Vikings

Over the past few years, I have become interested in Vikings. In Northern Europe, the Vikings raided and largely influenced life in that region. From visiting several museums and spending three months in Norway, I have learned a fair amount about Vikings. The rough Northern seamen with their longboats and ocean journeys caught my attention. In addition, I have Viking blood because Mama's great grandfather came to the United States directly from Sweden. This post is about what I have learned about Vikings and why it is interesting to me.

I am especially interested in the Viking ships because they suit the Vikings perfectly and I think they are amazing crafts. Built with tall bow and stern posts, the ships could cut through the tall, powerful waves of the northern seas without crew being swept overboard. Likewise, the ship was narrow and flexible, which adds to its speed and maneuverability. To make it even narrower, the ship is shaped to put most of the width above water. The ships were clinker built, which is a design of overlapping planks that are riveted together. Some had a dragon's head or other symbolic object on the bow and stern posts for design. Most ships that wanted to sail close to the wind in that era had to have deep hulls to prevent being blown in the wrong direction. The Viking ships had lots of rowers, so it could go into the wind using oars. The Viking ships still, however, had a true keel. It was shallow, but stretched the length of the ship. The shallow keel was ideal for fjords, coastal areas and most of all, the rivers of Europe, one of the most common Viking passage ways to the middle of the continent.

Viking ships are usually divided into two broad categories, merchant ships and warships. These categories can overlap, and some merchant ships, built for transporting cargo, were also used as warships. The other main type of ship was the knarr, a ship meant for the open ocean of sea journeys. These were the ships that crossed the Atlantic and went to Newfoundland. Who sailed to Newfoundland? And why didn't they settle in North America? Here I give my thanks to history class where I learned a famous story of a journey across the Atlantic, arguably the first crossing from Europe.

When Erik the Red's father was kicked out of Norway, they sailed to Iceland and settled there. Later Erik was kicked out of Iceland so he sailed further west, through unknown seas. He arrived in a land which he named Grønland, or Greenland in English. That is a funny name because the land was covered in ice. He named it Greenland to make it sound fertile, so more people would come and build a settlement. There were hard times and the Vikings could not grow much food in Greenland. Erik the Red sent his son, Leif, even further west, to look for better land. When Leif arrived in Newfoundland, (New-found-land) he decided it was better than Greenland. But his success was short lived as fierce natives drove them off. Leif, not prepared for battle, reluctantly sailed back to Greenland. 

I found out about this story in history class two years ago. Since then, I have wondered how the great seamen of Scandinavia navigated. During our time in Norway, my question was answered. I learned that Vikings navigated with two main instruments: the sunstone and the sundial. The sunstone is a crystal that is polarized so, when looking through it, you can locate the sun, even if it is very cloudy or the sun is just below the horizon. When I learned this I asked myself, why use the sun? Why not use another celestial body like Polaris, the North Star? The reason is that in the northern latitudes, the winter seas are clogged with ice so the Vikings would sail in the summer. In the summer, the sun does not dip far below the horizon, and the sky is too bright to see stars. The sun is therefore, the only body able to be used for navigation. The sundial is a circular wooden disk about six inches in diameter with a pin in the middle. The pin casts a shadow, and when the shadow is lined up correctly according to the time, it points north. The only flaw is that the sundial is inaccurate when the season changes. Nevertheless I admire the Vikings' ability to use simple yet effective ways to navigate.

A blog about Vikings would not be complete without mentioning Old Norse religion. I have learned that Viking religion is complicated. They are Polytheists, and the gods each have many roles in Viking beliefs. What I think is most important in the complex religion is their version of the afterlife. If a Viking died in battle, he/she would go to Valhalla, a place where Vikings feast, fight, drink, and have a good time. So basically when they went off to raid a village, they would either get the loot, or go to paradise if they died.

Most people of this era were farming, fishing, hunting, and trading to get food. So why did the Vikings raid and attack more frequently and ferociously than other cultures? This may be because Scandinavia was not the best place for farming, so the Vikings had fewer goods to trade. A good solution for them was to raid places, steal some loot, then trade the valuables for necessary goods. In short, they traded what they raided. I thought this reason to raid was the most interesting but I have read that there are other possible motivating factors such as tradition, the fact that criminals were exiled and thus perhaps inspired to plunder, greed or desire for fancy goods made elsewhere, and a growing population that was not self-sustainable in the north.

Vikings were very interesting people, whose culture captivates my amazement and interest. There are a million facts about them and I am glad to know so much about them, but excited to learn more. I could not help noticing how fun writing this blog post was. I enjoyed organizing and writing about the intriguing Vikings of Scandinavia. And if you are wondering why I am writing about them now, it is because we recently went to a great maritime museum here in Falmouth that featured a Viking exhibition.-JackRabbit

 These two photos are Viking ships at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.

 Here I am in front of this beautiful craft, again in Oslo.

 On the keel of the ships, there are these elaborate carvings.

 A figurehead of a Viking ship preserved at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.

 Here is a common design on the back of a ship.

 Here I am, dressed up in the gift shop, looking like a Viking. 

(In my opinion, I look totally ridiculous.)

 This is more like a real Viking. It is a shame we did not get a picture of a Viking though. We missed them by a thousand years.

This is a game of Viking chess, played to train Vikings to be good commanders. When we played it was fun.