CAM BRIDGE UNIVE RS IT Y PRE S S

gu mb o“ FETTER L E : AN ,

C . F . C Y M ANAGE R LA ,

QE T Mnburgb : 100, PRINCE S S T RE E

B erlin : A . AS H E R. AND 0 0 .

i A S i eim g : F . A. B RO CKH U T AM ’ 1mm 35 0 t h : G. P . PU N S SO NS

( T D B umb ag ant E ul cutta : M ACM ILLAN AND CO L . '

Al l ri g hts res erved

A . ALLE N M AW E R M .

n d Professo r of E nglish Lang ua g e a C o e e Litera t ure i n A rmst rong ll g , t Fe ow University of D urham la e ll Gonville a nd Caius ‘ C a mbridg e

Ca m b ridge U n iversity Press

CONT E NT S

Introduction CH AP

Ca us es of the Viking movement The Viking movement down to the middle of the 9th century

The Vikings in E ngland to the dea th of H arthacnut

The Viking s in the Fr ankis h E mpire to the founding of Nor mandy (9 1 1 )

The Viking s in Ireland to the battle of Clontarf

The i in s in the Or ne s S cot an the Wes tern V k g k y , l d, Islands and M an The Viking s in Ba ltic lands and Russia

Viking civilisation

S can inavian infl ence in the Or ne s S et an s d u k y , h l d , the Western Islands a nd M a n

S candi navian influence in Ireland S candinavian influence in E ngla nd

S ca ndinavian influence in the E mpire and Iceland

Bibliography

Index LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

’ The Goksta d s hip F r onti sp z ece

PLAT E

i in s i fro the Ba e x ta estr a cin a e 100 I . V k g h p m y u p y f g p g

II Orna ents of the i in erio . m V k g p d

III Th J in n . e ell ge sto e

The frontispiece is reproduce d by kind permission of r M O eerin of C ristiania a II d II oto ra e r . tes an I ph g ph , V g , h ; pl

' r n fro o hus Mfillef s N or di sch e A lter mm s kun d e a e take m S p . INTRODUCTION

TH E term Viking 1s derived from the Old Norse wi fe , a bay, and means one who haunts a bay, creek 1 or fjord In the 9th and l oth centuries it came to be used more especially of those warriors who left their homes in S candinavia and made raids on the chief European countries . This is the narrow, and ‘ ’ technically the only correct use of the term Viking, ’ the but in such expressions as Viking civilisation, ’ ‘ ’ ‘ in Viking age, the Viking movement, Viking ’ fluence, the word has come to have a wider significance and is used as a concise and convenient term for describing the whole of the civilisation, activity and S l influence of the candinavian peoples, at a particu ar period in their history, and to apply the term Viking in its narrower sense to these movements would be as misleading as to write an account of the age of ’ Elizabeth and label it The Buccaneers .

1 T h e word is older th a n th e a ctu al Viking age : it is found in A o-S a xon th e o wi ci n S o e w te h a ve a d th a t it ngl in f rm g . m ri rs s i ‘ ’ ea eo e o th e d t ct of th e Vi k in S o th No wa s o m ns p pl fr m is ri u r y , ca ed o th e o o d- k e e n wh ch i s o d th e e b ut th e ll fr m l ng fj r li Op ni g i f un r ,

- o early Anglo S a xon us e of the term fo rbids thi s de rivati n . M . THE VIKINGS

It is in the broader sense, that the term is P d employed in the present manual. lun ering and harrying form but on e aspect of Viking activity and it is mainly a matter of accident that this aspect is r the on e that looms largest in ou minds . Our know of m ledge the Viking ovement was, until the last

- half century, drawn almost entirely from the works of L medieval atin chroniclers, writing in monasteries and other kindred schools of learning which had only too often felt the devastating hand of Viking raiders . They naturally regarded them as little better than p l ra tes and they never tired of expatiating upon their cruelty and their violence . It is only during the last fifty years or so that we have been able to revise our ideas of Viking civilisation and to form a juster conception of the part which it played in the history of Europe . two The change has come about chiefly in ways . In the first place the literature of S candinavia is n o longer a sealed book to us . For our period there are three chief groups of native authorities : ( 1) the prose sagas and the H i s tor i an D a n i ca of Saxo Gram

on 2 3 . mati s, ( ) the eddaic poems, ( ) the skaldic poems The prose sagas and Saxo belong to a date considerably b ut later than the Viking age, they include much valuable material referring to that period . The chief poems of the older Edda date from the Viking period itself and are 1nval ua b le for the information they INTRODUCTION give us as to the religion and mythology of the v S candi na ian peoples at this time, the heroic stories current amongst them, and their general outlook on life . The skaldic poems are however in some ways v the most aluable historical authority for the period . The ska lds or court- poets were attached to the courts s of kings and jarls, shared their adventures, prai ed their victories, and made songs of lament on their death, and their work is largely contemporary with the events they describe . l S econd y, and yet more important in its results s l perhap , archaeological science has, within the ast

- va half century, made rapid ad nce, and the work of archaeologists on the rich finds brought to light

' during the last hundred years has given us a vast body of concrete fact, with the aid of which we have been able to reconstruct the material civilisation of the Viking period far more satisfactorily than we could from the scattered and fragmentary notices foun d in the sagas and els ewhere . The resultant picture calls for description later, but it is well to remember from the outset that it is a v ery different one from ’ that commonly associated with the term Viking. With this word of explanation and note of warning we may proceed to our main subject. THE VIKINGS

CHAPTER I

CAU S ES OF T H E VIKI NG M OV EM ENT

TH E period of S ca nd1na v1a n history to which the term V iking is applied extends roughly from the middle of the 8th to the end of the l 0th or the first half of 1 1 h the t century. Its commencement was marked by the raids of Scan dinavian freeboote rs upon the coasts of a nd England, Western Scotland Ireland and upon a e Frankish territory. Its clim x was reach d when in the course of the 9th and l oth ce nturies Scandinavian rule was established in Ireland, Man and the Western s i of Island , the northern and midland distr cts England,

of a . Normandy, and a great part Russi Its close was marked by the consolidation of the Scandinavian kingdoms in the late 1 0th and early 1 1th centurl es under such mighty s overeigns as Olaf Tryggvas on S k otk onun and Olaf the Holy in Norway, Olaf g in r of Sweden, and g eatest all, king Knut in Denmark, who for a brief time united the whole of Scandinavia a n d a great p art of the British Isles in one vast

‘ r confede acy. The extent and importance of the move ment is indicated from the first by the almost simultaneous a of a on of appe ar nce trouble in Engl nd, the coast on a France, and the Eider bound ry between Denmark and the Frankish empire . I] CAUSE S or THE VIKING MOVE ME NT 5

Beorhtric 86 In the reign of , king of Wessex (7 three ships of the Northmen coming from H oroala nd

(around Hardanger Fjord) landed near Dorchester, 93 L 800 in June 7 indisfarne was sacked, in March Charlemagne found himself compelled to equip a fleet and establish a stronger coastguard to defend the Frankish coast against the attacks of the North S men, and from 777 onwards, when the axon patriot Widukind took refuge with the Danish king S ig efridus N i r oor l n . . S (O g ) , there was a most co stant friction along the land- boundary between Denmark and the

Frankish empire . This outburst of hostile activity had been preceded by considerable intercours e of a varied character between Scandinavia and the countries of Western o 6th Eur pe . Early in the century the Danes or, Go G according to another authority, the tar from ota a l nd in south Sweden, invaded Frisia under their hocil aicu king C s. Reference is made to this raid in

t of H ela c of G B eowul . the s ory yg , king the eatas, in f Professor Z immer suggested that the attacks of nu known pirates on the island of Eigg in the Hebrides ' ofl c and on Tory Island Donegal, des ribed in certain of th Irish annals the 7 century, were really the work of S T e of candinavian raiders . h evidence Irish legend and saga goes to prove that in the same century Irish anchorites settled in the S hetlands but were later compelled by the arrival of S candinavian settlers THE VIKINGS

to move on to the lonely Faroes . Here they were n ot e to be left in peace, for the Irish g ographer Dicuil 825 , writing in , tells us that the Faroes had then been deserted b y the monks for some thirty ' years owing to the raids of Northmen pirates . Dr Ja k ob sen has shown that the forms of place names in the Shetlands point very definitely to a settlement from S candinavia in pre - Viking days before 700— while the sculptured stones of Go thl a nd show already at the end of the 7th century clear P evidence of Celtic art influence . ossibly also mer chants of Scandinavian origin were already settled in the Frankish empire and it is certain that there was n considerable trade between S candi avia and the West . Most of the intercourse thus demonstrated was slow in development, peaceful and civilising in cha r r a cte . How came it that in the later years of the 8th century this intercourse was suddenly strengthened m and intensified, while at the same ti e it underwent a great change both in methods and character ' The traditional explanation is that given by Dudo and by William of Jum ieg es in their histories of the settlement of Normandy and by S axo in his a o count of Danish settlements in Baltic lands in the

l oth . century, viz that the population of Scandinavia had outgrown its means of support and that enforced emigration was the result . There may be a certain element of truth in the tradition but when it says I] CAUSES OF THE VIKING MOV EMENT 7 that this excess of population was due to polygamy P we have every reason to doubt it. olygamy does not lead to an over- rapid growth of population as a

whole, and it is fairly certain that it was practised

only by the ruling classes in Scandinavi a . It is quite h possible, however, t at the large number of sons in the ruling families made it necessary for the younger ones to go forth and gain for themsel ves fresh n territories in e w lands . A clearer light is perhaps thrown on the matter if we examine the political condition of the S candinavian countries at this time . In Norway we find that the concentration of kingly authority in the hands of Harold F a irha i r after the middle of the 9th century led many of the more independent spirits to leave Norway and adopt a Viking life in the West or to o n settle in new homes in Iceland. S stro g was the spirit of independence that when Harold F a irha ir received the submission of the Vikings of the West H afr sf ord after the battle of j , many of them rather than endure even a shadowy overlordship abandoned their Viking life and settled down to peaceful in dependence in Iceland . It is quite possible that earlier attempts at cons olidation on the part of previous petty Norwegian kings may have had similar results . Of the condition of S weden we know practically nothing but we have sufficient information about the THE VIKINGS course of even ts in Denmark at this time to see that it probably tended to hasten the development of

movement. Throughout the first half of the 9th ce ntury there were repeated dynastic vol struggles accompanied probably by the exile, unta r or of of y forced, many members the rival

External causes also were certainly n ot without 6th of influence. From the century down to the middle 8th the , the Frisians were the great naval and trading power of North - West Europe: They h a d probably of taken some part in the conquest England and, during th 8th w of of the 7 and centuries, the hole the coast the Netherlands from the Scheldt to the Weser was in their hands . Their trade was extensive, their chief city being D uurstede a few miles south - east of

Utrecht. The northward expansion of the Franks brought them into collision with the Frisians in the h 7t century. The struggle was long and fierce but in the end the Frisians were defeated by Charles Martel 3 4 85 in 7 and finally subjugated by Charlemagne in 7 . The crushing of Frisian naval power and the crippling of their trade probably played no um m por ta nt part S in facilitating the candinavian advance, and it is curious to note that while there is considerable archaeological evidence for peaceful intercourse b e tween the west coast of Norway and Frisian lands in 8th n s the century, that evide ce seem to come to an

THE V IKINGS [on

’ Nordm a nm to them and the term Dani is practic i i s of ally interchangeable w th t . The vaguene s their ethnographical knowledge is manifest when we find the Norman Dudo at the beginning of the 1 1th century tracing back the Dani (or Daci) to an orl gm al home in Dacia . The Irish annalists did, however, draw a very definite distinction between Norwegians and — - a ill - a ill Danes Finn g and Dubh g as they called them, ] i .e . White and Black Foreigners respectively ; They on seem never to confuse them, but exactly what grounds they gave them their distinguishing epithets n ot it is now impossible to determine . They do ff correspond to any known ethnographical di erences, and the only other reasonable suggestion which has been offered is that the terms are used to describe some difference of armour or equipment as yet nu known to us . The Irish annals also distinguish between Da un ites or Danes and Lochl a nn s or men L h orl m o l nn i . c a e . wa from , Nor y ; but again the g of the term Lochla nn as applied to Norway is obscure .

' The writers of the Anglo - Saxon Chronicle seem to N M em / use the term er m very definitely of Norwegians, A just as lfred does in his translation of Orosius, but the term D en e came to be used more vaguely and n uncertainly . It is o ly very rarely that the chroniclers

1 T h e a e F i r m- a i n v ve F n a th e a e of a d t ct n m g sur i s in i g ll , n m is ri to th e o th of D wh e Dubh - a i l i th e e co d e e e nt th e n r ublin , il g is s n l m in o e n e M a Dou ll a n d M cDo ell p r p r a m s c ga a w . I] CAUSES OF THE VIKING MOVEMENT 1 1 vouchsafe us precise information as to the home of a ny particular group of Viking raiders . We have already m entioned the presence of Norwegians from H ornala n d in England at the very opening of the l ‘ ’ tfa ldin i i m ovem ent z Wes . e . once we hear of g , men from Vestfold in S outh Norway, in an account of A attacks on quitaine, and in one passage the Vikings ’ S ca ldin i are called g , but it is disputed whether this means Vikings who had been quartering themselves of S r in the valley the cheldt, or is a te m applied to m the Danes from the name of their royal fa ily, viz . ’ 2 k ol n r the S j du ga . Speaking roughly we may however S s assert that Ireland, cotland and the Western Island were almost entirely in the hands of Norwegian settlers (Danish attacks on Ireland failed for the

’ m ost a r t . p ) Northumbria was Norwegian, but East A Th nglia and the Five Boroughs were Danish . e attacks on France and the Netherlands were due i both to Norweg ans and Danes, probably with a

preponderance of the latter, while Danes and Swedes

alone settled in Baltic lands .

1 T he na me H i r ua th give n by Celtic writers to Norwa y prob a bly p oints a lso to a tra diti on th a t ma ny of th e Viking in va ders of I rela nd

wer e H ortSa r from Norwa y . 2 A th d ex a a t o h a s ece t ee e ted Dr B o k a ir pl n i n r n ly b n sugg s by j r m n , ’ z h a t i a L ow Ge a wo d ea n h en h vi . t t is rm n r m ni g s ipm w i ch ca me c of th e V k to b e used spe ia lly i ings . THE VIKINGS

K M O E E DOW T H M I T H E VI ING V M NT . N O T E DDLE OF T H E 9T H CENTU RY

ENGLAND was poss1b ly the scene of the earliest

~ Viking raids , but after the Dorchester raid, the sack f 93 n of . su r a Lindis arne in 7 ( p , p. and the devasta tion of the monas tery of S t Paul at Jarrow in 794 we f 3 5 hear nothing more o Vikings in England until 8 . of ff A The fate Ireland was di erent. ttacks began almost at the same time as in England and continued without intermission . Vikings sailed round the west off coast of S cotland . S kye and then Lamhay Island n 95 G Dublin were i vaded in 7 , lamorganshire was ravaged in the same year and the Isle of Man was 02 attacked in 798 . Iona was plundered in 8 and again 0 80 off of in 8 6 . In 7 invaders appeared the coast , m Sligo and made their way inland as far as Roscom on, 1 821 and in 8 1 Munster was plundered . In the Howth peninsula near Dublin and two small islands f in Wex ord Haven were ravaged . The Vikings had completely encircled Ireland with their fleets a n d by the year 83 4 they had made their way well into the interior of th e islan d s o that none were safe from e no their attacks . Th y longer contented them selves with isolated raids : large fleets began to visit Ireland and to anchor in the numerous loughs and TURGE S IN IRELAND

harbours with which the coast abounds. Thence they made lengthy raids on the surrounding country and often strengthened their base by building forts on the shores of the loughs or harbours in which v they had es tablished themsel es . It was in this way L that Dublin, Waterford and imerick first rose to importance. Of the leaders of the Vikings at this time there is out only one whose figure stands at all clearly, and e D r tr ur N. o es that is T g s (O . g ) who first appeared in

83 2 at the sack of Armagh . He had come to Ireland with a great and royal fleet and ‘ assumed the ’ sovereignty over the foreigners in Erin . He had on L L fleets Lough Neagh, at outh, and on ough Ree, a nd ra ided the country as far south as the Meath Tur es district. g was not the only invader at this time : indeed so numerous were the invading hosts that the chronicles tell us after this there came

a - of s o gre t sea cast floods foreigners into Erin, that ’ not e there was a point thereof without a fle t. The of Tur es 841 power g culminated in , when he drove A i a the abbot of rmagh into ex le, usurped the bbacy, A and exercised the sovereignty of North Ireland. t hi b r f N. Au the same time s wi fe Ota (O . ) pro aned the monastery of Clonmacnoise and gave audience,

' ’ a nolna prob bly as a or prophetess, upon the high h Tur e altar. T ree years later g s was captured by the h l Irish and drowned in Loug Owe (co . West Meath) . THE VIKINGS

The early attacks on England and the first invasion of Ireland were alike due to Norsemen rather than

Danes. This is evident from their general course, from the explicit statement of the Anglo - Saxon of chronicle, and from the fact that the first arrival Danes in Ireland is definitely recorded in the year 6 849 . The attack on Dorchester (c . 7 8 lying as

coa st a of it does near the centre of the south England, is somewhat strange if it is assigned to the traditional

. 8 n o date, viz 7 7, but there is authority for this , and if it is placed at any date nearer to 802 (before which it must have taken place) , it is probable that the attack may be explained as an extension of Viking S t G ’ raids down eorge s Channel and round the S W. corner of England . In 83 5 the attacks on England were renewed after of 40 n ow an interval years, but as they stand in close connexion with contemporary invasions of Frankish territory there 1s every reason to believe that they were of Danish rather than of Norse origin . The attacks began in the south and west but they 842 soon spread to East Anglia and Lindsey. In the L E same army ravaged ondon , taples and Rochester In 85 1 Aeth el sta n of Kent defeated the Danes at sea in on e of the rare battles fought with them on own their element, and in the same year they remained to for the winter in Thanet, probably owing the loss of of their ships . The size and importance these 11] WINTE RING IN SHEPPEY (85 5 ) 1 5 attacks may be gauged from the fact that in this year a fleet of some 3 5 0 Dani sh ships sailed up

the Thames. It was probably that same fleet, with hi 85 2 slightly diminished numbers, w ch in ravaged h t Frisia and t en sailed round the Bri ish Isles, came

. 85 5 to Ireland, and captured Dublin In the Danes wintered for the first time in Sheppey and we reach the same point in the development of their attacks on England to which they had already attained in

Ireland. We pass away from the period of raiding. Th e Danes now came prepared to stay for several years at a time and to carry on their attacks with unceasing persistency. The course of events in the Frankish empire ran on much the s ame lines as in England and Ireland during these years except that here trouble arose on the land boundary between Denmark and the Franks

- as well as on the sea cga st . Al armed by the conquest of the Saxons the Dan ish king Gunr oer coll ected a fleet at S l es vik and in 808 he crossed the Eider and attacked the

Ab odriti - S S (in Mecklenburg chwerin) , a lavonic tribe li in al ance with the Franks . He also sent a fleet of 200 v some vessels to ra age the coast of Frisia, laid S claim to that district and to axony, north of the t Elbe, and threa ened to attack Charlemagne in his own capital . The emperor was prepari ng to resist him when news arrived (8 10) of the death of Guaran THE VIKINGS

at the hands of one of his followers and the con of sequent dispersal the Danish fleet. Soon after disputes over the succession arose between the family of Gut r onr and that of an earlier king Harold. Ultimately the contest resolved itself on e of G n ner e ecial o into between the sons u , sp ly ne H ar kr n . . e a d r Horic (O N ) a ce tain Harold . It

' for of Gubroer for lasted several years, the sons the on A most part maintaining their hold Denmark. t one time during the struggle Harold a nd his brother Ra nfr oer to in g went Vestfold Norway, the extreme of district their realm, whose chiefs and peoples were a refusing to be m de subject to them, and gained ’ their submission, showing clearly that at this time

Denmark and Southern Nor wa yg were under one rule and rendering probable the identification of Gueroer with Gun ner the Yngling who about this time was slain by a retainer in S tifla S ound on the south coast f o . Norway This king ruled over Vestfold, half e V ingulm ork and perhaps Ag ir . Both parties were anxious to secure the support of the emperor Lewis and in the end Harold gained his help by accepting 826 to baptism at Mainz in . He promised promote f Le the cause o Christianity in Denmark, while wis in return granted him the district of Rius tring en in

~ Frisia as a place of re trea t in case of necessity. The Danes thereby gained their first foothold within the

empire.

THE VIKINGS

m on 0 11 fir ly the throne, while the other hand the emperor Lewis was troubled by the ambition of his o P L n o s ns Lewis, ippin and othair. It is probably chance coincidence that these events synchronised vi h o y t the renewal f Viking attacks on Frisia. Throughout their history the Vikings showed them selves well informed of the changing political con ditions of the countries which they visited and ready 3 to make the utmost use of the opportunities which j these might give for successful invasion . Frisia was the main point of attack during the next few years . Four times was the rich trading town of Duurstede ravaged ; fleets sailed up the

Veldt, the Maas, and the Scheldt ; Antwerp was of VVa l cheren s o burned and the Island plundered, that by the year 840 the greater part of Frisia south of V lie the , was in Danish hands and so it remained f till the end o the century. The Danish king H are kr repeatedly denied all complicity in these raids and im even promised to punish the raiders, but it is possible to tell how far his denials were genuine . Equally difficult is it to say how far Harold in his

Frisian home was responsible for these attacks . L The annalists charge him with complicity, but ewis seems to have thought it best to bind him by fresh gifts an d (probably about 83 9) granted the district around Duurstede itself to him and his brother Roric H r oerek r on t t O . ( N. ) condition tha they helped o ATTACKS ON THE EMPIRE

All ff t of ward off Viking attacks . the e or s the emperor to equip a fleet or to defend the coast were u to no purpose, and there was even a s spicion that the Frisian populace were in sympathy with the S o Vikings. great was the terror of attack that 83 9 m i when in a Byzantine ssion, including some

Rhos or S wedes from Russia, visited the emperor at S Ingelheim, the wedes were for a time detained under suspicion, as spies . On the death of Lewis the Pious in 840 things v went from bad to worse . The di ision of the empire in 843 gave the coast from the Eider to the Weser to L the - L ewis, from the Weser to Scheldt to othair, and of the rest to Charles, removing all possibility a united and organised defence, and soon these princes entered on the fatal policy of calling in the Vikings to assist L 4 them in their quarrels . Thus othair in 8 1 eu dea voured to bind Harold to his cause by a grant of the Island of Walcheren and Harold is found in the ’ foll owm e L g y ar with othair s army on the Moselle. The Viking expeditions to England and France a n 841 st d now in close connexion . In the valley of S 842 the eine was ravaged as far as Rouen, in E taples in Picardy was destroyed by a fleet from 843 England, while in Nantes fell a prey to their attacks . From their permanent quarters at Noirm ou tier the Vikings sailed up the Garonne and penetrated inland as far a s Toul o us e p In 844 we hear from

2 - 2 THE VIKINGS

Arab historians of their vessels swarming on the ’ of - coasts Spain like dark red sea birds, but while they effected landings at Lisbon and Cadiz and at A rzilla in Morocco, and captured Seville, with the of exception its citadel, the Mussulman resistance ff was too stout for them to e ect much . of of As a result this expedition the Emir Cordova, Abd- ar - Rahman II sent an embassy to the king of M i r a a e . o o a s . one f the j ( the magi the heathen, A the commonest rab names for the Vikings) . The ambassador found the king living in an island three ’ d days journey from the mainlan , but we are told that the heathen occupied many other neighbouring isles t and the mainland also . He was cour eously received by the king and became an especial favourite with

A e . the queen Noud ON . u r) His companions were alarmed at the intimacy and as a result the ambas sador paid less frequent visits to court. The queen s he asked him why, and when he told her the reason

said that, owing to perfect freedom of divorce, there M a d us f was no jealousy among the j . The details o too the story are vague to admit of certainty, but it would seem as if the embassy had visited the court of the great Turges and his equally remarkable wife Aunr or in Ireland, perhaps that of Olaf the White n i Au r o. n r a . and his wife ( f , p n 845 H arek r of Denmark sailed up the Elbe

destroyed Hamburg, while in the . same year the 11] PLAGUE AMONG THE VIKINGS

a na rr Lonb rok dreaded R g , most famou P sa iled up the S eine as far as aris . P retreat from aris, after the usual devastation, a strange and deadly disease, possibly some form of dysentery due to scantiness of food resulting from a hard winter, broke out in the Danish army.

Various legends arose in connexion with this event, and it finds a curious echo in the story told by S axo Gram m aticus of an expedi tion made by Ra gna rr among the Bia rm ia ns (in Northern Russia) when that people by their prayers called down a plague of dysentery upon the Danes in which large numbers perished. In the end the historical plague was stayed when H arek r commanded the Vikings on their return to Den mark to refrain from flesh and meat for fourteen days . Whether as a result of the plague or from some other cause H ar ek r now showed him L self ready to come to terms with ewis, and for the next eighty years there was complete peace along the

Eider boundary. The whole of the coast was still open to attack howe ver Frisia was hardly ever free from invaders ; Brittany was obliged to buy off 84 oir m outier Danish attacks in 7, while N continued to form a basis of attack against S outhern France G v in the ironde district . The Viking in asions in France had attained much the same stage as that to which we have already traced them in England and

Ireland. THE VIKINGS

C HAPTER III

T H E VIKINGS IN ENGLAND T O T H E DEATH OF H AR T H ACNUT

TH E great development of Viking activity which took place after 85 5 was certainly not unconnected of ar k r with the course events in Denmark itself. - H e was atta cked b y his two nephews in 85 0 and 3com lled to 85 4 p e share the kingdom with them . In large

“ bands of Vikings returned to their fatherland after ’ twenty years ravaging in Frankish territory. Trouble now arose between H arekr and his nephew Godurm b or f N. m r on e o O. Gu ( ), the returned leaders . Civil out war broke and ultimately, after a great fight, the n to H arek r v of ki gship fell a younger , a relati e the A s late king. evere dynastic struggle of this kind must have been accompanied by much unsettlement and perhaps by an actual proscription . It would certainly seem that there was some definite con n exion between these events and the coincident appearance of the sons of Ragna rr Lonb r ok as leaders of a more extended Viking movement both of in England and in France. Three his sons H a lfdanr Ub b i Iva rr— , and took part in the first 85 5 wintering in Sheppey in , while in the same year on o on th another s Bj rn Ironside appeared e Seine . RAGNARR LODBROK

The figure of Ragna r r Lonb rok himself belongs to

- an earlier generation, and great as was his after fame

we unfortunately know very little of his actual career. h He would seem to have been of Norwegian birt , closely connected with the south of Norway and the

' Guer oer house of , but like that prince having ex v tensi e interests in Denmark . He probably vis ited 83 1 S Ireland in , for we read in axo of an expedition made by Ra g na rr to Ireland when he slew king M elb ricus and ravaged Dublin, an event which is pretty certainly to be identified with an attack made n ill L on the Co a e district (co . outh) by foreigners in 3 1 M a elb ri hde 8 when the king g was taken prisoner. 8 45 u su r a He led the disastrous Seine expedition in ( p , n p. The ext glimpse of him which we have is probably that found in certain Irish annals where he is represented as exiled from his Norwegian patrimony and living with some of his sons in the Orkneys while others were absent on expeditions to B S n the ritish Isles, pain and Africa, and a ru ic inscription ha s been found at M a eshowe in the Orkneys confirming the connexion of the sons of Lonb rok and possibly of Lot b rok himself with those

islands . The expedi tions would be those mentioned ov m S ab e and the yet ore famous one made to pain, Africa and Italy by Bj orn Ironside in the years 85 9—62 ’ i n r 46 Ra n a rr Lonb r ok s a . f , pp g later history A t n is uncertain. ccording o the Irish a nals quoted o i ab ve, his sons while on the r expedition dreamed that their father had died in a land n ot his own

on hi s and their return found it to be true . T s agree with Scandinavian tradition according to which Aell e of his death at the hands of , king t thr wn Nor humbria, by whom he was p into a snake w Iv r pit, hile the capture of York by a r the Boneless in 866 —7 i nfr a ) is represented as part of a great expedition of vengeance undertaken by the sons of n r Rag a r . This tradition (apart from certain details) 1s probably historical, but we have no definite m confir atory evidence . With this note on the history of Denmark at this of d time and on the career the most sha owy, if at the f same time the most famous o the Viking leaders, we may turn once more to the history of events m

England. F or t ten years af er the wintering in Sheppey, f m v England was left in a state o co parati e peace . The change came in 866 when a large Danish force which had been bribed to leave the Seine by Charles the Bald sailed to England and took up its quarters An 6 m in East glia. In 8 7 they crossed the Hu ber and captured York, their task being made easier by the quarrels of Ae ll e and Osb erht as to the kingship of or h m r1 N t u b a . Next year the rivals patched up d ff their i erences, but failed to recapture York from r r the Danes under Iva and Ubhi . Setting up a

THE VIKINGS Mercia and set up a foolish thegn of his as puppet

of I n i n 4- 5 her e ruler that realm . the W ter of 87 the divided forces : one part went under H a lfda nr to

N. O . the Tyne valley, the other under Guthrum ( Gunorm r o ) t Cambridge . In 876 H al fda nr div ided up the lands of North umbria among his followers who soon ploughed and u m n c ltivated the . At the same time they did ot forget old their occupations . Raids were made against the P H alfda nr icts and the Strathclyde Welsh, while soon became involved in the great struggle going on h in Ireland at t at time between Norsemen and Danes . h hi i n r to s 8 v. a T is ultimately led death in 77 ( f , p .

In the meantime the struggle continued in Wessex . 5 In 87 Alfred captured seven Danish ships . In 876 the southern di vision of the her e slipped past the West Saxon fur d and reached Wareham in Dorset

shire, but came to terms with Alfred . Though the peace was sworn with all solemnity on their - her e sacred altar ring, the mounted portion of the slipped off once more and established themselves

in Exeter. Their land forces were supported by n of A a parallel moveme t the fleet . At Exeter lfred made peace with them and the her e returned to

Mercia . There half. the land was divided up among the Danes while the southern half wa s left in the of ol lf hands Ce wu . ALFRED AND GUTHRUM

Alfred reached the nadir of his fortunes when 8 — 8 the her e returned to Wessex in the winter of 77 , drove many of the inhabitants into exile across the

[ sea, and received the submission of the rest with the exception of King Alfred and a few followers who took refuge in the Island of Athelney amid the n S omersetshire marshes . Alfred soon gathered rou d him a force with which he was able to issue from his stronghold and ultimately to inflict a great defeat on the Danes at Edington near Westbury. They now A made terms with lfred by the peace of Wedmore, ’ and agreed to leave Alfred s kingdom while their king hr ut um r eceived . G c Christian baptism They withdrew A first to Cirencester and then to East nglia . Here o i they settled, p rtion ng out the land as they had done o A in N rthumbria and Northern Mercia . peace was drawn up between Alfred and Guthrum of East Anglia defining the boundary between their realms. It was to run along the Thames estuary to the m outh of the Lea L Lea (a few miles east of ondon) , then up the to L its source near eighton Buzzard, then due north to

w C a se S t. Bedford, then east ards up the to Watling or somewhere near Fenny Stony Stratford. From this point the boundary is left undefined, probably because the kingdoms of Alfred and Guthrum ceased to be conterminous here .

England now had peace for some twelve years . Alfred made good use of th e interval in reorganising THE VIKINGS

n his army and stre gthening the kingdom generally, so that when attacks were renewed in 892 he wa s much o of better prepared t meet them . In the autumn that year two fleets com ing from France arrived in England on e landed 0 11 the Limen (between Hythe and Romney Marsh) , the other under the leadership a . H t inn f s en O N. s e o H ae t ( ) at Milton in North Kent. Alfred’s difficulties were increased by the fact that during the next four years the Danish settlers in Northumbria and East Anglia played a more or less

actively hostile part, both by land and sea. The Danes showed all their old mobility and in a seri es of raids crossed England more than once — first to Buttington

on the Severn (co . Montgomery), then to Chester, on and a third occasion to Bridgenorth in Shropshire. They met with a uniformly stout and well organised u the of n resistance nder leadership Alfred, his s o

- ih - Ae hel re d Edward the Elder, and his brother law t f no o Mercia, and in the end they had to retire with of fresh acquisition territory. For the most part they distributed themselves among the East Anglian n o and Northumbrian Danes, but those who had cattle wherewith to stock their land took ship and

sailed back to the S eine . There were no further A ’ i attacks from abroad during lfred s re gn, but piratical raids made by the East Anglian and North of umbrian Danes caused him a good deal trouble, and in order to meet them he definitely addressed EDWARD THE ELDER

himself to the long delayed task of equipping a fleet . The vessels were carefully designed according to ’ A : lfred s own ideas they were larger, swifter and steadier than the Danish vessels and they soon showed their worth when more than 20 vessels with their crews were lost by the Danes in one year. It is interesting to note that these vessels were manned of in part by Frisian sailors, probably because the low ebb to which English seamanship had sunk. When once Edward the Elder’s claim to the throne was firmly established in the battle fought at the ’ s S Holm, omewhere in outh Cambridgeshire, he com m enced co - - ih , with the active operation ofhis brother Ae thel red law , ealdorman of Mercia, the great work of strengthening the hold of the English on Southern Mercia preparatory to an attempt to reconquer the l 90 . 9 10 Danelagh . Chester was rebui t in 7 In a ‘ ’ Brem esb ri fort was built at y g , possibly Bromes Ae helr berrow in Gloucestershire . t ed died in the ‘ Ae thelflaed L of next year but his wife , the ady the i Mercians, continued his work, and forts were bu lt ‘ ’ S cer eat S at g , perhaps hrewsbury, at Bridgenorth S v n S t ff 9 12 on the e er ,at Tamworth, and at a ord in . 9 14 9 1 5 In Warwick was fortified, while in forts were built at Chirbury in Shrop shire and Runcorn in

Cheshire. Aeth l r ed L On the death of e , Edward took ondon and Oxford and the parts of M ercia adhering to them THE VIKINGS

hi s o n Two on into w hands . forts were b uilt the north and south sides of the Lea at Hertford in 9 1 1— 12 , and another at Witham on the Blackwater in ’

. for Essex Edward s work soon bore fruit, we read that in the same year a large number of those who had been under Danish rule now m ade submission to e the king. The Danes in the Five Boroughs becam o restless under the continued advance f the English, and twice in the year 9 13 they made raids from Leicester and Northampton as far as Hook Norton h L the in Oxfords ire and eighton Buzzard, while in next year Edward, for the first time in his reign, was troubled by raiders from abroad . Coming from

Brittany they sailed up the Severn , ravaged South Wales and the Archenfield district of Hereford of shire, but could do nothing against the garrison

Gloucester, Hereford and other neighbouring towns, which seem already to have been fortified. They were forced to leave the district and s o careful a watch did Edward keep over the coast of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall that they could make n o effective P landing, though they tried twice, at orlock and at

Watchet. Ultimately they took up their quarters in the islands of Fla tholm e and S te epholm e in the n Bristol Cha nel, but lack of food soon drove them away to Ireland in a starving condition . In the same o on year Edwa rd built t w forts at Buckingham, one of each side the Ouse, and his policy again found 111] RECONQ UEST OF THE DANELAGH 3 1

Thur l c te N. speedy justification when Earl y (O . 1 Dor k oll) and all the chief men who obeyed h ‘ ’ Bedford, together with many of t ose who obeyed

Northampton submitted to him . Everything was now ready for the great advance 9 1 against the Danes . Derby fell in 7 , while in the next year Leicester yielded without a struggle . Their fall was accom panied by the submission of the men L A of Derbyshire and eicestershire . t the same time the inhabitants of York declared themselves ready to enter the service of Mercia. Edward fortified 9 1 5 Bedford in , Maldon and Towcester in S outh 1 A Northamptonshire in 9 6 . gain the Danes from Northampton and Leicester tried to break through the steadi ly narrowing ring of forts and they managed fa r A to get as south as ylesbury, while others from Huntingdon and East Anglia built a fort at Tempsford in Bedfordshire near the junction of the Ivel and Wi in a m r the Ouse . They besieged a fort at g g e e

(unidentified) but were forced to withdraw. Edward gathered an army from the nearest garrison towns, besieged, captured, and destroyed Tempsford In the autum n he captured Colchester and a Danish

1 Thi s ph ra se is used repea tedly in th e Ch r onicle in conn exion th ch tow a s B e d o d Ca d e De Le ce te a n wi su ns f r , mbri g , rby , i s r d

“ No th a ton a n d th e e ca n b e n o e t o th a t th e e o r mp , r q u s i n s gr ups e e e t the s hires wh ch n ow tak e th e na e o th e e tow r pr s n i ir m s fr m s ns . F or purposes of convenience we sh a ll h enceforwa rd sp eak of s uch ’ s ‘ h e groups a s ir s . THE VIKINGS

n attempt on Maldon failed . Edward ow strengthened To wcester and received the s ub m 1s s1on of Earl Th f Dor rfit r ur r N. in ith (O . ) and all the Danes hir Northa m pton s e as far north as the Wella nd . Huntingdon was occupied about the same time and the ring of forts around East Anglia brought about the submission of the whole of that district, Cambridgeshire making a separate compact on its o n 9 18 w account. In Edward built a fort just south of Stamford and soon received the submission of the S L Danes of outh incolnshire, and in the same year a n d occupied Nottingham, building a fort garrisoning it with a mixed English and Danish force . He was n ow ruler of the whole of Mercia owing to the death Aethelflaed 9 19 of his sister , and in he fortified on Thelwall in Cheshire, the Mersey, and rebuilt

‘ n h r 20 the old Roman fort a t M a c es te . In 9 he built a second fort at Nottingham and one at Bakewell in

Derbyshire . The reconquest of the Danelagh was complete and Edward now received the subm ission Re nold of the Scots, the Strathclyde Welsh, of g ti nva ldr R g ) of Northumbria, and of English, Danes and Norsemen alike . The Danish settlers accepted the sovereignty of the West Saxon king and hence forward formed part of an expanded Wessex which had consolidated its power over all England south of a line drawn roughly from the Humber to the

Dee .

THE “ VIKINGS brought into definite connexion with the Norse kingdom of Dublin a nd that the Norse element was asserting itself at the expense of the Danish in

Northern England. The rule of Sigronr and Sigtryggr alikehad come to an end by 9 1 1 and we know nothing more until the year 9 18 when a fresh invas ion from Ireland took a Ro nvaldr place under certain g . He gained a victory at Corbridge - on -Tyne and captured York in 2 r 9 19 or 9 0 . He divided the lands of St Cuthbe t 921 ar of among his followers but died in , the ye r of The his submission to the ove lordship Edward. Irish annals speak of him as king of White and Black m e foreigners alike, thus e phasising the composit of r h m r settlement No t u b ia . la one S i tr r Another leader from Ire nd, g ygg , s R6 nva ldr of ucceeded g as king Northumbria. H e was on friendly terms with Aethelsta n and married 925 2 or 2 his sister in . He died in 9 6 9 7 and then Aethel sta n u own o took North mbria under his contr l. ’ S igtryggr s brother Gunrtinr submitted to Aethelstan b ut after four days at the court of king Aethel stan ‘ ’ to o he returned piracy as a fish t the sea. Both S igtryggr and Gueronr left sons bearing the name l f n a . l f A (O . N O a r) and with them Aethelstan and his s u h Anla f ihtricsson ccessors had muc trouble . S lived in exile in Scotland and gradually organised aga inst Aethelsta n reat e of at a g conf deracy Scots, Str hclyde BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH

Welsh and Vikings, both Danish and Norwegian, Anl a f Godfrey s on brought help from Ireland and the great struggle began . The course of the cam a i n s of p g is uncertain but if the ite its main battle, ’ u to w Birre Brunanb rh, is be identified ith nswark E Hill in S . Dumfriesshire, it would seem that ’ Aethelstan carried the war into the enemy s country . The re sult of the battle was a complete victory for of Aethel sta n m the forces and his brother Ed und. ’ s on Constantine s , five kings and seven jarls were

- among the slain . We have in the Anglo Saxon 1 c e l eb ra tin Chroni le a poem g the victory, and it describes in vivid language the hurried return home of an son Const tine, lamenting the death of his , and of Anla f Godfre s on the headlong flight y to Dublin. E ngland had been freed from its greatest danger since the days of king Alfred and hi s struggle with

Guthrum . Aethelstan had n o more trouble with the Nors e men and we have evidence from other sources that at some time during his reign, probably at an earlier e Fa irha ir dat , he exchanged embassies with Harold , king of Norway. The latter sent him a present of a ship with golden prow and purple sails and the of usual bulwark shields along the gunwale, while ’ Harold s favourite s on Hakon was brought up at

’ 1 S ee T en on tra n a t on nys s sl i . THE VIKINGS

’ wa s Aethelstan s court. There he baptised and e ducated and is known in Norse history as Hakon n l in f ri A a ste s ést .

of Aethelstan u t ihtricsson After the death , A la S , i r n e . nicknamed Cua a ( . with the sock or brogue of so o leather, called from his Irish dress) came t

England and captured York . From there he made an attempt to conquer the Danish district of the o o Five Boroughs . He seems t have g t a good part of Mercia into his hands but in the end Edmund freed the Danes from Norse oppression and took once more into his hands all Mercia south of a line from Dore (near Sheffield) to Whitwell (Derbyshire) and thence to the Humber. Edmund and Anlaf came o Anla f out t terms, but was driven by the Northum 943 h brians in , and in the next year t at province fell

f - o . 94 into the hands Edmund In 7 Eric Blood axe, f F a irha ir a a s n s on o Harold , was ccepted ki g by the

Northumbrians . In Scandinavian tradition we learn how he was expelled from Norway in 93 4 by the of a on supporters H kon, went Viking raids in the of A west, was appointed ruler Northumbria by ethel on of a stan condition his defending it against att ck, n ot on b ut was good terms with Edmund, who P favoured on e Olaf. robably Eric retired after ’ Aethelsta n s death a nd only returned to England in 948 u o 947 . In Edm nd f rced the Northumbrians t o abandon his cause and about the same time Anla f m ] LATER DAN ISH INVASIONS

returned from Ireland and ruled till about 95 0 when to he was replaced by Eric, whose short rule came 5 4 an end in 9 . In that year he was expelled by the Northum b ria n s and killed at S ta inm oor in West The a ttem t to morland. establish a Norse kingdom g p of Northum b ria had failed and henceforward that district was directly under the rule of the English

king. English authority was supreme once more even in those districts which were largely peopled with

Scandinavian settlers. England had n o further trouble with Norse or Danish invaders until the days of Ethelred the

b ut - Unready, no sooner did that weak and ill advised to king come the throne than, with that ready and intimate knowledge of local conditions which they k always displayed, we find Danes ma ing an attack on S outhampton and Norsemen one on Chester. The renewed attacks were not however due solely t o of the weakness England, they were also the result f of chang ed conditions in S candinavia itsel . In Denmark the reign of Harold Bluetooth was drawing to of a close, and the younger generation, conscious

- a strong and well organised nation behind them, were a m b itions of hi new and larger conquests, w le at the same time m any of them - were in revolt against the definitely Christian policy of Harold in his old age. d s on They turne with hope towards his young Svein, and found in him a ready and willing leader. In THE VIKINGS

o a k a N rway, Earl H kon had bro en aw y from the of s uzerainty Harold Bluetooth, but the Norwegians could not forget that he owed his throne to a foreign w po er, and his personal harshness and licentiousness as well as his zealous cult of the old heathen rites of were a cause much discontent . The hopes of the younger generation were fixed on Olaf Tryggvason, of old a man filled with the spirit the Vikings .

Captured by pirates from Esthonia when still a child, he o to o was disc vered, ransomed, and taken Novg rod, where he entered the service of the Grand Duke m h Vl adi ir. Furnished by him with a ship e went viking in the Baltic and then ten years later we find him prominent among the Norsemen who of n attacked England in the days ki g Ethelred. In 99 1 a Norse fleet under Olaf visited Ipswich and

Maldon . Here they met with a stout resistance B rhtnoth of headed by the brave y , earl Essex, and of 1 in the fragmentary lay the fight at Maldon , to s ee which has been preserved us, we that there was still much of the spirit of the heroic age left of in the English nation even in the days Ethelred II. It was to buy off this attack that a payment of Danegeld to the extent of some ten thousand pounds was made. From Maldon Olaf went to Wales and Anglesey and it wa s somewher e in the west that 1 ’ E l S ee Freema n s Old ng i s h H i s tory for Chi ldren for a tran sla tion of this oe p m . PAYMENTS OF DANEGELD

he received knowledge of the Christian faith from - n an anchorite and was baptised . He did ot however - om ed w his renounce his Viking life, but j forces ith

o v ' great Danish c ntemporary S ein Forkbeard . Bam 993 t borough was sacked in , and both were presen of L 994 at the siege ondon in , when they sailed up he 490 t Thames with ships . The attack was a failure a nd Olaf came to terms with Ethelred agreeing to desist from further attack in return for a payment of Si n of xtee thousand pounds Danegeld. Olaf was the m ore rea dy to make this promise as he was n ow a ddressing himself to the task of ga m m g the sove r i of o m e n e gnty Norway itself. Many of the N rse returned with Olaf but the a ttacks on the coast a nd th n ow continued e invaders, chiefly Danes , ravaged the country in all directions . Treachery was rife in the English forces and again and again h D e t e ealdormen failed in the hour of need . an g eld after Danegeld was paid in the vain hope of buying off t di sum of further at acks, and the almost incre ble

of i . o pounds silver ( e . some half milli n ste rling) was paid as Danegeld during a period of 20 or little more than years. Once twice Ethelred showed signs of energy ; once in 1 000 when a fleet to of M a n was sent Chester, which ravaged the Isle ed i while an army devastat Cumberland, and again n 1004 when a great fleet was made ready but ulti ’ mately proved of no user Ethelred s worst stroke THE VIKINGS

of policy was the order given in 1002 for the massacr e ’ on St Brice s Day of all Danes settled in Engla nd . His orders were carried out only too faithfully and ’ vein s S Gunnhi d fe among the slain was S ister l , the wi ’ ’ vein s of a Danish jarl in the king s service. S ven n u gea ce was relentless, and d ring the next ten years the land had no peace until in 10 13 Ethelred was the e e driven from throne, and Svein himself b cam e 10 14 s on king of England. Svein di d in and his

Cnut s ucceeded to his claim . Ethelred was invited wi ta n to fe by the return, and ultimately Wessex ll to the of the s Cnut, while district Seven Borough (the old five together with York and Chester) and s the of or Northumbria pa sed into hands Ethelred, f on rather o his energetic s Edmund. This division of the country placing the district once settled by Danes and Norsemen under an English king while the heart of England itself was in the possession of a Scandinavian king shows how completely the settlers in those districts had come to identify themselves WIth h Englis interests as a whole. Mercia was ’ nominally in Ethelred s power, but its ealdorman, E a dric S tre na of o , was the most treacherous all the ’ English earls. On Ethelred s death in 10 16 the wi ta n chose Edmund Ironside as king and a series of battles took place culm inating in that at Ashingdon in Essex where the English were completely defeated through of E a dric the treachery . A division of the kingdom

THE VIKINGS

of Two declared king Norway. years later the exile o n o n returned and fell fighting against his w c untryme . u now of s Cn t was the mightiest all Scandinavian king , but on hi s death in 103 5 his empire fell apart ; Norway to son k to went his Svein, Denmar Harthacnut and to f England Harold Hare oot. Harold was succeede d 1040 of h by Harthacnut in , but neither king was t e same stam p as Cnut and they were both overshadowe d G d f o . h by the great o wine, earl Wessex When Hart a cnut died in 1042 the male line in descent from Cnut of was extinct, and though some the Danes we re in ’ ’ f of un s on n avour choosing C t s sister s Svei , Godwine

c — c of se ured the ele tion Edward the Confessor. With the access ion of Edward Danish rule in England wa s for of at an end and, except the ambitious expedition H a rdra da 10 66 Harold , foiled at Stamford Bridge in , there was no further serious q uestion of a Scandi or n navian kingship either in over E gland . The sufferings of England during the second period of invasion (980—10 16) were probably quite i — as severe as in the worst days of Alfred the wel l S er m o L u i a ol A n los s known p g , written by Archbi hop of 10 14 d e of Wulfstan York in , raws a terrible pictur the chaos and anarchy then prevailing— but we mus t re member that neither these years n or the ensuing five and thirty years of Danish kingship left as deep

“ a mark on England as the earlier w ars and the settlements resulting from them . There wa s no DANES AND THE EMPIRE further permanent occupation or division of territory and though some of the earldoms and the great ’ estates passed into the hands of the king s Danish no of followers, there was transformation the whole social life of the people such as had taken place in the old Danelagh districts .

CHAPTER IV

T H E VIKINGS IN T H E F R ANKIS H EM P IRE T o T H E F OUNDING or NORM ANDY (9 1 1)

T H E yea rs from 85 0 - 865 were perhaps the mos t unhappy in the whole history of the snfie rings of the e Frankish empire under Viking attack . The Dan s n ow or took up more less permanent quarters, often on S strongly fortified, the cheldt, the Somme, the G i Seine, the Loire and the aronne, wh le Utrecht, G A P o Orleans hent, miens, aris, Chartres, T urs, Blois, , P s oitiers, Limoges, Bordeaux and many other town h and cities were sacked, often more than once. W en H roer ekr obta ined from the young Harekr of Denmark a concession of certain districts between the Eider

. le and the sea, he gave troub in that direction and sailed up the Elbe and the Weser alike. His nephew Gunroer was m occupation of Flanders and t he lower of valley the Scheldt . THE VIKINGS

t who r Besides hese Viking leaders, we e active in Low s of the Countries, we have the name several o ho thers w were busy in France itself. The most ‘ e famous of these were the sons of Ragnarr Lo b rok . who on the 85 5 Berno, first appeared Seine in , was o Bj rn Ironside, while it is quite possible that the

Sidroc who - e e accompanied him was Sigurd Snake y , son of B ti rn another that famous leader. With j , at to H a stin us least according Norman tradition, came g

- N. it O . H s teinn f Hasteinn ( ), his oster father. was e to d stined a long and active career. We first hear of him in the annals in 866 when he appeared on the who on of Loire, and it was he was e the chief leaders of 892—4 in the great Danish invasion England in . The sudden appearance of these leaders was undoubt edl to the y due , as suggested in the previous chapter, u of the t rn events in Denmark at this time . During — year of the revolution 85 4— n o attacks were made on France at all and then immediately after came of f a flood invaders . The Seine was never r ee from 5 5 —62 of 8 and the Loire district was little better f. The troubled and desolate condition of the country may be judged from the numerous royal decrees commending those who had been driven from their land to the protection of those with whom they had taken refuge and exempting them from payment of the usual taxes . Many even deserted their Christian faith and became worshippers of the gods of the CONDITION OF FRANCE

f of the heathen . The di ficulties Charles Bald were greatly increased by succession troubles both in No on n A . w e ow Brittany and quitaine , another

claimant allied himself with the Northmen, and ff Charles himself was often an o ender in this respect. He initiated the disastrous policy of buying off attack by the payment of large sums of what in England 5 would have been called Danegeld. In 8 9 occurred on an incident which throws a curious , light the di of con tion the country. The peasants between the Seine and the Loire rose of their own accord and v no attacked the Danes in the Seine alley. It is t e quit clear what followed, but the rising was a failure, and possibly it was crushed by the Frankish nobles themselves who feared anything in the nature of a popular rising made without reference to their own w to authority. In any case the incident bears itness a lack of prOper leadership by the nobles . After the year 865 the tide of invasion set from of France towards England. These were the years Al ’ ff fred s great struggle, and Danish e orts were concentrated on the attempt to reduce that monarch to submission. The Franks themselves had begun to realise the necessity of more carefully organised resistance . They began building fortified bridges across the rivers at certain points in order to stop of the passage Viking ships, and they also fortified r of seve al their towns and cities, thus giving perhaps TH E VIKINGS [crt a hint for the policy later adopted in England by P Edward the Elder. robably the Franks were n ot above taking lessons from their enemies in the matter of for fortification, the latter had already Shown themselves approved masters of the art in such eufoss e on fortified camps as that at J the Seine . In another way also had the Danes showed themselves o to ready t adapt themselves new fighting conditions . No f t only did they build forts, but we hear o them n f w im as mou ted, and hence or ard horses played an portant part in their equipment both in France and

England . During these years the Vikings made one notable expedition far beyond the ordinary range of their t 8 5 9 a ctivity. Star ing from the Seine in under the of o a d H és teinn u leadership Bj rn n , they sailed ro nd the Iberian Peninsula through the Straits of a off Gibraltar. They landed in Morocco and c rried ‘ - i f prisoners m any of the Moors or Blue men as they r of o called them . Some these f und their way to Ireland and are mentioned in certain Irish annals of on the period . After fresh attacks Spain they sailed o to the Balearic Isles, and Roussill n, which they

- - h pe netrated as far as Arles sur Tech . T ey wintered in the island of Camargue in the Rhone delta and then raided the old Roman cities of Provence and sailed up the Rhone itself as far as Valence. In the f to spring o the next year they sailed Italy. They VIKINGS IN ITALY

of captured Pisa and Luna (at the mouth the Magra) , the latter being taken by a clever stratagem . Hasteinn feigned himself sick unto death and was baptised by the bishop of Luna during a truce. Then news came that H asteinn was dead and the f P Vikings asked Christian burial or him . ermission was given and a mock funeral procession entered the of city. It was in reality a band armed men in disguise and the city was soon captured. The real aim of the Vikings in this campaign was the capture f for o Rome with its mighty treasures, but, some

no . reason unknown, they made advance further south Scandinavian tradition said it was because they mistook Luna for Rome and thought their work already done ' Sailing back through the Straits of to 862 Gibraltar they returned Brittany in . The Vikings had now almost encircled Europe with their s for was 8 5 attack , it in the year 6 that the Swedish o to Rh s (Russians) laid siege Constantinople . When Alfred secured a definite peace with the 8 8 who Danes in 7 , those were averse to settling to old permanently returned their roving life . They m ade their way up the Somme and the Scheldt and their progress was not stopped by a brilliant victory gained by the young Lewis III in June 88 1 at

Saucourt, near the Somme, a victory which is i l ol celebrated in the famous L uoho g s i e . During the r same yea s, another Viking host invaded Saxony THE VIKINGS wm m ng a decisive victory over Duke B runo on the Lii neb ur d . o g , Heath After their efeat at Sauc urt the m ain body of the Danes made their way to Elsloo on the Meuse whence they ravaged the eu i M se, Rhine and Moselle d stricts plundering

n e z . Cologne, Bon , Coblentz, Aachen, Treves and M t S o alarmed was the emperor Charles the Fat that he entered into negotiations with the Danish king Gu5 r65 r H who was with the forces at Elsloo. e secured ’ Guertinr s acceptance of Christianity a nd the promise of security from further atta ck at the price of a large payment of Danegeld and the concession to Gunriinr of H roerekr e the province once held by , with larg f di . o ad tions The exact extent the grant is uncertain, but it included the district of Kinnem (round Al kmaa r and Haarlem) and probably covered the greater part of Modern Holland from the Vlie to the Gunr onr - e Scheldt. Here lived in semi independenc and might perhaps have established another Nor mandy within the em pl re had he not been ruined by to too great am bition . He entirely failed defend his

province from attacks, indeed he probably gave them

covert support he intrigued with Hugo, the bastard e s on of Lothair II, against the emperor, marri d his for di sister Gisla, and then asked ad tional territories the on on the Rhine and Moselle, the plea that his no - own province included vine growing districts. - Gunnu had now overstepped all reasonable limits

THE VIKINGS [on the Seine and Marne districts untouched thus ha d the provinces of the Frankish empire lost all s ense of o e wa corporate union. The Danes so n mad their y ( f a r . e e e e e as west as Verdun Her how v r, th y wer

e Odo n ow: of the e disastrously def ated by , king W st Franks (June and in the next year they finally abandoned the S iege of Paris making their way to

Brittany. In Brittany they found another army already on h busy . The Bretons had w a great victory in t e autumn of 888 when only 400 out of some

Danes made their way back to their fleet. The great her e from the Seine now joined forces with the rem of s e nants this army, but proved powerles against Duk to 890 e Alan, and some returned Flanders in , whil m The H asteinn with the rest sailed to the So me . Danes in Flanders were defeated by Arnulf (after ou i n 891 wards emperor) the Dyle, near Louvain, , b ut it had n o great effect for soon after we find them a the again as far east as Bonn . A bad h rvest in summer of 892 brought famine in its train and this was more effective in ridding the land of invaders . n of o o s es In the autum the year the wh le army, h r and on 25 0 s all, crossed in e passage in some hips from Boulogne to the mouth of the Limen in Kent and s o r Hast inn of 80 s , h rtly afte , e with a fleet hips h n left t e Somme and sailed to Milton in North Ke t . The story of the campaigns there has already been IV ] sE TTLE M E NTs ON TH E SEINE

840 told. For the first time since the Frankish empire was free from invaders . Grievous as were of t he to the losses Franks, it is well remember that those of the Danes had been great also. Their fleet 00 to 25 0 i had been reduced from 7 sh ps, and as the o to one whole army could still g England in crossing, that m ust also have been reduced from thirty to ten or fifteen thousand men . who When the English invasion had failed, those coul d not settle in England returned to their French A f haunts once more . small force o eight ships and some 200 men sailed up the Seine under on e ’ H uncdeus and gradually their numbers were ih h creased by fresh arrivals from abroad. T ey made th to L their way nor the Meuse, south to the oire, and to u on east Burg ndy, but their head quarters were e of 903 the lower wat rs the Seine. In other invaders appeared on the Loire under leaders named Baret a e O . irik N. E r O. N. ( B r r) and Heric ( ) . The name of B a rt r is mentioned more than once in the con of d temporary history the Norsemen in Irelan , and as the Norsemen were driven from Dublin in 902 it is probable that these invaders came from there . The expedition was n ot a success and the Vikings soon h of o sailed away again . Of the istory the settlers n the Seine after 900 we unfortunately know practically t nothing. The Norman historian Dudo a tempted in the 1 1th century to gl ve a connected account but his THE H VIKINGS [0 .

an d do narrative is confused unreliable . O was dead and Charles the Simple was m ore interested in a The conquering Lorr ine than defending Neustria. clergy were weary of the ceaseless spoiling of the monasteries and anxious for the conversion of the heathen, while the nobles were, as usual, selfish a nd l of of care ess the interests the country at large . The Northmen made n o great expe di tions between 900 9 10 on and , but maintained a steady hold the e of Low r Seine and the districts Bessin and Cotentin . They could not extend their territories and the Franks

not . n could drive them from the Seine At le gth, largely of through the intervention the clergy, a meeting was arranged between Charles and the Viking leader Rollo

- - s ur of 9 1 1 . the at St Clair Epte, before the end Here provm ce later known as Normandy (including the

counties of Rouen, Lisieux, Evreux and the district between the rivers Bresle and Epte and the sea) o o a s ben ci m was given t Rollo and his foll wers a efi u , on condition that he defended the kingdo m against

. s attack, and himself accepted Christianity The Dane now formed a definite part of the Frankish kingdom a nd occupied a position analogous to that of their

countrym en in East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia o in England, except that the latter after a peri d of freedom had in course of time to pass definitely

under English rule. The story of the foundation of Normandy is IV ] ROLLO obscure still more obscure is the origin and history

' of orthm en of the leader the N at this time . Norse S n or ri S turl us on ll tradition , as given by , makes Ro o one H r élfr s on of Ro nva ldr of d who to be , g earl M re, was exiled by Harold F a irha ir and led a Viking life di in the west . Norman tra tion, as found in Dudo, out s on of m ade him the a great noble in Denmark, who was expelled by the king and later went to ’

a . u Engl nd, Frisia and Northern France Dudo s acco nt of the founding of Normandy is s o full of errors clearly proven that little reliance can be placed on f f H his story o the origin o Rollo . The ei m s hr i ngla tradition was recorded much later, but is probably n o more trustworthy, and it would be strange thing o of t t find a man Norse bir h leading a Danish host . Ragnarr Lonb rok and his sons were Norsemen by family but they appear for the most part as leaders f b e o Danes . How Rollo came to the leader of the Danes in France and what hi s previous career had been must remain an unsolved mystery. His name is not mentioned apart from the settlement of

Normandy. The Normans continued to ravage Brittany with out any interruption and they were soon granted of S A the further districts Baye ux, eez, vranches and m Coutances, which made Brittany and Nor andy conterminous . THE VIKINGS

CHAPTER V

T H E VIKINGS IN IRELAND T o T H E B ATTLE or CLONTARF ( 1 0 14)

IN the history of the Vikings In Ireland we have seen h ow the attempt made by Turges to b rm g all Ireland under one ruler came to nought by his de ath m 45 o 8 . At first this seems t have thrown the Norsemen into confusion and we hear of a series of i . 849 defeats Then, in , the invas ons developed a new phase. Hitherto while the Irish had been weakened ha d by much internecine warfare, their enemies on e of nd. N worked with mind a heart. ow we read ‘ a naval expedition of seven score of the F orel gners coming to exercise power over the Foreigners who s o were before them, that they disturbed all Ireland ’ a e now afterwards . This means th t the Dan s were of taking an active part in the invasions Ireland , and we soon find them disputing the supremacy with the earlier Norse settlers . A full and picturesque account of the struggle is preserved for us in the second of the T hr ee F r a gm en ts of I r i sh A n n a ls copied by i f Dugald M a cFirb s . Un ortunately the chronology of these annals is in a highly confused state and it is of often difficult to trace the exact sequence events . When the Norsemen first saw the approaching DANES AND NORSEMEN

o fleet they were much alarmed. S me said it was reinforcements from Norway, but others, with keener a who to insight, s id they were Danes were coming i harry and plunder . A swift vessel was d spatched h to find out w o they were, and when the steersman called out to them inquiring from what land they or foe ca me and whether as friend , the only answer f o . was a shower arrows A fierce battle ensued, in which the Da nes kill ed thrice their own number and ca rried off the wom en - folk and property of the m n 85 1 Norse e . In they plundered the Norse settle s at ment Dublin and Dundalk, but in the next year the Norsemen attacked them in Carlingford a h. Loug At first the D nes were defeated, but then their leader cunningly exhorted his men to secure by their prayers and alm s the patronage of St P who n atrick, was ince sed against the Norsemen be cause of the many evil deeds they had wrought in w Erin. The battle was rene ed and the Danes were Af victorious . ter the battle they made rich gifts to St Patrick for the Danes were a people with a kind of piety : they could for a time refrain from meat , ’ and from women . After the fight we learn that the Danes cooked their mea t in cauldrons supported on h of n t e bodies their dead foes . The Danes ow helped Cerbha l of , king Ossory, against the Norsemen who u were harrying M nster, and henceforward we hear again and again how the various Irish factions made THE V IKINGS use of the dissensions among the inva ders to further n their ow ends . Matters were further complicated by the fact tha t “ m any of the Irish fors ook their Christian baptism crs em en u a nd joined the N in their pl ndering. Thes e e a Ga ill - a edhi i e r cre nt Irish were known as the G l ( . . the a n o in foreign Irish) , and played imp rtant part

f - the wars o the next few years. The Ga ill Gae dhil were undoubtedly a race of mixed Norse and Gaelic stock a nd We must n ot imagine that they sprung suddenly into existence at this time . Long be fore this the Norsemen and the Gaels mus t have had considerable peaceful intercourse with one anot her s c d in their various settlement , and in ac or ance with well - established Scandinavian custom it would Seem that many of the Irish were bro ught up as foster children in Norse households and must soon have r learned to accept the ir eligion and customs . There was also exten sive intermarriage between Nors em en of . o s and Irish The annals speak several such uni n , of Gorm fla ith the most famous being the marriage , s of b to Anl a f Sihtr afterward wife Brian Borum a, ics son of s , while in the genealogies the Nor e settlers in nd of n Icela at the end this century, Gaelic ames are n f of frequent occurrence . O e o the most famous of the leaders of these foreign Irish was Ketill Finn

i . e . e ( the White) , a Norseman with an Irish nicknam . These foreign Irish fought either by the side of the

THE VIKINGS

old ‘ No km it km it en on the rse speech, , , hast , haste n on Many darts and spears were throvm and at s to la t they took their heavy powerful swords. All was however of no avail and Gennedigh won a great f w M l i r in o . s as ae c a a vict ry Le s ortunate , champion of the east of Ireland and a hero - plunderer of the ’ f H e wa s oreigners. expelled from his kingdom by Leinsterm en who o of the , envied him in c nsequence his many victories over the Norsemen The activities of Olaf and Ivarr were not confined t o 866 to Ireland . In Olaf paid a visit Scotland, while in 870 both Olaf and Iva rr were present at the siege of u I rr 1 Iva o . va s rr D mbart n If the Boneless , he must then have gone to England and taken part in the martyrdom of St Edmund . In the next year both leaders retur ned to Dublin with a large number of — P . 8 3 Iva rr prisoners English, Britons and icts In 7 , ’ king of the Norsemen of all Ireland and Britain di d to e , and about the same time Olaf returned to e Norway, possibly tak part in the great fight fr f or The against Harold Fa irha ir a t H a s j d . Danes seem to have taken advantage of the removal of Olaf to attempt to throw off the Norse yoke . Fres h Albda nn i .e fighting took place and the Danes under , . H alfdanr of e on , king Northumbria, wer defeated 8 of Strangford Lough in 77 with the loss their leader. After 877 the Wa r of the Ga cdhil wi th the Ga itt o f for n tes a period o rest Ireland, lasting some forty v WAT F ] LIMERICK, CORK, ER ORD

to no years . This is true the extent that large fleets of fresh invaders seem to have come to Ireland during — too this time the Vikings were busy elsewhere, both — in England and the Frankish empire but there were c oc asional raids from Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Water f n of ord and other tow s into various districts Ireland, and the Nors em en were often at variance amongst themselves. Dissensions in Dublin were particularly violent and s o much did they weaken Norse rule there that in 902 Dublin fell into the hands of the h i e Iris The Vik ngs were driv n abroad, some going to to Scotland and others England, where they

17. su r a . besieged Chester ( p , p In the year 9 14 Ro n v old . a ldr all the troubles were renewed g , a of Iva rr off grandson , fresh from a great victory the ' of two Isle Man, captured Waterford, and years later S i tr r r of Ivarr g ygg , anothe grandson regained Dublin . The Irish attempted resistance under the a r dr i Niall Glundub h i , but he fell with twelve other k ngs in a ilm a ho u 9 19 fight at K s g e near Dublin in . During the next fifty years Ireland was a prey to ceaseless attacks by Norwegians and Danes alike . Towards the close of the 9th century Limerick had become of a stronghold the Norsemen in the west, and from there they made their way3 p the Shannon into the f heart o the country. Cork was s ettled in the early l Oth r centur f years of the y , chiefly by Danes, and rom f there all Munster was open to attack. Water ord THE VIKINGS a nd o “ l on Wexford, which st od as a rule in c ose c

“ nexion e of a a with Dublin, s rved as centres tt ck u aga l nst Leinster. The Irish made a sto t resistance under able leaders and Dublin was destroye d more r e tha n once. Fi st among thes leaders stands ’ M uircherta ch of s on of the leather cloaks, Niall Glundub h who , a hero came forward about the

926 . un cea sm r year His activities were g . He e ea tedl p y attacked Dublin, took a fleet to the a 1n1n Hebrides where he defeated the Vikings, g g 941 m l r much spoil, and finally in ade a o cul t of

Ireland, from which he brought back as hostages m a v e of ny pro incial kings, including the Norse rul r

Dublin . More famous still in Irish song and story ll h n of was Ce a c a Cashel . He made war against the Vikings in Munster and for a time had the Norse of kingdom Waterford under his control. Similarly ' L we he conquered imerick, and find him fighting o side by side with Norsemen from b th these towns . During these fifty years the Norse kingdom l n Dublin stood in close relation with the Scandinavian kingdom Ro nva ldr ho of orthum b ria . w 9 1 2 N g , died in , ruled hi S i tr r 2 the re and so did s brothers g ygg (d . 9 7) and t c or Gu ro r ( Godfrey) (d . The brothers left s ons known respectively as Anla f Sihtricss on and Anla f on Godfrey s . The latter took part in the great fight at 3 Anlaf S ihtrics on Brunanburh and died in 9 9 . s was l to h destined to a onger career. He would seem a Ve v] ANLAF CUARAN spent his early years in S cotland where he m arried ’ king Constantine s daughter. It is uncertain whether to he fought at Brunanburh, but he came Northumbria in 941 and captured York. He was expelled from 944 or 945 e to Northumbria in and retir d Dublin, and the rest of his life was chiefly spent in fighting in l n orsem en Ireland . He was close alliance with the N for o e in Man and the Western Islands, and was, s m thirty years, the most powerful Norse ruler in Ireland . Then came the first great blow to Norse rule in ’

. n 980 M a els echl a inn a r dr z won Ireland I II, the , a great victory at Tara over the foreigners of Dubl in ’ Anlaf and the Islands in which s son was slain . The power of the kingdom of Dublin was effectually to e broken . The N orsemen were compelled liberat al l the to fin e of hostages in their custody, pay a 2000 oxen and to remit the tribute which they had imposed on all Ireland from the S hannon eastwards o An a f t the sea . l abandoned his authority and on to retired a pilgrimage Iona, where he died in the f sa me year an inmate o its monastery.

In the meantime events, fraught with important for e consequences Norse rule in that country, w re of n graduallydeveloping in a distant quarter Ireland. I the province of Munster tha Da l ca ssia n line of princes first comes into prominence about the middl e of the 10th of he century, and the two most famous t se e M a th a m ha in r a n princes w re the brothers g and B i , THE VIKINGS

the comm only known as Brian Borumb a. Together brothers conquered Munster in spite of the support to given the Irish by the Viking settlers, and when t u Ivarr of heir s ccess aroused , the ruler , Limerick, they attacked him and won a great victory at ul o S c it near Tipperary Limerick was captured, M athgam ha in died in 976 and Brian wa s soon of a cknowledged king all Munster. He next became a of m ster Leinster, but his rapid advance brought him into conflict with the cur d/rt and by a compact e 998 M a el sechla inn mad in , practically surrendered f o the southern half o Ireland t Brian . The ruler of Dublin at this time was Sigtryggr of the Silken e s on of Anla f Gorm flaith of B ard, and , sister M a lm ordha of 1000 e . , king Leinster In Leinster of d with the support the Norsemen in Dublin revolte , f but Brian de eated them and captured Dublin, giving his daughter in marriage to S igtryggr and himself or fl i 1 l hl inn marrying G m a th. In 002 M a e s ec a sub m o itted t Brian and the latter became a r dr t. There ’ of followed twelve years peace, but Brian s marriage Gorm fla ith with was his undoing. Q uarrelling with

M a lm ordha of. her husband, she stirred up e Leinster against him . An alliance was formed between M a elm ordha Si tr r Gorm fla ith and g ygg , and dispatched e to V mbassies all the iking settlements in the West, summoning them to the aid of S igtryggr in a great i r r fight against Brian . S gt ygg secured the help V] BATTLE OF CLONTARF of Earl Sigurd of the Orkneys and North Scotland of u by p romise of the kingship D blin. S hips came f orthum b ria from all parts o the Viking world, from N , from Man and the Western Islands, from Scotland

. u and the Orkneys, and even from Iceland D blin was fixed as the trysting- place and Palm Sunday

10 14was to be the time of meeting. Brian mustered all the forces of Munster and Connaught and was ne - M a e s echlainn who joi d in half hearted fashion by l , wa s really waiting to see which way the fortunes of war would turn . Brian advanced into the plain of of two Fingall, north Dublin, and the armies f n P aced o e another at Clontarf all assion week. The Norsemen had learned by magic incantations that if the fight took place before Good Friday their ef o e chi s would perish and their f rces be routed, whil if the fight took place on Good Friday Brian himself S o would perish but the Irish would win the day. they waite d until the Friday and then made their

attack. The fight was long and the slaughter was

terrible. Brian and Sigurd were themselves numbered he ors m e among t slain . In the end the N e n were defeated and M a els echla inn completed their dis com fiture when he cut down the fugitives a s they tried to cross the bridge lea di ng to Dublin and s o o f reach their ships. N fight was more amous in Irish history and it s eems to have appealed with e l to q ua ly strong force S candinavian imagination . THE VIKINGS

Clontarf and Brunanburh are the two grea t Viking a o n sa a nd b ttles which find rec rd in Scandinavia ga, 1 in the sto ry of Burnt Njal we have a vivid account both of the a ctual ba ttle and of the events leading o Yet m up t it. ore interesting perha ps is the old la to S on o the Va lk r ies who y preserved us, the g f y , that same day were seen in Caithness riding twe lve together to a bower where they set up a loom of ’ ’ ad w r e m n whi ch men s he s e e the w ights, e s entrails th the s e warp and woof, while a sword was huttl e o and the reels were arr ws . They wove the web of war and foretold the fate of king S igtryggr and Earl Sigurd as well as the sharp sorrow which 2 e would befall the Irish . The Nors world was ful l of this and like portents and there can be no que stion that the Vikings were themselves conscious that the battle of Clontarf marked a very definite epoch in the history of the Vikings in the West a nd in Irela nd ors em en more particularly . The N remained in of S i tr r o as possession their cities, g ygg c ntinued of b ut o ne of the king Dublin, gradually the f rtu s Norse settlers tended to be come merged in the his tory of the nation as a whole a nd there was n o further que stion of Scandinavian supremacy in Ireland .

1 r G . B a s ent n n W . E glish ver s io by Si . 2 Th is s ong wa s probably composed s oon after th e events with wh ich it is conce rned and wa s fir s t rendered into E nglis h by the poet T F a l s te s Gr ay under the title he ta S i r .

THE VIKINGS wa s probably from Man that the Norse s ettlements in Cumberland and Westmorland were established . Olaf the White and Iva rr made more than on e to expedition from Ireland the lowlands of Scotland, and the former Wa s married to Ant r the daughter of Ketill Flatnose who had made himself the greatest f Chieftain in the Western Islands . After the battle o H a fr sf or d F a irhair j , when Harold had finally crushed his rivals in Norway itself, so powerful were the Norse settlements in the West that he felt his position would be insecure until he had received their sub A mission . ccordingly he made a great expedition to the Shetlands, Orkneys and the west coast a d of Scotland, fulfilled this purpose n entrusted the to of Ro nva ldr Northern Islands Sigurd, brother g , o earl of M re, as his vassal . The history of the Norse settlements in the ’ r kn rn a a Orkneys is well and fully told in the O ey g a s g .

- - The first Orkney earl was the above named Sigurd . n He entered into an allia ce with Thorstein the Red, on s to Olaf the White, and together they conquered

Caithness and Sutherland, as far south as the river ’ ik el of m i urd O on the borders Ross and Cro arty. S g s k - son Einar, nown as Turf Einar because he first to for f taught the islanders cut peat fuel, ounded of s f a long line earl o the Orkneys . He had a

1 n h rans a ion i r n E t t G . B s W a se t . gli l by S . THE ORKNEY- EARLS

quarrel with Harold F a irha ir and when that king imposed a fine on the islanders for the murder of his

son and the farmers could not pay it, Einar paid it himself on condition that the peasants surrendered

dea l i . e . their rights, their rights of possession in ’ v “ - the lands they culti ated. Turf Einar s son Sigur d the S f - tout was the most amous of all the Orkney earls, renowned both as warrior and poet . He conquered S A utherland, Caithness, Ross, Murray, rgyle, the

Hebrides and Man, securing the support of the men de of Orkney by giving them back their a l . He S married a daughter of Malcolm king of cotland, and met his end, as we have already seen, fighting on the side of the heathen Nors em en in the battle 4 A of Clontarf in 10 1 . fter this the power of the

- Orkney earls declined . The Norse line of earls was of S 1 23 1 replaced by one cottish descent in , but the islands di d not pass defini tely to the S cottish crown 1 until the 1 5 th century . Of the Norse settlements in the Hebrides we

’ have no such definite or continuous record . Mention is made in Irish annals of the middle of the 9th century of a king in the Hebrides— one Gut rofir son of Fergus— whose very name shows him to have

- ill a hi l . K ill u on e Ga G ed et . su r a been of the Finn ( p ,

1 Th ey were pl edged b y Ch ristia n I of Denma rk a n d Norwa y for ’ th e p a ym ent of th e dowry of hi s da ughter M a rga ret to Ja mes III i n 1460 a n d h e e d e wa s neve edeemed t pl g r r . 5 — 2 THE VIKINGS

5 . p. 6) was another such In the latter half of

~ 9th century Ketill Flatnose was the chief N leader in the Hebrides until his power w irh ir of by Harold F a a . Many the settlers th to betook themselves Iceland , the most famous

nt - them being A r the deep thoughted, widow K i l Olaf the White and daughter of et l . Norse r l 0th 1 1th cen url was all powerful during the and t es . There was a line of kings but we find ruling side by side with them certain officers known as lawmen ’ h i n r a . l 0t f r u. o ( f , p while in the late and of 1 1th the greater part the century, the Hebrides

of - were under the sovereignty the Orkney earls . Norse rule in the Hebrides did not finally come to 1 266 wh H akon s s on an end until en Magnus , king to of Norway, renounced all claims the islands . The early hist ory of the settlements in Man is At ff equally obscure . first the island su ered from repeated raids, then about the middle of the 9th century it passed under the authority of the of W kings Dublin and remained so until, ith the

Hebrides and Western Scotland generally, it was

- conquered by Sigurd the Orkney earl . From the Ork ney- earls it passed to the great conqueror Godred Crova n the King Gorry or Orry of Manx — who tradition came from the Hebrides, and his suc cess ors down to the cession of the islands in 1266

“ of were known as kings Man and the Isles . V II] VIKINGS IN THE BALTIC

Of the details of the settlement of the Scottish n S G mainland, of Caith ess, utherland, and alloway, of the occupation of Cumberland and Westm or e _ w land know almost nothing, but when we speak later of Norse influence in these districts we shall h realise how strong was their hold on t em . Our knowledge of the Norse occupation of Man and the Islands is somewhat scanty in detail, but there can be n o question that their settlements in lands often closely resembling in physical features their

- of the own home country were highest importance .

CHAPTER VII

T H E VIKINGS IN B AL TI C L ANDS AND RUS S IA

TH E activities of the Northmen during the Viking age were not confined to the lands west and south of their original homes : the Baltic was as familiar ‘ ’ to to o s - them as the North Sea, g ea t viking was ‘ ’ almost as common a s to go west - viking and S candina v1a n settlements were founded on the shores of the Baltic and far inland along the great waterways di As to lea ng into the heart of Russia. was be expected from their geographical position it was Danes and Swedes rather than Norwegians who were a active in Baltic lands, the D nes settling chiefly on THE VIKINGS

P the omeranian coast among the Wends, while the Swedes occupied lands further east and founded the of Scandinavian kingdom Russia. Already in the early years of the 9th century we find the Danish king Gut rot r n ow making war against his Slavonic neighbours in Mecklenburg

Schwerin, now intriguing with them against the one emperor. Mention is made of more than town 0 11 the southern coast of the Baltic bearing an essentially Scandinavian name, pointing to the f existence o extensive settlements . Interesting evidence of this eastward movement is also to be L i e o S t A k r found in the f f n s a . There we learn t 83 0 how, soon af er , a Danish fleet captured a city l in the and of the Slavs, with great riches, and we hear in 85 3 how the Swedes were endeavouring to r n eco quer Kurland which had been under their rule, ' but had now thrown ofl the yoke and fallen a prey to a fleet of Danish Vikings— possibly the one S t An ska r just mentioned . himself undertook the education of many Wendish youths who had been entrusted to him . This and other evidence prepare us for the establishment, in the tenth century, of the most of of characteristic all Viking settlements, that J6m sb org on the Island of Wollin at the mouth to of the Oder. According tradition King Gorm the Old conquered a great kingdom in Wendland, vn ] THE JOM SVIKINGS but it was to his son Harold Bluetooth that the om s b or definite foundation of J g was ascribed. For many years there had been an important trading J on centre at ulin the Island of Wollin, where S traders from candinavia, Saxony, Russia and many other lands m e t together to take part in the rich trade between north and south, east and west, which di d passed through Julin, standing as it on one L of the great waterways of central Europe . arge finds of Byzantine and Arabic coins bear witness to the extensive trade with Greece and the Orient w d li hich passe through Ju n, while the Silberberg, Jom sb or on which g once stood, is so called from the number of silver coins from Frisia, Lorraine,

Bavaria and England which have been found there. It was no doubt in the hope of securing some fuller share in this trade that Harold established the great fortress of Jom sb org and entrusted its defence to a warrior - community on whom he imposed the strictest rules of organisation . The story of the founding of Jom s b org is told in the late and untrustworthy J dm suihi n a s a a g g , but, while we must reject many

of the details there set forth, it is probable that the rules of the settlement as given there are based on a d genuine tra ition, and they give us a vivid picture - 0 of life in a Viking warrior community. N one under eighteen or over fifty years of age was e to admitt d their fellowship, and neither birth nor or] [ .

friendship, only personal bravery, could qualify a

~ No n e man for admission . o was allowed to continue wh o of or h o b w a member uttered words fear, fled on ho before e w was his equal in arms and strength . E very member was bound to avenge a fallen o companion as if he were his brother. N women no o e were allowed within the community, and n was to be absent for m ore than three days without permission . All news was to be told in the first instance to their leader and all plunder was to be of om sb or shared at a common stake . The harbour J g could shelter a fleet of 3 00 vessels and was protected by a mole with twelve iron gates . The Jom svikings played an important if stormy part in the affairs of the three Scandinavian kingdoms in the later years of the l oth and the early 1 l th of to century . Many them came England in the of Th orkell wa s for train king Svein, while Jarl a time in the service of Ethelred the Unready. The decline of Jom sb org as a Viking stronghold dates G 1043 from its devastation by Magnus the ood in , but the 1m porta nce of Julin as a trading centre o continued unimpaired for many years t come. ’ From Jem sb org Harold Bluetooth s son Hakon made an attack on Samland in the extreme east of P of russia, but the real exploitation the Eastern Baltic fell as was natural to the Swedes rather than o r to the Danes . We have already menti ned thei

THE VIKINGS

come and rule over them . Three brothers with : s their followers were chosen the elde t, Rurik

. r k O N. H r oe e r l n ( ) , settled Novgorod, the second in Bi l o e oz ero Tr uvor . , the third in in Izborsk Three years later two of the brothers died and Rurik took control of the whole of the settlements, dividing two of the land among his men . In the same year ’ Rurik N H osk uldr s A O . . followers , skold ( ) and Dir

O . ri o N. D ut ( y ), setting for Constantinople, halted at 882 Kiev and there founded a kingdom, which in ’ rik B N. was conquered by Ru s successor Oleg (O . elgi) of and, as the mother all Russian cities, became the of capital the Russian kingdom . ’ There is a certain n a i vete about this story which of o is characteristic the monkish chr nicler generally, of and it is clear that, after the usual manner the annalist who is compiling his record long after the events described, Nestor has grouped together under one or two dates events which were spread of over several years, but the substantial truth the nar rative cannot be impugned and receives abundant

confirmation from various sources . The earliest evidence for the presence of these Rus in Eastern Europe is found in the story of the Byzantine embassy to the emperor Lewis the Pious in ‘ ’ 83 9 u r w . sr o a . ( q , p hen certain people called Rhos, who on had been a visit to Constantinople, came in the train of the embassy and asked leave to return THE BUS

E n ul rl e s home through the empire . q were made ’ ‘ ‘ and it was found that these Rhos were S wedes . ’ This would point to the presen ce of Rus in Russia at a date earlier than that given by Nestor, and indeed the rapid extension of their influence indicates a period of activity considerably longer than that ‘ ’ ‘ ’ Rus allowed by him . These or Rhos soon came w into relations, both of trade and war, ith the

Byzantine empire. We have preserved to us from the years 9 1 1 and 944 commercial treaties made between the ‘ Rus ’ and the Greeks showing that

“ they brought all kinds of furs and also slaves to

Constantinople, receiving in exchange various articles of luxury including gold and silver ornaments, silks ' r 1 h fl and other c s tu s . The names of the signatories ’ on to these treaties are, the side of the Rus, almost entirely of Scandinavian origin and may to some extent be shown to be of definitely Swedish A 95 0 provenance . bout the year , the emperor P on Constantine orphyrogenitus, writing a tractate the administration of the empire , describes how traders from various parts of Russia assemble at Kiev and sail down the Dnieper on their way to

Constantinople . Their course down the Dnieper was impeded by a series of rapids, and Constantine gives ‘ c their names both in Russian and in Slavoni form, and though the names are extremely corrupt in their Greek transcription there is no mistaking that THE VIKINGS

the Russ1an names are really forms belonging to

some Scandinavian dialect . The Rus were also well kn own as warriors and 5 . 86 raiders In they sailed down the _ Dnieper, across the Black Sea and made their way into the

Sea of Marmora . Their fleet was dispersed by a S 90 storm, but they were more uccessful in 7 when Oleg with some 2000 ships harried the environs of Constantinople and was bought off by a heavy tribute . These attacks were continued at intervals during the next century. We also find a good deal of interesting information ’ Rus A about these , as they are called, in various rab n ho historl a s . We hear w they sailed their vessels down the chief waterways and had such a firm hold on the Black Sea that by the year 900 it was already a known as the Russian Sea . Often they dr gged their one to vessels overland from stream another, and thus they made their way from the upper waters Don o l of the down the Volga t the Ca sp an Sea . But n ot only do we have a description of their journeyings we also learn a good deal of their customs and habits, and, though at times the informa tion given is open to suspicion, archaeological research tends to confirm the statements of these historians ‘ and to show that the ci vilisation of the Rfis closely resembled that of the Scandinavian peoples generally in th e Viking age . V II] RUS AND VARANGIAN

The identification of the ancient Rus with the Swedes was long and hotly contested by S lavoni c patriots but there is now a general consensus of W that the evidence for it i s too s t1 ong to be v overthrown . Not only have we the evidence gi en above but also the very names ‘ Rus ’ and ‘ Varangian ’

can be satisfactorily explained only on this theory . ‘ ’ ‘ Rus S 6 G The name is the lavonic, Rh s the reek, ‘ ’ and Rfis the Arabic form of the Finnish name for i Ruots . S . weden, viz This name was originally derived from R 0 7r R o in _ ] or b , the name of certain districts

' a nd o of Upland Osterg tland, whose inhabitants were

- - he known as Rods ha r ta r or Rods m a m. T Finns had early come into relation with the Swedes and they used the name of those people with whom they were in earliest and most intimate contact for the

whole S wedish nationality. When these Swedes settled in Russia the Finns applied the same term to the new colonists and the term came to be

adopted later into the various S lavonic dialects . We are most familiar with the term Varangian ’ ‘ ’ or Variag, to use the Slavonic form, as applied to u the famo s guard of the Byzantine emperors, which seems to have been formed in the latter half of the l oth century and was largely composed of Norwegian , di R n Icelan c and S wedi sh recruits . In ussia and Arabic hi s torians on the other hand the term is r or used rather in an ethnog aphic geographic sense. THE VIKINGS

We have seen that it was thus used by Nestor, and similarly we find the Baltic commonly spoken of as the Varangian ’ Sea both in Russian and in Arabic e to records. All the vidence tends show that this was the earlier sense of the term and we find it gradually displacing the term Rh6s even in Byzantine of historians . The word itself is Scandinavian origin ‘ and means those who are bound together by a ’ pledge . The theory which best explains its various uses is that put forward by Dr Vilhelm Thomsen, viz . that it originated among the Northmen who settled

i . e . t in Russia, among the ancien Russ, and that under that term they denoted those peoples west of the Baltic wh o were related to them by nationality. From the Russ the word passed into the Sla vom c 1 ua r i a ba r a n er language as g , into the Greek as g where it was often used in the restricted sense of members of the imperial guard largely recruited — A va r a a k. from this nation, and into the rabic as Dr Thomsen adduces two happy parallels for the ’ som ewhat remarkable history of the terms Russian ‘ ’ ‘ ’ to and Varangian . The term Russian came be own used as their name by the Slavonic peoples, who were once ruled over by the Russ In much the ’ same way that the term Frankish or French was adopted by the Gaulish population of France from

1 T h e word va ri a g in M odern Russi a n m ea ns a p edlar a n d bea rs tnes s to th e tron co e c a n n V n wi s g mm r i l i s ti cts of th e iki g . V II] A RCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

’ its Germanic conquerors . The term Varangian, ultimately the name for a nation or group of nations, came to be used of a military force o nce largely recruited from those nations , much in the same way as the term Swiss was applied to the Papal guard long after that guard had ceased to be recruited fr om the S wiss nation exclusively . The belief in the S candinavian origin of the Russ is amply supported by archaeological evidence. The large number of Arabic coins found in Sweden (more especially in Gothl a nd) and in Russia itself points

’ to an extensive trade with the Orient whose route lay chiefly to the east of the Caspian S ea and then of along the valley of the Volga . The dates the

“ coins point to the years between 85 0 and 1000 as v those of most acti e intercourse with the East. Equally interesting is the large number of western A - S coins , more especially nglo axon pennies and

sceatts v . , which ha e been found in Russia They probably represent portions of our Danegeld which had come into the hands of the Swedes either in trade

or war. Viking brooches of the characteristic oval shape with the familiar zoomorphic ornamentation R have been found in Western ussia, and one stone

with a runic inscription, belonging to the 1 l th century and showing evidence of connexion with Gothl a nd , has been found in a burial mound in he t . Berezan, an island at mouth of the Dnieper THE VIKINGS

Professor Braun says that n o others have been found of of because the rarity suitable stone . Howlong the Russ maintained their distinctively n ffi to Sca dinavian nationality it is di cult determine . ’ Oleg s grandson S vj a tosl av bore a distinctively Slav cu of ic name, and henceforward the names the of Sla vonl c members the royal house are uniformly , but the connexion with Sweden was by n o means for ’ S v a tosla v s G gotten . j son Vladimir the reat secured himself in the rulership of Novgorod in 980 by the aid ’ of ua r ra gs from over the sea and established a band of variag warriors in his chief city of Kiev. But the

Viking age was drawing to a close . Variag auxiliaries are mentioned for the last tim e in 1 043 and it is probable that by the middle of the 1 1th century the Scandinavian settlers had been almost completely a Slavonicised . Of their perm nent influence on the

Russian people and on Russian institutions it is, in our the present state of knowledge, almost impossible n to speak . Attempts have been made to disti guish Scandinavian elements in the old Russian law and language but with no very definite results, and we must content ourselves with the knowledge that the Vikings were all powerful in Western and S outhern of two Russia during the greater part centuries, x i carrying on an e tens ve trade with the East, ’ on establishing Novgorod, the new town, the Volga under the name H ohm g a r t r and founding a dynasty

THE VIKINGS

CHAPTER VIII

VIKING CIVILIS ATION

TH E of - activities the Vikings were all embracing, and before a ny attempt ca n be made to estimate their influence in the various countries which came or permanently under their rule, were brought more or less closely into touch with them, some account, of however slight, must be given Scandinavian on on civilisation at this time, both its spiritual and For its material sides . the former aspect we must turn chiefly to the poems and sagas of old Norse u to of literat re, for the latter the results modern

. archaeological research So , far as the poems and sagas are concerned it is well to remember that they were to a large extent composed in Iceland and reflect the somewhat peculiar type of civilisation developed there at a period just subsequent to the ’ difler Viking age itself. This civilisation s necessarily from that developed in Scandinavia or in the other

Scandinavian settlements, in that it was free from Is to Western influence, but this some extent compensated for by the fact that we get in Iceland a better picture of the inherent possibilities of cl vilisation on Viking when developed independent. lines . VIII] C IVILISATION AND BARBARISM 83

At the beginning of the Viking age the S candi navian peoples were in a transitional stage of on e development on the hand there was still much, of i both in their theory and in their practice l fe, that

savoured of primitive barbarism, while on the other, in the development of certain phases of human of activity, more especially in those war, trade, and

social organisation, they were considerably ahead

of many of their European neighbours . More than one writer has commented upon the strange blending of barbarism and culture which constitutes Viking civilisation : it is evident when we study their em ha sIs ed daily life, and it is p in the story of their slow and halting passage from heathenism to

Christianity. We need not travel far to find examples of their

barbarism . Their cruelty in warfare is a common of place among the historians the period. When the Irish found the Danes cooking their food on spits i u. su r a stuck in the bod es of their fallen foes ( p , 5 5 p. ) and asked why they did anything so hateful, the answer came ‘ Why not ' If the other side had been victorious they would have done the same with ’ of h - . t e i . us The custom cutting blood eagle ( e . cutting the ribs in the shap e of an eagle and pulling the lungs through the opening) was a well- known ’ form of vengeance taken on the slayer of one s father l i s if captured in batt e, and illustrated in the story 6— 2 THE VIKINGS of of Ra na rr Lotb rok the sons g himself. Another survival of primitive life was the famous Berserk u of f ry, when men in the heat battle were seized n o with sudden madness and, accordi g t the popular i of belief, rece ved a double portion strength, and lost of for all sense bodily pain, a custom which Dr Bugge finds an apt parallel in the running amok of the f races o the Malay peninsula. Children were tossed on the point of the spear and the Viking leader who b a r ua ha r l discouraged the custom was nicknamed , i ’ e . . . children s friend In contrast to these methods of warfare stands m their skill in fortification, in which they taught any lesson s both to their English and to their Frankish i m adversaries, their read ness in adapting the selves f u u r to o . s a . new conditions warfare ( p , p and their clever strategy, whereby they again and again outwitted their opponents . The same contrast meets us when we consider the position of women among them . The chroniclers to make many references their lust after women . We hear in an English chronicler how they combed their hair, indulged in sabbath baths, often changed their clothes and in various ways cultivated bodily beauty ‘ in order that they might the more readily i of overcome the chast ty the matrons, and make ’ of of concubines even the daughters the nobility. Wandering from country to country they often had VIII] THE POS ITION OF WOMEN

wives in each, and polygamy would seem to have

. d been the rule, at least among the leaders In Irelan we hear of what seem to have been veritable harems, while in Russia we are told of the great grandson 1 of Rurik, the founder of the Russ an kingdom, that 800 he had more than concubines, though we may perhaps suspect the influence of Oriental custom in this case. Yet, side by side with all this, the legitimate

’ f o wi e was esteemed and hon ured, and attained a position and took a part in national life which was

a unu ua l q uite s in those days . In the account of an A of s u r a rabic embassy to the Vikings the west p , 20 v p. ) we have a ivid picture of the freedom of Aut r their married life . , the widow of Olaf the l s on White, after the fa l of her Thorstein, took charge of the fortunes of her family and is one of the figures that stand out most clearly in the early settlement of Iceland . We have only to turn to the Icelandic sagas to see before us a whole gallery of portraits , dark and fair alike, of women D rna cast in heroic mould, while the stone at y in H a delan d run Ic 1 o 1 G , bearing the ns r ption, unvor, Thirek daughter of , built a bridge to commemorate her daughter Astrid, she was the most gracious ’ ’ H a dela nd i ves us attra c maiden in , g one of the most tive pictures of womanhood left to us from the Viking age. It must be added however that beside the of runic inscription , the stone bears carvings the T H E VIKINGS

- In r e n s Christ child,the star the east and the th e ki g , a n d this may serve to remind us that the age was on e in which the peoples of the North passed from t o heathenism to Chris ianity, th ugh the passage was a slow 1on e and by n o means complete even at the close of the perl od . It 1s probable that the first real knowledge of ’ s s o the white Chri t came, as is often the case, — with the extensio n of trade Frisians trading with a nd s Scandinavia, Dane and Swedes settling in Frisia f r o . Willib r ord and elsewhere the same purpose St x at the beginning of the 8th century and Archbishop of 823 Ebbo Rheims in , as papal legate among the e to northern p oples, undertook missions Denmark, 826 but it was in , when king Harold was baptised t for at Mainz, that the firs real opportunity came the preaching of Christianity in Denmark . Harold was on S t An ska r accompanied his return by , a monk from Corvey and a man filled with religious zeal . ’ After two years mission in Denmark St Anska r to o sailed Sweden, where he was graci usly received

at Bj orko by king Bj ern . He made many converts and on his return home in 83 1 was made archbishop of Hamburg and given, jointly with Ebbo, jurisdiction

over the whole of the northern realms. Hamburg was devastated in 845 and St An ska r was then of w appointed to the ,,bishopric Bremen, after ards of united to a restored archbishopric Hamburg. He v m ] ADVANCE or CHRISTIANITY

laboured in Denmark once more and established l e vik Churches at S s and Ribe . He conducted a second mission to S weden and his missionary zeal remained unabated until his death in 865 his work was carried on by his successor and biographer

St Rimbert and by many others . Their preaching was however confined to Jutland and S outh Sweden and there is no evidence of any popular movement

G - towards Christianity. orm the Old was a stead fast pagan but Gorm’s son Harold Bluetooth was a zealous promoter of Christianity. His enthusiasm may have been exaggerated by monastic chroniclers

in contrast to the heathenism of his son Svein, but with the accession of Cnut all fears of a reversion to heathendom were at an end . Cnut was a devout son of the Church . The first Danish settlers in England were entirely heathen in sentiment, but they were soon brought into close contact with Christianity, and the terms of the peace of Edward and Guthrum in the early years of the l oth century Show that already

Christianity wa s making its way in the Danelagh . In the course of this century both archbishoprics were held by men of Danish descent and the excesses 1 1 h u of the early t cent ry were due, not to the e Danish settlers, but to the heathen follow rs of im Olaf Tryggvason and Svein Forkbeard. S ilarly the Danish settlers in Normandy were within a few THE VIKINGS

’ years numbered among the Church s most enthusiastic ’ u own s on s pporters, and Rollo s and successor William

wa s anxious to become a monk. The story of the preaching of Christianity in on o Norway is a chequered e . The first attempt t establish the Christian faith was made by H ak t é u r f ri u. l eins s t s a . A a st ( p , p Baptised and educated in England, he began warily, inducing those who to were best beloved by him become Christians, but he soon came into conflict with the more ardent followers of paganism. At the great autumn festival u of at Lade when the c ps memory were drunk, S a to n Earl Sigurd igned cup Odin, but the ki g of u made the Sign the cross over his c p . Earl Sigurd pacified popular clamour by saying that the king had made the sign of the hammer and consecrated the cup to Thor . The next day the king would not ea t the horse -flesh used in their offerings nor drink the blood from it : the people were angry and the king comprom ised by inhaling the steam from the offering through a linen cloth placed over the sacri ficial kettle, but no one was satisfied and at the next winter - feast the king had to eat some bits of horse - liver and to drink cr os sl ess all the cups a t of memory . H kon died a Chris ian but E y vindr

‘ S k a lda Spillir in H ahoua r m al describes how he was welcomed by Odin to Valhalla . a bldt- a r l i Earl H kon Sigurdson, nicknamed j , . e .

THE VIKINGS destroyed a grove sacred to the same god j ust north of t e h city. But side by side with incidents of this kind must be placed others like that of the sparing of the churches, hospitals and almshouses when A 921 rmagh was sacked in , or the retirement of Anla f Cua ra n to the monastery at Iona in 98 1 . In Ireland as elsewhere there seems to have been a recrudescence of heathenism in the early years of the 1 1th century and the great fight at Clontarf was regarded as a struggle between pagan and

Christian . Outwardly the Scandinavian world had largely declared its adhesion to Christianity by the close of the Viking period, but we must remember that the medieval Church was satisfied if her converts passed through the ceremony of baptism and observed her rites, though their sentiments often remained heathen . Except in purely formal fashion it IS impossible to draw a definite line of demarcation between Christian and heathen, and the acceptance of Christianity is of importance not so much from any change of outlook which it produced in in dividua l s , as because it brought the peoples of the North into closer touch with the general life and f L culture o medieval Europe . eaders freely accepted — baptism— often more t han once and even confirm a of tion as part a diplomatic bargain, while their profession of Christianity made n o diflerence to their CONFUSED BELIEFS

v Viking way of life . E en on formal lines the Church ha d to admit of compromise, as for example in the

r im e- si n i n practice of p g g , whereby when Vikings v the isited Christian lands as traders, or entered service of Christian kings for payment, they often wi allowed themselves to be signed th the cross, which secured their admission to intercourse with

Christian communities, but left them free to hold the faith which pleased them best. Strange forms and mixtures of belief arose in the on H el i passage from e faith to the other. g the Lean ll was a Christian, but ca ed on Thor in the hour of need. The Christian saints with their wonder working powers were readi ly adopted into the P k Norse antheon, and Vi ings by their prayers and offerings secured the help of S t Patrick in Ireland and of S t Germ a n us in France in times of defeat and pestilence, while we hear of a family of settlers in Iceland who gave up all faith except a belief in the power of St Columba. On sculptured stones o in the west may be found pictures of Ragnar k, of Balder and of Loki together with the S ign of the S S cross . ome of the heathen myths themselves how Christian influence the Balder story with its echoes of the lamentations for t he suffering Christ belongs of to the last stage Norse heathendom, while a heathen skald makes Christ sit by the Fountain of Fate as the mighty destroyer of the giants. When THE VIKINGS the virtue had gone out of their old beliefs ma ny to th s fell a prey e gros est superstition , worshipping the rocks and groves and rivers once thought to be of the dwelling place the gods . Others renounced h a n e faith in C ristian d h athen gods alike, and the ‘ ’ nickname godless is by n o means rare among the settlers in Iceland. Of such it is often said that or n o they believed in themselves, had faith in aught own except their strength and power, while in the saga of F ripj of we hear how the hero paid little heed to the sanctity of the temple of Balder and that the love of Ingibj org meant more to him than F or the wrath of the gods . a parallel to such audacious scepticism as that of F ripj of we must ’ turn to southern lands and later times with Auca ss in s In Paradise what have I to win ' Therein I seek n ot to to icol ete enter, but only have my N , my sweet ’ F lady that I love so well . or some the way of n ot escape came by superstition or by scepticism, but in mystic speculation, in pure worship of the f powers o nature. Thus we hear of the Icelander Thork ell for Mani, whom all praised the excellence of his of way life, that in his last illness he was out carried into the sunshine, so that he might c ommend h imself into the hands of the g od who or 0 6i Ask ell made the sun, of the 9 who, even in the of fi hour famine, deemed it was more tting to honour the creator by caring for the aged and the children,

THE VIKINGS

of H aua m al e says the poet the , the great storehous ‘ of of or m en the gnomic wisdom the N s e . All things are unstable and transitory, let no man therefore

or - onfident 1 e w be arrogant over c . The W s man ill ’ v n P ne er praise the day before it is e venl g . rudence and foresight are ever necessary. All things are determined by a fate which is irre vocable and cannot

‘ be avoided. Every man must die the death that is for appointed him, and the man whose final day has not yet come may face unmoved the greatest danger. This sense of an inevitable fate m ust lead to no of or of weakening character weariness life . Death must be faced with cheerful stoicism and our judgment of the worth of any man must depend on the of f the way in which he awaits decree ate. Pla ce n o or foe great trust in others whether friend , ‘ a ll om m enn es least of place trust in women . W ’ con s el ls o been ful ofte olde, says Chaucer in the ’ ’ Nuu s P r ies t s T a le usm old , g an Scandinavian o proverb. Be friendly t your friends and a foeman o P nd t your foes . ractice hospitality a hate lying ’ and untruthfulness . With their en em l es the Vikings a n had evil reputation for cunning and deceit, but ‘ when we study the incidents on which this charge was based— as for example the story of the capture

u r a 4 he oft - of s . or t Luna p , p 7) repeated trick of t to feigning fligh , only lure the enemy away from — safe ground T one must confess that they S how an CHARACTER OF ODIN

enemy outwitted rather than deceived. This aspect of Viking character perhaps finds its best ill ustration in the figure of Odi n . His common epithets are ’ ‘ ’ ‘ the wise, the prudent, the sagacious ; he is a god of witchcraft and knows all the secret powers of nature and stands in contrast to the simple - minded e Thor, endowed with mighty strength, but l ss polished and refined . The development of the worship of Odi n in Norway belongs specially to the later A e an d Iron g , it is worthy of note that his worship seems to have prevailed chiefly in military circles, among princes and their retainers . The Vikings were guilty of two besetting sins immoderate love of wine and of women . Of their relations to women enough has been said already. Their drunken revelry is best illustrated by the story of the orgie which led up to the death of S t Alph ege L 10 12 in ondon in , when, after drinking their fill r of the wine they had brought f om abroad, they pelted the bishop with bones from the feast, and finally pierced his skull with the spike on the back of an axe. Of sin in the Christian sense the Vikings An had no conception . Irish chronicler tell s us indeed that the Danes have a certain piety in that they can refrain from flesh and from women for a

'

time, but a truer description is probably that given by Adam of Bremen when he says that the Danes can weep neither for their sins nor for their dead . THE VIKINGS

The chief occupations of the Vikings were trade dra win a too and war, but we must beware of g rigid distinction between adventurers and peaceful stay-a t

homes. The Vikings when they settled in England and elsewhere showed that their previous roving life did not hinder them in the least from settling down

l or - as peacefu traders, farmers, peasant labourers, the h here Ottarr while figure of O t or , to give him his

Norse name, who entered the service of king Alfred, may serve to remind us that many a landed gentleman was not above carrying on a good trade with the Finns or undertaking voyages of exploration in the

White Sea . Trading In those days was a matter of great difli cult of d y and many risks . The line ivision w wa s one bet een merchant and Viking a very thin , and more than once we read how, when merchants on went a trading expedition, they arranged a truce until their business was concluded and then treated each other as enemies . Trade in Scandinavia was carried on either in fixed centres or in periodical markets held in convenient places . The chief trading centres were the twin towns of Sl es vik - Hedeby in o e S kirin ss a l r S W. Denmark, g in Norway, and Bj rk , h n d Sigtuna and the island of Got la in Sweden, while

' an important m ark etwa s held periodically at Bohuslan on ota el v of the G , at a place were the boundaries A the three northern kingdoms met. characteristic

THE VIKINGS [on

5

a . active, l rge, and well formed boys Such captives whether made by Irish from Norsemen or Nors em en for one from Irish would certainly be sold as slaves, of the chief branches of trade in those days was the S n sale as laves of those made prisoner l war. The expansion of Scandinavian trade took place S of side by ide with, rather than as a result , Viking of activity in war. There is evidence the presence of Lo 9th traders in the w Country early in the century, and already in the days of St Anska r we hear of a

' Swedish widow of Bj orke who left money for her daughter to distribute among the poor of Duurstede. J6m sb org was established to protect and increase

Scandinavian trade at Julin, and there were other similar trading centres on the southern and eastern of shores the Baltic. The Viking might busy himself either with war or trade , but whatever his occupation, living as he or u did in insular penins lar lands, good ships and

“ good seamanship were essential to his livelihood. Seamen now often abandoned that timid hugging of f the coast, sailing only by day time and in air old P weather, which characterised the hoenician t traders, and boldly sailed across the unchar ed main with n o help save that of the s un and stars by which to r of steer their cou se. It was this boldness spirit o o alone which enabled them t reach the l nely Faroes, a l the et o the dist nt Shet ands and Orkneys, and y m re SHIPS

remote Iceland. Irish monks and anchorites had

S hown similar fearlessness, but their bravery was often that of the fanatic and the mystic rather than o the enterprise of the seaman . Boldness f seaman ship led to boldness in exploration . From Iceland G nl the Vikings sailed to ree and, and by the year E of 1000 had discovered Vinland, the N. . part tt r r North America. O a rounded the North C ape 9th and sailed the White Sea in the century, while Harold H a rdr a da in the l 1th century made a voyage of Polar exploration.

' Of their Ships we know a good deal both from the sagas and from the remains of actual S hips preserved

of - i e i n to us . The custom ship burial, . . burial a ship how or over which a grave chamber, covered with a mound, was erected, was common in the Viking age, and several such ships have been discovered. The two a re G most famous those of okstad and Oseberg, on S both found the hores of Christiania Fjord .

oa k - The Gokstad vessel is of , clinker built, with seats f 2 o 8 . 1 for sixteen pairs rowers, and is ft long and 6 ft. d m . 900 broad ami ships It dates fro about , and in form and workmanship is not surpassed by modern of i vessels a sim lar kind. There is a mast for a r single sail, and the rudde , as always in those days , on T is the starboard side. h e gunwale was decorated with a series of shields painted alternately black and gold : The appearance of the vessel when fully 7— 2 THE VIKINGS

equipped can perhaps best be j udged from the pictur es of Viking ships to be seen in the Bayeux

- tapestry. There we may note the parti coloured sail i with its variegated stripes, and the r ch carving of stem and stern . These magnificent sails were a of to source much pride their possessors, and the story is told of Sigurd Jerusa l em -farer that on his way home from Jerusalem to Constantinople he lay

for -a - off f half month Cape Malea, waiting or a S ide s o b e i wind, that his sails might set lengthw se along the ship and s o be better seen by those standing on to Shore as he sailed up Constantinople . The stem ’

often ended in a dragon s head done over with gold, whilst the stern was frequently shaped like a dragon’s s o ll tail, that the vessel itself was often ca ed a dragon. of ff The Oseberg ship is a di erent type . The gunwale is lower and the whole vessel is flatter and - f o . o br ader It is used as the grave chamber a woman, of and the whole appearance the vessel, including its

richly carved stem, indicates that it was used in calm

waters for peaceful purposes . The story of the escape of Harek of Thj otta through Copenhagen Sound after the battle of

' H elge aa in 10 18 illustrates the difference between - a a trading ship and a S hip of war. H rek struck sail o and mast, took d wn the vane, stretched a grey ’ - a nd l tent cloth over the ship s sides, left on y a few of rowers fore and aft . The rest the crew were

VIII] WEAPONS

bidden lie flat so that they might not be seen, with ’ the reSult that the Danes mistook H arek s war- galley for a trading- vessel laden with herrings or salt and

let it pass unchallenged . In the last years of the Viking period ships

increased greatly both in size and number. Olaf ’ Tr vas on s L on S er en t ygg vessel, the g p , in which he S voldr s of fought his last fight at , had thirty benche G on e w oars, while Cnut the reat had ith sixty pairs f of oars . This same king went with a fleet o some to of fourteen hundred vessels the conquest Norway.

In battle the weapons of defence were helmet,

corselet and S hield. The shields were of wood with Th e a heavy iron boss in the centre . corselets were of made iron rings, leather, or thick cloth . The ff e weapons of o ence were mainly sword, sp ar and

- - battle axe . The sword was of the two edged type and usually had a shallow depression along the

dl of - mid e the blade, known as the blood channel. A o w n b ve, the blade terminated in a narro ta g, e bound d at either end by the hilts . Round the tang of and between the hilts was the handle wood, horn, or some similar material, often covered with leather, or occasionally with metal. Above the upper hilt

“ “ the s word was a knob, which gave the necessary G balance for a good steady blow. enerally the knob or and the hilts were inlaid with silver, bronze,

- - copper work. The battle axe, the most characteristic THE VIKINGS [on of of - Viking weapons, was the heavy broad bladed t ype. to Next warfare and trade, the chief occupa of tion the Viking was farming, while his chief amusement was the chase. At home the Viking leader of lived the life an active country gentleman . His f on e of avourite sport was hawking, and the legendary lives of St Edmund tells how Ra gna rr Loeb rok himself was driven by stress of storm to land on the

East Anglian coast, receiving a hospitable welcome b ut u from the king, ltimately meeting death at the ’ hands of the king s huntsman who was jealous of his prowess as a fowler. Of the social organisation of the Vikings it is or e impossible to form a very definite precise pictur . We have in the laws of the Jom sb org settlement f f - om su r a . 1 o o c p , p 7 ) the rule life a warrior m to munity, but it would be a istake imagine that these laws prevailed in all settlements alike . The general structure of their society was aristocra tic the rather than democratic, but within aristocracy, one which was primarily a military , the principle of who equality prevailed . When asked was their ’ no lord, Rollo s men answered We have lord, we are ’

. no all equal But while they admitted lord, the Vikings were essentially practical they realised the of importance organised leadership, and we have a succession of able leaders mentioned in the annals

THE VIKINGS

no e “ covered with clay. There was prop r hearth and the smoke from the fire made its way out as best

- it could through the turf covered roof. The chief of o furniture the ro m consisted in beds, benches, h of r long tables and c ests, and in the houses the ich these would at the close of our period often b e carved with stories from the old heroic or mythologic legends, while the walls might be covered with ’ P e tapestry. rominent in the chi ftain s hall stood the carved pillars which supported his high - seat and r S e of s were conside ed acred. When som the settler first sailed to Iceland they threw overboard their

- high seat pillars which they had brought with them , and chose as the site of their new abode the place where these pillars were cast ashore . In clothin g and adornment there can be no question that our Viking forefathers had attaine d h a hig standard of luxury. Any visitor to the great to or national museums at Copenhagen, S ckholm Christiania must be Impressed by the wealth of personal ornaments displayed before him magnificent of - brooches silver and bronze, arm rings and neck of S of S rings gold and ilver, large beads ilver, glass,

- a . one e rock crystal, mber and cornelian At tim it m was co monly assumed that these ornaments, often e c S w e displaying the high st artisti kill, er simply plunder taken by the Vikings from nations more e e cultur d and artistic than themselves, but pati nt P L A TE II

i d O rna ments of the Vik ing per o

THE VIKINGS

h i t - whic was probably used as a charm aga ns ill luck . All these ornaments alike are in S ilver rather than

o - g ld, and it has been said that if the post Roman period of Scandinavian archaeology be called the age of Vikm a e Gold, the g period should be named the g of Silver. The style of ornamentation used in these articles of personal adornment as well as in objects of more

- tra m s 1 o general use, such as horse pp g , s that c mmonly to a s ti er - or n a m n tik known German archaeologists e ,

i e . or . animal zoomorphic ornamentation . This last translation may sound pedantic but it is the most of e for n o accurate description the styl , we have attempt to represent the full form of any animal that ever had actual existence ; rather we find the various of — — w one limbs animals heads, legs, tails oven into another in fantastic design in order to cover a

- The certain surface area which requires decoration . animals are ornaments and treated as such. They S are stretched and curved, lengthened and hortened, refashioned, and remodelled just as the space which ’ they m ust fill requires . This style was once called ‘ ’ - n e the dragon style, but the term is misleadi g as ther is n o example belonging to the Viking period proper i o . e . of any attempt t represent a dragon, some h fantastic animal wit wings . Such creatures belong

to a later period. The zoomorphic style did n ot have its or1g1n VIII] FOREIGN ART - INFLUENCES

on during the Viking period. It is based that of a preceding period in the culture of the North G erman peoples, but it received certain characteristic developments at this time, more especially under the of h influence Iris and Frankish art. Irish art had begun to influence that of Scandinavia even before i the Vik ng period began, and the development of intercourse between North and West greatly To strengthened that influence. Frankish influence were due n ot only certain developments of ti er or n a m en tik but also the use of figures from the - of plant world for decorative purposes . One the finest brooches preserved to us from this period is of Frankish workmanship— a magnificent trilobed

- brooch of gold with acanthus leaf ornamentation. This leaf- work was often imitated by S candinavian craftsmen but the imitation is usually rude and unconvincing. Traces are also to be found of Oriental and more especiall y of Arabl e influence in certain of - of forms silver ornamentation, but finds articles of actual Eastern manufacture are more common than finds of articles of Scandinavian origin showing

Eastern influences in their workmanship. Buried treasure from the Viking period is very

. o fi lar common It was a p p belief, sanctioned by the of express statement Odin, that a man would enjoy in Valhalla whatsoe ver he had himself buried in A the earth . nother common motive in the burial of THE VIKINGS [on treasure was doubtless the desire to find a place of s a nd ecurity against robbery plunder. Treasure thus secreted would often be lost sight of at the ’ - owner s death . To the burial customs of the Viking period also we owe much of our knowledge of the ir W n of eapons, clothi g, ornaments and even their t domes ic utensils.

The dead were as a rule cremated, at least during f the ea rlier part o the Viking period . The body burned or unburned was either buried in a mound ’ of fo how or earth, rming a , was laid under the f of o a nd sur ace the gr und, the grave marked by or stones arranged in a circle, square, triangle oval, f sometimes even imitating the outlines o a ship. f The hows were often o huge size . The largest ‘ ’ o 3 f the three King s hows at Old Upsala is 0 ft. ’

2 0 . ho high a nd 0 ft broad . A large w was very necessary In the well- known ship - burial when the dead man (or woman) was placed in a grave - chamber on board his ship and the ship was drawn on land h and buried within a ow. Men and women alike h were buried in full dress, and the men usually ave all their weapons with them . In the latter case weapons tend to take the place of articles of domestic us e such as are found in the graves of an earlier t o period, and the change points a new conception of the future life . It i s n ow a life in which warriors feast with Odin in Valhalla on benches that are

T HE VIKINGS rings of gold and silver and good weapons before it was finally closed. t how R The other account (in Saxo) . ells ing ’ harnessed his own horse to Harold s ch ariot an d bade him drive quickly to Valhalla as the best in to to dl battle, and when he came Odin prepare goo y for f quarters friend and oe alike . The pyre was then ’ kindled and by Ring s command the Danes placed ’ Harold s ship upon it. When the fire destroyed o to the body, the king c mmanded his followers walk u ro nd the pyre and chant a lament, making rich ff of s o o erings weapons, gold and treasure, that the fire might mount the higher in honour of the great S o king. the body was burned, the ashes were to to collected, laid in an urn and sent Leire, there b e buried with the horse and the weapons in royal

There are many curious coincidences of detail between these accounts and that gi ven by Ibn Fa dhla n of of Rus the burial a warrior, and every detail of them has at one time or another been confirmed by archaeological evidence . how The dead were commemorated by the itself,

uta s teiua r i . e . b ut ba , memorial stones, were also on how or o erected, either the , m re commonly, s of elsewhere. In cour e time these monuments came to be inscribed with runes . Usually the inscription f l of is o the most forma type, giving the name th e

THE VIKINGS

CHAPTER I'

S CANDINAV IAN INFL E NCE IN T H E ORKNE YS U , S E LANDS T H E WE N H T , S TE R IS LANDS A ND M AN

OF all the countries visited by the Vikings it is undoubtedly the British Isles which bear most of definitely the marks their presence . The history a nd of s civilisation Ireland, the Orkneys and Shetland , the Western Islands and Man, Scotland and England, ’ aflected were profoundly by the Viking movement, and its influence is none the less Interesting be cause to it varies greatly from place place, in both characte r and intensity . These variations are doubtless due In part to differences of political and social organisation or as between Norsemen and Danes, between men coming from scattered districts of the as yet loosely co- of ordinated kingdoms Denmark and Norway, but their chief cause lies in the wide divergences in the social and political conditions of the lands in which they settled . The Orkneys a nd the Shetlands were settled by the Norsemen earlier than any other part of the British Isles and they formed part of the Norse 14 n o kingdom till 68. It is t surprising therefore that the great Norse historian Munch describes them as 1x] THE ORKNEYS AND SHETLANDS 1 13

li es a a nor slct s om N or e selu g g , as Norse as Norway ’ itsTel old S s f. The Norse peech was till spoken there few of 18th by a people until the end the century, a nd We have a version of the ba llad of Ki n g Orfeo taken down from recita l at the close of that century

‘ with the Norse refrain still preser ved S eowa u ur la

’ ’ ’ r u h r u i . W a i er ten ha rt r uu oa r la c . e g g g , probably

‘ ’ Early gr een s the wood— where the ha rt goe s ’ a P a - n t se ye rly. l ce omenclature is almost en irely Nor and the modern dialects ar e full of Norse words. e n the Sev ral runic i scriptions have been found, most a o M ae showe H ros s e d f m us being that at in y, ma e by Norse crusaders when they win tered there in 1 1 5 2— 3

and . r how amused themselves by b eaking open the , to for c un s probably look treasure, and s oring their r e

on the f r - In of walls o the g ave chamber. the system ’ landholding the udallers are an interesting su rvival ‘ of ol The the d Norse freeholders . Udaller held his la n d without cond itio n or limitation in any fe udal ’ his uda l s s i e . G e r G . en e, says Mr ilb t oudie, he held on pre cise ly the sam e free terms that the native or em did hi e l r the d N s an s d a . F om Shetlan s and the Orkneys the Nors emen cross ed to the Scottish a a i h o o f . S ef t e m inl nd utherland ( . land s uth the Orkn e a re l of ys), Caithne ss , Ross and Cromarty fu l r e a - e m a b e c No s pl ce nam s, and Nors e influence y tra ed e n h ev furt er south.

M . THE VIKINGS

The Hebrides were also largely influenced by the

Norsemen . Together with Man they formed a Norse kingdom down to the middle of the 13 th of century. Many the islands themselves and their n chief physical features bear Norse ames, many M a Aul n or e . f la . c a s o o Au personal names ( g y , y Olaf) are of Norse origin, and there are many Norse words

of . in the Gaelic both the islands and the mainland . These words have undergone extens1ve changes and much corruption in a language very different in form of and sounds from that their original source, and ffi their recognition is a di cult problem . There is at of present a danger exaggerating this Norse element, the existence of which was long overlooked . ff Similarly, a inities have been traced between

G - o Scandinavian and aelic popular tales and folk l re, but the evidence is too vague and uncertain to be of much value . It is however in Man that we get the most interesting traces of the presence of the Norsem en. Here as elsewhere we have place- names and personal to names bearing witness their presence, but we have

26 - much else besides. Some rune inscribed crosses have been preserved to us . The crosses are Celtic in to form and a large extent in ornament also, but

‘ we find distinct traces of the Scandinavian animal f r ornamentation . The inscriptions are Short and o the most part give only the name of the memorial -raiser

THE VIKINGS of of 24 m the court, consisted originally embers, a to number perhaps due Scandinavian influence, being a combination of two groups of 12 lawmen

u. su r a . who e of ( p , p These men hav the keys ’ ‘ ’ the law in their bosom closely resemble the lawmen or of speakers the Icelandic assembly. All laws to be valid must be promulgated from the Tynwald Hill

' ' which corresponds to the logberg or law -hill of the

Icelandic a lthi ng . When the court is held the ‘ ’ di or coroner fences it against all sturbance disorder, just as in the old Norwegian Gul athing we hear of ue- bouol or sanctuary- ropes drawn around the assembly. It was possibly from Man that a good number of m and the Norse settlers in Cumberland, West orland

m i n r a . 126 North Lancashire ca e f , pp and others may have settled in Galloway.

CHAPTER '

S CANDINAV IAN INFLUE NCE IN IRE LAND

AT the time of t he Viking invasion of Ireland the various provincial kingdoms were held in loose confederation under the authority of the a r d ri or s o high king, but these kingdoms to d in constantly x] CONDITION OF IRELAND shifting relations of friendship and hostility towards one another, and were themselves Often split into factions under rival chieftains . There was no r national army like the English fy d . Rather it of u consisted a n mber Of tribes, each commanded by its own chief, and though the chief owed allegiance

one . to the king, the bond was a frail The tribe was f urther divided into s ep ts and the army was utterly r1n 1 l e ' no lacking in any cohesive p c p . It is wonder that for many years the Irish showed themselves quite unable to cope with the attacks of forces s o well organised as those Of the Norse and Danish

Vikings . In vivid contrast to the chaos in political and military orga nisation stand the missionary enthusiasm of the Irish church and the high level of education and culture which prevailed among her clergy and li ter a ti . In the Orkneys and the Shetlands such names as Papa Westray or Papa S tronsa y bear witness to the presence Of Irish priests or p ap a e as the o Norsem en called them. Irish anchorites had at ne

u. su r a . time settled in the Faroes ( p , p and in l 8 0 when the Norsemen first settled Ice and (0 . 7 ) a they found Irish monks already there . The mon stic schools of Ireland were centres of learning and w Of religious instruction for the hole Western Europe, while Irish missionaries ha d founded monasteries in S Italy, witzerland, Germany and France . THE VIKINGS [on

Unfortunately religl on and culture seem to have been almost entirely without influence on the body

politic, and as the Vikings had at least in the early days n o respect for the religion or the learning of the Irish nation there was nothing to prevent them from devastating Irish monasteries and carrying off of the stores treasured wealth which they contained. NO won plunder was more easily , and it was only when they themselves had fallen under Christian influences and had come to appreciate Irish literary and artistic skill that they Showed themselves more kindly disposed towards these homes Of

learning. One feature must at once strike the Obser ver who compares the Viking settlements in Ireland with

“ those in England, viz . that Viking influence in Ireland is definitely concentrated in the great coast — towns Dublin , Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick— and the districts i mmediately around

- them . Irish place nomenclature bears very definite r d i n witness to this fact. F o Strangford and L f O N Carlingford oughs, Waterford and Wex ord is . - low O N r er . fi g , a fj ord, in Arklow and Wicklow is ’ Z6 l ow- fla t - , lying, grassland, lying by the water s L N. e O . edge . The y , an island, is found in ambey, ’ ’ Durs e E Dalkey, y Head , Ireland s Eye (for Ireland s y ), ’ ’ ’ hb ue Ca rnsor e G O N. Howth is f , a head, and reenore ‘ out O . N. e r r Point contain y , a sandy point pushing

THE VIKINGS

n To s due a chief Irish tow s. them al o was the gre t

not of s . en expansion, if the birth, Iri h trade M tion f of k u su r a ha s been m ade o the wealth Limeric ( . p , a e t n an d p. dr wn chi fly from rade with Fra ce a nd the h not e Spain, ot er towns were b hind a of Limerick . The nav l power Dublin stretched from a f o s m e W ter ord t Dundalk, the Iri h channel swar d

“ of n te in with Viking fleets, and many the shippi g rms

- use in Ga elic are loan words from the Norse. It is probably to the trading activities of Vikings from the chiefs ports of Ireland that we owe the s prinkling Of names Of Norse origin which we find along the Welsh coast from the Dee to the Severn ’ a S kokholm Great Orm s Head, Anglesey, R msey I, to Island, Flat Holme and Steep Holme, and them may be due the establishment Of Swansea, earlier S wei uesea a nd s a s , Haverfordwest po sibly Bideford, e in e Norse coloni s the Bristol channel. W know in la ter times of several Nors em e n who were living in ff w Cardi , Bristol, Swansea and Haverford est. Norse influence in Ireland probably reached its l 0 h climax in the t century . The battle Of Clonta rf ' oflered a serious check and though the re was still a succession of Norse kings and earls in Dublin they to o h had acknowledge the auth rity Of the a r dr i . T e line of Sigtryggr of the Silken Be ard came to an end of t he 1 1th by the middle century, and the rule rship of Dublin fell into the hands of various Norse families x] INFLUENCE IN IRELAND from other Irish settlements and from Man and the 1 0 8 - 94 Isles . From 7 it was under the rule Of the ov n great conqueror Godred Cr a from Man, and its connexion with that kingdom was only severed finall y when Magnus Barefoot came on his gr eat Western di 1 103 t expe tion in , and brought Man into direc o o n al legiance t the kings f Norway . Celtic influe ce mus t have been strong in the Norse families them v f s . o e el es Several the kings bear Ga lic names, and it is probably from this period that such familiar M a cLa m ont or M a cCa lm ont M acIver names as , , and M ac uis ta n e i fi Q date, wher the Gaelic patronym c pre x to La m aEr Ivarr has been added the Norse names g , nn on and E ystei . While Norse power in Dublin was the decline as a political force it is curious to note that the vigorous town- life and the acti ve commerce instituted by the Norse settlers made that city of ever-in creasing importance as a centre Of Irish life e s no and Irish inter st generally, and there can be question that it was the Norsemen who really made u of D blin the capital city Ireland . e The Norse elem nt remained absolutely distinct, not only in Dublin but also i n the other cities in to of which they had settled, right down the time h 1 2 the English invasion in t e th century. Frequent mentio n is made of them in the records of the great s a n d town , they Often both claimed and received privileges quite different from those accorded to the THE VIKINGS

or to native Irish the English settlers . They were ‘ to or l a known the latter as Ostmen Easter ings, term which in this connexion seems to have ousted Nor ua i eus es or les N or r e s le the earlier g y , s Nor ’ s tm a n wi chei s . The term O doubtless represents A m a iir to O . N. us t , a man dwelling the east. Exactly how or where it first came to be applied to Nors em en ffi o t it is di cult to say. The w rd has lef its mark in Oxm anstown Os tm a nstown of , earlier , the district the city Of Dublin assigned to the Ostmen by the English invaders . Learning and religion in Ireland suffered griev ously from Norse attack but not so sorely as in s o England. There was never a time when dark a picture could have been drawn Of Irish learning as Alfred gives Of the state of English learning when he P a s tor a l Ca r e translated the , and when once the Vikings began to form settlements they were them selves strongly affected by the wealth O f literary and artistic skill with which they found themselves brought into contact. The question Of Irish influence on 1 x one Norse mythology and literature s a much ve ed . At present we are suffering from a reaction against exaggerated claims made on its behalf some thirty a o to w years g , but while refusing accept the vie that

Norse legends, divine and heroic alike, are based on a wholesale refashioning and recreating Of stories

- to from Celtic saga lore, it would be idle deny that

THE VIKINGS

O. N b n . i ugg g , building. - Y r D B O .N. b a n . . d. b w o a , Swe y , to n r village . This word indicates a Danish rather than a Norse

settlement.

- . O . N. h a r r h or r ker j , y , brushwood, on especially swampy ground.

- N d a lr DALE . O . . . , valley Etymologically thi s word might be Of n ative English origin but its to distribution points Norse influence. - ll FE LL N. a . O . fi , mountain .

- FO E N. or s . RC . O . f , waterfall ’ - e - . N r r . FOR O . . TH fi g , fjord English ford and Scandinavian - forth Often interchange in the Old

documents .

- t GAR O. N. a r r TH . g , enclosure, the Scandinavian f h ’ equivalent o Englis yard.

- ~ ILL N il G . O . . g , deep narrow glen with a stream at the bottom.

- O . N holm r OLM . . n H , small isla d especially in a

or . bay, creek, river In England its meaning was further developed and it Often means low-lying level ’ on r1v r O ground the borders of a e or stream . N W

flix - often concealed in the s u ham .

- L N. h ld . KE D. O . e a , well, spring

- - D . O u r l . L N . N. na No U , lound , grove w Often

to - i n - m corrupted land English place na es .

- M IRE O. N. m r r . . u , moor, bog, swamp - r i E . h e s . AI O N. R S . y , cairn PLACE -NAMES

- l S AL E N. i . O O . sha s . , house This word is Nor e rather than Danish . - S CAR - — l r O . . s . N u , skear, skerry , isolated rock in the sea .

- huti S CO . N. s . O k UT , cave formed by jutting roc s .

- - N he r . S COU GH . O . . s , scow y , wood - L l khi on a S ACK. . . s a . O N , slope a mount in edge Often used in English place - names Of a holl ow or 1 boggy place .

- N . r a . AR O . N a T . ti , small lake

O . N. or . p p , hamlet, village This O E - word is also found in . and in some place names dl is undoubte y Of native origin, but its general distribution points fairly conclusively to Norse

influence .

- WAI E ’ i t . . O . N. ve TH T P , parcel Of land, paddock

- OF O. . to t . N T T p , piece Of ground, messuage, o h mestead.

- WI uifir . TH. O. N. , a wood h O . N. r a . , a ford Place- names with the prefix N or m a n mark the settlement not Of Normans but of Norsemen (or or Northmen as the English called them), as in N n manto and Normanby, while the settlement Of Da nes is marked by the pr efix D eua or D eu as in

Denaby and Denby . This latter prefix however has

other sources as well.

l 1 In S cot and it is ed of a h o o a s n a d e l us ll w p s i ri g . THE VIKINGS

Scandinavian personal names are very co mmon in place - names but then presence can as a rule only be detected with any degree of certainty by reference to the forms found in early documents ; Among the r eco nl s ed Gr i m r more easily g are , as in Grimsargh Lan es Guuua r r ( ) and Grimsby , as in Gun n erside s Ketill s (York ) , , as in Kettlewell (York ) , Kla hhr In r m r k , as Claxton O , as in Orms irk La nes to to ( ) . Others, be found by reference earlier f F r aui Fran esfeld Fa rnsfield orms, are , as in , Ga m a ll Ga m el estune , as in Gamston, Guuuul r Gunnul veston f , as in Gonalston, Kuutr Cn utes tone Kn uston , as in , L ei r Le vesb i f , as in Laceby, S um a r liei S um a rlideb i , as in Somerby, S huli S cul etuna Tali , as in Scoulton, , as Vihi r Tol slund . u in e Toseland, Hunts g , as in Wichin estone Ulvesb i g Wigston, as in in L es . Ulceby, ) Examining the distribution Of Scandinavian pla ce names determined by the above tests and others ca n which be applied with great accuracy, if we study not the modern but the Old forms Of the place - m of names, we find that the place no enclature Cumberland and Westmorland is almost entirely

. or o d either Scandinavian Celtic. Indeed it w ul seem that the Anglian settlement had hardly affected

“ for h these districts at all, and it was reserved t e

THE VIKINGS

’ u not e e b rns and b cks, the Wansbeck b ing a o of h corrupti n an earlier Wa uesp i e. e o t Wh n we cross into c . Durham the ributaries Of ’ r b e b ut b the Wear va y tween burn and beck, y the time we reach the Tees thes e have all becom e

. Beechb urn the r becks Beck, a tributary Of Wea , Shows how a Scandinavian term could be attached to an own English name, when its meaning was neglecte d

or . n s forgotten Other Scandinavian ame are common, but as in Northumberland they belong to the diale ct generally and are seldom found in nam es of towns or m u in villages . Viking settlers st have been few numbers and widely scattered throughout the se two

counties . One great exception must be named

t . . among the owns, viz Durham itself The city was ’ n Dari -holm r - the amed , the hill island, by Vikings, a nd its present name is only the Norm an corruption

Of that form . South Of the Tees we find ourselves in a district whose place -names are to a very large exten t s t i a nd Scandinavian, and Nor e settlemen s are th ckly evenly distributed from the North S ea to the Pe nnine

chain .

Lin colnshire is per haps mor e purely Sca ndinavia n in

- n E In its place names tha any other nglish county. Derbyshire Viking influence is not s o strong b ut the county wa s proba bly very thinly inhabited a t lea s t THE DANELAGH in the north and west and did not Offer attractive

settling ground. Derby itself was rechristened by ’ m o e n N r we orei . the Northmen, its earlier a e being g The rich fields and pastures O f Leicestershire attracted a great many settlers and Nottinghamshire is also or strongly S candinavian . Rutland and N tha m pton shire are strongly Danish except that there is some Off s of shading toward the S W. corner the latter on county. In the country bordering the Danelagh ff the south and west, Sta ordshire has a few Scandi na via n p la ce - names on its Derbyshire and Leicester o shire b rders, while Warwickshire has several on its L ortha m tonshire d eicestershire and N p bor ers . In East Anglia Danish settlements must have been numerous in the north and east especially t towards the coast, but heir presence is less strongly f S W. O marked in the portion the county. In Suffolk they are confined still more definitely to the coast-districts and the Danes do not seem to have

settled in the south Of the county at all. Three Kirbys near the Essex coast mark settlements in that

- county. Of the other border counties Huntingdon s S shire, Cambridgeshire and Bedford hire how only the slightest tra ces of S candinavian influence in their

- place nomenclature, though we know from other evidence that there must have been many Danish

settlers in these counties . Closely allied to the evidence Of place -names is

M . 9 THE VIKINGS

f e that o dial ct . A very large number Of words definitely of Scandinavian origin are found in the

f E . . o N N.W. dialects and England, in the N Midlands a n d A do n ot h East nglia, but they furnis so sensitive a test as do place - names for the extent of the Scandinavian settlements and they need n ot be dis

cussed here . More interesting as evidence Of the deep influence of the Viking settlers 0 11 our language is the large number of Scandinavian loan - words which have of become part our standard speech, many Of them o r - being words essential to u every day talk. To owe the Scandinavian influence we the pronouns y , them thei r sa m e both r o and , the adjectives and , the f in to and fr o and possibly the auxiliary a r e and i the preposition t ll . These last are found in the Northum b ria n dialect of Old English but their widespread use is probably due to Scandinavian

influence . In addition to these we may note the following : ba i t ba sk ba tten ca ll ca s t d a wn dr oo Verbs , , , , , , p , d r own a i n a bble r a n s a ck s ca r e s cour s cr a e , g , g , , , , p , s kim ski s uea l s ti n t ta ke , p , q , , , : a n er billow boon dusk ello w a i t Nouns g , , , , f , g , r i m e ha ven hus ba n d husk hus ti n s cull s cur g , , , , g , , f; shi ll ski n shi r t sk wi n dow , , , y, , a wkwa r d i ll odd r otten s ca n t s l Adjectives , , , , , y , u l wea k g y , ,

THE VIKINGS

o from D mesday and allied sources, are however as follows : ( 1) The use Of the Danish wapentake as the chief division of the county in contrast to the English ’ n L hu dred . This is found in incolnshire, Derbyshire one on (with exception its southern border), Notting h L one amshire, eicestershire, Rutland, and district ortha m tonshir e n ow Of N p , included in Rutland . We have wapentakes in Yorkshire, except in certain

- districts along the sea coast, while in Lancas hire the term was applied to the court Of the hundred or shire long after the Conquest. There is some evidence also for the belief that the use Of the hundred (or wapentake) as a n administrative unit is in itself due nfl n c ' to Scandinavian i ue e . The proportion Of names Of hundreds (or wapentakes) which are definitely of Danish origin is very high and, unless we assume wholesale renaming, this points to their having been first named at a period subsequent to the Danish conquest. (2) The assessment by carucates in multiples and submultiples of 12 is characteristic of the Dane l to on agh, as opposed that by hides, arranged a decimal system in the strictly English districts . This L is found in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, incolnshire, ’

Leicestershire and Rutland, with the exception Of the above mentioned district. There are traces Of a t o E h duodecimal assessment in the w N. . undreds Of xx] NORTHUMBRIA AND TH E DANELAGH 1 3 3 s Northamptonshire, while in Lanca hire a hidal assess ment has been superimposed upon an original carucal

one. Carucal assessment is found also in Yorkshire,

Norfolk and Suffolk. 3 L ( ) In incolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire we have traces of the us e Of the Danish

‘ ’ ‘ long hundred e . g . the fine for breaking the ’ i 1 20 1 16 £8 . e . . king s peace is , ores of pence Using the various tests we find that the Scandi navian kingdom Of Northumbria was considerably

smaller than the earlier realm Of that name, North um b erl a nd and Durham being but sparsely settled, while S outh Lancashire and Cheshire were occupied

- t he to chiefly along coast. The kingdom would seem f two m all into isolated halves, Cu berland and West morland and North Lancashire in the north - west

- f and Yorkshire in the south east. The district O the

Five Boroughs covered Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, L L S L incolnshire ( incoln and tamford) , eicestershire, w and probably the hole Of Rutland (Stamford) . The of ff case Northamptonshire is di icult. The carucal of assessment fails except in the extreme N E . the

- county, but Danish place nomenclature is strongly O ff evident, though it shades somewhat towards the S W. It resembles Dan ish East Anglia rather than

1 T h e are a s a n t of w ht for v i s of ca d na v an o u i eig sil er S n i i rigin . In o e d t ct i t wa s O f th e va e o f 16 e ce oth e of 20 e ce s m is ri s lu p n , in rs p n , an d e ht ores ent to th e m a rk ig w . THE VIKINGS the district Of the Five Boroughs and it is possible ’ of uthrum s A that the boundary G East nglian kingdom, which is only carried as far as Stony Stratford in of A the peace lfred and Guthrum, really ran along

m two - Watling Street for a few iles, giving thirds Of that county to the East Anglian realm . Northum b rl a was governed by a succession of kings . The Five Boroughs formed a loose confedera n o tion, and there can be question that the districts ‘ ’

u su r a . 3 1 which Obeyed ( . p , p ) the boroughs of Derby, L Leicester, Nottingham, incoln (and Stamford) and Northampton form the modern counties named from or these towns . It is also to Danish influence direct indirect that we owe the similar organisation Of the counties of Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bed fordshire and Hertfordshire in the Old East Anglian n O f a r l or ki gdom . Each these counties had a j earl, ‘ ’ whose headquarters were at the borough . He sum u her e mo ed the , whether for political or military purposes, and when these counties passed once more under English rule he fulfilled the functions of the ea ld or m a n older .

An - u su r a In East glia, apart from place names ( . p ,

‘

. 129 S ff p ) and carucal assessment in Norfolk and u olk, ’ we are left with the b ounda ries of Guthr um s kingdom and with various miscellaneous evidence for estimating f the extent o Scandinavian influence . There is a ‘ hun dredus Da corum su r a 10 curious (cf. p , p . ) in

THE VIKINGS

dren s and the g Of Cumberland, Westmorland, h a re Lancas ire, Northumberland and Durham, also or1 1n of Scandinavian g . The dreng was a free ’ servant Of the king endowed with lands and the name still survives in the Yorkshire place - name

Dringhouses . The legal instinct was strong 111 the Scandinavian r mind and English law bears deep ma ks Of its influence . ‘ ’ The very word law itself is Of S can dina v1a n origin ’ n and has replaced the E glish doom . The chief d judicial authority in Lincoln, Stamford, Cambri ge, Chester and York was in the hands Of twelve ‘ ’

u. 103 di c . su r a la m en or u es . g j These lawmen ( p , p ) though they had judicial authority were n ot chosen by the king or by popu lar election . Their position 12 was hereditary. Of special interest are the senior ’ thanes Of Aethelred s laws for the Five Boroughs 99 o enacted at Wantage in 7 . They have t come forward in the court Of every wapentake and to s wear that they will not accuse wrongly any innocent or on man conceal any guilty e . The exact force Of this enactment has been a matter of dispute— wheth er the thanes simply bore witness to the personal status o Of the accused, thus enabling the court t determine S or the ordeal through which he hould be put, whether we have an anticipation Of the system Of presentment by jury. Whatever may be the exact truth there b e Vino ra doff can little doubt, says Dr g , that SUMMARY

such a custom prepared the way for the indictment u 12 h at j ry of the t century. The same author tributes to Danish influence a new conception of O f crime. It is no longer merely a breach the peace or to b the result Of a feud, be settled y monetary O f O f compensation, it is a breach that conception honour which binds together military societies . The n i thi n criminal is now branded as g , a man unworthy of - comradeship with his fellow warriors . Unfortunately it is only within the last few years of that the question Danish influence on our social, political and legal systems has been treated a t all b ut seriously and much work still remains to be done, we can already see that the Danes affected English life far more deeply than a superficial glance might suggest. Doubtless the Danish invasions struck a heavy blow at learning and literature, a blow from the effects O f which not even the heroic activities Of A h can an lfred could save t em, but there be no l of question that in the deve opment town life, in the of n promotion trade, in the improvement Of orga isa Of tion and administration, in the modification legal procedure the invaders conferred great benefits on the country as a whole . THE VIKINGS

CHAPTER 'II

S CA NDINAVIAN INF LU ENCE IN T H E E M P IRE A ND ICE LAND

CO NS I DE RING the long and devastating campaign of the Vikings within the Frankish empire and more especially within its western portion, it is surprising that they only formed permanent settlements in one v n o of small area, lea ing practically marks their of Lo presence elsewhere. Great portions the w Countries were in almost continuous occupation by 9th them during the century, but the opportunity m was lost, and beyond an i portant share in the n of of developme t the trade Duurstede, the Vikings hardly left a sign of their influence behind them. of ff The case Normandy is di erent. Here we to have a definite district assigned the invaders, just to as the Danelagh was given them in England, and the whole of that territory is deeply impregnated with m ill their influence. Many of the Norman towns in e contain as the first element in their name a Norse

e . personal name, g . Catteville, Cauverville, Colle ville, Fouqueville, Hacqueville containing the names Kci te Kd r Kolr F olki H dkon f , lf , , , , while the su fixes

- bcc - ben d a le —e a r d Jam ie 450 7 0 - tot - tm ft , j , , y , y , , 7 , , ,

THE VIKINGS

943 on found a champion as late as when, the death of L William ongsword, a rising of heathen Normans n was crushed with the aid of the Frankish ki g, but for the most part the Normans soon showed them selves devout sons of the Church and were destined in the 1 1th century to be numbered among the most ardent supporters of the Crusades. With the adoption of Christianity they learned to respect and honour those homes of learning which they had once of devastated for their wealth hoarded treasure, and f L the amous school at Bec, whence came anfranc and

Anselm, was only one among many which they richly endowed and supported . Their religious and artistic feeling found ex pression in that development of Romanesque archi tecture which we know as Norman and which has given so many famous buildings not only to Normandy but to England, to Sicily and to Southern Italy

- tr uver s generally. In literature the Norman French o e did much towards popularising the romances of war and adventure which play so important a part in h medieval literature, and w en they settled in England ‘ it was largely due to Anglo - Norman poets that the ’ matter of Britain becam e on e of the great subjects of for romance all time . In its social organisation Normandy seems speedily to have been feudalised. Rollo divided the land among a comparatively small number of large x11] THE NORMANS landholders and the system of land tenure was quite different from that in the English Danelagh with its large number of small freeholders . On the other hand it was probably due to Norse traditions of personal freedom that serfdom disappeared earlier in

Normandy than in any other of the French provinces . Trade and commerce were fostered here as every It m where by the Vikings . was the Nor ans who

first taught the French to become , a power at sea, many French naval terms are of Norman origin and from the Norman province have come some of ’ - France s greatest sea captains . The Vikings like the Franks before them threw off their old speech and submitted to the all - embracing L power of atin civilisation, and the result was a race v v endowed with igorous personality, untiring acti ity, and the instinct for ruling men . The Normans may have become largely French but they lost none of their old enterprise and spirit of adventure . In the 1 1th century they conquered England and founded great kingdoms for themselves in S icily and S outh

Italy. No Viking stock was more vigorous than that which resulted from the grafting of Gallo - Latin culture on the ruder civilisation of the Teutonic north . Their influence on France as a whole is not n early as great as the influence of their kinsmen in England, probably because E nglish i g overnm ent was centralised THE VIKINGS

(under Norman rule) much sooner than French to government, and their influence was thus able make itself felt outside the actual districts in which they settled. The settlement of Normandy helped however towards the consolidation of power in the of hands Charles the Bald and his successors, much as the settlement of the Danelagh helped in establish of ing the final supremacy Wessex . It remains to speak of one great home of Viking cl v1lis ation to which more than on e reference has m been ade in previous chapters, viz. Iceland. The story of its settlement is a very simple one . It 8 0 commenced about 7 , when many great Norwegian noblemen sought there for themselves and their followers a freer life than they could obtain under o f F rha r the growing power Harold ai i . It was greatly strengthened by settlers both from Norway and from Ireland and the Western Islands when that power was firmly established by the battle of H a frs 93 0 l fjord, and by the year the sett ement was practically complete. Iceland was more purely Scandinavian than any other settlement made during n ot the of one the Viking age. Here we have case civilisation grafted on another and earlier on e as in or England, Ireland the Frankish empire, but the transference of the best and finest elements in a for or nation to new and virgin soil where, good ill, they were free to devel op their civilisation on almost

THE VIKINGS as of civil law and the autho rities of the medieval Church were scandalised by their anarchic love of ‘ of P freedom . In the words rofessor Ker the settlers of own made a commonwealth their , which was in contradiction to all the prejudices of the middle ages and of all ancient and modern political philosophy ; a commonwealth which was not a state, which had ’ n o n o . n government, sovereignty It was a archy ’ - without a police constable . The result was that the o rich men grew richer, the po r became poorer , the sm aller gentry died out and the large estates fell into fewer and fewer hands . The great men quarrelled on e among themselves, intrigued against another and played into the hands of the Norwegian kings who were only waiting their opportunity . It came in the ’ days of Hakon the Old . Land and thanes were sworn into subjection to that king at the Althing in 1 262 1 2 1 , and in 7 the old Icelandic common law was superseded by a new Norse code . The failure of the Icelandic commonwealth is amply compensated for by the rich intellectual deve l o m ent of a p Icel ndic literature, which owed many of its most characteristic features to the fact that it was written in a land almost completely isolated and detached from the main currents of Western medieval thought a nd the general trend of European in of s history, but itself that failure is full deepe t import for a right understanding of the part played CONCLUS ION

P by Viking civilisation in Europe . owerful and highly developed as that civilisation was in many

ways, it only reached its highest and best expression when brought into fruitful contact with other and

older civilisations. There it found the corrective for certain inherent weaknesses, more especially for certain tendencies of too strongly individualistic to character leading political and intellectual anarchy, wh the sa m e own v ile at g time by its energy and igour it quickened the li fe of the older civilisations where

they were tending to become effete or outworn . The Germanic pe oples had done much for the development of E ufop ean civilisation in the time of the wanderings of of th the nations, but by the end the 8 century they had lost much of their pristine vigour through contact with the richer and more luxurious civilisa f r tion of the Roman world. It was reserved o the s or orthm en North Germanic people , the N as we can fitl 9th 10th more y describe them, in the and centuries to give a yet more powerful stimulus to European li not to fe, if European thought, a stimulus which perhaps found its highest expression in the great of of creations the Norman race in the world politics, of the world commerce, the world of architecture and the world of letters BIBLIOGRAPH Y

[The appended bibliog raphy does not a ttempt to deal with ri ar a t orities it the ar e a ss of va ab e er io ica p m y u h , w h l g m lu l p d l iterat re ic has been b is e it in the st t irt ea rs l u wh h pu l h d w h la h y y , or it boo s onl inci nta on rn i the ove n w h k y de lly c ce ed w th m me t . It is much to b e reg rette d that s o few of the important S candi n avian books on the subj ect have been translate d into E nglish ]

B - d E O KMA S n in i n L n in M i e n is . J N E . ca d av a oa or s R , w d dl gl h H a 1 lle . 906.

B GGE A Vik rn 2 ri i i ni 1 4—6 er an in e . r a a 90 . G U . e se es . C st . , g h ( m

r f 1 r . t ans . o s s i s Lei z i t e e . p g V rl fl rd rn s i Vikin d n este andenes In ydelse paa No b oe e geti e . i i ni 1 5 C r s a a 90 . h t .

V r t a 1 1 . i ri 1 P II. is i ni t. C a . 9 0 Nor es H sto e . ol . g , h

r Lo 1 8 . O I OOD W . n in i n i ain . n W G Sca av a B t on . 90 C LL NG . , d d I IE W Th R i i n f An i n S n in i L n on C A G . A. e e o o c e t ca av a . o . R , l g d d

1906.

DIET ICHSON L. and M EYE S . M on enta Orcadica . C r is R , R, um h i 1 Abri E n is i ion 9 6. ed e t . tian a . 0 ( dg gl h d ) P T A 2 H L B h . s . 1 889 . AIL . i in L n n DU C U . e e vo o o . , V k g g l d

N r s Oldtid . r s 1 ON . o e i i ni GUST AFS G C t a a . 906. , g h Th N r I fl e on E E ON . e o s n n i n H ND S G e e c Ce t c S cot a . G as o . R , u l l d l g w

1910 .

Th Vikm s W L d n E Y F e in est rn ris n o on o . C te . K A C. . e R , g h d m

1 89 1 . L 1 do 9 . M M nx ros . on n . 0 K R E P C. a C ses E M OD , . . 7

INDE '

Aeth elflaed of M e c a 29 3 2 5 7 d r an s 13 5 —6 r i , , , g Ae th el s ta n 3 5 —6 D ubh - a i l l 1 , g , 0 A ed th e G ea t 25 8 D b n 1 5 23 3 3 —4 5 5 5 9—60 lfr r , u li , , , , , , A ta - 26 89 64 89 1 03 1 20—2 l r ring , , , , , t 1 1 A l hi ng , 6 An l a f Godfre s on 3 5 S ihtrics s on E a t A a 1 1 14 27 —8 3 2 y , ; s ngli , , , , , O a a n 3 4 3 6 5 6 60—1 90 1 3 4—5 ( u r ) , , , , , A a c h to a e e ence in E dda c oe 2 93 —4 r bi is ri ns , r f r s , i p ms , , 20 7 6 1 09 E d nd I o de 40—1 , , mu r nsi , AuVESr th e dee -th o h ted E dwa d th e E der 29 3 1 p ug , r l , , 68 85 89 E a d va o of 1 2 22—43 , , ngl n , in si n , , ; nfl ence n 1 23 - 3 7 i u i , b a uta s tei na r 110 E c B ood-a xe 3 6—7 , ri l , B orkO 86 96 98 E the ed th e ea d 3 7—40 j , , , lr Unr y , B o n I on de 22 44 46 j r r si , , , B a ck F o e e 1 0 F a oe 6 98 l r ign rs, r s , , B a n B o b a 5 6 62—4 F i n - a i li 1 0 ri rum , , g , B a n h 3 5 61 64 F ve B o o h 1 1 3 0 3 6 1 3 4- 6 run bur , , , i r ug s , , , , B a cere on e 99 —1O F a 1 5 - 8 49 uri l m i s , risi , , F a nce va o s of 1 7 —21 43 r , in si n , , ca ruca tes 1 3 2- 3 5 3 nfl ence 1 3 8—42 , ; i u in , Ch t a t 16 3 7 41 83 86—93 F a 8 ris i ni y , , , , , risi ns , C o ta r 63 —4 67 98 120 l n f, , , , C t 42—2 87 101 Ga i li - Ga edhi l 5 6 65 67 nu , , , , , , Ga owa 65 1 1 6 ll y, , D a ci 1 0 1 3 4 Gok ta d h 99 , , s s ip , Da ne e d 3 8 - 9 48 G e e a d 99 g l , , r nl n , Da e a h o nda e 27 1 28—9 G th m of E a t An a 26— n l g b u ri s , , ; u ru s gli , 7 e co e t 29—3 2 r nqu s , Da e a ss i m H as tei n n H a s tin us 28 44 46 n s , p ( g ) , , , , Den a k 5 1 6 22—3 44 86—7 5 0 m r , , , , , INDE'

H frsf ord 5 6 No o t e 1 7 19 21 a j , 7 , irm u i r , , , k A a l s tein s f6s tri 3 5 -6 88 No e e No we a n a s s im Ha on 6 , , rs m n , r gi s , p — H a lfda n r 22 25 3 3 5 8 No th b a 1 1 24 5 28 3 3 - 4 , , , , r um ri , , , , , a o d B etooth 3 7 7 0—2 87 3 7 41 60 63 126—8 H r l lu , , , , , , , a o d F a irh a ir 7 3 5 5 8 67 1 42 No a d 5 2 3 13 8—42 H r l , , , , , rm n y , , a o d H a r dr a da 42 81 99 No wa 7 1 6 Ch t a t H r l , , , r y , , ; ris i ni y in , — — a o d of M a z 1 6 1 8 9 86 88 9 H r l in , , , ea th e 83 86—93 H nism , , eb de 5 60 65 67 — 8 1 14 O d 88 95 1 1 5 H ri s, , , , , in , , i ua th 1 1 Oh th ere Otta rr 96 H r , , , , 99 holds 1 3 5 O a va on 4 3 8 87 89 , l f Trygg s , , , , , H Or l a n d B orb a i 5 1 1 101 Oa , , , hows 108 O a th e Wh te 20 5 7 —8 66 68 , l f i , , , , 13 or e , 3 Ice a d 83 85 1 1 7 1 42—4 O kne 23 65 112—3 1 17 l n , , , , r y s , , , , I e a d a tta ck on 12—1 3 1 5 O a e ta t o t e of 7 9 r l n , s , , , rn m n i n , s y l , , — — 5 4 64; Da nes a n d Norsemen 106 7 in 5 4—8 fl e ce 11 6—23 O a e t 104—6 , ; in u n in , rn m n s , Ivarr th e o e e 22 24—5 O eb e h 99—100 b n l ss, , , s rg s ip , 5 —8 O s tm en 1 22 7 , O l 6 1 13 O a , 7 , a r ls 103 1 3 4 j , , Je e to e 1 1 1 P a 21 49- 5 0 lling s n , ris , , Jé m s b or JOm s viki n s 70—2 98 P a ce - a e fl ence on S cot g , g , , , l n m s , in u 102 t h 1 14 I h 118—9 E n is , ; ris , ; g e e ta t o b 1 3 6 i h 123 - 9 jury, pr s n i n y , l s , ri m e-s i ni n 91 p g g , Ketill F n 6 in , 7 Ketill F a t o e 5 6 67 Ra n a rr L oObrOk 21 —4 44 5 7 l n s , , g , , , , 102 l a wm en 1 03 1 1 6 13 6 RhOs 19 4 3 — 4 , , , , , 7 , 7 L e ck 5 9 62 98 120 r idi n s 1 3 1 im ri , , , , g , L ochia a n 1 0 Ro o 9 5 3 103 , ll , , , L udwi s li ed 47 R c c t o s 23 81 85 —6 g , uni ins rip i n , , , , - — 1 10 1 , 1 13 5 M a d us 20 Rus 3 — j , , 7 9 M a es h owe 23 1 13 R a o d of 7 3 —80 , , ussi , f un ing , M a don b att e of 3 8 l , l , M a n I e of 12 3 9 S t An s ka r 70 86 , sl , , , , , 1 14—5 S t E d d 25 mun , S t O a 41 89 l f, , ni thi n 13 7 a ldi 1 1 g , S c ngi , INDE'

S ca ndina wan oan - o ds n E n r -E na 6 l w r i g Tu f i r , 7 h 13 0—1 T ur es 1 3 2 lis , g , , 0 S cu t ed tones 91 11 1 1 14—5 n a d Co t 1 15 lp ur s , , , Ty w l ur , S even B o o h s 40 r ug , S h et a nd s 5 6 65 112— 3 1 17 uda l a nd uda l l er 1 1 l , , , , , , 3 S h - u a 9 —100 ip b ri ls , 9 h 2 — — S s , 9 , 98 100 Va ran ian s Va a s 73 77 9 ip g , ri g , , S h es o i of 3 1 71 1 3 4 Ve t o d 1 1 1 6 ir , r gin , s f l , , S d of th e O k e 63 66—7 Vi k th e te 1 igur r n ys , , ing , rm, Sl es vik 15 87 96 V k n ove ent ca es of , , , i i g m m , us , odor n d S a M a n , 65 1 1 S ta o d Br d e 42 V n a nd 99 mf r i g , i l , S uiSre a r 65 yj , S ve n F o k ea d 3 7 3 9 40 87 Wa en ta ke 1 3 2 i r b r , , , , p , S weden 7 96 Wea on 101—2 , , p s , S wedes 9 1 9 7 2—9 Wed o e ea ce p f 2 , , , m r , p , 7 Wes t a ldi n i 1 1 f g , — thi n 103 1 15 6 Wh te F o e e s 10 g , , i r ign r , h o 89 95 1 15 Wo en o t on of 5 4—6 94 T r , , , m , p si i , , a de ch a a cte of 96—8 Ori Tr , r r , ; enta 7 1 79—80 R a n 7 5 Yo k 24 3 1 3 3 l , , ; ussi , r , , , 80 I h 120 ; ris ,

M H E E R E CAM BRIDGE : PRINT E D BY JOH N CLAY , . A. AT T UNIV S ITY PR S S .

LIT E RA RY HIS T O RY (con tin ued) i h l B h T he to r o f the E s b e . t e Re v o ow y ng li Bi y . J hn Br n , Igg

E nglish Dia le c ts fro m the E ighth C e ntury to the Pre s e nt Da y .

W Li . W. S t . D D . L F . B . . e a t t C . B A y k , W L H L . e s B . w King A rthur in isto ry a n d e g e nd . y Pro f i

o e M . A . J n s , T he Ic e a d c S B W A . C e LL D a a . a . . l n i g s . y r ig i , G k T d . B S A e e a e T e M . . a . r r g y y J . h p p rd , T he L B a a te T . H e a t e e o . B ll d in i r ur . y F . nd rs n G n h Ro t e t e a d t e . . G. be o o T w e t t C e t . B o h n ie h n ury y Pr f J r s n ,

M . Ph . D A . h T T M A . e b B h H Ch r . a R . t o o . t e e v . . a o r u d urs y J y , PHILOS OPHY A ND RE LIGION

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