sole rule of kings. It
was the Viking Age that saw the birth of the Christian nation-states of
Scandinavia, that deeply influenced the history of the British Isles, that
peopled the Faeroes and Iceland, and that, by chain of settlement, first
brought America into direct contact (however briefly; with northern
Europe.
From the Greenland Sea to the Caspian was a wide stage across which
strode many remarkable figures during the \ 'iking Age. Much of what they
achieved depended on the skills, courage and endurance of ordinary men
and women whose activities and experiences can now only be chronicled
by archaeology, but every year brings new discoveries to shape and adjust
our knowledge and appreciation of the many outstanding achievements of
the \ iking Age.

188
Select Bibliography

The following are some of the more important books in English

Different treatments of the I 'iking theme can be found in:

B. Almgren (ed.)j The Viking C. A. Watts. 1966

H. Arbman. The Vikings Thames & Hudson. 1962)
J. Brondsted. The Vikings Penguin. 1965)
O. Klindt-Jensen and S. Ehren. The World of the 'ikings George Allen & Unwin. 19-0
I

D. M. Wilson. The 'ikings and Their Origins Thames & Hudson, 1970)
I

More exhaustive accounts with extensive bibliographies and guides to more specialised literature:

P. G. Foote and D. M. Wilson. The Viking Achievement Sidgwick & Jackson, 1970) 1

G. Jones. The History of the Vikings (Oxford University Press, 1968)

P. H. Sawyer. The Age of the Vikings (Edward Arnold, 1977)

Some more specific topics are covered in:

M. Dolley. I'iking Coins of the Danelaw and of Dublin British Museum. 1965)
S. Jansson. The Runes of Sweden Phoenix, 1962)
G. Jones, The Xorse Atlantic Saga ^Oxford University Press, 1964
D. M. Wilson and O. Klindt-Jensen, I 'iking Art George Allen & Unwin. 1966
>,

H. R. Loyn. The Vikings in Britain Batsford. 1978>

E. Roesdahl. Viking-Age Denmark 'British Museum Publications Ltd; provisional title, due for
publication 1980).

A selection of modern translations of the Icelandic Sagas can be found in the Penguin Classics
series.

For Children:

A. Civardi and J. A. Graham-Campbell. The Time Traveller Book of Viking Raiders (Usborne.
1977)
S. Hadenius and B. Janrup, Hotc They Lived in a Viking Settlement ( Lutterworth, 1976)

A complete and exhaustive description of all the items figured in this book is to be found in:

J. A. Graham-Campbell, Viking Artefacts: A Select Catalogue (British Museum Publications Ltd.

198CO

189
Index

Figures in roman refer to page numbers and Bridges 64, 124, 181 Faeroes 31, 65, 67, 78, 182, 188
figures in italics refer to illustrations Broa, mounts 145, 155, 158; fig. 9; 87, 88 Fejo, cup 38; 14
Brokk 89 Fenrir, wolf 90; 49
Brooches 34, 36, 37, 52, 101, 102, 108, in, Finger-rings 33, 136
143. 145, 146, 150, 153, 158, 163, 168, Finland 15, 23, 50
173, 175, 182; fig. 10; //, 52, 53, 56, 57, Fishing 61, 63, 69, 84; 25
Abyn, incense-burner 55 60, 84, 8s, 91, 94, 95, 102, 103, 104, 106 Fittja, coin hoard 55
Adalbert. Bishop of Bremen 182 Burial customs 25, 73, 87-98, 101, 119, 120. Five Boroughs 70, 121
Adam of Bremen 117, 184 123, 124, 145, 154, 158, 162, 179; 30, Flatatunga, panels 138, 154, 168, 184; 114
Agriculture 20. 61-5. 69, 72, 77, 82, 131; 50,69, 71 Foss, pendant 88, 179; 45
fig. 5; 26 Bygland, tools 132, 146; 71 France 11, 23, 25, 33, 34, 36, 65, 70, 72,
Alborg 129 Byzantium 11, 15, 21, 52, 55, 58, 73, 180; 22 119, 121
Alcuin 25 Freyr 87, 134; 40. 41
Alfred 'the Great' 4.1, 70, 121 Cammin. casket 141, 168 Frisia n, 72, 122
Allmanninge. reliquary capsule 58; 24 Carolingian Empire 1 1, 23. 38, 113, 121 Furniture 26, 27, 29, 77, 80, 132
Althing 67, 182; 29 Exports 14, 15a, 15b Furs and skins 21, 29, 55, 73, 143
Alvkarleby, silver bowl 21 Caspian Sea 15. 36, 52, 188 Fyrkat 50, 124, 184; fig. 8; 70
Amber 21. 45, 84, 102, 134, 136, 154; 74 Castletown, arm-ring 136
America 1 1, 26. 65, 69, 70, 188 Cathac, book-shrine 173 Gaming 84, 134, 136, 162; 37, 38, 39
Andreas, cross fragment 90. 98: 49 Chester 38, 70 Gardariki, see Russia
L'Anse-aux-Meadows 69
Ansgar 122, 129, 180, 181, 184
China 55 Gatebo, reliquary crucifix
Gerd
m
Christianity 21, 58, 64, 70, 82, 87, 94, 95-8, 87; 41
Antler 113, 136, 138, 141, 145, 168; 64, 79, 102, 121-3, 128, 129, 154, 163, 167, Gerete, brooch 173; 102
98 168, 173-5, 176, 179-88; 12, 24, 30, 45, Germany 15, 21, 23, 128
Ardre, cist 90, 98. 173, 180; 48 48, 49, 107-15 Gizur, Bishop of Skalholt 182, 183
Arhus 128, 181 Clontarf, Battle of 67 Gjermundbu, helmet 115
Arm-rings 34, 37, 52, 108, 145; 18. 20, 59, Clothing 29, 55, 80, 101-17, 131, 154; fig. 6; Glass 21, 38, 41, 51, 55, 82, 84, 102, 120,
80, 81, 100 8,41,47 136, 146; 15a, 37
Arnes, mount 167; fig. 11:97 Coins 21, 23, 33, 34, 36, 37, 48, 50, 55, 58, Godfred, king of Denmark 122
Ase, firesteel 48 69, 120-2, 125, 128, 141, 143; 18, 67, 68 Gokstad 25, 26, 27, 29, 158; 6
Asen, brooch 145, 158; 53 Combs 82, 102. 113. 141 Mounts 90c
Aska Cong, Cross of 175. 176 Greenland 11, 31. 65. 69, 134, 136, 182, 183,
Arabic inscribed flask 21 Constantine Porphyrogenitos 52 188
Silver pendant 42 Cooking equipment 25, 29, 77, 80, 132; 35, Greensted church 1 84
Axes 89, 115, 116. 117, 132, 167, 182; 63 72 Gresli, brooch 175; 104
Copenhagen, shrine 34; 12 Grytoy, whalebone plaque 36
Baghdad, Caliphate Serkland> 48, 55 Coppergate, York 180; 31, 77 Guthrum. king of East Anglia 121; 68b
Baldursheirour. gaming-piece 84; 38 Cork 45, 67
Ballateare. skull 94 Cremation 73, 95, 119, 179 Hasrvej 122; fig. 7
Ballinderry. gaming-board 84; 39 Cuerdale. hoard 1 1 , 34, 37; 1 Hakon 'the Good' 182
Baltic 17. 21. 36, 41, 45, 48, 50, 58, 72, 128, Halldor Snorrason 128
134 Danegeld 125, 128 Hamburg-Bremen 180-2
Bamberg, casket 167 Danelaw 70, 121 Hameenlinna, necklace 55
Bawdsey, gaming-piece 136 Danevirke 122, 123; fig. 7 Harald 'Bluetooth' 123. 125. 167, 181, 184;
Beads 41, 102, 134, 136 Defences 41, 45, 63, 70, 122-5, I2 9; fig- 7- 96
Bengtsarvet, cauldron 132; 3s fig. 8; 17, 70 Harald 'Finehair' 67, 128
Berezanji 52 Derby 70, 121 Harald Klak 122
Bergen 30. 41. 129 Dniepr 50, 52, 73 Harald 'the Ruthless' 73, 128, 129, 188; 68m
Birka Dorestad 1 1 , 23 Hauge, gold foils 87, 145; 41
Site 17, 45, 48, 94, 120, 129, 179, 180; 17 Dublin 11. 13, 38, 45, 65, 67, 75, 120. 121. Hazamdl 84, 113
Objects 34, 37, 38, 48, 50, 55, 108, ill, 122, 150, 173; 68f,68g, 86 Hebrides the 'Southern Islands'; 65, 67
117, i33> 134, 136, 138, I4i> 143. 145. Hedeby
146. 181; 15a. 18, 43, 56, 61, 79, 109 Ear-rings 49; 19 Site 17, 41, 45- 5°' 75> 77- 122, 123, 128,
Hjarni Herjulfsson 69 Egill Skalla-grimsson 84 129, 132-4, 179, 180, 181, 184; fig. 4,

Bjorkc. book-mount to Eidem. necklace 136; 76 fig- 7; 32

Black Sea 50, 52 Eidet, necklace 48 Objects 38, 41, 58, 89, 94, 98, 115, 120,
Bone 61, 82; 84, 98, 134, 138, 150, 162, 165, Eirik 'Bloodaxe' 121 132-4. 136. 138, 141, 143, 145, 146;
167; fig. w, 25, 27, 36, 38,78,86,97 Eirik 'the Red' 67, 69, 183 68a, 74, 79, 83, 84
Morgund church 184, 188 Elbe 21. 25 Heggen, vane 30, 145, 168; 9. 99
Borre Embroidery 55, 82, 119; 22 Helgi 'the Lean' 179
Burial 158 Enamel 34, 37, 41, 108; 13, 107 Helgci 17, 21, 23, 34, 45, 132, 143, 180; 108
Mounts 1
58; 90 England 11,12, 23, 33, 34, 36-8, 45, 65, 67, Helluland 69
StJ Ic 1 SS. 162. 164; 90. 91 . 92. 93. 95b 70, 72, 94, 113, 121, 124, 125, 128, 138, Helmets 115. 116, 117,64
Brattahltd 69. 134, 183 163, 168, 175, 179, 180, 184, 188; /. 2. I[emse, glazed cup 21
Bredsatra, pendant xx. 146. 179; 44 70, 30, 31, 63, 65, 67, 68, 77, 101, 106 Ilennum. lamp 132

I90
 1 1 j 1

Hoards 23, 33, 34, 37, 48, 55, 67, 101, 120, London 23, 70, 95, 115, 167, 168, 180; 63. Romersdal, pendant 44
154, 158-64, 168, 173-5, 181; /. 18, 20, 101 Romf0, brooch 34; //
23,57,92, 112 Longva, jet snake pendant 16 Roskilde 29. 124, 129. 1X1
Holland, armlet 136 Lund Rouen 33
Holmgardr (Novgorod) 73 Site 129, 181, 183, 184 Runic inscriptions 34, 48, 52, 66, 69, 73,
Hon, hoard 33, 158, 92 Objects 55, 58, 87, 98, 113, 128, 132, 134, 95-8, 179, 180, 181; 47, 48, si, 96, 10
Horn 82, 84, 88, 90, 138; 43, 47 136, 175; 22, 27, 34, si, 68/1, 681, 72, Russia n, 15, 21, 36, 50, 52, 65, 72, 73, 119,
Hornelund 75,79 158, 180, 188; 20, 24
Brooches 146, 168; 57
Arm-ring S9 Magnus 'the Good' 128 Sacrifice 21, 94, 95, 179, 182
Horses 29, 61,63,64, 84,90,95, 117, 182 Mammen Sagas 15, 29, 69, 1 19, 128
Horse-equipment 64, 117, 132, 146, 155, Embroidered silk 55 Saint Manchan, shrine 176. 1X2; 107
158; 28, 66,87,88, 90, 190 Die 145; 82 Saint Paul's Churchyard, stone 98, 167, 168,
Horse-collar 158, 162; 28, 89 180; 101
Ibn Fadlan 15, 94, 101, 102, 108 Mammen style 163, 165, 167, 168, 173. Saint Rimbert 180
Ibrahim al-Tartushi 50 175; fig- n; 97-98 Sandby, silver hoard 20
Iceland 13, 31, 36, 65, 67, 78, 84, 95, 154, Markland 69 Schleswig 128, 129, 180
168, 179, 182, 183, 184, 188; fig. 5; 29, Martens, brooch 150; 8s Scotland 23, 34, 37, 45, 65, 136; 7a, 13
33, 38. 45. 113, 114
Mastermyr, tool chest 132, 138, 145, 146 Serkland, Baghdad, Caliphate of 48
He de Groix 119 Mediterranean 21, 36 Shannon 25, 34, 67
Ireland 13, 34, 38, 45, 65, 67, 121, 150, 162, Mercenaries 48, 58, 65, 72, 73, 128, 180 Shetland 26, 31, 65, 77, 89, 134, 154, 188;
173, 175, 176, 180, 188; 39, 68f, 68g, 81,
Middleton, cross 70, 115, 117, 179; 30 7a
86, 107, 108
Mollerlokken, brooch in, 146; 60 Shields 27, 90, 1 17, 1 19, 132, 154; 8, 47
Islandbndge 65 Ships 23, 25-31, 52, 90, 94, 117, 1 19, 123,
Isle of Man 67, 90, 94, 138, 162, 163, 179; Necklaces 36, 55, 102, 108, 158; 19, ss, 76, 153,6,7a, 7b, 8, 47
49 92,93 Sigtuna 17, 48, 58, 115, 129, 154, 168, 181;
Bishop of Skalholt 182, 183
Isleif, Neck-rings 36, 101, 108, m;
18, 20, s8 24, 64, 98
fslendingabok 67 Newfoundland 65, 69 Sihtric in 'Silkbeard' 121; 68h
Italy 36, 58,136 Nonnebakken, brooch 146, 158, 164; 9sb Silk 55, in; 22
Ivory 41, 134, 136, 154, 165, 167, 173; 7S Normandy 72 Skaill 163, 165; fig. 10; 94
Norre Longelse, riding equipment 66 Skalholt 182
Jarlshof 26, 65, 77, 89, 134, 154; 7a Norsborg, cross 58; 24 Skara 129
Jarrow 1 Nottingham 70 Skates 45, 64, 84, 138; 27
Jatten, scales 37 Novgorod (Holmgardr) 73 Skuldelev 29, 30, 124
Jelling 123, 162, 167, 168, 181, 184; 69. 96 Slate 67, 90, 138; 49
Jellinge style 162-5; fig. 10; 28, 93, 94, Odense 129, 181 Slaves 21, 33>36, 52, 55^63,67, 94, 113,
95a Odin 90, 98; 49 131, 180
Jerusalem 58 Olaf Haraldsson (St Olaf) 128, 182 Slavs 15, 21, 48, 50-8, 72, 73, 122, 123, 128;
Jet 45, 134, 136, 154, 158: 16 Olaf Skotkonung 73, 129 19, 20, 24
Jewellery 48, 50, 73, 94, 95, 101-13, 141-3, Olaf Tryggvason 30, 128, 182, 183 Sleipnir 90
150, 154, 164; 43, 56 Orkney 65, 67, 163, 182, 188; 94 Smiss, memorial stone 26, 90, 113, 154; 8
see also individual items Oseberg25, 27, 29, 34, 64, 77, 94, 101, 113, Snaptun, furnace-stone 89, 134, 143; 46
Jorvik, see York 128, 138, 154, 155 Soapstone 41, 69, 77, 80, 133, 134, 136, 143,
Oslo 26, 41, 129, 168 \%y, 46,73
Kaupang Oslo Fjord 20, 25, 27, 41, 128 Soderala, vane 145, 168
20, 34, 41, 133, 134, 143
Kiev 11, 15, 50, 52, 58, 73, 120; 24 Ostra Paboda, Carolingian mounts 1 sb Somhovd, line-winder 25
Kilmainham 65 Ottar (Othere) 41, 131 Spain 15, 36
Kiloran Bay. weights 37; 13 Spindlewhorls 69, 82, 134, 136
Klinta, pendant 89 Paviken 45, 136 Stamford 70
Knut 'the Great' 125, 126; 68 Pendants 50, 88, 102, 134, 145, 146, 158, Stamford Bridge 129, 188
Knut 11 'the Holv' 128, 188 Staraja Ladoga (Aldeigjuborg) 52, 73
179; 16, 19, 23, 42, 44, 45,54, 67a, 74,
Kvivik 78 84, 93, 109-12
Steinsvik, sword 158; 62
Pins 69, 89, 101, in; 61, 78 Stiklestad, Battle of 182

Piraeus, harbour 98 Stone memorials 90, 95, 98, 116, 138, 154,
Labrador 69
Pitney, brooch 175; 106 155, 163, 167, 168, 173, 179, 180, 181;
Lamps 77, 132, 134
96
2, 8, 30, 47, 48, 49, 77,
Poland 21, 48, 50
Landndmabok 3
Stong78;fig. 5; 33
Pottery 38, 41, 50, 55, 80, 95, 136, 143; 75a,
Landvikvannet, soapstone bowl 73 Svein 'Forkbeard' 125
Lead 21,34
37, 58, 145; 13 Sven Estridsson 98, 122, 128, 184; 68h
Leather 75, 113, 117, 136; 6s Swords 21, 38, 55, 89, 95, ill, 113, 115,
Leif 'the Lucky' Eiriksson 69, 183 Quentovic 23, 121
117, 132, 133, 141, 158, 168; 62, 63, 83,
Lejre 95 Quernstones 41, 62
Lilla Klintegarda, crucifix pendant no
Lilla Valla, bowl 145, 175; /05 Ragnarok 87, 90
Lillbjars, memorial stone 90, 1 13, 154; 47 Raienalt, king of York 122; 67b, 67c Tara, Battle of 13, 67, 121
Limerick 45, 67 Rallinge, figure 154; 40 Tents 26, 29, 82, 153
Lincoln 45, 70, 121, 136 Ravning Enge 124 Textiles 21, 29, 30, 58, 63, 80, 82, 101. m,
Mount 175; 106 Rhineland 38, 113, 133, 143; 15a 119, 136, 138, 154
Coin 68e Ribe 23, 45, 98, 132, 134, 136, 143, 181 Thames 25, 115; 63
Lindholm Hoje 61, 63, 77, 95; so Rigsthula 61 Thingvellir 183; 29
Brooch 175; 103 Ringerike, style 167, 168, 173, 175, 180, Tau cross 113
Lindisfarne 11, 13, 115; 2 184; 114 Thjodhild69, 183
Loddekoppinge, whetstone 26, 154; 7b Ringome, pendant 146; S4 Thor 87, 88, 179
Loki 89, 90: 46 Rinkaby. brooch 146, 158; 91 Thor's hammer pendants 122, 134, 145,
Loom 77, 82, 136 Rome 128 146, 179, 183; 44, 67a

191
THE VIKINGS
Thorfinn Karlsefni 69 Varby
Tin 101, 145 Mounts 55. 162, 163
Tisso. neckring 108; 58 Pendants 23. 93
Tools Vessels 21, 38, 50, 55, 77, 80, 82, 120, 133,
Agricultural 20, 61. 62. 63. 94. 132; 26 136, 143, 145, 162; /5a, 21. 34. 73. 105
Craftsmen's 20, 94. 119. 120. 132, 133. Vinland 69
136, 143. 145. 146. 150, 153, 162, 179; Virginia, gold arm-ring 81
71, 82 Volga 52, 94, 101
Traen, brooch 146. 164; 95a
Trelleborg 50, 75, 77 Wagons 28, 64
Trendgaarden, mould 179 Wales 65, 67
Tresfjorden. jet figures 136, 158; 16 Wallstena, "killed' sword 95
Trondheim 17, 30, 41, 129, 138, 141, 154, Wax 55, 143, 150
168, 175, 182; 78, 112 Weapons 20, 21, 23, 29, 61, 69, 84, 89, 90,
94, 95, 115, 117, 119, 120, 124, 146,
Undrom, arm-ring 168; 100 153, 158; 2, jo. 63, 63
Uppland 17, 21, 23,48, 50, 55, 72, 119, 181 see also individual items
Uppsala 95 Whetstones 26. 41, 134; 7b, 49
Urnes Whitby 45. 136
Church portal 138, 154, 173, 175, 184; William. Duke of N'ormandy 128
US Wine 21, 38,82,84; 15a
Urnes style 1^3, 175, 176. 180, 182, 183; Woodworking 29, 30, 75, 80, 123, 124, 132,
48, 78, 106, 107 136, 138. 154: fig. 4: 32. 34. 39. 114. 115

Valhalla 88, 90 York (Jorvik, 11. 23, 45, 70. 75, 113, 117,
Valkyrie 88, 90; 43. 47 121, 122, 134, 136, 138, 141, 163, 180;
Valsgarde 55, 119; 37 31, 65, 67, 68c, 68d, 68j, 77
Vanes 30, 145; 9. 99

List of Exhibits
The exhibition number is followed by an identification of the object, its materials, findspot and
country, principal dimensions, museum and registration number 'where available;.

Abbreviations
The full title of museums or loaning institutions can be found by reference to the complete list

of lenders on page 9. The following abbreviations have been made in this list:

Museums or loaning institutions: Roskilde Viking Ship Museum

Ber Bergen University Historical Rudkobing Langeland Museum
Museum Sch Schleswig Holstein
BM MLA British Museum, Department of Landesmuseum
Medieval and Later Antiquities SHM National Antiquities Museum,
BM CM British Museum, Department of Stockholm
Coins and Medals Trond Trondheim Roval Norwegian
Cop I National Museum of Denmark. Scientific Societv Museum
First Department Uppsala Museum Nordic Antiquities
for
Cop II National Museum of Denmark, YAT York Archaeological Trust (by
Second Department courtesv of York District
Dub National Museum of Ireland Council
Ed National Museum of Antiquities York Yorkshire Museum
of Scotland
Hel National Board of Antiquities,
Helsinki Findspots and countries:
Hobro Sydhimmerlands Museum Birka BE Birka Black Earth settlement
KMK. Royal Coin Cabinet, Stockholm area
Kult Culture History Museum, Lund Den 1)enmark
LUHM I.und University Historical Eng England
Museum Fin Finland
Oslo University Museum of National Ger ( iermanv
Antiquities Ice Iceland
OUMK Oslo Universit> Collection of Ire Ireland
Coins and Medals Nor Norway
Kevk National Museum o! Iceland Sco Scotland
Ribe Antiquities Museum Sue- Sweden

192
 LIST OF EXHIBITS

SECTION 1
22 Rectangular bowl, soapstone 48 Spindle whorl, antler. Birka BE
Finstad Nor Sue
Ships and the Sea
. .

L 36 cm. Oslo C11317. d 44 cm. SUM 5208:1819.

i Weather-vane, gilt-bronze. Heggen
23 Handled bowl, soapstone. Lvngdal 49 Spindle, wood. Hedeby tier
(Nor).
(Nor L 7-6 cm.
I

L 278 cm. Oslo C23605.

L 425 cm. Oslo C5718. Sch Hb.67N'29. 400210. 60IX.
2 Anchor, iron. Ribe Den). Bowl, soapstone. Kollsoyo (Nor). Three loom weights.
24 50 cla\ Hedeby
L 150 m. Ribe D 7887.
D 575 cm. Ber 1495. 1 ( ier .

Max. D 115 cm.

3 Ship's rivets, iron. Paviken (Swe).
25 Bowl, pottery. Birka grave 731 Swe Sch Hb.63Si3 iso-2 171 and
Clawed chisel, iron. Paviken (Swe).
D 177 cm. SHM. Hb.68N7.850i62.65V and Hb. 66-69,
4 stray find.
l 158 cm. Pot. clay. Birka grave 739 (Swe).
26
D 10 cm. SHM. 51 Weaving comb, antkr. Birka BE
5 Ship's stem-piece, wood. Skuldelev
(Swe).
wreck ill Den
L 3-70 m. Roskilde.
.

27 Pot. clay. Hedeby Ger). 1. 121 cm. SHM 5208:910.

D 12 cm. Sch 11978:7.
52 Weaving batten, whalebone. Ytre
6 Ship's steering oar. wood. Vorsa
28 Pot. clay. Lund Swe . Elgsncs Nor
(Den).
D 185 cm. Kult 53436:522. L 808 cm. Tromso 3096c.
L 2-8 m. Frederikshavn.
29 Pot. clay. Lund Swe .
53 Pin beater, wood. Hedeby Ger).
7 Ship's pail. wood. Dublin (Ire).
D 136 cm. Kult 53436:848. L 10cm.
h 305 cm. Dub E7i:ii220. Sch Hb.69N10.2D0217.30Xm.
8 Incised whetstone. Loddekopinge 30 Horn mount, silver on modern horn.
Birka grave 523 (Swe .
54 Pin beater, bone. Birka BE Swe .

Swe).
LUHM. D 7-5 cm. SHM L 154 cm. SHM 5208:1081.
L 106 cm.

Plaque with ship incised, slate.

31 Pail. wood. Lund Swe). 55 Two needles, wood and bone. Hedebv
9
D 345 cm. Kult 53436:839. Ger.
Jarlshof v Sco,.
Max. L 8-8 cm.
l 18 cm. Ed HSA 790.
32 Cup. wood. Lund (Swe). Sch Hb.62N50-540c64-o.60-o.65
L 15 cm. Kult 66166:2997. and Hb.69N27.iooio6.io\TII.
10 Boat model, wood. Hedeby (Ger).
L 30 cm. Sch. old find. 56 Needle-case. bone. Birka BE Swe
33 Trencher, wood. Hedeby ,Ger). .

L 32 cm. Sch Hb.63S6. 3092. 50- 1.39. L 6-1 cm. SHM 5208:1532.
11 Boat model, wood. Dublin (Ire).
l 11 cm. Dub E8 1 14228. Bowl and spoon, wood. Lund Swe). 57 Weaving tablet, antler. Birka BE
34
L 195 cm. Kult 53436:1093 and 793. Swe .

12 Mould with dragon's head, slate.

L 43 cm. SHM 5208:1644.
with modern cast. Birka Swe .

Knife with handle, iron and wood.

L 84 cm. SHM 8139:7. 35
Lund Swe .
58 Thread-maker, bone. Lund (Swe .

l 158 cm. Kult 53436:448. L 58 cm. Kult 53436:572.

13 Fitting, bronze. Saltvik Rangsby
(Fin).
36 Drainaway. wood. Lund Swe . 59 Two pieces of woollen cloth. Lund
L 53 cm. Hel 4284:13.
L485 cm. Kult 53436:1081. 60 Swe .

l 39 cm. Kult 66166:989.

14 Picture-stone. Smiss 1 Swe).
Strike-a-light. iron. Marstein [Nor).
H 126 m. 11521. SHM 37
l 7-7 cm. Oslo C3463. 61 Linen smoother, glass. Hedebv
Ger).
15 Ingot mould, stone. Whitby Eng .

D 78 cm. Sch Hb.37N5. 15098. 55-1. 05.

L 26 cm. VCTiitby Abbey. 38 Lamp. iron. Hennum (Nor).
h 48 cm. Oslo C4626.
62 Linen. Hedeby (Ger).
16 Grave marker, stone. Lindisfarne L 25 cm. Sch Hb.63 Gewebe
Eng 39 Lamp, soapstone. Jarlshof iSco). 1).

W 42 cm.
.

Lindisfarne Museum. l 128 cm. Ed HSA 754.

63 Plaque, whalebone. Loppasanden
Lamp. Nor
Hedeby
.

Hoard selection, silver. Cuerdale 40 clay. (Ger).

17 L 36 cm. Tromso 636oh.
(Eng,. BM MLA41, 7-1 1, 741. D 14 cm. Sch 11474:12.

Cauldron and chain, iron.

64 Pipe, eagle bone. Hedeby (Ger).
41
L 21 3 cm. Sch
Bengtsarvet Swe .

Hb. 38S 1 25-1 40096. 35-96. 45-1 .65-

H 99 cm. SHM 22293. 1.70.
SECTION' 2
42 Frying pan, iron. Lekve Nor Lyre bridge, BE
The Hedeby House .
65 antler. Birka (Swe).
L 665 cm. Ber 5490. L 48 cm. SHM 5208:1634.
SECTION 3 43 Spit. iron. Lund Swe). 66 Gaming-board. wood. Ballinderrv
House and Home Liu cm. Kult 66166:2007. Ire .

Max 1 36 2 cm. Dub 1932:6533.

18 Bowl, bronze. Thumby-Bienebek 44 Meat-fork. iron. Sarheim (Nor).
grave 5 1 Ger). L 135 cm. Ber 6735Z. 67 Dice. bone. Nes Nor .

W 26 cm. Sch. L 3-2 cm. Ber 5i6ig.

45 Shears, iron. As Nor).
19 Box and lid. bronze. Findarve Swe .
L 197 cm. Oslo C5292g. 68 Playing-piece. bone. Baldursheimur
D 17-8 cm. SHM 1076. Ice
46 Wool-comb. iron. Terum (Nor). H 39 cm. Reyk 6.
20 Ladle, bronze. Birka grave 632 Swe .
L c. 9 cm. Ber 8991c
L 265 cm. SHM 69 Two plaving-pieces. amber. Hedebv
47 Spindle and whorl, wood and clav. Ger .

21 Double bowl, soapstone. Sondre \'ik Ribe Den . Max. d 22 cm.

Nor . Spindle l 297 cm. Ribe D 5^81 and Sch Hb.67N29.0019S.50
L 84 cm. Ber 8555P. D3791. and Hb. 68N-. -501-4 icIV.

193
 .

THE VIKINGS
70 Playing-pieces, bone and gilt-bronze. 92 Two pins, bone. Jarlshof (Sco). SECTION 5
Birka grave 624 Swe). Max. L 128 cm. Ed HAS 7 and The Vikings
Max. h 3 cm. SHM. HAS 124.

115 Bow, wood. Hedebv (Ger).

71 Twenty-three playing-pieces, glass. 93 Amulet miniatures on ring, silver.
l 1 92 m. Sch Hb. 68. N14. 000212. 60X.
Yalsgarde grave 3 [Swe . Klinta (Swe).
Max. D 2-6 cm. Uppsala 59(3). D 3 cm. SHM 129.
116 Two arrow-heads, iron. Estuna
(Swe).
94 Key pendant, leather. Ribe (Den).
Max. l 157 cm. SHM 27761.
SECTION 4 l 5 cm. Ribe D 6772.
Death and the Pagan Gods 117 Arrow-nocks, bronze. Hedeby (Ger).
95 Phallus model, wood. Danevirke
L 365 cm. Sch 12302. Bh.
(Ger).
72 Hog-back grave stone. Brompton
L 23 cm. Sch.
Eng. 118 Spearhead, iron. Birka grave 850
L 1473 cm. Durham Cathedral (Swe).
96 Pendant, silver. Folhagen (Swe).
L 55 cm. SHM.
Library: 60. H 12 cm. SHM 3547.
73 Replica casket. Cammin (Ger). 119 Spearhead, iron. Fyrkat (Den).
97 Pendant, silver. Birka grave 968
L 60 cm. SHM. L265 cm. Hobro D 1651-1966.
(Swe).
Hi-6 cm. SHM. 120 Axe-head, iron. Lund (Swe).
74 Four slabs of a grave cist, stone.
Ardre (Swe). l 142 cm. Kult 66166:1209.
98 Neckring, silver. Botnhamn fNor).
Max. L 825 cm. D 174 cm. Troms0 1649.
SHM 11118 I,II,V,VL 121 Axe-head, iron. Thames (Eng).

Rune-incised stave, wood. Hedebv

w 28 cm. BM MLA 38, 1-10,2.
99
75 Memorial stone. Lillbjars (Swe).
(Ger).
H 86 cm. SHM 13742. l 121 cm. Sch Hb.III.
122 Axe-head. iron. Fvrkat grave 2 no. 4
(Den).
76 Churchyard cross, stone. Middleton
100 Rune-incised bone. Lund (Swe).
L 145 cm. Hobro D 150-1966.
(Engj.
l 142 cm. Kult 66166:1541.
H 106 cm. Middleton church, stone B. 123 Mace head, bronze. Norrkvie (Swe).
101 Skull fragment with incised runes,
L 7-1 cm. SHM 27778:1462.
77 Churchyard cross fragment, slate.
bone. Ribe 'Den).
Andreas Tsle of Man). 124 Spearhead, iron, with silver and
L 8-6 cm. Ribe D 13764. copper inlay. Kokemaki (Fin).
H 355 cm. Manx Museum no. 128.
L 335 cm. Hel 1174:8.
102 Penny of Sven Estridsson of
78 Grave slab, stone. York Minster Denmark, silver. 125 Spearhead, iron with copper and
grave 1 (Eng).
L 183 cm. York Museum.
BMCM 1956, 4-»-7i- silver inlay. Thames (Eng).

Furnace stone, soapstone. Snaptun

L 546 cm. BM MLA 93,7-15,2.
103
79 Two grave end-stones. York Minster fDen).
80 grave 2 ( Eng). 126 Spearhead, iron with silver inlay.
Max. H 368 and 546 cm. York
w 24 cm. Arhus 72a.
Tingstade (Swe).
Museum. 104 Pendant, silver. Aska (Swe).
L 433 cm. SHM
7571:226.

81 Gravestone fragment. York (Eng).

l 34 cm. SHM 16560.
127 Spearhead, iron with silver inlay.
H 223 cm. York 1977. 7. 21 15. Valsgarde grave 12 (Swe).
105 Two pendants, silver. Folhagen
L 305 cm. Uppsala 59(12).
(Swej.
82 Female skull, bone. Ballateare (Isle of
Max. h 45 cm. SHM 3547.
Man Manx Museum.
; .
128 Spearhead, iron with silver inlay.
Vesilahti (Fin).
106 Man's head incised on stone L442 cm. Hel 439.
83 Cremation urn, clay. Darum ("Den).
fragment. Jarlshof Sco). <

h 15 cm. Ribe 7i90d. l 115 cm. Ed HSA 793.

129 Sword, iron. Kjorven (Nor).
84 Model animal paw. clay. Finstrom l 916 cm. Oslo C19763.
Godby (Fin). 107 Two foil sheets with male and
female figures, gold. Hauge (Nor).
130 Sword hilt, bronze. Eigg grave
L 53 cm. Hel 3986:31. I
Max. l 09 cm. Ber 5392. (Sco).
85 Sword, iron. VC'allstena (Swe). L 185 cm. Ed IL 157.
L 355 cm. SHM 2776.
108 Armed figure, silver. Birka grave 571
(Swe).
131 Sword, iron with copper and silver
Thorshammer pendant on chain.
h 29 cm. SHM. Barkarby (Swe).
86 inlay.
silver.Bredsatra (Swe).
Female figure, silver. Klinta (Swe).
L 71 cm. SHM
19844:26.
L 41 5 cm. SHM
101.
109
H 2-8 cm. SHM 128.
132 Sword, gilt-silver and iron. Dyback
87 Thorshammer pendant, silver. (Swe).
Goldsborough (Eng).
no Female figure, gilt-bronze. Oland
L 523 cm. SHM 4515.
2- 19 cm. Private possession.
(Swe).
l
H 3 cm. SHM 6485. 133 Sword, iron with silver and niello
88 Thorshammer pendant, silver. inlay.Hedeby (Ger).
Romersdal r Den). in Male statuette, bronze. Lindbv l 967 cm. Sch 12302. Bb.
lc. 5 cm. Cop 597. (Swe).
H 69 cm. SHM 13701. 134 Sword, iron with bronze inlay.
89 Weight fragment with Steinsvik (Nor).
Thorshammer incised, soapstone. 112 Playing-piece, walrus ivory. Lund 1. 1003 cm. Oslo 020317a.
Brattahlid (Greenland). (Swe).
I. 78 cm. Cop II D12213.606. H 47 cm. Kult 38252. 135 Sword, bronze and iron. Tyrvanto
Suontaka (Fin).
90 Mould, soapstone. Trendgaardcn 113 Male figure, bronze. Rallinge (Swe). L 915 cm. Hel 17.777:1.
(Den). H 69 cm. SHM 14232.
L 98 cm. Cop I C24451. 136 Scabbard chape (and part of
114 Mount terminating in male head. blade), bronze and iron.
91 Pendant, silver. Foss (Ice). elk antler. Sigtuna (Swe). Hafurbjarnarstadir Ice
1 urn Reyk 6077. L 22 cm. SHM
22044. 1 12 4 cm. Reyk 559.

194
 1

LIST OF EXHIBITS

137 Scabbard chape, bronze. Mansala Oval brooch pair, bronze. 173 Strap fittings, gilt-bronze. Lejre
Fin . L ic cm. 174 Den .

l -- cm. Hel 13941. Max L 4 cm. Cop I 1047-1050.

Disc brooch, bronze.
D 6 cm.
138 Scabbard chape, bronze. York Eng 175 Buckle-loop, bronze. Barnes I

L 8-6 cm. York 55 1.49. 4-. Forty-five beads, glass and bronze. 1 7-1 cm. BM MLA 56,7—1,1474.
L 62 cm.
139 Shield boss. iron. Haen N'or 176 Strap-end. bronze. York Eng
D 145 cm. Oslo C14535 152 Disc brooch, silver. Allmanninge [4i)im York 19-3.24.
Swe .

140 Shield boss. iron. Hedeby Ger . D 93 cm. SHM -29:7. 177 Strap-end. gilt-silver. Winchester
D 163 cm. Sch 12302. Be 1 . Eng
153 Disc brooch, bronze. Dublin Ire . 1 4 cm. Winchester CG.72.
141 Chain mail. iron. Lund Swe . D 32 cm. L - cm. Dub £43:2086. 1

L 14 cm. Kult 66166:2917. 178 Strap-end. bronze. Aggersborg

154 Disc brooch, bronze. Wisbech Eng . Den .

142 Helmet, iron. Giermundbu N'or d 42 cm. Wisbech 1.1846. L 61 cm. Cop I A3-635.
h 23- cm. Oslo C2 - 3i - k.
155 Disc brooch, pewter. York Eng . 1 "9 Toilet implements, bronze. Hedebv
143 Pair of spurs, iron with silver inlay. D 36 cm. York 652.48. Ger .

Norre Longelse grave 2 Den . Max. L <;-2 cm. Sch Hb. W131 and
Max. l 21 3 cm. Rudkobing C4S9. 156 Disc brooch, pewter. YAT Eng W145 "

D 3 1 cm. York 19 -.1520.

— .

144 Stirrup, iron with brass inlay. 180 Toilet implement, gilt-silver and
Thames at Battersea Eng .
157 Disc brooch, gold. Hedeby Ger . Birka grave so - Swe
niello. .

h 239 cm. BM MLA 54.4-24.1. D 26 cm. Sch Hb.~6. surface find. L 69 cm. SHM
145 Pair of stirrups, iron with silver and 158 Box-shaped brooch, gilt-bronze. 181 Knife-blade, iron with bronze inlay.
copper inlay. Thumby-Bienebek grave Valla Swe . Lund Swe .

1 Ger . D 4-7 cm. SHM *z~-. L 9 " cm. Kult 66166:2898.

Max. H 228 cm. Sch.
159 Tongue-shaped brooch, bronze. 182 Knife, iron. wood, silver. Fyrkat grave
Birka BE Swe 22a Den
The I Iking Woman Max. l 10-2 cm.
.

SHM 5208:14-.
.

L 81 cm. Hobro D2 13-1966.

146 Female grave group: Birka grave

160 Animal-head brooch, bronze. 183 Key pendant, bronze. Hetland Nor
854 SHM.
Swe .

Dalhem Swe . L 6~ cm. Ber i6i

-
.

Equal arm brooch, gilt-bronze. L 59 cm. SHM 1089.

L i~-6 cm. 184 Key pendant, bronze. Elstad Nor .

161 Oval brooch, bronze. Kilmainham L 9-8 cm. Oslo C3915.

Two mounts, gilt-silver.
Ire .

Max. L 5-1 cm.

Dub Two combs, antler. Birka BE Swe
L 93 cm. 1881:253 185 .

Two brooches, gilt-bronze and Max. L 18-5 cm. SHM s2oS:~si and
enamel. 162 Oval brooch, bronze. Hovindsholm 564.
Max. L 29 cm. (Nor .

-
L 94 cm. Oslo Ci 2. 186 Comb, antler. Dublin Ire
Two
.

necklace spacers, gilt-silver.

L 155 cm. Dub £-1:9-85.
Max. L 9-3 cm.
163 Oval brooch, bronze. Islay Sco).
Beads, glass. Ed IL 215.
L 11 -2 cm. 187 Comb, antler. Lund Swe .

L 35 cm. L 139 cm. Kult 66166:1511.

164 Oval brooch, gilt-bronze. Moscow
147 Female grave group: Ihre grave 414 region L'SSR . 188 Comb, antler. Trondheim (Nor).
Swe . SHM 20826:3-0. L 114 cm. SHM 18918. L 20 cm. Trond N39355.
Box-shaped brooch, bronze.
Oval brooch, gilt-bronze and silver. 189 Comb and case, antler. York Eng
165 .

D 54 cm. Santon Eng . L 14-1 cm. BM MLA 66.5-1 c.i.

Animal head brooches, bronze. l 1 1-6 cm. BM MLA 88,1-3,1.
L 52 cm. 190 Ringed pin. silver and niello. Birka
166 Oval brooch, gilt-bronze. Castletown grave 561 Swe .

Eighteen mitre pendants, bronze. L 20 -5 cm. SHM.

Sco .

L 36 cm.
L ii-i cm. Ed IL 221
Chains and suspension plates. 191 Bail-headed pin. bronze and gold.
bronze. 16- Oval brooch, gilt-bronze. Nordland Birka grave 832 Swe .

\v 40 cm. Nor . L2i-2^rm. SHM

LI19 cm. Tromso 2214.
255 beads, ealcite and glass.
192 Ball-headed pin. -:!ver. Thumby-
Two spacers, bronze. 168 Equal-armed brooch, silver. Birka Bienebek grave 2 1 Ger.
Max. L 69 cm. erave 639 Swe . L 13-1 cm. Sch.
L 7-8 cm. SHM.
Two pins, bronze.
193 Ringed pin. bronze. Birka grave 1007
-
Max. l 6 cm. 169 Equal-armed brooch, silver. Birka Swe .

erave 9-3 Swe .

L 18 8 cm. SHM.
148 Pair of oval brooches, bronze. I -9 cm. SHM.
Norway. 194 Ringed pin. bronze. Dublin Ire).
Max. l 129 cm. Oslo C4-2-. 170 Animal-shaped brooch, bronze. L 16-S cm. Dub £43:15-2
Kaupang Nor .

149 Trefoil brooch, bronze. Norway. L 7-9 cm. Oslo C2 _ 220n. 195 Ringed pin. bronze.
W 8-1 cm. Oslo C4-30. Gnupverjaafrettur Ice .

171 Pair of toe rings, silver. Fyrkat grave L 185 cm. Reyk 5396.
150 Necklace: twenty-seven mosaic beads. 4 Den .

Eidem Nor . Max. d 1-5 cm. Hobro Di-0-1966. 196 Stickpin, bronze. Dublin Ire .

Trond 8293.
L 3- cm. L 85 cm. Dub £43:551.
172 Armlet, bronze. Birka grave 108
151 Female grave group: Loppasanden Swe 197 Two pins. bone. Jarlshof Sco .

Nor Tromso 636oa.b.c.g.

. D 7 3 cm. SHM. 198 Max. L 11 3 cm. Ed HAS 3 and 4.

195
THE VIKINGS
199 Pin. bone. Thames, London (Eng). 221 Neckring. gold. Tissqi (Den). 247 Cup. silver and gilt. Lejre :
Deny.
l 17 cm. BM MLA
93,6-18,72. D c 35 cm. Cop I Dnf /77.
. 1 d 59 cm. Cop I 1 1373.

200 Pin, bone. Trondheim (Nor). 222 Box-shaped brooch, gold, silver,
L 131 cm. Trond N37383. niello and bronze. Martens (Swe). SECTION 7
D 75 cm. SHM
12151:9.
Trade and Loot
201 Necklace, glass, silver, etc. Birka
grave 632 (Swe 1. 223 Disc brooch, gold. Hedeby Ger).
D 39 cm. Sch KS 10596. 248 Selection of grave goods. Paksujoki,
l 43 cm. SHM.
Mound
Zaljuscik, 1 USSR).
202 Necklace and
disc brooch, glass and 224 Two disc brooches, gold. Hornelund Male grave B
gilt-bronze. Birka grave 948 (Swe). (Den).
cm. Cop C7144 and Horse-bit, iron.
L 90 cm. SHM. Max. D 8-6 I 5.
l 21 cm. Hel 1675:17.

203 Necklace, crystal, silver and glass. 225 Two neckrings. silver. Ytlings (Swe). Sword, iron inlaid with silver and
Lilla Rone 'Swe). Max. D 13-4 cm. SHM copper.
Max. h 33 cm. SHM 8315. L 965 cm. Hel 1675:1.
226 Armlet, silver. Bryungs (Swe).
d 9 cm. SHM Spearhead, iron.
204 Collar of thirty-two pendants, gilt- 15903.
bronze, silver, gold. Krasse Swe .
l 468 cm. Hel 1675:2.
W 23 cm. 6387. SHM 227 Armring, silver. Skaill fSco). Spearhead, iron.
D 1 1 cm. Ed IL 22. L 278 cm. Hel 1675:3.
205 Pendant, gold. Hedeby (Ger).
228 Armring, gold. Oxna (Sco). Axe-head, iron.
D 32 cm. Sch.
l 155 cm. Hel 1675:7.
d 7-5 cm. Ed FE 71.
206 Pendant, gold. Ringome (Swe).
H 7-4 cm. SHM 229 Armring, gold. Virginia (Ire).
Female grave Bi
4079.
D 7-2 cm. BM MLA
49.3-1.2. Oval brooches, bronze and iron.
207 Pendant, gilt-silver. Saffron Walden Max. L 1 cm. 1675:22 and 23.
1

'Eng,,. 230 Finger ring, gold. Simrishamn (Swe).

H cm. Saffron Walden Museum d 33 cm. SHM
7065.
Disc brooch, bronze.
5-5
D 1 69 cm. Hel 1675:21.
1902.2.
231 Finger ring, gold. Tundergarth (Sco;. Chains, bronze.
d 26 cm. BM MLA AF 466. RingD 1 cm. Hel 1675:32.

232 Hoard and dish, silver and iron.

Pendant, bronze.
L 125 cm. Hel 1675:25.
SECTION 6 Birka BE (Swe).
Dish D 235 cm. SHM 5208:3. Beads, carnelian, glass, silver and gold
Viking Treasure Hel 1675:30.
foil.
233 Armlet hoard, silver. Martens (Swe).
208 Carolingian coin pendant, silver.
d 93 cm. SHM 121 5 1-8. 1
Armring, silver.
Birka grave 66 fSwej. KMK. D 6 cm. Hel 1675:27.
234 Hoard of armrings and neckrings.
209 Cufic coin pendant, silver. Birka Sandby 'Swej.
silver. 249 Cremation urn, clay. Paksujoki,
grave 731 (Swe). KMK. Zaljuscik. Mound 1 'USSR).
Max. D 18 cm. SHM 936.
D 16 cm. Hel 10157:1. 8.
210 Roman coin pendant, silver. Birka
235 Neckrings, silver. Skaill (Sco).
grave 750 (Swe). SHM. Max. D 175 cm. Ed IL 18 and 20. 250 Scales, weights and bag, tinned-
bronze, lead and linen. Jatten 'Nor .

211 Carolingian coin pendant, silver.

Two armrings and a finger ring. Max. L 18-5 cm. Ber 4772.
236
Birka grave 978 (Swe). KMK. silver. Fyrkat 'Den;.
Max. D 105 cm. Hobro D57 and 251 Scales box, bronze. Petes (Swe).
212 Necklace of Anglo-Saxon coins,
D381-1966. D 87 cm. SHM 792.
silver. Aspinge (Swe).
L 40-4 cm. 6620:20. SHM 237 Finger ring hoard, gold. Stenness
252 Weights, lead, gilt-bronze, amber and
enamel. Kiloran Bay Sco'i.
(Sco).
213 Necklace with coins and pendants, Max. l 33 cm. Ed L 1924,12-18.
silver. Hameenlinna Fin 1.
D 28 cm. Ed FE 27-30.
I

L 50 cm. Hel 3090:1. 253 Weights, lead, gilt-bronze, silver,

238 Armring, gold. Goodrington Eng). (

enamel and glass. Kilmainham Ire

214 Disc brooch, silver. Garsnas (Swe).
d 9 cm. BM MLA
1979,10-1,1.
Max. d 37 cm.
d 54 cm. LUHM 6609. Two armrings, gold. Dublin
Dub 2389,2399-401,2413-7.
239 Ire).

215 Penannular brooch, silver and gold. D 98 cm. Dub £71:9007 and 8.
254 Two ingots, silver. Cuerdale (Eng).
Hatteberg Nor). BM MLA 41.7-11,10 and 103.
1. 21 cm. Ber 8377c.
240 Armring, gold. Ornum Den). (

D 83 cm. Cop I C5509. Ingot mould, soapstone. Hedebv

255
216 Thistle brooch, silver. I.aitila (Fin). Gen.
L 367 cm. Hel 1 1243. 241 Armring, gold. Hornelund Den). '

Lii'9 cm.
D 71 cm. Cop I C7146. Sch Hb. 3480.60087.80,0.70.
217 Penannular brooch, silver and gold.
Mollerlokken (Den 242 Armring, gold. Wipholm (Ger). 256 Group of hacksilver. Cuerdale
1. 312 cm Cop I 16370. D 9 cm. Sch LMS KS.6421. Eng . BM MLA
41,7-11,141,142,518,677.
218 Thistle brooch, silver. Newbiggin 243 Armring, silver. Brahesminde Den ;.

(Eng 1.
D 8-6 cm. Cop I Dnf 14 .48. 257 Armring. silver. Skaill (Sco).
51-2 cm. BM Ml. A 1909,6-24,2.
1 Max. n - - cm. Ed IL 30 and 31.
244 Two armrings. silver. Ireland.

219 Penannular brooch, silver. Skaill Max. D 6-9 cm. Dub W'62 and W63. 258 Counterfeit armlet, bronze and tin.
(Sco). Tystebols Swe
1 38 cm. EdILi. 245 Armring. silver. Ivo(Swe). 132 em. SHM 16835.
1.

n 91cm SUM 2406.

220 Penannular brooch, silver. Vible 259 Cufic coin fragments. Cuerdale
Swe .
246 Disc brooch, silver. Sutton (Eng). Kni: BM CM
41 ,7-10,1442 and
1
-
5 cm. SUM 108. D 164 cm. BM MLA
1951,10-1,1. 1444.

196
 LIST OF EXHIBITS

260 Cufic coin hoard, silver. Fittja Swe . 281 German silver coins Sweden. 304 Caucasian silver dirham. found in
KMK. SHM 18744 thu Cuerdale hoard Eng
Max D 2 > cm.
Otto or penny, struck 965-83,
261 Bucket, bronze and wood. Birka grave
Cologne.
! 11
BM CM [841,7-10,1436.
507 Swe .

h 18 5 cm. SHM. Henry 11 penny, struck 985-^5. 305 Samanid silver dirham. struck
Regensburg. 906--. Goldsborough hoard Eng .

262 Reliquary, wood, bronze, tinned

Otto in penny, struck 983-96. Huy.
D 2-7 cm. CM. BM
copper, glass or garnet. Norway.
L 136 cm. Cop II 9084. 306 Mounts and pendants. gilt-silver.
282 Pot. clay. Trelleborg Den Yarby Swe .

D 19 cm. Cop Q25;

263 Terminal, bronze, glass, and enamel.
II
Max 1. 58 cm SHM 4516.
Helgb Swe
Fdlhagen Swe
.

283 Necklace, silver.

H 93 cm. SHM 250-5:100x3.
.

L 61 5 cm. SHM 354-.

264 Stud, glass. Hedeby Ger .

SECTION
284 Earring, silver. Runsberga Swe 8
D 26 cm. Sch 13-10.
.

H 8 - cm. SHM 12080. The Craftsman

265 Mount, gilt-bronze, amber and glass.
285 Earring, silver. Sturko Swe 307 Pendant whetstone, slate. Birka
Romfo Nor .

L 89 cm. Oslo C6185.

.

H 56 cm. SHM 8770. grave 496 Swe .

L 133 cm. SHM.

266 Ringed pin. gilt-silver, gold, amber 286 Pendant, silver. Sweden.
and glass. VC'estness Sco .
\v 46 cm. SHM unregistered .
308 Pendant whetstone, slate. Birka
l 1-4 cm. Ed IL -28. grave 6osB Swe .

287 Pendant on chain, silver. Eidet Indre L 64 cm" SHM

267 Disc brooch, gilt-bronze. Sommaroy Nor .

Nor .
Pendant h 115 cm. Tromso 4400a. 309 Pendant whetstone, slate. Birka
D 8-8 cm. Tromso 4052b. grave 644 Swe .

288 Strike-a-light. bronze and iron. Ase L 8-5 cm. SHM.

268 Mount, gilt-bronze. Bjorke (Nor). (Nor).
L 9 - cm. Ber 8256. L 7 cm. Ber 4336b. 310 Beads and worked fragments.
carnelian. Hedeby Ger . Sch.
269 Hooked tag. silver. Birka grave 348 289 Reliquary- on chain, silver.

Swe .
Allmaninge Swe . 311 Rock crystal, in various stages of
L 31 cm. SHM. L 26 cm. -29:1. SHM working. Hedeby Ger Sch. .

270 Anglo-Saxon silver pennies found 290 Pendant cross, silver. Norsborg 312 Playing-piece. jet. Bawdsey Eng .

in Sweden. KMK. Swe . H 4- cm. Ipswich 969-63.

Edward the Elder 899-924
L 56 cm. SHM 21555
.

313 Armring. jet. Castletown Sco).

Aethelred 11. struck 991-7. London. 291 Egg. glazed clay. Sigtuna Swe . d 6-8 cm. Ed FN 2.
H 44 cm. SHM 18562.
Knut 'the Great", struck c. 1018-24.
314 Armring. jet. Hoiland Nor).
Oxford. D 53 cm. Ber 5628.
292 Cap mount and four tassels, silver
Harold 1. struck 1036--. Bristol. wire. Birka erave >8i Swe .

Max. l 6-6 cm. SHM. 315 Gripping bears, jet. Tresfjorden

Edward the Confessor, struck 1044-6. Nor .

London. L 45 cm. Ber 290.

293 Spindle whorl, slate. Lund Swe .

D 2-5 cm. Kult 53436:588.

271 Taring-ware jug. pottery with tin 316 Snake pendant, jet. Longva Nor .

appliques. Birka grave 854 Swe .

D 42 cm. Ber 94-ib.
SHM. 294 Silver srebrennik of Jaroslav 'the
H 24- cm.
Wise' of Kiev 1016-54 KMK. .

— 317 Snake pendant, jet. York Eng).

272 Funnel beaker, glass. Birka grave 5 h yz cm. York H.no.
Swe .
295 Coin brooch, Hedeby Ger gold. .

h 153 cm. SHM. d 23 cm. Sch Hb.39N-1.65

\\" 1 02.23-1.99. 318 Model cat. amber. Birka BE Swe .

L 3 cm. SHM 5208:8252.

2"*3 Beaker, glass. Birka grave 539 Swe .

h 135 cm. SHM. 296 Byzantine seal. lead. Hedeby Ger .

319 Selection of worked amber and

d 2-7 cm.
Sch Hb.66Nio. 30096. 98- 1.73.
raw material. Hedebv Ger .

274 Trefoil mount, gilt-silver. Huseby Sch Hb.38S68*204-50,4-o,5.

Nor).
\v 6-6 cm. Trond 8526. 29^ Taffeta, silk. Lund Swe .

L 13-5 cm. Kult 53436:51-. KM 320 Mosaic and other fragments, glass.
Paviken Swe .

275 Belt mounts, gilt-silver. O.Paboda

Swe 298 Cuffs and cloak-tie. gold-
.

321 Crucible, clay. Lincoln Eng

embroidered silk. Mammen Den
.

Max. L 136 cm. SHM 1296. .

D _ - cm. Lincoln F75. G-2.P190.

Cop I C138 and C139.
276 Cup. silver-gilt. Feio Den .

322 Mosaic glass beads and

D 114 cm. Cop I C1458 299 Cuff, silver-embroidered silk.
manufacturing debris, slass. Ribe
Valsgarde grave 12 Swe Uppsala. .

(Den). Ribe.
277 Quern, lavastone. Hedeby Ger .

L 27-5 cm. 300 Brazier, bronze. Abyn Swe .

323 Selection of glass debris. Kaupang

Sch Hb. 6-N24. 350210. 10VL H 33 cm. Gavle 9699. Nor . Oslo.

2-8 Selection of imported glass 301 Flask with Arab inscription. 324 Finger rings, glass. Lincoln Eng .

(sherds). Kaupang Nor . Oslo. bronze. Aska Swe .

D 2-4 cm. Lincoln F75. G224. F75.
H 32 cm. SHM 16560. G244 and F75. G205.
279 Selection of imported pottery
(sherds). Kaupang Nor Oslo. . 302 Bowl, silver. Alvkarleby Swe . 325 Comb working fragments, antler.
D 142 cm. SHM Med Dep 133. Hedeby Ger .

280 Sword-blade fragment with Max. 158 cm. Sch Hb. 1935-38,
1

maker's mark. iron. Saaksmaki Fin . 303 Glazed cup. Hemse Swe . and 1 969. and
L 22 cm. Hel 2~6
-
.
D 62 cm. SHM 5035 Hb.69N26.50-;- 5 - -:—96.5CIII.

197
THE VIKINGS
326 Comb. Hedeby (Ger). 351 Eight blanks, iron. Somdalen (Nor). 379 Borre style ring-chain, bone.
L 209 cm. Max. L 302 cm. Oslo C2264-5. 149 cm. £122:6567.
1.

Sch Hb.i64Ss. 00083.00+ 1.02.

352 Tool chest, iron and wood. 380 Borre style ring-chain, bone.
327 Rough-cut disc, antler. Hedeb%- Mastermyr (Swe). L 149 cm. £43:2327.
Ger;. l 90 cm. SHM 21592.
D 5-2 cm. Sch. 381 Ringerike style patterns, bone.
353- Thirty-two tools, iron, with modern 1. 1 1-6 cm. E71 :708.

328 Pin, bone. Hedeby (Ger). 358 wood handles.

L 144 cm. Sch Hb.69N3o.6o03o.85IX. Mastermyr (Swe). 382 Animal interlace patterns, stone.
Max. L 51 cm. SHM 21592. L 114 cm. £122:8760.
329 Pin, bone. Lund (Swe).
L 115 cm. Kult 66166:853. 359 Metalsmith's tools, iron, with
modern wood handles. Bygland (Nor). SECTION 9
330 Spoon, antler. Birka BE (Swe). Max. l 62- 1 cm. Oslo C27454.
L 14-4 cm. SHM 5208:550.
Kings, Coinage and Subsistence
360 Selections of whetstones. Kaupang
383 Silver penny, Guthrum (Athelstan n)
331 Handle, antler. Birka BE (Swe). (Nor). Oslo.
L 83 cm. SHM 5208:945. of East Anglia, struck c. 885. BM CM
361 Norwegian whetstone. York (Eng). 1838,7-10,8.

332 Sword pommel and lower guard, l 17 cm. YAT 1972. 21. 5156.
BE (Swe).
antler. Birka
384 Silver penny, St Edmund Memorial
Max. L 94 cm. SHM 5208:542 and 362 Pattern-welded spearhead, iron. issue, struck c. 895. BM CM
Valkjarvi fFin). 1838,7-10-771.
544-
L 455 cm. Hel 3870:2.
385 Silver penny, Siefred, struck c. 896,
333 Arrow-head, antler. Hedeby (Ger). York. BM CM
Lund 1838,7-10-1233.
l 49 cm. Sch Hb.66N22. 65016. 70X. 363 Shoe, leather. (Swe).
l 21 5 cm. Kult 66166:1045.
386 Silver penny, Mirabilia fecit issue,
334 Cleaver, whalebone. Tisnes (Nor).
l 1 2- 1 cm. Troms0 799. 364 Shoe, Ribe fDen).
leather.
struck c. 900, York. BM CM
L 298 cm. Ribe D 6100. 1838,7-10-1410.

335 Handle, antler. York (Eng).

Silver penny, Cnut, struck c. 900,
l 85 cm. BM MLA 1942,10-7,2. 365 Ankle-boot, leather. York (Eng).
387
York. BM CM1838,7-10-1295.
l 23 cm. YAT 1974. 8. 1 1.
336 Plaque, whalebone. Gryt0y (Nor).
H 345 cm. Ber 272. 388 Silver halfpenny, Cnut, struck c.
366 Knife, bone and iron. Canterbury
(Eng).
900, York. BM CM
1838,7-10-1394.
337 Model duck, elkhorn. Birka BE l 106 cm. Canterbury.
(Swe). 389 Silver penny, Cnut, struck c. 900,
L 132 cm. SHM 5208:1604. 367 Shoe-last, wood. Hedeby (Ger).
York. BM CM
1838,7-10-1265.
L 135 cm. Sch Hb.69N65Wi3. 35XII.
Two playing-pieces, bone. Hedeby 390 Silver penny, Cnut, struck c. 900,
338
(Ger). 368 Awl, iron and wood. York (Eng).
Quentovic. BM CM
1838,7-10-1424.
d 36 cm. Sch Hb.67N29. 6o02oo. 90VI L 9-7 cm. YAT 1974.21 5403.
391 Silver penny, St Peter of York, struck
and Hb.67N13.oo02o1.6oHI.
Scabbard, leather. York (Eng).
c.910, York. BM CM
1915,5-7-772.
369
339 Carved plank, wood. Trondheim L 34 cm. YAT 1976. 1 1 73.
fNor). 392 Silver penny, St Peter of York, struck
L 150 cm. Trond N30000. Sherds selection, soapstone.
c.915, York. BM CM
1935,11-17-369.
370
Kaupang (Nor). Oslo. Silver penny, St Peter of York, struck
340 Carved mount, wood. Dublin (Ire). 393
L 275 cm. Dub £172:4309
c.918, York. BMC
1122.
371 Bowl, soapstone. Landvikvannet
(Nor).
341 Bowl with sculpted handle, wood. 394 Silver penny, St Martin of Lincoln,
D 24 cm. Olso C21813C struck c. 915, Lincoln. BMC 698.
Hedeby fGer).
L 37 cm. Sch Hb.69N6. 70063. 50XII. Ingot mould, soapstone. Kaupang
372 395 Silver penny, Raienalt, struck
342 Box and wood. Dublin (Ire).
lid,
(Nor). 919-21, York. BMC
1083.
L 12 cm. Oslo Div A 63g.
L 155 cm. Dub £122:17155.
396 Silver penny, Raienalt, struck
343 Spoon, wood. Hedeby (Ger). 373 Weight, soapstone. Hedeby (Ger). 919-21, York. BM CM
1862,9-26-4.
1.125 cm. Sch Hb. 1963/64. H 6-2 cm.
Sch Hb.64Ni9. 50^83. 90 + 2.65. 397 Silver penny, Raienalt, struck
344 Spoon, wood. Trondheim (Nor). 919-21, York. BMC
1087.
1.186 cm. Trond N36697. 374 Spindle whorl, soapstone. Jarlshof
(Sco). 398 Silver penny, 'Edward', struck c. 920,
345 Turned mug, wood. York (Eng). d 34 cm. Ed HSA 416. York. BM CM 1959,12-10-2.
n 1 1 -6 cm. YAT 1977.7 1384.
375 Spindle whorl and unfinished 399 Silver penny, Anlaf Guthfrithsson,
346 Turned bowl, wood. York (Eng). whorl, soapstone. Brattahlid struckc. 940, York.

D 18 cm. YAT 1977.7 1383. (Greenland). BMCM 1862,9-30-1.

L 7-5 cm.
347 Core, wood. York (Eng;. Cop II D12205.980 and 12204.742. 400 Silver penny, Anlaf Sihtricsson,
D 6-6 cm. YAT 1977.7 2351. struck c. 941-3, York.
376 Trial-piece, slate. Killaloe (Ire). BM CM 1915,5-7-767.
348 Box, bark. Hedeby (Ger). 9 cm. BM
1. MLA 58,1-20,1.
I) 184 cm. 401 Silver penny. Anlaf Sihtricsson,
Sch Hb.64S5. 80090. 70 0.59. | 377- Trial-pieces, bone and stone, found struckc. 941-3, York. 1090. BMC
382 in Dublin Ire). Dub.I

349 Axe-blanks on wooden pole, iron. 402 Record-piece or coin-weight, lead,

Gjerrild (Den;. 377 Incised with quatrefoils, bone. struck c. 943, York.
1. 735 cm. Cop I C24854. 1. 145 cm. £122:9270. BMCM 1876,8-4-2.
350 Blank, iron. Alborga (Swe). 378 Incised with quatrefoils. bone. 403 Silver penny. Eric 'Bloodaxe'. struck
41 cm. SHM 1006.
1 1 16 cm. 1-122:6543 952-4, York. BMC 1 1 12.

I98
 LIST OF EXHIBITS

404 Silver penny. Hedebv group, struck 430 Shovel, wood. Danevirke Ger .

455 Horse harness mount, gilt-bronze.

c. 825. Hedebv. KMK L 838 cm. Sch. Birka grave 75c Swe
L 125 cm. SUM.
405 Silver penny. Carolingian group, 431 Quern, stone. Ribc Den .

struck 9^5. Hedebv. KMK. D 43 cm. Ribe D 7877 and 8. 456 Stirrup, iron Nordgard Nor
w 131 cm. Oslo C575.
406 Silver penny. Harald 'Bluetooth", 432 Ploughshare, iron. Fume-- Nor
struck c. 91S-C. 980. Jelling. l 20 8 cm. Oslo Ci69a. 457 Horse bit. iron Bj Nor
BMCM 1925.2-4-30. L 28 3 cm Oslo C10716.
433 Farmer's tools from a hoard, iron.
407 Silver penny. Olaf "Skotkonung". Skarud Nor
struck c. 99S-1000. Sigtuna. Max. L 448 cm. Oslo C341--21.
BMCM 1 840.3-1 1-1 1.

434 Sickle, iron. Tranby (Nor). SECTION 10

408 Silver penny, imitation of Aethelred L 245 cm. Oslo C26927d.
11. struck c. 1000-1018. KMK.
Art and Ornament
435 Leaf knife, iron. Halstad Nor).
Silver penny. Olaf Haraldsson, struck L 335 cm. Oslo C2i098d. 458 Furnace stone, soapstone. Hedebv
409
KMK SNM Ger .

c. 1017-25. 2185.
436 Bell, bronze. Asheim (Nor).
1 195 cm. Sch.
410 Silver penny. Harald 'the Ruthless", H 6-8 cm. OSI0C25885C
Ingot, bronze. Lund Sv.
struck c. 104--55. OUMK. 459
_
cm. Kult 53436:614.
L
437 Shears, iron. Aker Nor .

411 Silver penny. Harald 'the Ruthless', L 323 cm. Oslo C4718.
460 Ingot, bronze. Birka BE Swe
c. 1055-65. OUMK.
.

struck
438 Two fish hooks, iron. Lund Swe .
L 1-5 cm. SHM
5208:2512.
412 Silver pennv. Olaf Haraldsson. struck L 65 cm. Kult 53436:226.
1019-28. OUMK
FC 200. 461 Crucible, clay. Lund Swe).
c.
H 40 cm. Kult 53436:199.
439 Line-winder, whalebone. Somhovd
413 Silver penny. Olaf 'the Quiet", struck Nor .

1067-80. OUMK. L 20 cm. Trond 13471. 462 Three crucibles, clay. Hedebv Ger .

h 95 cm. Sch Hb.

414 Silver penny. Harald 'the Ruthless", 440 Fish-gorge, bone. Birka BE Swe .

struck c. 1055-65. OUMK FC L 45 cm. SHM

5208:964. 463 Crucible, clav. Kaupans Nor .

1159-60. H 48 cm. Oslo K1960 MO.

441 Net-float, bark. Lund (Swe).
415 Silver penny. Olaf 'the Quiet", struck L 122 cm. Kult 53436:719. 464 Crucible, clay. Birka BE Swe .

c. 1067-80. OUMK
FC 1159-60. H 42 cm. SHM 5208:2484.
442 Weight, stone. York Eng .

H 12-2 cm. York C658. 465 Unfinished brooch and mould.

416 Silver pennv. Cnut. struck c. 1018.
bronze and clay. Lund Sue
Lund. BM CM
1956.4-8-58.
H 2-8 cm. Kult 66166:2626 and
.

7.
443 Net-stick, wood. Lund Swe .

417 Silver penny. Cnut. struck c. 1018- L 248 cm. 53436:61.

c. 1020. Lund. BM CM
1925.2-4-32. 467 Oval brooch mould fragments.
clay. Ribe Den .

444 Fishing spear, iron. Fossesholm

Ribe D 10469 and D 10442.
418 Silver penny. Cnut. struck c. 1018— [Nor).
c. 1020. Viborg KMK. L 195 cm. Oslo C1272. 468 Oval brooch, gilt-bronze. Hjallese
Torp Den .

419 Silver penny. Cnut. struck c. 1020- 445 Leister, iron. Rise (Nor).
L 95 cm. Cop C23184.
c. 1030. Lund. BM CM
1925.2-4-33. L 30 cm. Trond 7319.
I

469 Scabbard chape mould fragment,

420 Silver penny. Cnut. struck c. 1020- 446 Three arrow-heads, wood. Hedebv BE Swe
clay. Birka
1030. Orbaek. KMK.
.

Ger).
c.
H 46 cm. SHM 5208:2497.
L 9s cm. Sch
421 Silver penny. Cnut. struck c. 1028, Hb.68N18.600229.60YH.
470 Scabbard chape, bronze. Astad
Sigtuna. KMK. Hb.68N39.s00213.10Ym and Swe .

HK6-N24. 550219. 60YIII. L 6-5 cm. SHM 17968.

422 Silver pennv. Cnut. struck
c. 1018-24. Bath. 5. BMC 447 Six arrow-heads, iron. Estuna Swe 471 Mould brooch pin.
for thistle
Max. L 125 cm. SHM 2 61. — siltstone. Kaupang Nor .

423 Silver penny. Cnut. struck L 8 cm. Oslo K1960. M.O. Br.Bl.s.a.
c. 1024-30. Winchester. BMC 581. 448 Two spearheads, iron. Estuna Swe .

Max. L 25- cm. SHM 27761. 472 Thistle brooch, bronze. Marum
424 Silver penny. Harthacnut 103^-42 .
Nor
BM CM
.

Lund. 1956.4-8-69. 449 Ski. wood. Muolaa Tin). D 6-8 cm. Oslo C11285.
L 194 cm. Hel KM 7406.
425 Silver penny. Harthacnut. struck
473 Trefoil brooch mould, clay. York
1035-7. London. 450 Two skates, bone. Lund Swe .
Eng).
BMCM 1935.11-1--614. L 22 cm. Kult 66166:1044 and 2261. L 107 cm. YAT 19756 448.

426 Silver penny. Sven Estridssen. struck 451 Crampon, iron. Lund Swe .
474 Trefoil brooch, gilt-silver and gold.
c. 1044-". Lund. w 46 cm. Kult 66i66:~64. Mosnes Nor .

BM CM 1 906. 1
1
-3-5 1 42. W 7-8 cm. Ber 4342.
452 Two crampons, iron. Lund Swe .

427 Silver penny. Sven Estridssen. struck Max. H 6 5 cm. Kult 53436:571 and 475 Pendant mould (and modern
before c. 106s:. Lund. 1131. impression), sandstone. Hedebv
BM CM 1956,4-8-87. Ger . Sch.
453 Rattle and hooks, iron. Nordgard
428 Silver penny. Sihtric in. struck Nor .
476 Pendant mould, -oapstone. Hedebv
c.997, Dublin. BM CM
1838,9-19-9. l 23 cm. Oslo C576-7. Ger
L 5-3 cm. Sch KS D203.
429 Silver penny. Anonvmous issue. 454 Horse harness bow. gilt-bronze and
struck c. 1065. Dublin. BM CM modern wood. Elstrup Den .
477 Ingot, lead. Kaupang Nor).
195-.6-12-36. L 48 cm. Sch. L 8-7 cm. Oslo K1962-C.

199
THE VIKINGS
478 Trefoil brooch mould fragment. 501 Nine strap mounts, bronze and gilt- 525 Disc brooch, gilt-bronze. Pitney
clay.Hedeh\ Ger . bronze. Gokstad 'Nor . Eng .

L 54 cm. Sch 13710. Max. L 53 cm. Oslo. D 39 cm. BM MLA 1979, 11-1, 1.

479 Trefoil brooch, pewter. Hedeby 502 Necklace and pendants, gold and 526 Mount, bronze. Lincoln Eng I
.

Ger). glass. Hon Nor Oslo C747-9. . 61 cm. Lincoln Arch. Trust
1

w 4-7 cm. DT74I.SZ.AE108.

Sch Hb.340781. 6580.85,0.70. 503 Disc brooch, silver. Gotland (Swe).
D78 cm. BM MLA 1901,7-18,1. 527 Bowl, silver. Lilla Valla Swe).
480 Disc brooch mould, amler. Hedebv D 165 cm. SHM 3099.
(Ger and chain,
504 Quatrefoil brooch
.

gilt-
D 52 cm. Rinkaby Swe).
silver.
Sch Hb.64N15-2o095-1oc.II. L 275 cm. SHM 4578. SECTION 11

481 Quatrefoil brooch mould, antler. Christianity

Hedebv Gel 505 Disc brooch, silver. Nonnebakken
l 8-3 cm.
Den). Two panels, wood. Flatatunga Ice
528 .

Sch Hb. 3480.500158.50:0. 20. D 63 cm. Cop I C6271. 1 ~3'8 cm. Reyk 15296a and b.

482 Hammered ingot, bronze. Lund 506 Patrice, bronze. Mammen Den). 529 Crucifix, silver. Birka grave 660
(Swe). H 63 cm. Cop I C1067. (Swe).
L 18 cm. Kult 66166:770. H 34 cm. SHM.
507 Disc brooch, silver. Traen (Nor).
483 Patrice for disc brooch (and D 7-3 cm. Oslo 21858a. 530 Crucifix, silver Aspinge Swe).
modern impression), bronze. H 58 cm. 6620:1.SHM
Hedebv Ger Sch Hb.38. Bachbett, .
508 Horse harness-bow, gilt-bronze and
Sch 8. modern wood. Mammen Den .
531 Crucifix, silver. Trondheim Nor .

L 420 cm. Cop I C1063. L 85 cm. Trond 16978a.

484 Stamping pad. lead and iron punch.
Mastermvr Swe Max. L 7-5 cm.
509 Nine pendants, gilt-bronze and
.
y silver. 532 Crucifix, silver. Lilla Klintegarda
SHM 21592. Varby Swe . Swe .

Gotland (Swe).
Max. h 46 cm. SHM 4516. H 82 cm. SHM 980.
485 Armlet, silver.
D 73 cm. BM MLA 1921,11-1,305.
510 Disc brooch, gilt-silver. Honsi Nor .
533 Reliquary cross and chain, silver.
Draw plate, iron. Mastermvr (Swe). d 32 cm. Ber 709. Gatebo Swe).
486
L 137 cm. SHM 21592.
W 62 cm. SHM
Med Dep 100.
511 Thistle brooch terminal, silver.

487 Wire, bronze. Tystebols (Swe). Skaill Sco;. 534 Cross, silver. Birka grave 480 Swe .

D 5 cm. 16835. SHM l 8-6 cm. Ed IL5. L 3-1 cm. SHM

488 Wire, silver. Botvalde (Swe). 512 Cylindrical sleeve, bone. Arnes 535 Disc brooch, gilt-bronze. Hedeby
D 3-8 cm. SHM 23228. (Nor). Ger..
H 6 cm. Trond 18308. d 2-7 cm. Sch.
489 Knitted wire braiding, silver.
Inchkenneth Sco).
513 Cylindrical sleeve, bone. St Martin's 536 Tau cross, bronze. Thingvellir (Ice).
l 46 cm. BM 51,6-13,1 MLA le Grand Eng I
.
w 8-6 cm. Reyk 15776.
H 4-7 cm. Museum of London.
490 Heating tray, clay with silver 537 Pencase lid. wood. Lund (Swe).
granules. Fyrkat ^Den;. L 333 cm. Kult 53436:1 125.
D 7-1 cm. Hobro D1229A-1966. 514 Button, bone. London (Eng).
d 5-8 cm. BM MLA 66,2-24,1.
538 Gravestone. St Pauls Churchyard
491 Hammer, iron. Birka BE (Swe). Eng .

SHM 5208:438. 515 Sword mount, elk antler. Sigtuna

L 109 cm.
(Swe).
L 575 cm. Museum of London.

492 Hammer head, antler. Birka BE W 1 01 cm. Sigtuna 1965.

539 Book mount, bronze. Holvcross
Swe). Ire
l 10 cm. SHM 5208:928. 516 Disc brooch, silver. Aspinge Swe .

h 87 cm. Dub P. 1053.

D 5 cm. 6620:2. SHM
493 Vice, antler. Hedeby (Ger). 540 Trial-piece, bone. Dublin Ire).
L 98 cm. Sch. 517 Disc brooch, silver. Gerete (Swe). l 129 cm Dub £71:5706.
D 59 cm. SHM 1219.
494 Annular brooch, gilt-bronze, gold, 541 Shrine of St Senan's bell, bronze.
silver and niello. Austris Swe). | 518 Bird-shaped brooch, gilt-silver. Scattery Island Ire .

L 105 cm. 821 1. SHM Gresli Nor .

H 122 cm. Dub 1919.1.
W 48 cm. Trond 2042.
495 Nine bridle mounts, gilt-bronze. 542 Bell shrine of St Cuileann. iron.
Broa ^Swe .
519 Weather-vane, gilt-bronze. Soderala bronze, silver and enamel. Ireland.
Max. L 9-0 cm. 10796. SHM (Swej. h 315 cm. BM MLA
89,9-2,22.
L 377 cm. SHM 16023.
496 Oval brooch, bronze. Asen (Nor). 543 Shrine of St Manchan. bronze and
l 108 cm. Trond 862b. 520 Crucifix, silver. Trondheim Nor). wood. Ireland.
L cm. Trond 16978b.
1 1 H c. 45 cm. Boher, private possession.
497 Oval brooch, bronze. Lisbjerg Den .

L 9-1 cm. Cop I Ci 33 1. 1 521 Armlet, gilt-silver and niello.

1 'ndrom (Swe). Major wooden replicas
498 Key pendant, bronze. Ihre (Swe). D 71 cm. SHM 1 31 8.
1. 10 1 c. SHM 22917:183:1. Faering replica Gokstad (Nor).
522 Terminal, bronze. Gotland (Swe). Arhus.
499 Openwork purse mount, bronze. W 2-4 cm. Med Hep 12194.SUM
Othcm Sue .
Sledge replica Oseberg Nor Arhus
D 67 cm. SUM [1887:1 523 Brooch, silver. Trollaskogur (Ice),
hi 4 cm. Reyk 6524 Wagon replica Oscbcrg (Nor).
500 Four bridle mounts, gilt-bronze. Arhus.
Borre Noi 524 Brooch, silver. Lindholm loic Pen I

Max. 1 54 cm. Oslo (.1804. w 3 2 cm Aalborg 129X 1397 Portal replica I rnes (Nor). Ber.

200
 BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 9999 00025 653 5

WITHDRAWN
No longer the property of the
Boston Public Library,
of this material benefited the Library.

Boston Public Library

Copley Square

GENERAL LIBRARY

DL65
.G64
1980

9800219998

The Date Due Card in the pocket indi-

cates the date on or before which this

book should be returned to the Library.

Please do not remove cards from this

pocket.