The Nordic Countries

The Vikings
The Vikings have always had a mixture of negative and positive connotations. Their reputation for brutality, rape and pillage is combined with one of glamour, healthy good looks and heroism. There is no doubt the Vikings were brutal; however, historians claim they were no more so than their contemporaries and their skills and achievements in many areas have left traces which are evident even in present-day society. Furthermore, they were considered skilled tradesmen, although their trading was mostly in stolen goods and slaves.

The Vikings have been an endless source of inspiration for writers as well as other artists, and in recent decades the Viking Age has been popular amongst film makers who have usually portrayed their darker sides.

Descriptions of the Vikings came mostly from their victims; monks, merchants, peasants and others who got in the Vikings' way. The famous Icelandic Sagas describe the Vikings as heroic, virtuous characters; however, one must bear in mind that the Sagas were written some centuries later than the events were supposed to have occurred and are rather considered as literature than history.

The first Viking expeditions took place in the late 8th century and continued for almost three hundred years, during which time the Vikings harassed nations of islands, coastlines and riverbanks.

For their raids they would choose locations with the minimum risk of resistance, and had usually concluded their mission and disappeared by the time the victims could call for help.

These tactics yielded easy plunder, and rumours of their methods spread quickly, causing exaggerated reports of numbers of men and ships.

Their techniques in shipbuilding were immensely advanced and their ships were by far the fastest at that time. They crossed the open seas even though land could not be seen for days; whether courage or greed was the driving force is disputable.

Archaeological finds and contemporary reports prove that the area plundered by the Vikings was vast, from England and Ireland, France, Germany and Poland to the Black and Caspian Seas in Russia, establishing trading links with the Byzantine Empire and the Arab dominions.

'A furore normannorum libera nos domine'

'Skona oss herre från nordmännens raseri'

'Oh lord, save us from the rage of the Nordic people'

[A common prayer in the French churches during the 9th century.]

Perhaps the best known period of Swedish history (internationally), is the time of the Vikings (no, not the football team in America). The stereotype Viking is a tall blond figure possesed with a raging fury which he releases upon other countries..

Although this period was short compared to the rest of the long history of Sweden, it is one of the most widely known.

The 8th of June was a beautiful summer day on the holy Island of Lindisfarne, situated on the Northumberland coast in the north east of England. It had a monastary which was founded in the 6th century and was famous for the fact that some of the finest literature of its time came from here. Some of the books written there are still intact and readable. The monks, who didn't suspect anything unusual, went down to the shore to greet the strangers who had arrived.

This is what an author said about 100 years later: 'The same year the heathens arrived from the north to Brittany with a fleet of ships. They were like stinging wasps, and they spread in all directions like horrible wolves, wrecking, robbing, shattering and killing not only animals but also priests, monks and nuns. They came to the church of Lindesfarne, slayed everything alive, dug up the altars and took all the treasures of the holy church'. The Vikings had arrived.

The attack wasn't the first. Numerous smaller attacks had been made earlier. However, they tended to be rather sporadic. This was something completely different. The attack came as a shock to the rulers of Brittany and the rumours about the fearless Nordic men spread over Europe.

The French king Karl the Great had an English adviser by the name of Alcuin. As soon as he heard of the attack on Lindesfarne, he wrote: 'In nearly 350 years we and our forefathers have been living in this the best of countries and never before has such terror struck Britain as the one we now have to suffer from this heathen race. Nor was it thought to be possible that such an attack could be carried out from the sea. Look at S:t Cuthbert's church sprinkled with the blood of the holy priests, deprived of it's decorations, a room more venerable than any in Britain given as spoils to this Heathen race'.

The next year the Vikings returned and plundered the convent in Jarrow, just a few miles from Lindisfarne. This was the real start of the Viking Age. The Vikings were to be the first Europeans who passed the winter in Labrador and New foundland. They populated Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Shetland Islands, Orkney, the Hebrides and the Isle of Man. They founded states in Ireland and in Britain. They conquered Normandy in France and founded a dynasty which lived and ruled far into the Middle Ages. They built merchant towns in Birka (Sweden), Hedeby (Denmark) and Kaupang (Norway). They even founded the first colony in America long before anyone else in Europe even thought that there existed land that far westwards.

Vikings also founded kingdoms in Russia and built trade stations along the rivers all the way down to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. They went to Constantinople and Bahgdad, Gurgan and Chorezm. They even came into contact with Byzantium and they formed a feared elite regiment for the East Roman Emperor, a guard which existed for some hundred years. They conquered London, besieged Lisbon, burnt Santiago, assaulted Seville, attacked Mallorca, and sold European slaves in North Africa. They terrorized Paris (on numerous occasions) and burnt Hamburg and many other German cities. They even went to Jerusalem and possibly also to Alexandria.

During a quarter of a century, from 8th June 793 until 15th October 1066, these men would come in waves, often young and seeking a fight, and extremely skilled as sailors and warriors. Their activities left traces for eternity. Over 900 of the most common English words come from the Vikings (sky, skin, scrape, skirt, husband (husbonde) and window (vindue) are some examples). There are over 600 village names in England which can be directly related to the Vikings (Grimsby, Thoresby, Brimtoft, Langtoft and so on). There are English counties where about 75 percent of the village names derived from the Vikings. On the Shetland Islands the percentage goes up to about 99 percent. In the North East of England the Nordic languages were spoken until as late as the 12th century, on the Isle Of Man until the middle of the 15th century.

In Normandy there are still village names which have their originn in the Nordic countries like: Dalbec, Runitot, Bourguebu (Borgeby) and sex la londe (av lund, offerlund). And every French sea captain still gives the commands 'babord' and 'tribord' when he means left and right.

In Russia, which was founded by the people from Rus (the Swedish Roslagen County), millions of people still hold the name Oleg, Olga and Igor - from the names of the Viking gods Helge, Helga and Ingvar. When Russians politely address each other as 'gentlemen', the word comes from the Viking word 'husbonden'.

Foreigners have never stopped wondering about and being fascinated by the Vikings. They have been called the Giants from the North, 'heathens', 'savages', 'the first knights' and so on. They have been described as barbarians but also as noble poets with female goddesses. Even today some French schoolbooks explain the Viking temperament in terms of the climate in which they lived. Since they came from such barbaric, cold and boring (!) countries, they were forced to break the melancholy by a bit of good old fashioned slaughtering of innocent people (and getting some sun into the bargain!).

As always, their (admittedly) enormous success as traders and warriors can't be easily explained. How was it possible for such a small population of perhaps about .8 million inhabitants to instil the feeling of fear the way they did throughout the whole of Europe? At the beginning of the Viking era there were no united kingdoms in Scandinavia, and the people who went out on crusades were a minority. Most people spent their time at home, farming and trying to run the matters in general.

One of the main reasons for their success is the fact that Europe at the time had a hard time getting united. As it was, many small kingdoms fought with each other to form a big country. The Vikings, who from birth were taught how to fight well (and encouraged by their religion to do it) and how to manouvre a boat (which by the way was by far the best ever built in Europe by that time, possibly even the best in the world), were given rather easy targets. When they started to take horses on board the boats, the Vikings were more or less invincible when attacking a town, especially as the attacks came very suddenly and often from the open sea by boats which could travel at a good 15 knots all the way in to the shore.

The boat was one of the key factors behind their success. It was a long, rather narrow boat built of oak. The boat building skills had been developed over hundreds of years in countries where the only practical way of travelling was by boat. When the wind was not blowing it was possible to row the boats, and when the wind came from the stern the boats were very fast. They didn't need deep water (normally a Viking boat could be used as a landing vehicle) and they could still take a heavy load. They were very easy to manouvre and they could carry large numbers of warriors (there were boats which could take a crew of up to 200 men or more).

Life on board was rather hard. The normal boat was about 30 metres long and had a maximum width of five metres at the broadest place. The Vikings ate dried and salted meat, and fish which was caught en route. For drink they usually had sour milk, water and beer (or mead). To prevent scurvy they ate cloudberry and a plant called cochleria officinalis. The only protection from the weather was a small tent (in the best of cases). Every man had his own chest with his personal belongings. The chest also served as the bench they sat on when they had to row the boat. The ship was steered by a large oar on the right side, therefore called 'styrbord' (starboard), and the first mate's back pointed to 'babord' (the port side). At the stem and the stern there were small platforms named 'lyftingar'.

There were many types of boats. In an attack fleet there usually was a couple of battleships with long and narrow design so as to be fast and able to take many men. Then there were the merchant ships which were much broader so that they could take a great load (up to 20000 kilograms of weight). These boats were called 'knarr', possibly because of the sound that they made when they moved in the sea.

The navigation was handled by specially trained personnel who mostly navigated by the stars and the sun. Sometimes they brought birds with them which they let go and then followed to the nearest shore. They had peloruses (astonishingly similar to the ones used today) and the famous 'sun stone'. The latter was thought to be a fraud, but later findings make it clear that it wasn't. The sun stone is a mineral found in Iceland or Norway which could polarize the sun light. That way you could see where the sun was even if it was cloudy and the sun itself was not visible to the naked eye.

To measure the sailed distance they used their experience when studying the wash (The flow of water around the stem). But there were no exact methods to measure the speed. Usually the Vikings followed the coasts as closely as possible, but they weren't afraid to make long voyages over the open sea without any contact with land if they had to.

In the period from 800 to 1050 A.D., the Nordic peoples made their dramatic entry into the European arena. They stormed forth, terrorizing well-established societies which were accustomed to war, but not to the startling tactics of the Vikings.

By Arne Emil Christensen

However, contact between Scandi-navia and the rest of Europe was nothing new. Archaeological findings show that trade and cultural influence can be traced back several millennia B.C. Nevertheless, the Nordic area was a distant outpost with little political and economic value for the rest of Europe.

This picture changed shortly before the year 800. In 793, the Lindisfarne Monastery on England's east coast was pillaged by foreign seafarers, and at the same time we find the first recorded reports of raids elsewhere in Europe. The chronicles and tales of the next 200 years are studded with alarming accounts of the Vikings. Ships, sailing in large as well as smaller groups, attacked all the coasts of Europe. The Vikings sailed up the rivers of France and Spain, conquered most of Ireland and large sections of England, and took control of areas skirting rivers in Russia and the Baltic coast. There are narratives of raids in the Mediterranean, and as far east as the Caspian Sea. Norsemen starting out from Kiev, were even fool-hardy enough to attempt an attack on Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Eventually, the plundering raids were replaced by colonization. Place names reveal a large Viking population in the North of England, centred around York. Farther south in Britain, a large area was called The Danelaw. The French king gave Normandy as a fief to a Viking chieftain so that he would keep other Vikings away. The islands north of Scotland developed a mixed Celtic-Norse population, and thriving societies were established on Iceland and Greenland.

The furthest westward drive ended with the unsuccessful attempt at found-ing a settlement in North America. Around 1000 A.D., people from Iceland or Greenland discovered land to the west, and the sagas tell of several journeys including attempts to plant roots in the new land. Conflicts arose between these colonists and the indige-nous Indians or the Eskimos, and the newcomers gave up.

Attempts at pinpointing the location of the Norsemen's settlement have led to such varied results as Labrador and Manhattan, in accordance with different interpretations of the Icelandic sagas. In the 1960s, Anne-Stine and Helge Ingstad found the site of early homesteads on the north coast of Newfoundland. Excavation showed these to be the same sort of buildings found on Greenland and Iceland. In addition, Nordic artifacts were exca-vated at the site and dated at circa 1000 A.D. Whether these are traces of the settlements mentioned in the sagas, or from other journeys which we have no record of, is impossible to say. However, the finds prove that Nordic seafarers really sailed to the North American Con-tinent around the year 1000, as narrated in the Icelandic sagas.

Overpopulation and a scarcity

What are the reasons for this violent expansion within a few generations? Stable states such as France or the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England appear to have fallen easily to the swords of the attackers. As might be expected, the picture handed down to us in written accounts is tainted by this the Vikings are portrayed as terrible robbers and bandits. And indeed they were. But they must have had other traits as well. Some of their leaders were certainly extremely skilful organizers. An effective military tactic could win a battle, but the Vikings founded kingdoms in conquered territories. Some did not survive the Viking period, such as the kingdoms based in Dublin and York. But Iceland is still a thriving nation. The Viking kingdom in Kiev formed the basis of the Russian empire, and traces of the organizational talent of the Viking chieftains are clearly visible today on the Isle of Man and in Normandy.

The remains of fortresses which could be used as a meeting place for large armies -- dated to the end of the Viking period -- have been found in Denmark. The fortresses are circular and divided into quadrants, with square buildings in each of the four sections. These castles were placed with a precision testifying to the rulers' advanced sense of order and system. There must have been a knowledge of surveying techniques and geometry in the court of the Danish King.

In addition to the West-European narratives, we have written sources from other Viking contemporaries -- from travelling Arabs and from Byzantium. Short inscriptions have been left us in the homeland of the Vikings as well -- the runes carved in wood and stone. The saga tales of the 12th and 13th centuries also have much to tell us about the Viking age, even though they are written several generations after the period which they depict.

The Vikings came from what is now Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Theirs was a self-sustaining agricultural society, where farming and cattle breeding were supplemented by hunting, fishing, the extraction of iron and the quarrying of rock to make whetstones and cooking utensils. Even though the farmers were generally self-reliant, some goods were traded -- for instance salt -- a necessity for man and cattle alike. Salt is an everyday item which would not have been imported from a greater distance than necessary, whereas luxury items came from further south in Europe. Iron, whet-stones, and steatite (soapstone) cooking pots were important export products and were an essential contribution to a trade growth in the Viking age. Even in periods when Viking raids abounded trade was conducted between West Europe and the homeland of the Vikings. One of the few reports we have about condi-tions in Norway in Viking times was orated by the North Norwegian chief-tain, Ottar. He visited King Alfred of Wessex as a peaceful trader, at the same time as Alfred was waging war with other Viking chieftains.

It has been suggested that the expan-sion of the Viking age was spurred by a population growth outstepping the capacities of domestic resources. Archaeological evidence shows that new farms were cleared in sparsely populated forest areas at the time of the foreign expansion -- so the pressure of population growth is surely a contributing factor. Iron extraction is another. An abundance of iron to forge weapons and arm everyone setting off on raids helped give the Vikings the upper hand.

The tactical advantage of the Viking ships

Shipbuilding in Scandinavia also contributed to the tactical superiority of the Vikings. A well-known Swedish archaeologist has written that the Viking ships are the only seaworthy amphibious landing vessels ever to be used by invasion forces. Even though this is an exaggeration, it explains much of the secret of the Vikings' military superiority. Many of the accounts of Viking attacks appear to support this theory. The element of surprise was essential. A swift on-slaught from the sea with light ships, which were independent of harbours -- and could thus approach a coast where they were least expected -- and beating a quick retreat before a counter-offensive could be launched; this was the tactic.

Spheres of interest developed between Danish, Swedish, and Norwe-gian Vikings -- even though groups from all three nations often partici-pated together when the most renowned chieftains set sail. The Swedes sailed mainly to the east, and they controlled the eastern trade routes via the waterways leading into Russia. Large amounts of Arabian silver coins in Swedish archaeological diggings testify to intensive trading. The Danes sailed to the south, to Friesland, France and Southern England, while the Norwegians headedto the west and northwest, to Northern England, Scotland, Ireland, the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Faroes.

The ships were not only necessary for raids and trade, but also a pre-requisite for successful colonization, when entire families with all their possessions and livestock sailed away to new lands. The perilous voyages across the North Atlantic to the Orkneys, Shetlands, Faroes, Iceland and Greenland testify that the ship-builders of the Viking age not only could build ships which were swift-sailing and capable of attacks in the North Sea area, but extremely sea-worthy vessels as well. Colonization followed when seafarers discovered new land, or men returned from trading or raids and spread news of bountiful conditions abroad.

In certain areas, the Vikings appear to have displaced the original inhab-itants. In others, such as Northern England, it seems that the Norsemen's main enterprise was cattle breeding and they utilized land of little use to the indigenous grain-cultivating farmers.

Those who journeyed to Iceland and Greenland found virgin soil. With the possible exception of a few Irish monks on Iceland -- who soon "left because they did not want to have heathens as neighbours" -- Iceland and the parts of Greenland colonized by the Vikings appear to have been uninhabited when the Norsemen arrived.

The contemporary references we have about the Vikings stem predominantly from sources in Western Europe who had bitter experiences with the invaders, and we are undeniably presented with the worst side of the Vikings. Archaeologi-cal excavations both in the homelands of the Vikings and in their new settle-ments give more nuance to this picture. We have finds from homesteads, farms, and market places where lost or discarded articles tell of a common everyday life. Traces have been found testifying to iron extraction in moun-tain areas, where iron ore in bogs combined with ample firewood from forests to form the basis of a flourish-ing industry. Quarries where soapstone was gathered for pots and exception-ally fine whetstones have also been found and analyzed. In some fortunate circumstances we have found ancient agricultural fields in areas later left to nature. In such places we can find the piles of stones once painstakingly cleared away from fields, and with enough care, we even uncover the furrows left by Viking ploughs.

Towns and kingdoms

As the Viking period progressed, society changed. Leading chieftain families accumulated land and power, forming the basis for kingdoms, and the first towns were founded. From Staraya Ladoga and Kiev in Russia, to York and Dublin in the British Isles, we can piece together the daily life of the townspeople. Market places and towns were based on craftsmanship and trade. Even though the town-dwelling Vikings probably kept cattle, farmed and fished to meet their house-hold needs, the towns certainly depended on agriculture supplies from outlying districts. In South Norway was the marketplace Kaupang, near Larvik, mentioned in Ottar's narrative to King Alfred. Kaupang never became more than a marketplace, while Birka near Malaren in Sweden and Hedeby at the German-Danish border could be called towns. Both were abandoned at the end of the Viking period, but Ribe in Denmark's Vest Jylland thrives today as of course do York and Dublin. In these towns we find well regulated areas with clearly defined plots of land, roads and surrounding fortifi-cations. Some of the towns have obviously been planned. Many are well established in accordance with the orders of the kings who personally -- or by means of trusted aids -- had their say in town planning and the distribution of plots. We can see that renovation and garbage disposal was given less attention than town planning -- waste can be found in thick layers. In contemporary times, the stench must have been most uncomfortable. Today we find clues to everyday conditions, from the rubbish of various craftsmen to fleas and lice -- and we can piece together the way life was. We find objects which must have come from afar, such as Arab silver coins and Byzantine silk, heaped together with the products of local blacksmiths, cobblers and comb-makers.

The Norse gods

At the end of the Viking age, Chris-tianity was generally accepted in the Nordic countries. It replaced a heathen religion, with a pantheon of gods and goddesses who each had power over their own domains. Odin, old and wise, was the chieftain of them all. Thor was the god ofthe warriors, while the goddess Froy was responsible for the fertility of the soil and livestock. Loki was a trickster and a sorcerer, unreli-able and distrusted by the other gods. The gods had dangerous adversaries -- the jotuns -- representing the darker side of life.

The heathen gods are best known from descriptions written down in early Christian times, and perhaps coloured by the new faith. Farm names such as Torshov, Frøyshov and Onsaker have kept their original heathen god names. Present day Norwegian place names with the last syllable "hov" indicate that there once was a heathen temple at the site.

The gods had human traits, and like their Greek counterparts on Olympus they lived a raucous life. The gods fight, eat and drink. Mortals who fell in battle, went straight to the table to feast with the gods, and burial tech-niques clearly tell us of a need for the same paraphernalia in the life after death as here on earth. In the Viking age, the dead could be buried or cremated, but burial gifts were necessary in either case. The amount of equipment the dead took with them reflects their status in life as well as different burial traditions. In Norway, the burial traditions were especially rich. As a result, graves are a prolific source of knowledge about the everyday life of the Vikings. Every-thing provided for use in the afterlife provides us with a window into the world of the Vikings -- even though time has taken its toll and often only remnants are left of the buried objects.

The grave remnants supplement our material from excavated living sites. In these sites -- both in towns and on farms -- we find misplaced or damaged articles, remains of houses, waste from food making and crafts-manship, and in the graves we uncover some of the finest personal effects of the deceased.

A violent society

An indication of the violent nature of society is the fact that nearly all the graves of males include weapons. A well-equipped warrior had to have a sword, a wooden shield with an iron boss at its centre to protect the hand, a spear, an axe, and a bow with up to 24 arrows. The helmets and coats of mail with which most Vikings are commonly portrayed in modern pictures, are extremely rare in archaeological material. Helmets with horns, ubiquitous in present-day depictions, have never been found amongst relics from the Viking period. Even in the graves with the most impressive array of weapons, we find signs of more peaceful activities: sickles, scythes, and hoes lie along side of weapons. The blacksmith was buried with his hammer, anvil, tongs, and file. The coastal farmer has kept his fishing equipment and is often buried in a boat. In women's graves we often find personal jewelry, kitchen articles and artifacts used in textile production. Women too, are often buried in boats. Wooden articles, leather goods, and textiles generally do not survive the soil, so there are many gaps in our knowledge.

In a smattering of graves, the soil-type has been more conducive to pre-servation. In many areas along the Oslofjord, we find blue clay directly underneath the turf, dense and nearly impermeable by water and air. A few graves are well preserved after a thousand years, and we have retained a whole spectrum of articles placed in the pit. The treasures from the enormous Viking ship graves from Oseberg, Tune, and Gokstad -- which can be seen at the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo -- are prime examples of what gifts can be preserved for future generations, given the right soil conditions. We do not know who the dead were, but they obviously belonged to the upper echelon of their society. Perhaps they belonged to a royal family which, a few generations later, unified Norway as one nation.

The graves at Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune have recently been dated by analysis of the annual rings in the oak material. The Oseberg ship was built around 815-820 A.D. The burial has been dated to an exact year - it was in 834. The Gokstad and Tune ships were constructed in the 890s and were placed in the graves right after 900 A.D. In these three graves, big ships were used as grave repositories.

Only the hull of the Tune ship has been preserved, and the grave was robbed earlier of nearly all its items, but enough remained for us to see that the ship was originally of the same fine quality as the two others. The Tune ship was about 20 metres in length. The Oseberg ship's length is about 22 metres and the Gokstad ship is 24 metres long.

At the time of burial, the ship was drawn up on land and placed in a pit. A burial chamber was constructed behind the mast, where the deceased was placed to rest in a bed, dressed in finery. Copious provisions were placed in the ship, dogs and horses were sacrificed, and a large burial mound was piled on top of the vessel.

An Arab travelling in Russia at the end of the 9th Century happened upon a group of Vikings who were in the process of burying a chieftain in this manner. Ibn Fadlan made note of his observations, and his journal has survived. The deceased chieftain's ship was pulled ashore, and valuables were placed aboard. The corpse was dressed in fine clothing and placed on board in a bed. A slave woman, who had chosen to follow her master in death was sacrificed along with a horse and a hunting dog. The ship with its contents was burned, and a burial mound was constructed over the ashes. We have finds of cremated ships graves in the Nordic countries and in Western European Viking sites, but the large graves along the Oslofjord were not put to the torch. In the Gokstad ship a man was found, and the Tune ship probably carried a man a well. How-ever, two women were buried with the Oseberg ship. The skeletons are of a 50-60 year-old and a 20-30 year-old. We can only speculate as to which was the companion and which was the noblewoman.

Both the Oseberg and Gokstad graves were plundered by grave robbers, so the jewelry and luxurious weapons, which surely have been there, were not excavated. But articles of wood, leather and textiles -- of no interest to the thieves -- have survived. There are remnants of similar graves in other locations and it appears to have been standard practice to include sacrificed dogs and horses, fine weapons, some nautical equip-ment such as oars and a gangplank, balers, cooking pots for shipmates, a tent and often fine imported bronze vessels. Without a doubt, these once contained food and drink for the deceased.

The Oseberg grave contained no trace of weapons, reasonably enough for a female grave, but all the other standard equipment followed. In addition, the central figure had been given articles which testify to her dignity as an administrator and a wife on a wealthy farm. We have to assume that women have had the main responsibility for carrying out farm work when the men were off on Viking journeys. The woman from Oseberg was, like many contemporary women, an authoritative and highly respected lady, whether she sat with other women at a spinning wheel or loom, or watched over work in the fields, or supervised milking and the making of cheese and butter. In addition to the ship, she has brought along a wagon and three sleighs. Both on land and water, she was prepared to go in style. Enough horses were sacrificed to draw the wagon as well as the sleighs.

A tent and cooking utensils, tools for textile production, chests and small boxes for valuables, a breadboard, milk pails and ladles, a cutting knife and frying pan, shovels and rakes, a saddle, a dog collar and much more was found in the grave. Her provisions included two slain oxen. A dough of rye flour was placed to leaven on the large wooden breadboard, and in a finely decorated bucket, apples were included for dessert.

Many of the wooden articles were ornamentally carved. It appears as if a number of artists were at work on the farm. Even such utilitarian things as the sleigh poles are ornately carved. Aside from the Oseberg find, our main knowledge of Viking art comes from metal jewelry, where the format is modest. The choice of motif is the same for woodcarving. The artists have been preoccupied with animal figures. These are imaginary animals, twisted and braided together in a tight asymmetric arabesque. These carvings are superb examples of advanced craftsmanship, so the Oseberg wood carvers must have been as handy with chisels and sheath knives as with swords and battle axes.

The man buried in the Gokstad ship has also had the service of a gifted woodcarver, even though the find is not so rich in ornamentation as the Oseberg grave. The Oseberg ship has a low freeboard and is less seaworthy than the ships from Tune and Gokstad, but it certainly could have managed a North Sea voyage and could be typical of the ships which were used for the first Viking attacks around the year 800. A copy which has been built proved to be quick to the wind, but was not easy to manage. The Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune ships were probably the private vessels of rich persons, rather than longships for transporting warriors. The Gokstad ship is very seaworthy. This has been demonstrated by replicas which have crossed the Atlantic in modern times. The hull design makes the ship fast -- either under sail or when 32 men pulled on the oars. Even with a full crew, the Gokstad ship drew no more than one metre of water, so it could easily have been used for assaults on foreign shores. It is possible that the Vikings' experiences through frequent sea voyages in the early 9th Century led to a rapid evolution in hull design. If this is a correct assumption, then the differences between the Oseberg ship and the Gokstad ship might be a result of three generations of experience in the North Sea and hours of discussion between shipbuilders seeking improvements.

1000 years of development

The Viking ships were clinch-built. The ships used for travelling to distant shores were a result of a thousand years of experience in the Nordic area. Shipbuilders strove to construct light-weight and flexible vessels, pliant to the forces of sea and wind -- working with the elements instead of against them. The hull of the Viking ships is built on a solid keel, which together with a finely curved bow, forms the backbone of the vessel. Strafe after strafe was fitted to keel and stem and these were bolted to each other with iron rivets. This hull shell provided strength and flexibility. After the shipbuilder had given the shell its desired shape, ribs made from naturally-curved trees were fitted and these gave additional strength. To increase flexibility, strafes and ribs were bound together. Cross supports at the water-line supplied lateral support, and extra solid logs braced the mast.

The ships sailed were square-rigged on a midship mast. In a calm, or against a strong headwind, the crew could man the oars.

As the Viking period progressed, different types of ships were developed. There were ships intended for battle which were built for speed and a large crew. There were also ships built for commercial trade, where speed was less important. These had a greater girth to permit more cargo. Trade ships did not have a large crew, and they were better suited for sailing than for rowing.


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Our ship

Since November 1999 in historical shipyard in Chałupy on Hel Peninsula, the replica of ship excavated in Gokstad, South Norway in 1880 has started to be built. Shipbuilder is Aleksander Celarek.
The ship was launched April 29th 2000 and solemn naming took place in Chałupy May 6th 2000. Time in between launching and naming we found to try to navigate, especially we're fully armed.
In naming of the ship celebration took part Vikings from Denmark, Germany, friendly warriors from Czech and whole fellowship of Jomsborg Vikings Hird. It was finished with feast (spit board, beer, mead). Because the naming celebration happened parallel with Jarl Einar privet holiday so he become founder of the feast.
The ship was built with privet funds. Owners are Stanisław Wdowczyk and Paweł Rudziński, members of JOMSBORG VIKINGS HIRD.

The Ship from Gokstad
The ship from Gokstad was built around 890 year. It was probably belonging to the one of Scandinavian leader or even king, who was using it as representation of his social position and to journeys (proportions of width to length indicates that - typical war ship is much narrow - but also accrue finishing). After his death - according to Scandinavian burial tradition - it become a grave. This noble man was buried under huge tumulus, on his ship with all belongings needed in death' world.
The vessel was 23,3m long and 5,3m wide. High of hull was 1,95m, measuring from lower edge of keel in midship up to highest board of planking. There were 32 oars (so the ship could contain around 70-80 people) and sail spread on about 10m high mast. Mast was weighting more or less 360kg and whole ship nearly 18 tonnes together with outfit.
The first fidelity reproduction of Gokstad Ship happened in Norway in 1893. It was 1:1 in scale vessel called "Viking". During experimental voyage on Atlantic Ocean, "Viking" reached North America.

JOMSBORG SHIP
Our ship - "JOMSBORG" it is 65% of originally size of the Ship from Gokstad. So she is 15,4m long and 3,25m wide. High from keel to bulwark rail on midship is 1,5m and mast height is 11m. Jomsborg is equipped with 64msq sail (which should accelerate ship up to 10 knots with good weather conditions) and 12 pairs of oars. The crew is 24 oarsmen plus steersman. To keep historical character there was no motor add but season of 2000 proved it was mistake. It turned out we had to resign of interesting journeys because of i.e. opposite wind or not enough crew (school, job, private matters), so in April 2001 it was a motor install (Yamaha 20HP, long column). This engine was put inside of ship in special bilge well. It's easy to disassemble; we use it in failure situations or we want to move ship quickly from A to B point when is no wind blowing.
The ship weights about 9 tonnes and draught is 0,8m. It is built of oak wood, sail and rigging is made out of flax. Because of "Jomsborg" size (smaller of 1/3 than original one) oarlocks are on top of bulwark rail (originally it was about 0,4m under bulwark rail).

CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATION
To keel bar size 110mm thick & 380mm high fixed of three pieces are fasten sterns. A stern is 110mm x 400mm in low part, close to keel and narrowing to 80mm x 200mm in top part. Clinker plating is made of 11 strakes on each side with 28mm thick board. This is riveted with copper nails diameter 4mm on rove made of 2mm copper sheet. Boards are fixed to sterns with iron nails diameter 6mm forged on gothic pattern. Individual boards are composed of 12 to 22cm wide and 70 to 450cm long planks. Narrow and short planks are used on bow and stern because of characteristically planking sagging beside long sterns. Frams, size 80cm x 80cm (left arm is fixed with right on keel) together with covering boat deck forms rigid triangle of structural crosswise reinforcement. Every second frame triangle of frame construction, from sheer strake is coming down to half height of frame, which is 50mm x 80mm size, are reaching at last three boards deeper than ends of frame triangles. Frames and half-frames are riveted to planking with copper nails diameter 6mm. Last part of clinker plating is strengthened with sheer strake of size 80cm x 80cm.
Hull is preserved with linseed oil varnish, coal and wood tar; all coatings are put warm.

"JOMSBORG" EXPEDITIONS
May 2000 - a virgin cruise on the Baltic Sea from Chalupy to Wolin. It was voyage with adventures, because on Koszalin atitude violent squall tumbled ship up side down. Fortunately there were no victims. Fishermen from Chalupy saved the crew and ship was found by See Rescue.

October/November 2000 - a 700km long voyage by the rivers from Wolin to Gdansk and the to Puck to pass the winter. Only three people achieved it (up to half way they were four).

June 2001 - a sail from Puck to Chałupy and at last to Wolin, by the Baltic Sea.

September 2001 - a 800km cruise by the rivers from Wolin to Warsaw and to Zalew Zegrzyński (near Warsaw - Poland).

September 2002 - "Jomsborg" participated in Jerzy Hoffman film "Stara Basn" ("The Old Tale"). Our ship was performing as Viking invaders flag vessel. It was the first when the ship was transported to Ocwieka Lake where pictures were made on truck-carriage. Two months later the ship went back to Zalew Zegrzynski the same way.

http://www.jomsborg.pl/lodz_en.html

Viking Longships.

Look at the map of the Viking world. How far west had the Vikings travelled? What were the farthest points they had travelled to the north, east and south?

This passage from Egil's Saga shows how news travelled throughout the Viking world long before the time of telephones, radio and television. A Viking called Bjorn wanted to marry a young woman called Thora, but her father would not give them his permission. So Bjorn took Thora away. Because of this, Bjorn was declared an outlaw, and this message was passed from settlement to settlement:

Just before winter a boat from Orkney put in at Shetland. It brought news that a longship from Norway had arrived at Orkney in the autumn. The king's men had been aboard, carrying the message that the king wanted Bjorn dead, no matter where he was found. This same message had been sent to the Hebrides and even as far as Dublin.

Try to find all the places mentioned in this story in your atlas.

This extract and others from Egil's Saga show us that the Vikings were a sea-going people. For them, their ships were of the greatest importance. They had to be large and strong, able to travel great distances and survive heavy seas and Atlantic storms. Viking longships were some of the best sea-going vessels the world has ever seen

Let us try to find out what these longships were like:

As you read the evidence note important pieces of information about the ships - what they looked like, how big they were, how people lived on board, how they moved through the water, how they were steered.

Here are two lined from Egil's Saga. How was the ship propelled? What decorated the ship?

Let's beat the oar blades
Of our shield adorned ship.

Another part of the saga mentions two other Vikings:

They had a fast ship with twelve or thirteen oars on each side and a crew of about thirteen men.
The ship was richly painted above the sea line and magnificently decorated . . . and it had a blue and red striped sail . . . It was fully rigged with tents and provisions.

Great Viking poems like King Harold's Saga tell us many things about longships. They are mentioned so often that they must have been of great importance to their owners.

See the great longship
Proudly lies at anchor.
Above the bow,
THe dragon's golden head
Stands high, overlaid with gold.

One Saturday, King Harold
Had the deck tent hauled down.
And the women proudly watched
The ship speed past.

Battle-keen warriors
Pulled oars through the water.
Norwegian arms heaved
The iron nailed dragon
Down the river
Like an eagle on the wing.

Driving west from Russia
Harold's gold filled ship
Sails wet with spray
Flying before the wind
The colourful sails strain.

This is a Viking burial ship known as the Oseberg ship. It is in a museum in Oslo. Like many people long ago, the Vikings sometimes buried valuable things with their dead loved ones. When Egil's brother died in battle. according to the saga, his weapons, clothing and gold jewellery were buried along with him.

Some Viking princes were so rich that they could afford to be buried in their magnificent longships. Some of these ship burials have been discovered and examined by archaeologists.

Things to do.

Using the written evidence and the pictures, draw your own picture of a Viking longship.

Look up the meaning of each of these words or phrases: Prow, stern, keel, rudder, oar port.

Label your longship drawing to show these parts.

Here is a list of things found in a ship burial. Write the list in your notebook.
Beside each item tell why you think it was carried on a Viking ship:

3 small boats.
6 collapsible beds.
A heap of white cloth, striped with red.
A pile of thin, strong rope.
2 wooden walls shaped like the end of a tent.
32 iron shields.

Looking at the evidence.

Name the animal and bird which the sagas used to describe the ships.
Why do you think these creatures were chosen?
How did Vikings shelter themselves and keep warm while sleeping at sea on their long voyages?
What do you think the term iron-shielded ship means?
Why do you think that one of the ships described had a dragon's golden head on its prow.
What other decorations were used?