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Terrorists, Roman5cs and Supermen Vikings in the East

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Terrorists, Roman5cs and Supermen Vikings in the East 1/24/10 The Middle Ages: Viking raids on the Brish Isles and European Coast Terrorists, Romancs and The Vikings, primarily from Norway and Denmark (and later Iceland) began raiding the wealthy monasteries along the coasts of the Supermen Brish Isles. Many medieval wrings portray them as evil, bloodthirsty heathens. However, Vikings didn’t just make off to the The Image of the Viking North with goods and slaves, they also seled in the Brish Isles and integrated with the populaons, forming a powerful kingdom in East Anglia and founding the cies of Dublin and Waterford in Ireland. A 19th century interpretaon of Viking acvity in the Middle Ages Vikings in the East In the 9th and 10th centuries, Scandinavians primarily from Sweden, called the Varangians or Rus, sailed down the river systems of Eastern Europe, raiding, trading and seling. The Varangian nobility ruled from Kiev during its heyday. The Vikings sailed further south, reaching as far as Constannople (present day Istanbul). “I have never seen more perfect physiques than theirs—they are like palm trees, are fair and reddish…They are the filthiest The Byzanne emperor kept a special guard of all Allāh’s creatures: they do not clean themselves aer comprised of these Norsemen, called the excreng or urinang or wash themselves when in a state of ritual impurity (i.e., aer coitus) and do not <even> wash Varangian guard. Several Icelandic sagas, their hands aer food. Indeed they are like asses that roam notably Grer’s Saga, contain (oen <in the fields>.” –Ibn Fadlan, describing the Rus fanciful) accounts of adventures in Constannople. « Pirates normands au IXème siècle >> 1 1/24/10 A 19th century Russian arst’s The beginnings of Viking Romancism depicon of the Vikings • Viking Romancism was strongest in the 19th century, but arguably has its roots in the studies of Swiss Paul Henri Mallet and Johan Goried Herder (at right) in Germany. • Herder believed a poet “is the creator of the naon around him, he gives them a world to see and has their souls in his hand to lead them to that world”. He believed that a naon’s poetry was truest and most powerful before a naon became “civilized”. He explored this power in Norse and German poetry, rejecng the Lanate, classicizing tendencies of his contemporary German culture and encouraged Germans to be proud of their naonal heritage. This shows an important strain of naonalism at the roots of Viking “revival”. The Naonalist Viking: The case of …and in Sweden Norway • By the 18th and 19th • The Swedes too, smarng from centuries, Norway, having the loss of Finland to Russia in been under Danish, then the early 19th century, wholeheartedly embraced the Swedish, rule for the beer new Romanc Viking. Of part of half a century parcular note are Eric Gustaf strove in both art and Geijer’s poem “The Viking” and literature (relying Esaias Tegner’s “Frithjofs saga”, parcularly upon Snorri the laer of which was a Sturluson’s romanc retelling of a medieval Heimskringla ) to create a saga and which was such a unique, disnctly smashing success throughout Norwegian identy, based Europe that even Goethe largely on its glorious praised its “mighty, barbaric style of verse”. Both Geijer and Viking past. Archaeological Tegner belonged to the “Geash discoveries of ship burials Norwegian arst Oscar Wergeland’s painng of Norwegian Society”( Göska Förbundet), a and Viking arfacts helped Vikings landing in Iceland litera dedicated to the to bolster naonal promulgaon of Scandinavian senment. anquity. Ingibjorg, the heroine of Frithjofs saga 2 1/24/10 The English finally get over it… The Romanc Viking • No longer embiered about all the raids in the Pillage and middle ages, but rather plunder caught up in the wave of are SO 500 Viking enthusiasm, years ago. England begins to explore the Scandinavian The new aspects of its identy. Romanc Archaeological remnants Viking also encourage this, and embodies many English poets are courage, inspired by the wild loyalty, myscism they see in old strength, Scandinavian culture. simplicity and a sort “The Ravager” by English painter John Charles Dollman of primal myscism. The Apotheosis of the Viking: The Ring Cycle Richard Wagner and The Ring German composer Richard Wagner (1813‐1883) Ragner’s monumental work is the four opera was one of the most influenal composers‐and cycle The Ring of the Niebelung (1869‐1876) . thinkers‐of the 19th century. His musical Wagner based his work on medieval German innovaon was nothing short of revoluonary and Scandinavian poetry and prose, especially and he was virtually worshipped by thinkers of the Icelandic Poec Edda and Saga of the the me ranging from Friedrich Nietzsche to Volsungs. The Poec Edda is a collecon of Old Charles Baudelaire to George Bernard Shaw. Norse poems of gods and heroes and the Saga of the Volsungs deals parcularly with the heroic Wagner was deeply interested in an ideal line of the Volsungs, culminang in the “German‐ness” and several of his operas treat disastrous relaonship between the hero Sigurd on this ideal character. Oen Wagner looked and the valkyrie Brunnhilde. back to the Middle Ages, and some of his most famous works include Tristan and Isolde, The four operas are: The Rhinegold, The Tannhauser, Lohengrin, and Parsifal. Valkyrie, Siegfried, and the Twilight of the Gods 3 1/24/10 A thoroughly modern ideal Can does kill dragonz? While Wagner’s opera looks backward and idealizes the heroic literature of Scandinavia and Germany, it also portrays thoroughly modern ideals. The god Wotan reveals, for example, that in the hero Siegfried, he has aempted to create the ideal man, a man who is free of the gods and will transcend them‐this is very much like the idea of the “Superman” that became present in the late 19th century (and is largely associated with Nietzsche, who was influenced by Wagner). In the final opera, the gods die, indicang man’s spiritual and arsc freedom from moribund tradionalism. I slayz your dragonz!! Compare the portrayal of the villain and hero from Arthur Rackham’s illustraons for the Ring Wagner and Racism Cycle • Richard Wagner, despite having many close Jewish friends, is also known for his “an‐Semism”, largely due to an essay he published railing against what he called “Jewishness” and Jewish composers in German music. Several of his villains have stereotypical “Jewish” traits, as compared to his virile Germanic supermen. • Much later in his life (aer his last opera was completed) Wagner was also known to be interested in racialist theory posing the supremacy of “Aryan” races over the “Semic” and “African”. • Regardless of Wagner’s personal views, his later appropriaon by the Nazi party should probably come as unsurprising. 4 1/24/10 The Thule Society Viking Metal: Bringing Bombast Back Formed in Germany in the early 20th century, the Thule Society Growing out of black metal in Scandinavia was a folklore and occult group in the late 1980s and early 1990s, “Viking Metal” bands focused their content on interested largely in Germanic and Norse Mythology, parcularly the darker Scandinavian anquity. However, more violent aspects. The sound tends to racism (parcularly an‐Semism) be “epic” with both convenonal and growling vocals and occasionally fuses folk and an‐Communism were part of music. Notable Viking metal bands are its ideology. The Thule Society is Bathory (arguably the pioneers of the also known for its sponsorship of genre), Enslaved (below) and Einherjar. the Deutsche Arbeitspar, which was later turned by Hitler into the Nazi party. During WWII, Germanic and Scandinavian Romancism became too much associated with the enemy to remain fashionable. J.R.R. Tolkein railed against that “ruddy lile ignoramus” Adolf Hitler" for "ruining, perverng, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribuon to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light." Peter Nicolai Arbo’s Asgardreid was used on the album cover of Bathory’s “Blood Fire Death” Viking 2.0 Looking Forward • In 2000 the Smithsonian museum greeted the new Having been mostly rehabilitated from some of its more millennium with an exhibit on the Viking discovery of unfortunate associaons in the last century, the image of America. The Vikings served as model of enterprise, ingenuity, the Viking is sll popular into the 21st century in ficon, film, and even as a commercial logo. Films such as “The resolve and courage (pillage and Vikings” (1958), “ The 13th Warrior” (1999) and the plunder were downplayed here) and as upcoming film of the comic book Thor as well as video games, novels and TV commercials show the the ideal representaon of the spirit of popularity the Viking sll enjoys as a cultural the new millennium. symbol. The modern‐day Viking can be romancized, idealized, and lampooned (e.g. the comic strip “Hagar the Horrible”). Viking identy and heritage is sll very important in Scandinavian countries (as well as Britain and the US) Statue outside the capitol building in Minnesota, where many Scandinavian and has proven aracve to tourists as well. immigrants to America seled. 5 1/24/10 Links to images A few Viking‐themed videos 1. hp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Viking_funeral.jpg • Clip from the 13th Warrior: hp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN‐no1Ka7yU&feature=related 2. hp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikinger.jpg 3. hp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evariste‐Vital_Luminais_‐_Pirates_normands_au_IXe_si%C3%A8cle.jpg • Capital One commercials: hp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7‐V9DVAPnQ, 4. hp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prizvanievaryagov.jpg hp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhomaIqoiL0&feature=related, 5.
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